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President Bush arrived in Sydney, Australia yesterday to attend the annual Asian-Pacific Economic Conference (APEC). Today he met again with his friend and ally Australian Prime Minister John Howard as they toured Sydney Harbor. The two leaders then met with Australian troops on Garden Island Naval Base where they joined them for lunch. President Bush personally thanked the troops for their continued service in the War on Terror. (Transcript) Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino: “[The president] said he was very proud to be with them, they're very courageous. And one of the things I overheard him say to some...

GEORGE W. Bush was an intelligent and likeable man, Prime Minister John Howard said today ahead of the US President's arrival in Australia. Large parts sections of central Sydney have been cordoned off with a 3m security fence amid predictions of violent protests to coincide with Mr Bush's visit to the APEC leaders' summit. Protesters are keen to target Mr Bush over the US-led involvement in the Iraq war and his perceived failure to address climate change. But Mr Howard today had only praise for Mr Bush, saying the US President had a "special position" as the democratically elected leader...

A major ally in the war on terror faces an election this fall. Radio listeners in Sydney last week were treated to some good ole Aussie plain talk on the war on terror. "It's not all negative and nobody pretends that it's easy," Prime Minister John Howard told talk show host Ray Hadley. "Pulling out will guarantee a descent into civil war and chaos and a victory for terrorism and we're totally opposed to that." And what of the much-maligned President Bush? While he's "under pressure at home," Mr. Howard retorted, "he's not a person who succumbs easily to pressure,...

JOHN Howard will today rule out an imminent withdrawal of Australian combat troops from Iraq, staking an election-year position on staying the course in the Middle East. The Prime Minister will spell out an unambiguous commitment to a long-term Australian military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. In a major security speech, Mr Howard will stress the stark consequences of a failure by the US and its allies to secure Iraq. He will argue that the military coalition cannot allow weariness, frustration or political convenience to dictate strategy in Iraq.

There is evidence that Australian troops were being specifically targeted in Iraq, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said yesterday. The warning came as Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari pleaded in Canberra yesterday for Australia and other coalition forces not to "cut and run" from his country as it entered a crucial phase for its future. Reports in Britain have tipped an announcement on British troop withdrawals within incoming prime minister Gordon Brown's first 100 days in office. Australian soldiers have repeatedly come under fire from small-arms fire, rocket-propelled grenades and increasingly sophisticated roadside bombs in recent weeks, with three men injured...

JOHN Howard is paving the way for nuclear power and an expansion of the uranium industry in an election-year attempt to split Labor. As Labor prepares to debate its new uranium mining and nuclear policy on the floor of the party's national conference in Sydney today, the Prime Minister will use climate change and job-creation arguments to put further pressure on a divided Opposition. Mr Howard will promote uranium exports and "climate-friendly" nuclear power as part of a political campaign to cast himself as forward-looking and Labor as being against progress and jobs.

Prime Minister John Howard has been labelled the "butcher of Baghdad" by a Zimbabwe government minister angry over the Australian leader's role in his nation's suspension from the Commonwealth. Zimbabwe declared it would pull out of the Commonwealth after Howard helped convince Commonwealth leaders to extend the African nation's suspension from the body. Howard's role has angered Zimbabwe's government MPs seeking parliamentary approval for President Robert Mugabe's withdrawal decision. Foreign Minister Stan Mudenga referred to him as the "butcher of Baghdad" - a reference to Australia's participation in the war in Iraq. Mudenga said Howard had declared that Zimbabwe would...

JOHN Howard is enjoying strong support among voters younger than 30, but he risks losing office to a backlash from their parents. A benchmark study of public attitudes, conducted last month and detailed to The Australian, shows the Prime Minister was in trouble with the electorate before Kevin Rudd became Labor leader last December. The big issues that were turning people off him and the Government were climate change and Work Choices - but not interest rates - according to the focus groups run for the Ipsos Mackay Report a month ago. The findings contain a mixed blessing for Labor....

Mr Howard said the deal would bring the two countries closer Australian Prime Minister John Howard has dismissed suggestions that a security declaration with Japan could strain ties with China. Mr Howard is set to sign the ground-breaking deal during a four-day visit to Japan which begins on Sunday. The agreement is thought to include co-operation on terrorism, peacekeeping and disaster relief. Australia has been looking to exert more influence in Asia, in terms of business as well as regional security. Full details of the pact have not been revealed but it is expected to include plans for greater...

TODAY, John Howard has been Prime Minister of Australia for 11 years. In about three weeks he will become, at 67 years and nine months, Australia's second-oldest serving prime minister. These two facts are of a piece with Labor's plan to run former ABC presenter and journalist Maxine McKew against Howard in his Sydney seat of Bennelong. There is a perceived benefit for the ALP nationally to run a younger, female, high-profile and personable candidate in Bennelong, one who will magnify and broadcast the messages from a local seat campaign at a federal level. McKew's contest with Howard will not...

