Bulldog armitage joins in the fray

US calls on Latham to rethink Iraq
By Paul Kelly, Washington
June 09, 2004
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,9789111%255E601,00.html

US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage says Iraq is at a tipping point and has appealed to Mark Latham to rethink Labor's policy to pull out Australian troops by Christmas.

Mr Armitage has elaborated on President George W.Bush's criticism of the ALP leader, but says the US is dedicated to trying to work with any new Labor government.

"We are in the midst of accomplishing a UN Security Council resolution that will bring full sovereignty to Iraq and, with the assistance of the UN, bring an elected government to the Middle East not later than January 2005," Mr Armitage told The Australian at his State Department office.

"To be involved in something so momentous that could change the Middle East for the better and set a course of greater openness and transparency and better education, including for women, is something I think any modern nation would want to be involved in.

"To pull away at the 10th or 11th hour would be very debilitating to this effort."

Mr Bush felt the entire process was now at a tipping point, Mr Armitage said. This was why the situation was sensitive and anybody seeking to withdraw now "might do some disservice to this 'tipping' process".

Mr Bush last week called Mr Latham's Iraq policy a "disastrous decision" that would "embolden the enemy".

Asked about Mr Latham's reply to Mr Bush, Mr Armitage said: "I have read the ALP statement and I was somewhat surprised.

"Mr Latham said he looked to the day that a Labor government could work with the US to further strengthen intelligence, strategic and cultural relations. Apparently economic and political relations were not so important. Now, you either have a full-up relationship or you don't.

"I would argue that the US has spent a lot of time and energy trying to develop a free trade agreement with Australia, but these are things the people of Australia have to decide for themselves.

"Mr Latham criticised the Howard Government for, in his words, having failed policies that hurt Australia in five unacceptable ways and went on to blame high petrol prices on President Bush, in effect.

"That is not the fact of the case. Anybody who analyses the oil markets would be able to tell the ALP that. I also take great exception to the claim that the policies in Iraq have made Australia a bigger target. I was under the very strong impression that Bali happened prior to any military activities in Iraq. So I am somewhat confused by these statements."

Asked about US attitudes towards a new Latham government, Mr Armitage said: "We would have to see which policies Labor implemented if it was to win an election.

"In the past we've worked with Labor and with Coalition governments, we've worked with the full range and at least for the United States we will dedicate ourselves to trying to do so."

Mr Armitage said Mr Bush was determined to succeed in Iraq. "We are deadly determined on this," he said.

"The President has not wavered. In his view, it is a moment in history to change the direction of the Middle East. If we stop now, if we pull up short in Iraq, then we will only encourage the forces of instability."

Speaking both on Mr Latham's Iraq policy and his "Defence of Australia" regional vision, Mr Armitage said: "It seems to me that it is a very traditional view of the threat. The threat now is different to what it's been in the past. It's transnational, it takes various forms and you may have to go out and fight it in various ways. So, I think it is a view not suited to the modern threat.

"It is not just the geo-strategic situation but your own economic situation ... You are inexorably involved beyond your shores and beyond the protection supported by great oceans, and there's no turning back to the coastlines."

Asked where the alliance was going, Mr Armitage said: "Over 20 or 30 years, the importance of the alliance has not dimmed. Speaking personally, I believe in it mightily because I believe in all the things Australia represents, courage, strength of conviction, a free spirit, independent thinking. This is what we (the US) need alongside us as a large great nation. We need the views of people we trust implicitly, to help us on the right track and prevent us from getting on the wrong track."