Alexander Downer (Mayo, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. The answer is a series of yeses and noes, but I make this point in answer to the last part of the question: we will, along with our allies, pass the responsibility for security in Iraq over to the Iraqi security forces when they have the capacity to maintain a reasonable degree of security in that country. The alternative strategy is the Labor Party strategy. The Labor Party strategy is for all of the coalition forces to withdraw from Iraq and to create not only a human rights catastrophe but also an enormous boost to the extremists and insurgents.

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