Australia backs Bush plan for Iraq ...but would contribute no more forces of its own.

Moral Support ... Yippy Skippy

SYDNEY, Australia -- Australia, one of Washington's staunchest allies in the Iraq war, backed President George W. Bush's plan to send more troops but would contribute no more forces of its own, Prime Minister John Howard said on Thursday.

"An American or Western defeat in Iraq will be an unbelievable boost to terrorism and if America is defeated in Iraq it is hard to see how the longer-term fight against terrorism can be won," he told reporters in Sydney, describing Australia's current level of about 1,400 troops in and around Iraq as "appropriate".