Australian Troops Begin Iraq Withdrawal.

Australian Troops Begin Iraq Withdrawal.

www.news.com.au

AUSTRALIAN troops have begun arriving home from Iraq, signalling an end to the nation's combat mission in the war-torn country and fulfilling an election promise made by Kevin Rudd.

The first of about 500 soldiers from the Overwatch Battle Group (West) 4 and Australia's Army Training Team reportedly touched down in Brisbane late this afternoon.

The soldiers had been stationed at Tallil air base, 300km south of Baghdad, and were responsible for providing security training for Iraqi forces.

(visit the link for the full news article)

I'm glad to read this is starting to happen. The opinion polls state that 80% of Aussies don't agree with the Iraq War.

Imagine if governments listened to the people who elected them???

www.news.com.au
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by tezzajw


Tezzajw... yes it sounds very good.. But do you remember John Howard and his pal's promising the same thing? Only thing we really ever got was maybe a handful of them poor soldiers back.

As long as Australia follows in the footsteps of the U.S, I think we will be there for a long time. They keep making promises only to break them.. Sounds too familiar to too many Aussies and Americans.

If America were to pull out tomorrow, Australia would surely be the second to pull out.. We are the 3rd biggest presence in Afghanistan and Iraq after Britain.

What do you reckon Tezzajw.. is this another empty promise? Or do you think it actually carries some weight this time? I don't know what to think anymore... It all seems like a movie gone all wrong.

Good on Austrailia.


In Iraq the Austrailian special forces got the real crappy end of the stick, low tasking, rubbish jobs and were looked down on by the Yanks.

In Afghanistan, the Aussie SF are excelling and in high demand, but again are getting piffed off with American 'can't do this, can't do that' nagging 24 /7.

Same for UK SF. SBS are getting sick and tired and have many times repeatedly asked to be set free and not have to have an American chain of command.

The classic example is the Osama bin laden escaped when he was trapped by the SAS / SBS team who KNEW where he was. American command in Tampa wouldn't let them operate on their own to go catch him.

Far as i'm concerned the Americans don't deserve allies at all, and the Iraq war should never of been started.

I don't understand. S.A.S are one of the most finest and well trained forces in the world.. Yet they have to take orders... hahah what a joke mate.

Originally posted by MASH_DADDY
What do you reckon Tezzajw.. is this another empty promise?

Of course it is an empty promise. We still have war ships in the region... useless. Totally useless. Our war-pig leaders need a fight to justify spending money on the armed forces. They'll never truly back down from war.

Those warships should be patrolling AUSTRALIAN territorial waters, not sailing half way around the friggin' world!