Howard stands firm on Iraq as Australia heads to the polls

AUSTRALIAN Prime Minister John Howard gave his last nationally televised campaign speech yesterday as he bids for a fourth three-year term. He didn’t mention Iraq once.

But as soon as he stopped speaking, reporters started firing questions at him about a report by Charles Duelfer, the head of the US Iraq Survey Group, which said Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction program was made up of hopes and dreams by the time of the US-led invasion last year.

Mr Howard, the 65-year-old leader of Australia’s conservative government, sent 2,000 troops to take part in the invasion - one of his most unpopular decisions in more than eight years as national leader.

“I stand by the decision we took in relation to Iraq,” Mr Howard said after his speech in Canberra. “I have no regrets at all about the fact that Saddam Hussein is no longer leading Iraq.”

Of the three leaders who sent troops to invade Iraq, Mr Howard is the first to seek re-election. He is followed by President W George Bush next month and Tony Blair next year.

The opposition Labour Party objected to the war last year and has pledged to withdraw by Christmas the 900 troops still in and around Iraq if it wins power in tomorrow’s election. Howard says the forces should stay as long as they are needed.

Labour’s firebrand 43-year-old leader Mark Latham said the report discredited Howard’s main reason for going to war - the threat of Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction.

“The news today confirms that Mr Howard had it wrong and a person of honesty and integrity would stand up today, take responsibility for it and say to the Australian people, ‘I made a mistake’,” Mr Latham said.

The exchange was a rare foray into foreign policy in a campaign that has focused on domestic issues such as the economy, the ailing health system, education and the environment.

The election, for all 150 seats in federal parliament’s lower house and 40 of the 76 upper house Senate seats, promises to be extremely tight.

The government currently controls 83 seats and Labour 63. There are three independent lawmakers in the lower house and one from the Greens.

A poll this week showed Labour had lost a 52-48 lead recorded last week and now trailed the government 49.5 to 50.5.

In more than five weeks of campaigning, Howard and Mr Latham have promised billions of pounds in extra spending on things ranging from hospitals to old-growth forests, high schools to spy schools.