Re: Howard and the war

[Philip Ferguson <plf13@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Tom worte:
> Australia is somewhere in between. The Conservative
> government is in a dominating position in domestic politics and will not be
> seriously threatend by a war-related scandal.


Tom, on the news here last night it mentioned that Howard was riding a
wave of support, coming off the war and had decided to stay on as
Liberal Party leader.

Given the huge size of the antiwar demos in Australia in February -
around one in 19 or one in 20 Aussies taking to the streets - I found it
rather odd that Howard's popularity had increased.  On the other hand,
the relatively quick nature of the conventional war and the lack of mass
civilian casualties, may mean he has been able to strengthen his
position.  Is this what has happened?

What do you think the public response in Australia is likely to be to
the continuing inability of the 'Allies' to find any WMDs?  Will Howard
be able to ride this out?  Is the Australian government under any
serious political pressure about the non-appearance of WMDs?

Cheers,
Phil