Australia PM eyes Iraq pullout
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — Australia’s prime minister-elect said Friday he would pull his country’s combat troops out of Iraq by mid-2008, setting a timetable for the withdrawal he had promised.
The move is likely to disappoint the U.S. government, which has counted Australia as among few staunch allies in the unpopular war in Iraq.
Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd’s victory ended more than 11 years of conservative rule under John Howard, who had strong personal ties with U.S. President George W. Bush.
The combat force in Iraq we would have home by around about the middle of next year, Rudd was quoted by Australian Associated Press as telling a radio interviewer in Melbourne.
Rudd went to the polls with a policy of withdrawing Australia’s 550 combat forces in Iraq, while leaving several hundred support troops. E-mail to a friend
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