Posted on 11/03/2006 10:49:33 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
AN immediate withdrawal by Australia from Iraq would not hurt the country's alliance with America, former US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage said.
And Peter Khalil, a Melbourne-born Pentagon adviser and former head of security for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad, agreed.
Mr Khalil said Diggers had done their job and could withdraw knowing they had stabilised a large section of southern Iraq.
The Australian force's size limited what it could achieve, Mr Khalil, an analyst with Eurasia Group in Washington, said.
And moving it to Baghdad to fight insurgents was not likely because of the political risk to the Howard Government.
"No one would fault the fact that Australia has carried a heavy burden, for which the US, and I'm sure Iraqi citizens, are really grateful," Mr Armitage said in Canberra.
"These men and women are doing the Lord's work.
"They're standing up for freedom, they're trying to do the right thing and I, for one, would be very remiss if I didn't thank the Australian people and the Government for their participation."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
It makes it very hard for those of us who support the war effort...
Thankfully the back stabbing Armitage no longer speaks for our country.
That leaker...
This guy is an ongoing sore.
His comments have caused HUGE damage to those of us who wish Aussie troops to stay in Iraq. Why the hell would he have said such a thing?
I don't know. It's like distemper. These folks go leftist and they get crazy and mean.
I cannot begin to tell you how much damage the bald-headed pr*ck has caused Down here.
Somebody should take him out the back and give him a good hiding!!!
Armitage was the leaker in the Valarie Plame Wilson "CIA" flare up. He was an Undersecretary under Powell in the State Department. To sooth his ego, he is throwing sand in the gears in the coalition of the willing. You and I both know that this war will be fought for many years on many fronts and in many ways. Some people are solely interested in the trappings of power and not in the preservation of a way of life and liberty for all. Mr. Armitage is one of those people whose superior attitude is a danger to those who hold their freedoms dear and believe that no sacrifice is too great to preserve them.
God bless the diggers and keep them safe.
I cannot begin to tell you how much damage he has done in the US.
Just for what he did over the Plame case (leaking and then keeping quiet as Rove was blamed) he deserves to be banned for life from the U.S. and all allied countries. Let him peddle his wares in North Korea or somewhere.
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