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US/Australia Relations High Now Relations high- security alliance Michael Fullilove, Lowey Fellow Foreign Policy, 4-4-08, Originally in Sydney Morning Herald, Brookings, http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2008/0404_australia_fullilove.as px, Junaid It is unhealthy for an alliance to be tied too tightly to the fortunes of particular leaders. Indeed, there is good evidence that, with its embrace of the Bush Administration, the Howard government was loving the alliance to death. In the three years since 2005 in which the Lowy Institute has conducted its annual poll, the percentage of respondents rating the alliance as "very important" to Australia's security has declined from 45 per cent to 36 per cent. The dualism of Australians' attitudes to Washington showed up in the 2006 poll, in which 70 per cent of respondents thought the alliance was either "very important" or "fairly important" to Australia's security, but 69 per cent believed we were taking too much notice of the US in our foreign policy. If the intimacy of the Howard-Bush relationship undercut the alliance in Australians' eyes, it also hurt us in some Washington constituencies. A case in point was Howard's claim last year that al-Qaeda would be praying for a Democratic victory, which drew this deadly response from Barack Obama: "I would suggest that he calls up another 20,000 Australians and sends them to fight in Iraq, otherwise it's just a bunch of empty rhetoric." Here was a leading contender for the presidency making light of a dangerous deployment we had undertaken largely for alliance management reasons, and implying we were not living up to our full responsibilities - the opposite of the view we like to encourage.

Both countries committed to long-term alliance- similar foreign policy Paul Dibb, Staff Writer, Strategic Forum, Aug 05, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0QZY/is_/ai_n15947846m, Junaid Australia is America's oldest friend and ally in the Asia-Pacific region and second closest ally in the world. However, there currently is a debate in Australia about what the United States expects from the alliance and the nature of American power. Australia's self-reliant defense posture in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific contributes to mutual security. That posture is strengthened by the U.S. security guarantee and access to U.S. intelligence, defense science, weapons, and military logistics support. The alliance also enhances Australia's status in world affairs, especially in Asia. Australia will remain a committed U.S. ally for the foreseeable future. Canberra and Washington share views on fighting the war on terror, dealing with the spread of weapons of mass destruction, supporting democracy, and preventing the emergence of failed states. However, the challenges Australia faces in its own neighborhood have first priority. Maintaining support for the alliance will also rest upon Washington's success in convincing the Australian public that U.S. policies are both necessary and legitimate and that Australia's contributions to mutual security are not taken for granted.

Despite recent events, relations remain high NYT, New York Times, 2-24-08, Posted on Star News Online, http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20080224/NEWS/802240372/1/xml, Junaid

Canberra, Australia | Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and top Australian officials insisted on Saturday that the security alliance between the United States and Australia has not frayed despite Australia's recent pledge to remove all combat forces from Iraq Australia's new prime minister, Kevin Rudd, announced late last year that the country's 550 combat troops in Iraq would leave by mid-2008. But Gates and his Australian hosts accentuated the positive, talking about policy matters on which the two countries agree.