Latham uses spy brief to defuse attack.

(From Canberra Times)

Labor Leader Mark Latham was accused yesterday of inventing intelligence briefings to back his policy of withdrawing troops from Iraq as the Coalition launched a strong attack on his integrity.

However, Mr Latham hit back with an extraordinary disclosure on the contents of a confidential briefing by the head of a spy agency, Ron Bonighton, about Australia's position on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. ''I wish there was a record of interview giving word for word what Mr Bonighton said about the Government's record on weapons of mass destruction, what he actually said about the Government's failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq,'' Mr Latham told Parliament.''I walked away from that briefing knowing and understanding the Government's policy in Iraq was a fiasco, an absolute fiasco. I concluded that the faster Australia could get out of Iraq the better.'' In the heated slanging match, Mr Latham referred to the Prime Minister as the ''little chap''.

''It is always sad to see a politician at the end of his career thrashing around for an issue,'' Mr Latham said.

Labor frontbencher Julia Gillard suggested the top brass in the Defence Force had written untruthful statements to help the Government attack the ...