COURAGE

Howard not sorry for Iraq backflip (The Age, February 23rd, 2005)

Prime Minister John Howard defended his backflip on Australia's troop commitment to Iraq, but said he would not apologise for sending another 450 soldiers to the country.

Mr Howard has said the $300 million decision to send the troops to protect Japanese engineers and train local security forces for as long as a year would be unpopular and could put Australian lives in danger.[...]

"I admit quite openly that we have changed our position," he told ABC radio in an interview recorded in Perth last night and broadcast this morning.

"I'm not running away from the fact that I have previously said I did not contemplate a major increase and that was a fair statement of the government's state of mind at the time I made that.

"But in these situations a government must have a capacity, if circumstances alter, and it is judged to be not only in our own interest but also in the broader interests of democracy and the Middle East that we make those changes."