Australian Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd said Friday that the
country's combat troops would be pulled out of Iraq by
mid-2008.
The combat force in Iraq would come home "by around about the
middle of next year," Rudd told Australia's Southern Cross
Broadcasting radio.
Rudd said he would meet U.S. Ambassador Robert McCallum soon to
set up discussions on precise timing.
"We've not begun our discussions with the United States on
that," Rudd said.
"We'll have a meeting with the United States ambassador before
too long to set up the appropriate processes for discussing that,"
he added.
Rudd, leader of the Australian Labor Party, swept to power at
elections last Saturday. He and his ministry will be sworn in next
Monday.
He had promised before last Saturday's federal election to
withdraw Australian combat troops from Iraq if the Labor party
won.
Australia, the strongest ally in the U.S.-led war on terror, has
about 1,600 troops in the Middle East, including 550 combat forces
in Iraq.
(Xinhua News Agency November 30, 2007)
