Agence France-Presse,
A row erupted in Australia Thursday after Britain's high commissioner said her government did not view the US-led invasion of Iraq as part of the “war on terrorism”.
The opposition Labor Party seized on the comments, saying they exposed the government's argument for keeping Australian troops in Iraq as a lie. Australian Prime Minister John Howard denied the charge.
Helen Liddell, the High Commissioner or ambassador, said in a speech to the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday that Britain's invovlement in Iraq was not prompted by terrorism.
“We have never seen Iraq as part of the war on terror,” said Liddell, who was in Prime Minister Tony Blair's cabinet when the decision to invade was made in 2003.
“Certainly we are engaged in a war on the streets in Iraq against terrorism, but our raison d'etre for our involvement in Iraq has not been about terrorism,” she said.
Howard shares the view of his close ally, US President George W. Bush, that Iraq is the frontline in the so-called war on terrorism and said he believed Blair did too.
“The British government believes Iraq is very much part of the war against terrorism,” Howard told a news conference.
“There can be no doubt in the mind of the head of the British government that Iraq is part of the battleground against terrorism, and our view and the view of the British government is identical,” he said.
Howard said his office had been informed by the British High Commission that the diplomat's remarks had been taken out of context.
But Labor's defence spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon said the government had been embarrassed.
“I'm sure it wasn't intentional on her part but she's embarrassed John Howard and his government, she's exposed the lie that our participation in Iraq is all about the war on terror.”
The main reason given by coalition leaders for the invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003 was that his regime possessed weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons were found.
Labor, which is leading Howard's Liberal-National coalition in opinion polls ahead of elections due by the end of this year, has pledged to pull Australia's 1,400 troops out of Iraq if it comes to power.
