Australian combat troops to leave Iraq by mid-2008: Rudd

MELBOURNE, NOV 30 (Agencies): Australian combat troops will be pulled out of Iraq by the middle of next year, Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd said today, spelling out a timetable for keeping his campaign promise and marking a shift in his country's policy.

Rudd, who swept to victory in last Saturday's elections ousting Conservative Prime Minister John Howard, a staunch supporter of the US-led war in Iraq, said he would meet US Ambassador Robert McCallum soon for discussions on the precise timing of the withdrawal.

The Labour Party leader, who will be sworn in on Monday, had promised to pull out the 550 battle troops from southern Iraq if elected but said he would leave behind some Australian soldiers, including those providing security at its Embassy in Baghdad.

"The combat force in Iraq we would have home by around about the middle of next year," Rudd told a local radio channel here.

"We've not begun our discussions with the United States on that.

We'll have a meeting with the United States ambassador before too long to set up the appropriate processes for discussing that," he said.

Bush had earlier warned that withdrawing from Iraq would encourage militants opposing his "war on terror".

Rudd, who had made Iraq a key campaign issue, has sought to allay fears the withdrawal will hurt Australia-US ties and said he would visit Washington early next year.