New Australian government will bring troops home by Christmas

With elections due later this year and the Labor Opposition now well ahead in the polls, the man most likely to suceed as Australian Prime Minister says he will bring Australia's small force (about 800 troops) back from Iraq:

"'If a federal election is held this year, say the election was in September and there was a change of government, we would be hoping to have [the troops] back by Christmas, certainly,' Mr Latham said yesterday."

Sadly, the incumbent Howard Government, like the US, has not condemned Israel's killing of Sheik Yassin. It still insists that such a pro-US stance does not increase our chances of another terror strike.