JOURNALIST:
Good morning Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning Ross.
JOURNALIST:
Yes good morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
And Peter.
JOURNALIST:
Good morning Prime Minister. We had an interesting report, Mr Howard, just probably 15 minutes ago from our US correspondent Richard Arnold, who tells us that one of the top Generals in Iraq William Caldwell has said that progress there is disheartening. Would you say it has been disheartening?
PRIME MINISTER:
He was talking about a particular operation. I heard that report this morning. He's talking about a particular operation and he would know whether that operation was disheartening or not. In any military operation you have heartening and disheartening things, I can't give a running commentary on each individual movement. If you ask me is the situation in Iraq difficult, yes, it is. If you ask me whether the issues and considerations have altered, no they haven't and we have to ask ourselves whether it would be a good thing for the coalition to pack up and go.
I don't believe it would because I think it would deliver an enormous propaganda victory for the terrorists and that would be bad in the Middle East and it would also be bad in our part of the world. It would encourage the terrorists in Indonesia, Jemaah Islamiah, they would use the retreat of the coalition from Iraq as a recruiting weapon amongst young Indonesians and that would not be good for Australia.
JOURNALIST:
Whilst he was indeed talking about a particular operation, the whole situation there though, with violence at an all time high, and 10 US soldiers killed in one day recently, you must admit that to the layman the whole situation seems to be getting out of hand?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it is very difficult but is that of itself a reason why we should withdraw? That is the question for people in my position and it's the question that everybody has to ask themselves. And what would be the implications of a withdrawal? Of course the situation is difficult and it's especially difficult at the present time. We are in, it's the beginning of, or partially into Ramadan, and let's also bear in mind that there is a Congressional election taking place in the United States and it's not beyond the calculation and the capacity of the terrorists in Iraq to turn up the level of violence to put as much pressure on the Administration and to create the maximum focus on Iraq in the lead up to that election.
Now I'm not saying that's the sole explanation, but we can focus on day-to-day incidents, and they are difficult, but we still have to come back to the question of whether we should alter course. Now the Labor Party in Australia says we should just go, and my reply to that is well if it's alright for us to go, why isn't it alright for the Americans and the British to go? And everyone is aware that if they go, and they have the largest forces, the Americans 140,000, the British, what, seven or eight, then it's game over and the terrorists win.
JOURNALIST:
The Opposition have also claimed that you've changed your approach, Prime Minister, by saying you'll withdraw the troops when it's relatively stable. They say you've shifted the goal posts.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well that is ridiculous. The problem with these debates, Ross, is that you do so many interviews, everything you say is over-analysed and because the sequence of words is arranged differently from one interview to the next, people start saying, well you've changed your position. Look our fundamental position has not altered. We think the time to go is when the Iraqis are capable of providing an appropriate level of security. The form of democracy in Iraq is a matter for the Iraqis, the relationship between the different regions of Iraq is a matter for the Iraqis.
But our fundamental position has not altered. It's difficult and it doesn't mean that you don't, from time to time, fine-tune your tactics or your approach. And that's... the American approach over the last two or three years has not been precisely the same, although the general direction has been rock solid. I think we have to stop over-analysing every sentence that is uttered and realise that there is a clear choice at the present time. It's whether you persevere in the belief that the terrorists can be suppressed, or you just accept they're going to win, and go.
JOURNALIST:
Are we closer to a timetable though Prime Minister?
PRIME MINISTER:
You don't establish a timetable, you establish conditions. You only sensibly talk about withdrawing from something like this by relating the time of the withdrawal to the achievement of certain conditions. The most foolish thing in the world is to say we're going to leave by such and such a date, irrespective of what the state of the country is.
JOURNALIST:
Well the Iraqi Oil Minister was in Australia yesterday, as you're aware, and he's talking about maybe by the end of 2007?
PRIME MINISTER:
He was talking in a very general fashion but he's entitled to express whatever view he chooses. But the most important view he expressed yesterday was that if the international forces were to go now, which is Labor policy, that would be a victory for the terrorists.
JOURNALIST:
The training of the local Iraqi forces will be instrumental in the establishment of a relatively secure situation in Iraq, which will enable some withdrawal of some of the troops at least, but the training of local people there, how is that progressing?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well it is getting better, the numbers are growing. Part of the job that our 450 troops in the southern part of Iraq have at the present time is exactly that, that's part of their job, and it's a very important part of their job. And if we are to leave behind a stable situation, if we are to give the Iraqis a chance of having a secure and democratic future, we must train an army and a police force. Now it's a very tenacious battle at the present time, there is a lot at stake.
I mean, people should understand that if the terrorists win in Iraq then that has enormous ramifications throughout the Middle East and every terrorist organisation in South East Asia will point to it and say we drove the Americans and British and others out of Iraq, we are the wave of the future in Islam, therefore you should join up. That is the sort of argument they'd use.
JOURNALIST:
So in summary you would say no early withdrawal of the troops, you're there for the long haul?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well certainly I'm not naming any dates; I repeat what I've said before that we go when we can leave behind a reasonably secure and stable situation.
JOURNALIST:
Not much news out of North Korea over the last couple of days Mr Howard, things have gone reasonably quiet there. Any signs of a second test taking place as was reported three or four days ago?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't have any particular indication but I would not be surprised in the least if there were another test. The first test, although now confirmed to have been a nuclear test, was not a very big one, but any nuclear test is a nuclear test and it's dangerous and it's a huge worry that a country like North Korea possesses nuclear weapons because North Korea is an outlaw state and it's a state apart and quite different from any of the other countries that possess nuclear weapons. But I would imagine that there will be another test. Dealing with the issue is quite challenging. We've secured a resolution and clearly the Americans are consulting the other members of the Security Council that supported the resolution in the hope of achieving a consensus on the way in which it's implemented but it's quite a difficult situation.
JOURNALIST:
Are you talking with Mr Bush and other world leaders about this on a constant basis?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I had a discussion with Mr Bush about it last week and I will see him again at the APEC meeting in about a month's time in Vietnam and I will then have a very good opportunity to talk about that and also obviously about Iraq and a range of other issues.
JOURNALIST:
Prime Minister thanks for joining us this morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you.
[ends]