Australia Says It Stands by the US. Good on ya, mates. You make us proud.

SYDNEY, Australia - Australia’s foreign minister promised Tuesday that the government would not back away from its close alliance with the United States despite the terrorist bombing attacks on Spain, another member of the U.S.-led occupation force in Iraq.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer urged Spain’s new prime minister not to pull its 1,300 troops from Iraq, as he has promised to do unless the United Nations takes over peacekeeping by June 30.

“It is enormously important that the international community send a strong message to al-Qaida,” Downer told reporters. “We will maintain our determination and our resolve to defeat terrorism, not to have our policies dictated by terrorists,” he added.