HO CHI MINH CITY - Prime Minister John Howard has suggested that if he ever has reservations about Australia's decision to go to war in Iraq, he'll keep them to himself.
Mr Howard's comments came on the last day of his visit to Vietnam, whose own war hasdrawn comparisons with that in Iraq.
Asked today if the Vietnam War had been a mistake, Mr Howard said: "I supported our involvement at the time and I don't intend to recant that."
"I believe that in public life that you are accountable for the decisions that you take.
"Nothing has altered my view that at the time on the assessments that were made then that I took that view (that it was right to go to war) and I took that view properly. "
Mr Howard then went on to take a swipe at leaders who change their minds about controversial decisions once they are no longer in power.
"I don't intend to indulge this preoccupation that many have in recanting everything they supported when they were in positions of power," Mr Howard said.
"The positions that I have taken in the time I have been prime minister, I have to live with the consequences of those both now and into the future.
"If I ever develop reservations, well, I would hope I would have the grace to keep it to myself because I think you take a position and you have to live by that and be judged by that."
Mr Howard yesterday made a pilgrimage to the site of the Battle of Long Tan, where he apologised for the mistakes of his predecessors in the way they treated Australian servicemen returning from Vietnam.
Australia lost 18 soldiers at Long Tan, its single biggest loss of life in Vietnam, after troops repelled a much bigger Viet Cong attack.
But officials refused to give the soldiers the recognition they deserved on their return -- refusing recommendations for some medals and downgrading others -- which leaves lingering resentment among Vietnam veterans to this day.
