Fed: Labor urges withdrawal from Iraq to pressure al-Maliki

AAP General News (Australia)
02-18-2007
Fed: Labor urges withdrawal from Iraq to pressure al-Maliki

CANBERRA, Feb 18 AAP - The Iraqi government must be put under the pressure of a staged
withdrawal of coalition troops, Labor says.

Labor has been advocating a staged withdrawal in heated debates with Prime Minister
John Howard who said the plan would lead to catastrophe in Iraq.

But Labor's foreign affairs spokesman Robert McClelland says Iraq is already a catastrophe
and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki must be put under pressure to rein in sectarian warlords.

"You're most likely to get a solution if you bring pressure to bear on the Iraqi government,"

Mr McClelland told ABC TV.

"The reasoning behind the phased withdrawal ... is to say at this point we will be
pulling out of this area, we will expect you, with those troops you have trained, to come
in and take responsibility for that area.

"It's quite frankly saying to the Iraqi administration: `look, you take charge or you
lose power' and that is the only thing that is going to shake them out of what has been
quite frankly a disgraceful effort to try and bring security to their people."

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KEYWORD: IRAQ AUST LABOR

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