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A secret trip by Australian Prime Minister John Howard to war zones in Afghanistan and Iraq took a potentially deadly turn on Saturday when smoke filled the cabin of the RAAF C-130 Hercules in which he was travelling.
The emergency struck the aircraft - which also carried Defence
Force Chief Air Vice-Marshal Angus Houston and other officials - soon after take-off from Tallil in southern Iraq during a morale-raising visit to Australian troops in an increasingly unpopular war.
Minutes after the plane left Tallil for Baghdad, fumes and smoke came through the rear of the cabin, forcing Howard and his party to use oxygen masks as the pilot turned back and radioed that he might need assistance.
Smoke was pouring from the aircraft by the time it came to a halt on the runway.
Landing back in an area where Australians patrol against insurgents loyal to Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr, Howard was rushed off the aircraft protected by a squad of SAS troopers.
Howard and his party waited a tense 15 minutes until they could board a second Hercules to continue the flight to Baghdad, where Howard met Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.
"I'd rather be in the hands of the RAAF than anybody else in a situation like that. That's my view," Howard told ABC radio after the emergency.
Houston also praised the crew, saying: "I can't fault their actions.
"The evacuation was done very, very quickly and efficiently."
Howard's visits to Iraq and Afghanistan were kept secret to avoid attacks by insurgents, who consider Australia an invader and a target for reprisal.
In Afghanistan - where three Australian soldiers were injured in a rocket attack after Howard had left for Iraq - President Hamid Karzai sought an increased commitment from Canberra during talks with the Australian leader.
Australia has 550 engineers, special forces and other personnel in Afghanistan.
Howard is expected to now increase the number of troops there, and to extend the stay of the large Chinook helicopters.
In Iraq, Howard talked to Maliki and General David Petraeus, the commander of US forces in the country.
Both urged Howard to keep Australian forces in the country, despite mounting opposition at home and increased focus on the war as the country prepares for an election this year.
Although Labor intends to withdraw if it wins the election, Howard repeated assurances that while his Government was in power Australia would remain in Iraq until terrorism was no longer a threat to the elected government.
"No nation wants foreign soldiers on its soil indefinitely," he told Australian troops. "No nation wants to be in a foreign country indefinitely, but we have a job to do.
"We have a job to create a situation where the Iraqis can grab hold of a reasonably democratic future, and our mission is to create the situation where we see in the future an Iraq that can provide its own security, can provide its own governance infrastructure."
Although opposing the war, Labor's deputy leader, Julia Gillard, applauded Howard's visit to Iraq.
"When a Prime Minister has deployed troops and put them in harm's way, I think that comes with an obligation to keep in contact with the troops and keep their morale up," she said.
