Australian : Iraq "Troops may be home soon "

[WearyOne2]

Troops 'may be home soon'
From: By Samantha Maiden and Dan Box
February 01, 2006

Surprise visit ... Mr Howard with Australian troops in Iraq. AUSTRALIAN soldiers serving in southern Iraq could be coming home as early as next month if Japan proceeds with plans to withdraw its force from the region.

New Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said yesterday the Government would look at pulling troops out of Iraq as soon as the Japanese contingent began its withdrawal.
However, the Federal Government stressed there was no official confirmation from Japan over troop movements and said any withdrawal would not necessarily involve all 450 Australian soldiers serving in the al-Muthanna region.

Australia's troops were deployed to guard the Japanese engineers, who are undertaking reconstruction work.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18001344-2,00.html

[MrPrax]

1. Sinking ship, perhaps...

Good time for both to leave since it looks like the US is changing their policy, but seem to have kept it quiet...

US shifts Iraq loyalties
By Gareth Porter/Asian Times

WASHINGTON - Two major revelations this past week show how far the administration of US President George W Bush has already shifted its policy toward realignment with Sunni forces to balance the influence of pro-Iranian Shi'ites in Iraq.

US Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad revealed in an interview with Washington Post columnist David Ignatius that he has put the future of military assistance to a Shi'ite-dominated government on the table in the high-stakes US effort to force Shi'ite party leaders to give up control over key security ministries.

Khalilzad told Ignatius that, unless the "security ministries" in the new Iraqi government were allocated to candidates who were "not regarded as sectarian", the United States would be forced to re-evaluate its assistance to the government.

"We are saying, if you choose the wrong candidates, that will affect US aid," Khalilzad said.

A Lot More Here

So basically the US came to the same conclusion as Saddam--democracy is really inconvenient to dictators.