Federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley says the latest troop rotation to Iraq should be the last. A spokesman for the Iraqi Prime Minister says Australian troops stationed in the south of the country could withdraw because the al Muthanna province is now one of the safest in the country.
Mr Beazley has told Southern Cross Radio that Defence Minister Senator Robert Hill should outline an exit strategy at a meeting with the United States Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in Adelaide today. "When this particular engagement comes to a conclusion and it seems it pretty well has, we are out of Iraq except for those troops who are protecting Australian diplomats," he said.
"Now we need to be clear-cut with the Americans on this - if we fiddle and footle about with this, we'll create far more offence with them than if we're clear-cut with them right now."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200511/s1509844.htm