John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is directed to Senator Coonan, the Minister representing the Minister for Foreign Affairs. I refer the minister to General David Petraeus’s Iraq report to the US congress overnight, in which he stated that he had ‘recommended a drawdown of the surge forces from Iraq’ and indicated that ‘force reductions will continue beyond the pre-surge levels of brigade combat teams that we will reach by mid-July 2008’. Given that the US administration is now working on plans to withdraw its forces and that the United Kingdom has clear-cut plans to reduce its forces in southern Iraq, why is the Australian government refusing to plan for any withdrawal? Why is Australia the only country that does not have a withdrawal strategy for its troops in Iraq?