CANBERRA, Nov. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Opposition Leader Mark Latham on Thursday congratulatedGeorge W. Bush on his re-election as US president.

    Howard phoned Bush on Thursday morning and they talked for 10 minutes.

    "I congratulated him on such a remarkable victory," Howard toldreporters in Sydney, Australia's largest city.

    "This is a strong reaffirmation of his (Bush's) leadership of the United States in its fight against world terrorism, it's a victory for the anti-terrorism cause," Howard said.

    After Howard won his fourth term as prime minister in Australia's federal election last month, Bush was among the first to congratulate Howard on his re-election.

    Australia, a staunch ally of the United States in the Iraq war,sent 2,000 troops to join the US-led coalition forces in the war last year and still maintains about 900 military personnel in and around the Middle-East country.

    Howard has insisted that the Australian troops will only withdraw until "the job is done."

    Also on Thursday morning, Latham congratulated Bush on his re-election.

    "The Australian Labor Party congratulates George W. Bush on hisre-election as president of the United States of America," Latham said in a statement.

    Latham said his Labor party looks forward to working with the Bush administration on the joint challenges they face.

    "Labor is strongly committed to the US-Australia alliance as a fundamental pillar of our foreign and international security policy," he said.

    Australian Acting Prime Minister John Anderson also congratulated Bush on his election win. Enditem