PM toed the line on US request to expel Iraqi envoys
'Australia is the ONLY country to have acted on a confidential Bush Administration request for the expulsion of 300 Iraqi diplomats worldwide on suspicion of spying. The White House had approached 60 countries last week, just days before the Howard Government ordered the expulsion of an Iraqi official. The Federal Government acted immediately against Helal Ibrahim Aaref, an attache at Iraq's embassy in Canberra, giving him five days to leave.'

'Germany and several other countries refused the US overture, saying that the information provided on the diplomats was too vague and did not justify any expulsions. These countries claimed that the move was part of a US plan to disrupt Baghdad's intelligence network in the days before a military invasion of Iraq.'

PM toed the line on US request to expel Iraqi envoys
'Australia is the ONLY country to have acted on a confidential Bush Administration request for the expulsion of 300 Iraqi diplomats worldwide on suspicion of spying. The White House had approached 60 countries last week, just days before the Howard Government ordered the expulsion of an Iraqi official. The Federal Government acted immediately against Helal Ibrahim Aaref, an attache at Iraq's embassy in Canberra, giving him five days to leave.'

'Germany and several other countries refused the US overture, saying that the information provided on the diplomats was too vague and did not justify any expulsions. These countries claimed that the move was part of a US plan to disrupt Baghdad's intelligence network in the days before a military invasion of Iraq.'