Senator Obama’s call for a withdrawal of U.S. troops was quickly attacked by Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

John Howard: “If I were running al-Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008 and pray as many times as possible for a victory not only for Obama but also for Democrats.”

On Sunday, Senator Obama responded.

Sen. Obama: “Mr. Howard may have quibbles with our intelligence estimates; maybe he has better ones. I would also note that we have close to 140,000 troops on the ground now, and my understanding is that Mr. Howard has deployed 1,400. So if he’s ginned up and wants to fight the good fight in Iraq, I would suggest that he calls up another 20,000 Australians and sends them to Iraq.”