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A Newspoll survey this week found 68 percent of respondents now believe it was not worth sending Australian troops to Iraq, and only 30 percent agreed with the government's view that they should remain "as long as necessary." More than a quarter of people interviewed wanted the soldiers brought home immediately.

Christian Science Monitor, 2/22

If the United States invaded Mars, Australia would send a battalion along to guard the supply depot.

Gwynne Dyer, The Jordan Times, 2/17

Prime Minister John Howard yesterday indicated between 50 and 70 extra military instructors would be sent to train the Iraqi army and police to deal with growing sectarian violence.

Australia now has about 900 military personnel in Iraq, including about 30 Australian trainers.

The Herald-Sun, 2/21

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney arrives in Australia on Thursday to thank one of Washington's staunchest supporters of the increasingly unpopular Iraq war -- an ally that has become a rarity by offering more, not fewer, troops for Iraq.

CNN 2/22

Centre-left Labour opposition leader Kevin Rudd, who will meet Cheney on Friday, has an 8-point lead in opinion polls on the back of a promise to withdraw Australia's 520-strong battle group from southern Iraq if he wins power.

"This war in Iraq represents the single greatest failure of Australian national security policy since Vietnam," Rudd said late on Wednesday.

Independent online 2/22