U.S. Envoy Pressures Australian Party Over Iraq

[struggle4progress]

<snip>
U.S. Ambassador to Australia, Tom Schieffer, stopped short of naming Labor leader Mark Latham, having previously been rebuked for interfering in Australian domestic politics, but said now was not the time to pull away from an important bilateral alliance.
<snip>

As parliament met in Canberra for its final week before a five-week break, an ACNielsen poll showed the government edging ahead of Labor with 43 percent support to 42 percent, fueling talk of an August 7 ballot in which Iraq will be a key issue.

President Bush, who is a close ally of Howard, has called Latham's policy "disastrous" as has Secretary of State Colin Powell, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Trade Representative Bob Zoellick.

But straight-talking Latham, who once called Bush "dangerous and incompetent" over his decision to go to war in Iraq, has refused to back down, saying Australian voters would have their say on the matter and the alliance was not a rubber stamp.
<snip>

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=5467122

[KeepItReal]

1. If Labor wins and pulls out troops...will Bush & Co. retaliate?

If so....how?

[struggle4progress]

2. I have no good answer for you.

[Matilda]

3. Maybe they won't be in a position to retaliate.

n/t

[amber dog democrat]

4. There is not much the Chimp Administration

can do about this. Any overt actions taken by the administration are very likely to backfire. I think evenutally the Australian voters will make that decision anyway.

I doubt if the administration would do anything more than make public statements of regret and disapproval. I can't wait for this to happen.

[Merlin]

5. I don't understand. I thought Howard was wildly popular there.

Can somebody please enlighten me as to when things got so close down under? Good news. But surprising -- at least to me.