Cheney visits an Australia roiled by Guantánamo, Iraq

Prime Minister Howard has been a steadfast US backer, but his opinion poll rating took a hit ahead of Cheney's arrival.

from the February 22, 2007 edition

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There is broad public support for Canberra's decision to deploy troops to Afghanistan, and residual sympathy for the horror Americans experienced on 9/11.

"I think Australians take a relatively sophisticated view of the relationship – they separate their feelings for the current incumbent with their attitude toward the alliance in general," says Mr. Fullilove.

Last week, the government agreed to host a ground station for a US military satellite communications system on a remote stretch of desert coastline in Western Australia. There was barely a murmur of dissent, and the base is likely to be built without controversy.

"Even if Australians dislike the present administration, they support the alliance," says Gerard Henderson, executive director of the conservative Sydney Institute think tank.

With its small population, isolation, vast coastline, and position on the edge of Asia, Australia has always looked to a more powerful guarantor. First it was the British Empire and then, after 1942 and the fall of Singapore, the US.

But tough questions are now being asked about the government's apparently unconditional support for the Bush administration.

"We think it is time for Howard to say enough's enough to the man who more than anyone is responsible for creating the Iraq disaster on the basis of distorted intelligence and inflated dreams of remaking the Middle East," declared The Sydney Morning Herald in an editorial Thursday.

There will be a protest Friday outside the five-star Shangri-La Hotel, where Cheney will give a speech on US-Australian relations.

On Saturday he will hold talks with Howard on the Bush administration's decision to send a new "surge" of 21,000 combat troops to Iraq.

Cheney will also meet the new leader of the opposition Labor party, Kevin Rudd, who has pledged to withdraw Australia's 550 combat forces from Iraq should he win the next federal election, expected later this year. Another 900 sailors, airmen, and diplomatic protection detachments would remain in the region.

With criticism of the Iraq war mounting, Cheney may be grateful to get out of Washington for a few days. He arrived in Japan Tuesday for a quick visit to thank the country for contributing troops to both Iraq and Afghanistan, and was due to stop by the US Pacific Island of Guam on his way to Australia.

But his reception in Australia may provide scant comfort. "Cheney is unpopular here. He's perceived as a rather dour and private man," says Mr. Henderson. "And of course he's associated with Bush, who's never been popular here .... I doubt whether John Howard phoned up Cheney and said 'Now is a great time for you to visit.' But Howard is tribal – he stands by his mates."

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