Howard And Downer Were Full Of "Cut And Run" Lies On Iraq

Troop Withdrawals From Iraq Will Have No Negative Impact On Australia-US Alliance

Another bunch of foul lies of John Howard and former foreign minister, Alexander Downer, exposed for the dirty propaganda that they were :

(Former) prime minister John Howard condemned Mr Rudd's proposed timetable for a troop withdrawal as abandoning an ally and providing encouragement for terrorists.

But a senior US State Department official, Nicholas Burns, said the US appreciated what Australia had done in Iraq...

Mr Burns, Under-Secretary for Political Affairs in the US State Department, delivered a strong message of support for the Rudd Government from the Bush Administration.

Yesterday Mr Rudd described the US as "an overwhelming force for good in the world" and Mr Burns said he was impressed with the skill, knowledge and professionalism of the new ministers.

Both Mr Rudd and Mr Smith have been invited to visit Washington as soon as they can.

For more than three years, Howard and Downer railed in Parliament and ranted across the media about how the Labor position of withdrawing combat troops from Iraq would have massively negative impacts on the Australian alliance with the US, and would be "cutting and running" on the US, the Iraq government and the Iraqi people.

All of those claims from Howard and Downer were nothing but worthless rubbish :

Mr Burns has told ABC TV's Lateline he has been very impressed with the new Federal Government.

"Allies should treat each other in a friendly and respectful way, particularly when a new government comes in, so there's a lot of goodwill in Washington towards Prime Minister [Kevin] Rudd and towards his fellow members of the Australian Cabinet."

Mr Burns says the US administration understands the Labor Government's stance on Iraq.

"What all those Australian men and women have done in the Iraq effort, as well as Australia is doing in Afghanistan, we're grateful for it," he said.

"But we understand that Australia has a right to make its own decisions, we respect that."

The desperate deceptions and propaganda of the former Howard government over Rudd's plan to "cut and run" from Iraq and to "abandon its allies" aggravated officials in the US State Department, who always saw the continuing US-Australia alliance, and positive relationship, as vastly more important than whether or not Australia kept 500 combat troops in Iraq when the primary missions Australia was tasked with, such as training the Iraq Army and police, were clearly coming to an end.