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Rudd faces criticism at home for saluting Bush
AP, CANBERRA
Saturday, Apr 05, 2008, Page 4
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd came under criticism at home yesterday over a playful salute he gave US President George W. Bush at a NATO summit, which critics said seemed to suggest Australian subservience to Washington.
Australian TV repeatedly broadcast videos of the gesture on Thursday on the sidelines of the Bucharest summit and speculated about what it meant, while opposition lawmakers said it belittled Australia.
Rudd said he was just being friendly toward a world leader whom he had met for the first time as prime minister a week earlier in Washington.
¡§It was just a joke,¡¨ Rudd told Australian reporters in Bucharest. ¡§I was just saying ¡¥hi¡¦ to the president of the United States ¡X I was just with him the other day.¡¨
Opposition leader Brendan Nelson described the salute as ¡§conduct unbecoming of an Australian prime minister.¡¨
¡§We are not the 51st state of the United States of America and Mr Rudd¡¦s salute carried a subservient connotation many Australians won¡¦t like,¡¨ said Bob Brown, leader of the minor opposition Greens party.
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