Iraq is not part of war on terror, says top UK diplomat

[babylonsister]

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,,2060793,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=1

Iraq is not part of war on terror, says top UK diplomat

Matthew Tempest and agencies
Thursday April 19, 2007
Guardian Unlimited


Former cabinet minister Helen Liddell sparked a diplomatic row today, as she rejected the idea that the Iraq invasion was part of the "war on terror" - despite being high commissioner to Australia, whose prime minister believes Iraq is the frontline of the war on terror.

Ms Liddell, who was Scottish secretary at the time of the invasion in 2003, went further, dismissing the term as a "tabloid slogan."

Potential embarrassment comes from the fact that Australia's rightwing PM, John Howard, has been one of George Bush's closest allies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mr Howard has said that Australian troops must stay in Iraq because it is a key front in the "war on terrorism".

Her comments were seized upon by Australia's opposition Labour party, which said that they exposed the "lies" of Mr Howard's Liberal-National coalition.

Ms Liddell said in a speech to the National Press Club in Canberra yesterday that the term "war on terror" was a "tabloid slogan".

"We have never seen Iraq as part of the war on terror," she said.

"Certainly we are engaged in a war on the streets in Iraq against terrorism, but our raison d'etre for our involvement in Iraq has not been about terrorism."

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[habitual]

1. i thought they weren't using that phrase anymore..????? n/t