Jonah

Australian forces will be leaving Iraq as a priority of the new Australian government. As each government that committed troops to the invasion is defeated, with that commitment a large part of the reasons for their defeat, the disgraced 'coalition of the willing' falls apart.

Except in England; not because the pulling down of the elected Prime Minister was not justified, by the usurpers of power, on the grounds of Blair's support for the United States' Iraq war, for it was a major part of their claim that they represented the true Labour majority. But because, despite these claims, their Leader has lost the courage, and the opportunity, to withdraw Britain's army.

Over 5000 British troops encamped outside Basra airport have been doing nothing in recent months but be ready to defend themselves from attack. Southern Iraq is not just wholly beyond their control, it is wholly out of bounds. After politically imposed, dangerous delay for weeks, under US order, the British troops besieged in the city of Basra were allowed to join the main force at the airport.

The improper accession to power by Brown and his regime was not accompanied by the decision to withdraw the army; it was accompanied by a dishonest pretence that troops who had already left Iraq would be leaving in time for Christmas, and that further numbers would be withdrawn who were never there at all.

No courage; not the courage to risk US disapproval fully faced up to by Mr Zapatero and Mr Prodi as they were democratically chosen for office to replace Aznar and Berlusconi; not the courage of Poland's prime minister, Mr Tusk, as he orders the return of the Polish soldiers and rejects missiles on Polish soil. Not the courage of the Danish government, and certainly not the courage of the French and the German governments who refused to invade at all.

And yet, for all the falsity of the flags under which Brown seized power, for all the pretence that he was doing something to meet the demands of Labour voters who had abandoned their party because of Iraq, for all the fearful refusal to withdraw British troops or even allow the relocation of those 500 in such terrible exposure when he had the political strength and opportunity to do so at the beginning of the summer, any of which is utterly distasteful, the Leader is on worse terms with America than are Spain, Italy, Poland, and Denmark, than are France, Germany and, doubtless, Australia.

Brown's persistent and consistent contempt and underfunding for the armed forces of the United Kingdom over the decade of his Chancellorship has not just been exposed in these last days, but has been exposed as having led directly to the detriment of the armed forces' effectiveness in Iraq and Afghanistan; which has led, in turn, to the public deriding of Britain's role in southern Iraq by American generals.

And the speeches, remarks and displayed attitudes offered by Douglas Alexander and 'Lord' Malloch-Brown towards the United Kingdom's major ally have grossly disturbed the UK's relations with the US.

The new Australian government will withdraw its troops safely, and safeguard its relations with the United States. The United Kingdom's troops remain transfixed outside of Basra, and relations with the United States are at an abysmal low.

Jonah does not begin to cover it.