Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Australian prime minister criticizes Obama

|
|
 
  
Published: Feb. 11, 2007 at 8:01 AM

SYDNEY, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Australian Prime Minister John Howard criticized Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama's proposal to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.

Howard told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that Obama's proposal to pull out of Iraq in early 2008 "would just encourage those who want to completely destabilize and destroy Iraq to hang on and hope for an Obama victory."

Obama, who officially entered the race for the Democratic presidential nomination with a speech in his home state of Illinois on Saturday, has introduced legislation that would withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by March 2008.

The Labor Party foreign affairs spokesman told the Australian Broadcasting Corp that Howard's comments on a U.S. politician were inappropriate.

"That effectively demeans the alliance between Australia and the United States," Robert McClelland said. "It effectively suggests that it's an alliance between two political parties and not the people of both countries."

Topics: John Howard, Robert McClelland
© 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Notable deaths of 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee AmfAR Cinema Against AIDS gala
Indianapolis 500 Presidential Medal of Freedom Memorial Day around the nation
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 27
Snigdha Nandipati of San Diego wins Finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee
View Caption
Snigdha Nandipati of San Diego, California watches confetti rain down as she wins the two-day Scripps National Spelling Bee championship, May 31, 2012, in National Harbor, Maryland. Nandipati successfully spelled the word .* guetapens *, meaning to lure or ambush. UPI/Mike Theiler
fark
If you ever did win the lottery, would you give it away or surprise people with it in fun ways?
Criminal Pro-tip: when you steal someone's credit card, don't use your own grocery club card on...
The 21 absolute worst things in the world (not a slideshow). Bonus: #21
Egg-ception
How bad are things in Detroit? Even the fish are being murdered
Nineteen things that will drive your OCD self insane