June 9, 2004 – (Sydney) Australia's opposition is standing by its pledge to withdraw troops from Iraq if it wins the upcoming elections despite renewed pressure from the United States to rethink its policy.

Shadow foreign minister Kevin Rudd, in the United States for talks with US officials, said he hoped to discuss the issue with US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage this week, ABC radio reported.

He insisted that Labor would not be changing its policy.

Armitage earlier warned that to withdraw the soldiers at a time when Iraq was as delicately poised would damage the coalition effort.

Interviewed by The Australian newspaper in Washington just before the UN Security Council's adopted Tuesday a US-British resolution endorsing a new interim government for Iraq, he said:

"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."

Armitage's comment followed President George W. Bush's statement last week that Labor leader Mark Latham's policy would be disastrous for the war on terrorism and would send the wrong message to terrorists.

Armitage said the president felt the entire Iraq process was now at "tipping point" and anybody seeking to withdraw now "might do some disservice to this 'tipping' process."

Labor's pledge to withdraw the troops is now a major issue in the run up to an election due late this year.

Rudd told ABC radio from New York that Labor still intended if it wins office to withdraw Australia's 850 military personnel from Iraq but also planned to deliver the strongest levels of humanitarian assistance as possible to the Iraqi people.

"As far as the future is concerned, Mark Latham has made our policy absolutely plain on that score," he said.

"Plainly there are differences between us and the US administration on this and that is one of the reasons I will be in Washington this Thursday and hope to have discussions with deputy secretary Armitage on this matter."

He said there would be an exchange of views on Iraq's future, but Labor's strong commitment, consistent with a new UN Security Council resolution passed Tuesday, was to provide maximum assistance to Iraq's reconstruction.

"You would have to say that there is some disagreement on the part of the US administration with aspects of our policy on Iraq -- let's call a spade a spade," he said.

"I hope to have a discussion with Rich Armitage, someone I have known for some years, about that and work out a way forward, but we are quite plain in terms of our policy."

-         AFP

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