Australia ends Iraq combat operations

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Australia ends Iraq combat operations

AP foreign, Sunday June 1 2008

By TANALEE SMITH

Associated Press Writer

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Australia, a staunch U.S. ally
and one of the first countries to commit troops to the
Iraq war five years ago, ended combat operations there
Sunday, a Defense Department official said.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was swept into office
in November largely on the promise that he would bring home
the country's 550 combat troops by the middle of 2008.

Rudd has said the Iraq deployment has made Australia more
of a target for terrorism.

The combat troops are expected to return home over the
next few weeks. Local media reports said the first of the
soldiers had already landed in Australia on Sunday afternoon.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/7554217

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Good for them. No more Australian soldiers will perish in the Middle East.

Wish we could say the same about American military people.

[tabasco]

2. Now let's observe and see if the "terrorists" follow the Aussies home.

That's Dick Cheney's theory.

I'm sure Australians will soon be wearing burqas and forced to worship Allah.

550 troops (less than one battalion) was just a token force anyway, which allowed AWOL to put them on the bogus "coalition" list.

[tom_paine]

3. The Bushies may well follow the Autsrralians home and practice "Venezuelan Policies" on the Aussies

designed to harm their economy and destabilize their leftist government.

Will the Bushies 9/11 Australia, like they did to us? Probably not. If they 9/11ed Australia, they might get caught, whereas once the Bushies controlled Ameriamn Law Enforcement, they knew with 99-100% certainty that it was not possible for them to be caught.

But yes, the Aussies should expect the Bushies to follow them home and try to hurt them and their country.

[starroute]

8. The US already overthrew one Australian government

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,913722,00.html

Nov. 24, 1975

In days when monarch ruled as well as reigned, sacking a Prime Minister was a well-exercised royal prerogative. Things are supposed to be different nowadays—at least within the British Commonwealth—but it did not seem so in Australia last week. There the personal representative of Queen Elizabeth II, Governor General Sir John Kerr, seemingly seized with the spirit of George III, fired Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, leader of the Labor Party, and installed Opposition Leader Malcolm Fraser as head of a caretaker government. Invoking constitutionally questionable powers never before exercised in Australia, the Governor General also dissolved Parliament and proclaimed new elections for Australia's House and Senate on Dec. 13. From one end of the continent to the other, the public was stunned—and Whitlam's Labor Party supporters were outraged. In Canberra, the federal capital, Kerr's action was being assailed as a "legal coup d'etat" that could trigger the most bitter election campaign in Australian history.


http://www.kelpiewilson.com/archive/kookaburra.htm

Gough Whitlam's government was elected in 1972, the first Labor government in 23 years. One of the first things Whitlam did was to pull Australia out of Vietnam. He also demanded more information about secretive US military installations in the outback, including a nuclear facility at a place called Pine Gap. The US grew concerned that Whitlam would close its bases in Australia, and launched what Pilger calls a "coup," that resulted in Whitlam's ouster in 1975.

Pilger does a meticulous job of documenting the details of the CIA's campaign against Whitlam. It's a chilling story involving letter bombs, ginned-up scandals, bought-off union leaders, opposition campaign slush funds and plenty of help from Rupert Murdoch's newspapers.

[Pyewacket]

15. Whitlam was no good

Whitlam made a terrible mess of the economy. The country was at the verge of collapse. What Kerr did was probably wrong, but the election result showed that the people no longer wanted the Labor government. The Liberal Party was elected with a huge majority. It wasn't as if the people of Australia had been happy with the Whitlam government. There had been a huge amount of dissent in preceding months over their mismanagement and corruption. Labor always stuffs up our economy, as the current Labor government will, no matter what good things they might do initially. We have to weigh up whether we want a healthy economy or certain foreign policies.

[Pyewacket]

14. 9/11

So do a lot of people in the U.S. believe that the government perpetrated 9/11?

[Pyewacket]

11. Terrorists

Unfortunately we have had some terrorist attempts here. You probably don't get this news in the U.S. but a group of terrorists are currently on trial for trying to blow up 90,000 people at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and also a nuclear power station and electricity grids.

[Andrushka]

13. "nuclear power plant"?

In Aus? News to me mate.

And what "attempt"? Thinking is not "attempting." Is that what they are saying on ACA? In any case, it's all based on very, very flimsy evidence indeed, if you are talking about those 12 men.

Oh yeah: us Aussies can do a "terra! terra! terra!" witch hunt as good as the Americans can!

[Pyewacket]

17. Nuclear reactor

A nuclear reactor then. I wouldn't know the difference. They were going to blow stuff up, anyway.
Did you know about the Bali bombing, where Australians were targeted in a terrorist attack a couple of years back?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200410/s1218724.htm

[USA_1]

4. Coalition of the Dwindling

... is getting smaller every day.

[ohio2007]

5. But they are leaving around 1,000 servicemen in Iraq according to the article

Several hundred other troops will remain in Iraq to act as security and headquarters liaisons and to guard diplomats. Australia will also leave behind two maritime surveillance aircraft and a warship to help patrol oil platforms in the Gulf.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/7554217



Fact is as the Iraqi's continue to stand up and take back control,
Oz remains 'committed'
;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UAvdCI9Z7Y

[tabasco]

6. LOL! Committred as long as there's no fightin' to be done!

Go screech your talking points elsewhere.

[ohio2007]

10. Just because the Iraqi's are taking back control of their country

ten months ahead of what you would hope to see happen is no reason to act like a sore loser hoping for another Tet offensive to pop up as an October suprise.


MOSUL, Iraq — The recent successes in quieting violence in Basra and Sadr City appear to be stretching to the long-rebellious Sunni Arab district here in Mosul, raising hopes that the Iraqi Army may soon have tenuous control over all three of Iraq’s major cities.
In this city, never subdued by the increase of American troops in Iraq last year, weekly figures on attacks are down by half since May 10, when the Iraqi military began intensified operations



http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/world/middleeast/01mosul.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1


The faster we can reduce our own combat units time in Iraq, the better off all sides will be.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23961982/

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/26/washington/26strategy.html

Supporting Iraqi troops means our US troops will come home at an accerlerated rate.

[nebula]

7. Just the beginning of a phased withdrawal

the token non-combat force will be gone by the end of the year or sooner.

[ohio2007]

9. And I suppose you can be quoted on that ?

Bet you didn't know Australian troops were deployed in Africa let alone Iraq.

LOL

[Pyewacket]

16. Sinai

I bet you didn't know some are in Sinai. And many other places. We hope to invade New Zealand soon. Damn them, they have had enough of their own way. Time to go get 'em.

[Pyewacket]

12. Soldiers home

It's good to have our soldiers home and not have to worry about them any more. But we still have quite a large contingent in Afghanistan. Also, a number of soldiers will be staying in Iraq allegedly to help rebuild the country. It seems Mr Rudd is not entirely keeping his promises.