Which makes this precisely the wrong time for Australia to cut and run in Iraq. After having stood firm with our allies in World War II, and throughout the Cold War, we must not abandon them and retreat into a Fortress Australia mentality. To do so would be to resign our right to membership of the alliance for democracy that defeated totalitarianism in the last century and is confronting Islamic terrorism in the new. It would be an act of appeasement that would confirm Osama bin Laden in his belief that terror can break the will of democracies. And it would demonstrate to the US that Australia is a friend, but not necessarily an ally. Mr Armitage makes the point that the alliance is a comprehensive engagement that includes ample room for debate and disagreement, but that when push comes to shove commits both countries to stand together.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,9815950%255E7583,00.html

Without the alliance we would have to double, perhaps even triple, defence spending and introduce conscription, according to the Australian Defence Association. And while it is in our national interest, it is also clear that the US places great store by the alliance, demonstrated by the palpable concern of President George W. Bush that Labor leader Mark Latham might bring our troops home if he wins the election.

Both the importance of the alliance and our obligation to the people of Iraq make it essential that Mr Latham abandon his undertaking to bring the troops back from Baghdad by Christmas. Just as his intemperate description from the back bench of Mr Bush as a dangerous incompetent played well with the reflexive anti-Americanism of Labor's Left, this promise is also politically popular. And his instant elevation of singer Peter Garrett to a safe Labor seat this week adds to the impression that Labor is not especially interested in how the Americans will interpret his actions. After his interest in the environment, Mr Garrett is best known for the constant refrain of anti-Americanism in his music.

For Mr Latham to promise that the troops will to stay on in Iraq for as long as the Iraqis want their help would be smart politics. It is also be the only moral choice.