Australia's upper house of parliament passed a symbolic vote of no confidence in Prime Minister John Howard on Wednesday for his handling of Iraq, illustrating the deep divide in Australia over joining any war.
Howard has come under attack for sending troops and approving fighter jet deployments to join U.S. and British forces in the Gulf preparing for a possible war on Iraq before the United Nations process has run its course.
Opposition and minor parties, who hold the balance of power in the 76-seat Senate, joined forces to pass the upper house's first vote of no confidence in a government or leader in its 102- year history. It was a political gesture with no legal clout, Reuters.
Leader of the left-leaning Australian Greens, Senator Bob Brown, said the Senate's motion, passed by 33 votes to 31, marked a "historic condemnation of the government". "This is a historic vote by the Senate, albeit on party lines as such motions always are," Brown told reporters.
"John Howard has let this nation down. His gross mishandling of Australia's involvement deserved the strongest parliamentary rebuke."
On his part, Howard said Australia is supplying its own secret intelligence on Iraq's weapons stockpile to the United States, The Herald Sun reported.
The information will be used Wednesday by US Secretary of State Colin Powell in his bid to expose evidence of Baghdad's illegal weapons and al-Qaeda links. Howard confirmed Australia's intelligence role as he claimed direct knowledge of Iraq's plans to build a nuclear weapons arsenal.
Using his strongest language yet, Howard warned Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein was ready to use banned weapons in the Middle East. "The Australian Government knows that Iraq still has chemical and biological weapons, and that Iraq wants to develop nuclear weapons," he said.
"We share the view of many that, unless checked, Iraq could even without outside help develop nuclear weapons in about five years." (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
