Coalition of the dwindling

[46zilzal]

Australia Says Southern Iraq Mission Complete, Troops to Leave

By Gemma Daley

Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Australian troops in southern Iraq have completed their mission and will begin returning home in the middle of the year, the military said today.

``We have achieved our objectives in southern Iraq,'' Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, the head of the Australian Defence Force, told a parliamentary committee hearing in Canberra. ``It's time for us to leave.''

Australia has about 1,500 soldiers in Iraq serving with U.S.-led coalition forces trying to quell an insurgency and sectarian violence.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's Labor Party, which won office in November after 11 years in opposition, pledged during the election campaign to negotiate a staged withdrawal of Australian combat troops from Iraq with the U.S. About 550 soldiers will begin withdrawing from southern Iraq by the middle of this year, according to the Australian defense department.

Rudd's predecessor John Howard was one of President George W. Bush's closest allies and had refused to set a timetable for the withdrawal of Australian troops.

[skate]

wars over babe


welcome home

[xtb]

I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance.

[Tom]

I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night.

[Secretariat]

wars over babe


welcome home

Really. Great, let's bring the troops home then. I've not heard our Commander in Chief say that, or was that the Mission Accomplished speech on the carrier, or Cheney's we're in the last throwes or our greeting as liberators. What a joke. Unfortunately, to all the servicemen over there on their fifth tours of duty, it's just not funny.

[ljb]

This is not a war it is an occupation. We have to provide security for the King of Saudi Arabia.

[PaceAdvantage]

It's not a war. It's the strategic placement of US troops in a corner of the world where they have been needed for a very long time....it's also a thorn in the side of Iran and Syria. It's the first step in what should have been a very effective, dare I say brilliant campaign, that was of course watered down by politics and liberal appeasement.

[ljb]

Not to worry PA, this mornings news tells of more turkeys have invaded Iraq. :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Tom]

Al Sayr just extended the cease fire another 6 months.
Where' s that civil war we kept hearing about?
Did it make a perp walk outta here with Rove?:lol::lol::lol:

[skate]

Really. Great, let's bring the troops home then. I've not heard our Commander in Chief say that, or was that the Mission Accomplished speech on the carrier, or Cheney's we're in the last throwes or our greeting as liberators. What a joke. Unfortunately, to all the servicemen over there on their fifth tours of duty, it's just not funny.

Just fine withn me, bring em home from Japan, S Korea, Germany, Kosovo.

Uncle George is the only one to do so, S Korea is on schedule and now Iraq is on Schedule to bring em home.

[46zilzal]

It's not a war. It's the strategic placement of US troops in a corner of the world where they have been needed for a very long time....it's also a thorn in the side of Iran and Syria. It's the first step in what should have been a very effective, dare I say brilliant campaign, that was of course watered down by politics and liberal appeasement.
of course....continue to poke one's nose into a situation that has NOTHING to do with the west except for OIL,which belongs to them, not the west.

[JustRalph]

of course....continue to poke one's nose into a situation that has NOTHING to do with the west except for OIL,which belongs to them, not the west.


It belongs to whomever has the biggest gun.........and the will to use it..... :lol:

[ljb]

It belongs to whomever has the biggest gun.........and the will to use it..... :lol:
This is a sad state of affairs.

[Tom]

No, ljb, it is just that they are the top 1-2% rich people in the world, and so we feel that we are entitled to drink thier milkshake!:lol: