Troops home by June 28, says Defence

All of Australia's combat troops in southern Iraq will be home by the end of the month, the head of the Defence Force says.

Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston would not go into detail at a press conference today about the withdrawal but said the 500-strong force would be back in time for a planned welcome home parade.

"They'll all be out in the month of June. In fact they'll all be back in time for that welcome home on the 28th of June," Air Chief Marshal Houston said.

"In terms of the other equipment, that's a more prolonged operation, and I won't get into how we're going to do that.

"Suffice it to say, the extraction team will remain for some time into perhaps late July and maybe August and most of the activity will be in neighbouring countries.

"So you can probably work out yourself how we might do that. But I don't want to get into detail."

The welcome home parade will be held in Brisbane.

Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was expected to attend.

Mr Fitzgibbon said Australia's troop commitment in Iraq was unsustainable because the armed forces were overstretched, and now was the "right time" to bring them home.

"This is not some sort of populist move by the Government," he said.

"We have enormous concurrency issues, our troops are overstretched with commitments in East Timor, Afghanistan and Iraq, roughly half of our infantry and cavalry is somehow tied to those deployments.

The Overwatch Battle Group, together with the Australian army's training team in Iraq, ceased operations at their base at Talil in Dhi Qar province yesterday, honouring the Rudd Government's election pledge to end the 500-strong troop commitment this year.

About 300 Australian personnel will remain with the ADF's taskforce headquarters in Baghdad and the security detachment guarding the Australian embassy.

Another 500 personnel will also remain in the region.

Air Chief Marshal Houston said he was very happy with the success of Australia's deployment.

"Our soldiers have gone in there and done a magnificent job winning the hearts and minds of the people they've been associated with," he said.

Air Chief Marshal Houston said he felt no concern about pulling the troops out now.

"I think frankly in our part of Iraq, southern Iraq, the mission is complete," he said.

"Our mission was operational overwatch and training and we have finished that mission and I think we can hold our heads very high."

Mr Fitzgibbon said the Iraqi Government had knocked back an offer to bring police to Australia for training.

"We're certainly continuing the offer to train police here in Australia," he said.

"The Iraqi Government advises us that at this point in time they don't see efficacy in training outside the country. The ball is in their court."

Mr Fitzgibbon also defended the low-key announcement of the pullout, saying a higher profile event could have put troops' lives in danger.

Defence footage of the flag-lowering ceremony at Camp Terendak, at the US-run air base Tallil, was given to the media this morning.

"The date for the handover was agreed by the national security committee of the cabinet some months ago," Mr Fitzgibbon said.

"On the level of activity, I already made the point that this is a dangerous period for our troops. The extraction does involve risk for our troops."

Military Defense Forum
Join Us and Debate Military, Defense Issues Now!

Troops home by June 28, says Defence

Latest Reports