Australia's PM attacks decision to join Iraq War

Australia's prime minister, Kevin Rudd, slammed his predecessor John Howard, accusing him of misleading the public and abusing intelligence information to justify the invasion of Iraq. Rudd said his country must learn from the errors of Howard, who sent 2,000 troops to support US and British forces in the 2003 invasion. "We must learn from Australia's experience in the lead-up to going to war with Iraq and not repeat the same mistakes in the future," Rudd said to Australia's parliament. "Of most concern to this government was the manner in which the decision to go to war was made: the abuse of intelligence information, a failure to disclose to the Australian people the qualified nature of that intelligence." "Have further terrorist attacks been prevented? No, they have not been. Has any evidence of a link between WMD and the former Iraqi regime and terrorists been found? No. Have the actions of rogue states like Iraq been moderated? No. After five years has the humanitarian crisis in Iraq been removed? No, it has not." Rudd said. Howard has denied misleading the Australian public, and Washington rejected Rudd's charges of abusing intelligence information, which he made as he announced the end of Australian troops' combat role in Iraq. Rudd also accused Howard of taking the country to war "without full assessment of the consequences." In the run up to the 2003 invasion, Howard argued that Saddam Hussein had to be toppled to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction and terrorism. The weapons were not discovered and no links were ever established between Saddam and al-Qaida or other terror networks. The withdrawal of Australian combat troops from Iraq, following an election promise made by the new Labor government, has reopened a bitter debate among Australian politicians on the decision to go to war. The opposition leader Brendan Nelson reminded Rudd that in 2002, when the prime minister was the opposition foreign affairs spokesman, he said there had been "a significant threat of weapon of mass destruction from Iraq."