Australia's new leader said yesterday that he would pull his country's combat troops out of Iraq by mid-next year -- setting a timetable for the withdrawal he has promised.
The move is likely to disappoint the US government, which counted Australia as one of its few staunch allies in the unpopular war in Iraq until Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd was swept to victory in elections last Saturday.
The prime minister-elect said yesterday he would move quickly to keep his election promise of bringing Australia's 550 frontline troops home from Iraq.
"The combat force in Iraq we would have home by around about the middle of next year," Rudd told a radio station in the southern city of Melbourne.
The new government plans to leave several hundred other Australian forces in and around Iraq in non-fighting roles such as guarding diplomats. Australia also has about 1,000 troops in Afghanistan, a deployment Rudd supports and has no plans to reduce.
US President George W. Bush was the first foreign leader to phone Rudd to congratulate him on his election victory, and the Australian leader said he would visit Washington early next year, with Iraq certain to be at the top of the agenda.
Rudd said yesterday that his government had not begun discussions with US officials about the withdrawal plan, and that a meeting with US Ambassador Robert McCallum would be arranged soon.
Earlier this week, McCallum said US officials looked forward to talking the plan over, and noted that it did not mean all Australian troops would be leaving Iraq.
"It's a situation ... where Australia is determining how it's going to reposition its forces, how it's going to deploy its resources in a new and different way, and we are looking forward to working with Mr Rudd in achieving it," McCallum told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio.
Outgoing conservative Prime Minister John Howard sent 2,000 troops to support the US and British forces that invaded Iraq in 2003, and about 1,600 remain in and around the country.
Howard, who had close personal ties with Bush and was a staunch ally in the war on terror, had refused to set any timetable for pulling out the troops.
He said terrorists worldwide would be emboldened if they left, or if the US-led forces were defeated in Iraq.
Rudd says the Iraq deployment has made Australia more of a target for terrorism.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of