Murdoch is disassociating his papers from the war. Darryl Mason explains why:

Here’s a quick look at the Newspoll results per Hicks and Iraq :

62% of Australians Oppose John Howard’s “handling of the conflict”.

71% said the ‘War On Iraq’ will affect the way they vote.

56% don’t like how their government has treated David Hicks, and less than 3 out of 10 Australians now support Howard on this issue.

47% of Australians said that what happens to David Hicks will affect the way they vote in the elections.

Someone in John Howard’s office saw those numbers last night, sucked in their breath and muttered, “Oh, fuck…”