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CANBERRA - Iraq continues to build as an election headache for Australian Prime Minister John Howard who yesterday said 70 more trainers will be sent to the war-torn country.
Opening himself to further attacks on a commitment that is now opposed by a solid majority of Australians, Mr Howard said that while no more combat troops were likely to be sent to the Gulf, more staff to train the new Iraqi Army would be dispatched.
He also indicated that, if needed, Canberra could increase its force in Afghanistan.
Australia already has 30 trainers in Iraq.
The commitment of a larger training commitment to Iraq came ahead of the arrival on Thursday of US Vice-President Dick Cheney, an event that would previously have elevated Mr Howard's stature as international statesman and protector of the US alliance.
But his national security ascendancy has been undercut by new Labor leader Kevin Rudd, who is an equally strong supporter of the alliance, is open to an increase in Australia's Afghan force, and who would only withdraw his nation's troops from Iraq after consultation with Washington.
Asked on Channel Nine's Today show if he expected Mr Cheney to seek more Diggers in the Gulf, Mr Howard said he did not expect any specific request as the number of combat troops.
"As far as Iraq is concerned, there is a case for a few more trainers because they're doing a very good job getting the Iraqi Army ready, and that's what everybody wants," he said.
His remarks follow last week's row over his condemnation of leading US Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama's commitment to a withdrawal of US troops from Iraq by March next year. The row overshadowed Mr Howard's visit to New Zealand and seriously eroded the Prime Minister's previously unassailable electoral lead on national security.
It also comes as both his personal standing and the Government's stocks continue to plummet ahead of this year's election.
A Morgan poll yesterday said the Prime Minister faced defeat in his previously blue-ribbon Sydney seat of Bennelong, and the latest Reuters poll trend reported the Government's biggest slump in support in six years at the start of an election year.
The trend poll, an analysis of the three main Australian opinion polls, gave Labor a 13.4 point lead in the two-party preferred vote.
