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The intelligence scandal on the Iraqi war is squeezing US President George W. Bush and British premier Tony Blair but not Australian Prime Minister John Howard.
Howard is still on the top of his political career. The latest news poll released Tuesday showed that two out of three Australians think they have been misled over the war on Iraq but still support the prime minister.
The Australian government used information from the United States and the United Kingdom as a reason to send more than 2,000troops to the war toppling former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Howard alleged at the parliament in April that Iraq imported weapon-grade uranium from Niger and would develop weapons of mass destruction.
The information now has been discovered to be false in the two countries and both Bush and Blair have been under heavy political pressure. Bush's approval rating has reportedly slipped from 67percent in June to 50 percent while in London 59 percent of those polled by Daily Telegraph said their opinion of Blair had gone down and many even thought he should resign.
Comparing to the two leaders, Howard is more self-confident. As late as Sunday he still insisted that weapons of mass destruction would be found in Iraq in the end.
According to the latest news poll, Howard's Liberal-National Coalition had a 10-point lead over the opposition Labor by 45 to35 percent. On the question of who would make the better prime minister, Howard maintained a 40-point lead over Opposition leader Simon Crean by 59 to 19 percent.
Analysts pointed out Howard is fully aware of the so-called mainstream Australia, who do not mind what their leaders would do if he can guarantee their security and high life standards. Howard claimed he changed the previous governments' "Asian only" policy into "Asian first."
The relationship between Australia and the United States had never been so strong as today. As a national tradition, Australians used to have a strong brother or friend to live a calm life. It was the very national characteristic that pressed the Opposition to the corner and strengthen Howard's stance as a national hero.
They anticipated Howard would certainly win the next election at the end of the next year and become the second longest serving prime minister in the country's history.
(Xinhua News Agency July 22, 2003)
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