Australia is to send an extra 450 troops to Iraq to help protect a Japanese humanitarian mission in the south, Prime Minister John Howard said. Photo by WN
Australia is to send an extra 450 troops to Iraq to help protect a Japanese humanitarian mission in the south, Prime Minister John Howard said. The country will raise its commitment from 950 to 1,400 troops "because circumstances have changed" since Iraq's election three weeks ago, said Howard. Australia, an original member of US President George W Bush's "coalition of the willing" committed 2,000 troops to the 2003 invasion phase, reduced in the reconstruction phase to around 950.