Latham tries to mend fences with U.S.

Latham tries to mend fences with U.S.

AUSTRALIA: Australia's outspoken new opposition leader, Mark
Latham, met on Thursday with the U.S. ambassador in a bid to mend
fences after branding President George W. Bush "incompetent and
dangerous".

Latham said he told Ambassador Tom Schieffer that Australia's
alliance with the United States was vital to the nation's
security but did not mean an automatic "rubber stamp" of approval
for all U.S. policies.

"For Labor, our alliance with the U.S. has never meant
compliance," he said.

"From time to time our interests will differ, as they did in
Iraq."

The Labor Party strongly opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq
and the decision by conservative Australian Prime Minister John
Howard to join the war.

At the height of debate over the conflict, Latham said Bush
was "the most incompetent and dangerous U.S. president in living
memory". -- AFP