MELBOURNE, Jun 18 (IPS) - The withdrawal of Australian combat troops from Iraq is coinciding with a push to have the man responsible for the country’s participation in the "coalition of the willing", former prime minister John Howard, indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes.
"Our soldiers have worked tirelessly to ensure that local people in southern Iraq have the best possible chance to move on from their suffering under Saddam’s regime and as a government we are extremely proud of their service," said Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon in a statement on Jun. 2, the same day that he announced the end of Australia’s combat mission.
Roughly 550 troops are currently in the process of being "extracted" from Iraq, where they had undertaken security operations and the training of Iraqi army personnel in the provinces of Al Muthanna and Dhi Qar since 2005.
The withdrawal -- which is not expected to have major implications for Australia-U.S. ties -- fulfils "a key election promise" of the governing Labour Party, according to Fitzgibbon. Labour opposed the Mar. 2003 invasion while in opposition.
With some 800 Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel to remain in and around Iraq -- at sea, at coalition headquarters, and as the security detachment to Australia’s embassy in Baghdad -- questions have been raised regarding what actually constitutes a withdrawal.
While the opposition coalition has said that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd government’s claim of a withdrawal of combat forces is "pure spin", Robert Marr, from the Medical Association for Prevention of War (MAPW), argues that the pullout has not gone far enough.
"It is only a part-withdrawal. We’re calling on the Australian government to set a firm timetable for the withdrawal of all of the rest of the Australian troops, except those guarding the embassy, from Iraq," says Marr.
He told IPS that Australia’s decision to be a part of the coalition of countries that invaded Iraq in 2003 -- performed under the auspices of former leader John Howard -- is "the worst foreign policy mistake Australia has ever made."
"Australia owes an enormous debt to Iraq for the disaster and destruction that we have been part of and we owe Iraq enormous compensation in terms of health facilities," says Marr.
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