Oceania ok australians can you explain this to me

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,21210389-5006301,00.html

is your PM kind of ignorant of us seppos or just under the spell of Bush.

cause we went into this war thinking it was going to be short and cheap. well thats not the case and we are a little upset at our current president. people kinda want the war to end like the vietnam war did back in the seventies. We dont like Bush, well only about 30 percent of people do and I suspect that is in Texas and in the halls of haliburton.

anyway, can you tell your pm whats good for us might be good for him as well. no war, less dying, no more worries about money going to waste or terrorists on your soil. He seems to think outside the box instead of inside of it.

Now if I really wanted to be bad I could assume all of you like your pm and support whole heartedly what he says and does like the world seems to think we do. Much to the chagrin of us blue staters. but I wont.

Our politicians have been brown nosing the US ever since Curtin hooked up the trailer to the US during the second world war (quite rightly at the time too) because England abandoned us to the "yellow peril".

Australia has looked to the US for our security. Whilst not a satellite state like Israel, we're like a little puppy dog who wants to please his owner.

if thats the case please send us your beautiful women.

we dont get enough of your women.

we just get all the canadian ones.

ohhhh they dont shave.

That comes as a little bit of a shock, to be honest. I don't agree with his politics usually, but he's proven himself to be an intelligent man, so why he'd trot out a tired "if we withdraw the terrorists win!!11!" line is beyond me. Surely he's not letting his politics cloud his judgement?

He's absolutely right that setting a date to withdrawl is a bad thing. Even strategically.

That doesn't stop the intellectual left from blowing it out of all proportion, of course.

But beezel, you guys int he US have been sticking your noses in other people's affairs since 1945, so you can hardly complain if someone does it back to you. Any resentment you may have about this is broadly called "empathy".

E_S

And unlike America, we CAN disagree with the PM and not be labelled Un-Australian.

I think this whole thing is a load of hot air and the only one it IS benefiting is OBama. Why? People are mentioning his name.

My main question is why everyone seems to be avoiding what IMHO is the VERY obvious:

1. Obama is NOT a US Presidential candidate
2. The Presidential election is NEXT NOVEMBER, so it's unlikely that he'll be able to do anything in March.

And yes, I am a West Wing fan

It is the first time I have liked John Howard.

You're right, Katana, it is hot air and that's why the media having a bias isn't a good thing (yay for the Economist!), because they've a reasonable sentiment about avoiding putting a date on withdrawl and made it into something it's not.

E_S

While I agree with Howard's general sentiment, I think it was uncharacteristically clumsy to attack the entire Democratic Party. Clinton 2.0, at least, is hawkish enough to want a decent outcome from Iraq.

Also, I don't know what the fuss is about Obama. So far his 'electrifying' speeches sound extremely hollow and vacuous. All this talk about 'uniting America' and whatever. Who cares? All anyone wants to know is specific actions you will take about specific problems.

It's pretty obvious it will be between Hussein and Clinton 2.0 for the Dems nomination. I think Clinton has the evil streak required to take him out, and (I can't believe I'm actually going to type this) I think Hillary would make a (the pain!!) half-decent President.

Now I need to go and have a lie down.

Fair call ender! Empathy indeed

Putting a date on withdrawl is like saying to a young child "Okay, you'll enter puberty at 10 years old okay" you just cant put a date on it, but it must happen nonetheless, even if it requires a "Vietnamisation" of the war.

As for Howard saying that AQ is "praying for a Democratic win"....that was probably ill advised of him to say. For a start I don't think that AQ is discriminating too hard between Americans who support their presence and those who don't.

And gosh heck CCD! LOL, I don't think she'd be terrible either as pres either to be honest

I'm praying for a democratic win, but then that's just me

And Saddam Hussein is running for President? Isn't that a bit hard since he's dead?