Do the ALP now want to help Iraq?

CONTINGENCY plans are being prepared for an abrupt end to Australia’s military presence in Iraq within a fortnight unless a new legal accord can be hammered out by December 3. I think the article is a bit of a beat-up as Staff Officers will prevail and it’s odds on that a new legal accord will be hammered out by 31 December but this line caught my eye

“The expiration of the UN mandate means that we need to find an alternative legal basis to be in Iraq and to continue in our efforts to provide a long-term future for the Iraqi people,” Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon told The Australian last night.

Joel…Joel, how can you say that. The ALP has had a stated aim of not supporting any sort of effort to provide a long-term future for the Iraqi people. Remember? Iraq was your idea of a “bad war” as different, for some inexplicable reason, from the “good war” in Afghanistan. On gaining the keys to the treasury bench you immediately withdrew those in the ADF helping Iraqis in their long-term future ideals leaving a few HQ guys and a security detachment at the Embassy. I could be wrong though, maybe the ALP has changed its policy – I just haven’t seen it written anywhere and in light of that I can only assume Joel is bullshitting.