Prime Minister John Howard of Australia recently criticized United States Presidential hopeful Barack Obama's call for American troops to withdraw from Iraq by March 2008. Prime Minister Howard is under the impression that this will bolster the resolve of Terrorists. Well, whether that is a true statement is debatable. What is not debatable is that the Prime Minister of a country that currently has 1,4oo troops in Iraq compared with the upwards of 100,000 America has deployed and the 21,500 more who George Bush plans to deploy, has little room to criticize the big dog in the fight against terrorism.
America has put more troops in harms way and continues to do so, in spite of the seeming fruitlessness of it. Howard's comments denote a critical chasm in thinking. That thinking being that the war on terrorism can be one as a result of a continued conflict in Iraq. The truth is that that eventuality is uncertain at best.
Until the Iraqi governement can stomp out corruption within its ranks, grow a competent military and find a way to accomplish an end to the secterian violence that is sweeping that nation, no amount of American troops will be enough to bring a natural democracy to Iraq. But if Prime Minister Howard feels America should continue to feed the beast of chaos in Iraq he can put at least fifty thousand more of his own military citizens on the table. Senator Obama said fifteen thousand, but a man of resolve like John Howard should be more than willing to display the great strength of his Australia with a major deployment, right?
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