With Allies Like These . . .

US sabotaged Australian wheat deal in Iraq
Richard Baker
November 25, 2006

"THE United States intervened to sabotage a huge wheat contract agreed upon by AWB and Iraq during a series of secret meetings in Cairo last year, less than two years after Australia joined America to topple Saddam Hussein."

Could it be that the Howard government's commitment to military deployment in Iraq has had less to do with backing the Bush Administration and more to do with protecting Australia's economic interests in the region? Still, it doesn't appear to have bought OZ much in the way of access.