John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Part of our goal is to avoid the disastrous consequences of a premature withdrawal from Iraq—as described by Baker-Hamilton, as described by the national intelligence assessment and as described by General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was here in Canberra only two days ago. This is what he had to say:

I think that if coalition troops pull out prematurely then we will then have a humanitarian disaster—

A humanitarian disaster! That is what the opposition want to happen in Iraq—a humanitarian disaster—

because you will have sectarian violence that will get out of hand. You will have then many more Iraqis who are killed and you will have then, I believe, a spillover effect into Afghanistan.

So our strategy is to create the circumstances of stability by staying until the job is done so that the Iraqi security forces can look after the security of that country without foreign assistance. And our strategy is also to avoid a precipitous withdrawal and a withdrawal of American forces in circumstances depicted as defeat.

I say again—and I say it very deliberately to the Leader of the Opposition—that if out of Iraq America retreats in circumstances of defeat and humiliation, the consequences will be enormous not only in the Middle East and for Iraq but around the world, including for the long-term security interests of our nation.

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