KEY POINTS:
Australian Prime Minister John Howard has warned the Iraqi Government that unless it makes faster progress towards resolving the country's political differences, it faces the prospect of Australian and other Western troops withdrawing.
In a letter to his Iraqi counterpart Nouri al-Maliki, Howard urged the Iraqi Government to speed the sharing of oil wealth among all Iraqis, including the minority Sunnis, the Weekend Australian newspaper reported.
Howard warned that if Iraqis failed to make progress, public support for Australia's military deployment to Iraq may not be sustainable.
The clear implication in Howard's letter, which was sent last week, was that US public support would also falter without substantial political progress in Iraq, the paper said.
But yesterday, Howard said his letter did not signal a policy shift on Australia's commitment to the war.
"I was speaking plainly as a friend, saying more progress should be made," he said. "I'm not threatening a withdrawal, I'm simply saying that Iraq has to make more progress in internal reconciliation."
But the Australian said the letter displayed Howard's deep and growing frustration with the Maliki government, which has suspended sittings of the Iraqi Parliament for this month.
With the Australian federal election looming, it showed Howard was under real political pressure on Iraq for the first time, the paper said.
In the letter, Howard told Maliki that "prompt, concrete measures are needed not only to secure Iraq's future, but also to ensure regional stability and continued constructive international engagement".
Howard demanded that the Iraqi Government used the opportunity provided by the US troop surge to take specific and speedy action.
He reaffirmed his Government's stand on the military deployment to Iraq, saying: "Our military commitment [is based] not on a timetable but on security conditions and capabilities of the Iraqi security forces."
Howard expressed sympathy and understanding for the enormity of the task Maliki faced.
But the paper said the implied threat was clear: unless the Iraqi Government could move to political reconciliation soon, Western leaders would not be able to hold sufficient support at home to continue their commitments to Iraq.
