Mr Howard now admits the government's position has changed, but said that reflects the changing situation in Iraq.
The level of troop commitment in Iraq, apart from then Opposition leader Mark Latham's "rather foolish commitment" to bring Australian forces home by Christmas, was not a central issue in last year's election campaign, the prime minister said.
"I admit quite openly that we have changed our position," he told ABC radio in an interview recorded in Perth last night and broadcast this morning.
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"I'm not running away from the fact that I have previously said I did not contemplate a major increase and that was a fair statement of the government's state of mind at the time I made that.
"But in these situations a government must have a capacity, if circumstances alter, and it is judged to be not only in our own interest but also in the broader interests of democracy and the Middle East that we make those changes."