Prime Minister John Howard today ruled out following Britain's lead and reducing troop numbers in Iraq. Australia also has about 550 soldiers in southern Iraq, based at Tallil, and Mr Howard says there are no plans to reduce those numbers. “You've got to maintain critical mass and to do the job, according to our defence advice, you need that,” he told reporters in Perth. “The reason I understand Mr Blair will give is that conditions have stabilised in Basra so that there can be this decision taken. “They will still have 5,000 and we will 550. “I don't think it...

The main contenders in this year's Australian federal elections have been forced into a surprisingly early and forceful debate on the country's involvement in the US-led coalition in Iraq after an attack by John Howard, the prime minister, on Barack Obama, the US Democratic presidential candidate. Mr Howard sparked a storm of criticism, and a strong rebuff from Mr Obama, after suggesting on Sunday that terrorists would want Mr Obama elected because of his proposal to withdraw US troops from Iraq by March 2008. ... They also noted that attacking Mr Obama was unlikely to damage Mr Howard's reputation in...

An allied withdrawal timetable from Iraq is al-Qa'ida's primary goal THE one thing no one is saying about Prime Minister John Howard's remarks is they are obviously right. Asked about US Senator Barack Hussein Obama's plan to withdraw all US forces from Iraq by March 31, 2008, Howard replied: "If I were running al-Qa'ida in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008 and pray as many times as possible for a victory not only for Obama, but also for the Democrats." Certainly al-Qa'ida agrees. After the November 2006 elections handed control of the US Congress to the anti-war...

Yet it is a fact that Howard's comment has had such a big impact outside of Australia precisely because he was essentially correct. A designated and unconditional US withdrawal from Iraq by March 2008 would amount to a defeat for the multinational force and a victory for the insurgency, along with al-Qaeda, in Iraq. This should be recognised by those who oppose the allied commitment in Iraq as well as those who support it.Ask a blunt question and, every now and then, there is an undiplomatic answer. Certainly this was the case with the inaugural Sunday program for this year....

Rudd moves to censure Howard over Obama attack Steve Lewis, Chief political correspondent February 12, 2007 OPPOSITION Leader Kevin Rudd today moved a censure motion against Prime Minister John Howard over his attack on US presidential hopeful Barack Obama. Mr Rudd said Mr Howard should be censured over his comment yesterday that terrorist network al-Qaeda would be hoping for a Democratic candidate to win next year's US presidential election.

THE Prime Minister has fired another salvo in his growing war of words with US presidential hopeful Barack Obama, saying the senator had dodged his criticism of his Iraq withdrawal plan. Senator Obama today challenged John Howard to commit another 20,000 Australian troops to Iraq after the Prime Minister said his call to bring American troops home by March 2008 would be a victory for al Qaeda in Iraq, who would be hoping for a Democrat win in next year's presidential election. The US senator accused Mr Howard of "empty rhetoric" in his criticism of his stand, as Australia has...

Prime Minister John Howard has defended his comments about United States presidential candidate Barack Obama's proposed policies. The spat erupted when Democrat Senator Obama said he would like US troops out of Iraq by March 2008. Mr Howard responded by saying that if he ran Al Qaeda, he would put a circle around March next year and pray for Mr Obama to win. The attack on Senator Obama's plan has upset several US Democrats, including Senator Ron Wyden, who believes Mr Howard is meddling in US politics. But Mr Howard says he will continue to criticise policies that work against...

SYDNEY, Australia -- Australia's conservative prime minister slammed Barack Obama on Sunday over his opposition to the Iraq war, a day after the first-term U.S. senator announced his intention to run for the White House in 2008. Obama said Saturday at his campaign kickoff in Springfield, Ill., that one of the country's first priorities should be ending the war in Iraq. He has also introduced a bill in the Senate to prevent President Bush from increasing American troop levels in Iraq and to remove U.S. combat forces from the country by March 31, 2008. Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a...

PRIME Minister John Howard has been described as bizarre and irrelevant by US Democrats after he launched an attack on Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama. Mr Howard said yesterday al-Qaeda would be praying for an Obama-led White House because Senator Obama has promised to withdraw US combat troops from Iraq by March 2008. A string of Democrats have reacted angrily to Mr Howard's comments which have received widespread media coverage in the US. Terry McAuliffe, a former chairman of the Democratic National Convention, criticised Mr Howard's strong links to US President George W. Bush. "The prime minister has been a...

Excerpt from report by Radio Australia on 25 January The Australian prime minister, John Howard, has attacked the opposition Labor Party's position on Iraq, saying this is no time to appear to be letting down the United States. [passage omitted] Australia's opposition leader, Kevin Rudd, has said a Labor government would pull Australian troops out of Iraq shortly after a federal election [due by the end of the year]. Mr Howard says that would be ratting on an ally. [Howard] We're not living a very certain world. People are worried about North Korea, they are worried about a whole lot...