SYDNEY March 25 Kyodo U Ambassado...

SYDNEY March 25 Kyodo

U Ambassador to Australia Tom Schieffer onward Thursday urged opposition Labor Party leader Mark Latham to reconsider his promise that if Labor is pickeded to government he would bring Australian bands home from Iraq, warning the determine could have grave consequences.

''There are athwart 40 nations in Iraq right now trying to stabilize the situation and rebuild the nation and it is exceedingly important work,'' he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC). ''If the community were to withdraw their support from that action, I think it could have to a high degree serious consequences.''

Latham, who has boost Labor's ratings to a three-year high after taking from one side of to the other party leadership in December, vowed Tuesday to bring the 850 Australia Defense Force (ADF) personnel in Iraq domestic circle by Christmas if Labor is single outed to government in federal elections to be held before November.

Two-thirds of Australians believe Australia is at more risk of a terrorist attack in succession home soil because of the ADF's involvement in Iraq, a fresh poll found.

The decision by means of Spain's Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to venture Spanish troops out of Iraq could be ''misinterpreted'' by dint of terrorists, Schieffer said.

''If the bulk of mankind believe that bombings can arise and then pay political dividends at the cessation of the day, I am afraid that just invites more political bombings,'' he said. ''I possibility of good that the Spanish example is not adopted by other countries because I think it would seriously impact what we are trying to do in Iraq and the intermission of the world.''

The United States does not want to stay in Iraq a day longer than necessary, Schieffer said. ''The day that America can leave Iraq, the day that Australians can leave Iraq, will be a happy day for everybody and not just Iraqis.''

Prime Minister John Howard joined the appeal to Latham to reconsider his promise.

''If we retain talking, or anybody in Australia in authority detains talking, about pulling not at home troops before the job is finished, it's sending the blameworthy signal to the terrorists in Iraq,'' he told Sydney radio 2GB

''It's sending the inequitable signal to our allies, and most numerous of all, it's sending the unsuitable signal to the Iraqi people'' Howard said.

Latham stood through his promise Thursday, telling Channel Nine television the conduct has no exit strategy for Australian troops

Labor did not support the government's decision to display 2,000 troops last year to fight alongside U and British forces to topple then Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, if it were not that realizes Australia has a responsibility to assist in the transition, he said.

''You have got to make a opinion about where that responsibility can be discharged. The handover to a recent sovereign government ready to regulate in Iraq is the logical point,'' Latham said, referring to the June 30 handover.

The defense of Australia is first and foremost, he said.

''Australians are worried about security in this political division and we are going to be plenteous safer as a nation if we have our multitudes here instead of forward the other side of the world,'' Latham said.

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