Australia: Iraq withdrawal close

Source: alalam.ir, 19/20-02-2008
SYDNEY-Australian military chief said Wednesday that the country's troops in southern Iraq have completed their mission, clearing the way for them to return home mid-year.
Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said the pullout would likely have occurred even without a change in government late last year, when the center-left Labor Party was elected partly on a platform of withdrawing Australian troops.
Houston said Australian troops in Iraq's Al-Muthanna and Dhi Qar provinces had successfully handed responsibility for security to local forces almost two years ago and had not been called on to provide back-up in that period.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd vowed to withdraw Australia's 550-strong battle group from southern Iraq, before his win in November over his conservative predecessor John Howard, a staunch ally of US President George W. Bush.
Australia will still have about 1,000 military personnel in and around Iraq, including those working on Hercules and Orion aircraft based outside Iraq and a warship in the Persian Gulf.
A 110-strong security detachment in Baghdad is charged with protecting embassy staff and other officials.
Houston said it was likely to be some time before Iraqi forces could replace the warship, which guards Iraq's two offshore oil terminals.
"They still have a long way to go in that regard," he said.