Bush heckled in Australia

Heckled inside and outside Australia's parliament, President George W. Bush yesterday defended the invasion of Iraq during a symbolic visit to thank Australia for its staunch support in the war on terror.

Bush, wrapping up a six-nation Asian tour focused on security and trade, said the allies who had fought alongside each other in two world wars and Vietnam had a "special responsibility throughout the Pacific" to help keep peace.

He told a special joint sitting of parliament in Canberra the war in Iraq was justified, but "with decisive victories behind us, we still have decisive days ahead".

"Security in the Asia-Pacific region will always depend on the willingness of nations to take responsibility for their neighbourhood, as Australia is doing," Bush told parliament.

Australia has recently sent a peacekeeping force to the Solomon Islands to restore law and order.

But his tagging of Australia as a regional "sheriff" and staunch defence of the Iraq war angered left-leaning Green politicians whose heckling twice stopped the president's speech.

"We are not a sheriff," shouted Greens leader Bob Brown who ignored an order to leave the house.

The heckling did not rattle Mr Bush, who is on his first trip to Australia. The last US president to visit Australia was Bill Clinton in 1996 - who was also heckled by Brown.

"I love free speech," quipped Mr Bush, to cheers from the house, having been warned he could face politicians' protests.

But following Mr Bush's speech, the parliament voted to suspend Brown and his Greens colleague Kerry Nettle from parliament for 24 hours, which will bar them today when Chinese President Hu Jintao addresses parliament during a three-day state visit.

The 18-year-old son of Mamdouh Habib, one of two Australians held at a US military prison in Cuba for two years without charge after the Afghan invasion, was dragged out, arms pinned behind his back, after yelling: "Hey Bush, what about my Dad?"

Mr Howard did raise the issue of Habib and fellow detainee David Hicks with Bush and was assured they were being properly cared for and would be dealt with according to US rules and regulations.

Five protesters were arrested in scuffles with police outside the hilltop parliament as a crowd of up to 2,000 chanted anti-US slogans and waved banners reading: "Yankee Go Home".

But the protest was largely peaceful with the crowd failing to reach an expected 5,000 and well short of the 200,000 that joined an anti-war protest in the city of Sydney in February.

"It was generally a very well-behaved protest with just a few scuffles," said Australian Federal Police spokesman Sandy Logan.

Australia was one of the first nations to commit troops to Iraq, sending 2,000 military personnel to the Gulf, and has been an active partner in the US-led war on terror, sending troops to Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US.

It has cranked up security nationwide since the Bali bombings with about 1,000 police and security specialists on duty in Canberra yesterday to guard Bush and his 650-person entourage.