MORE than eight years after Australian special forces infiltrated the deserts of western Iraq at the start of what was to prove a brutal, bitter and divisive conflict, the very last diggers have withdrawn.

That occurred on August 6 with the departure of 17 Aussie troops responsible for providing security at the Australian embassy in Baghdad.

The only reason this did not pass entirely without notice was that Defence Minister Stephen Smith mentioned it at a media conference called to outline proposed reforms to the defence organisation.

"I do think it is an important point to make for the record," Mr Smith said today.

He said it was no secret that Labor had opposed Australian involvement in Iraq, campaigning on that issue in the 2007 election campaign and then overseeing withdrawal of the last Australian combat troops from the country's south in mid-2008.

But he said it had been important for the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to continue providing security for Australian diplomats.

From 150 soldiers equipped with ASLAV armoured vehicles, the size of the force, known as SECDET (security detachment, has progressively been reduced in line with the improving security situation.

The final group of 17 troops, equipped with armoured Land Cruisers, have now handed over to contracted civilian security guards and headed home.

Mr Smith said that was essentially the norm for security of other embassies in Baghdad.

"I have made it crystal clear on any number of occasions that I have seen our involvement and the international community's involvement in Iraq as a distraction from Afghanistan," he said.

Australia's war in Iraq cost billions of dollars but only a few lives - Private Jake Kovco, killed in Baghdad in circumstances which remain unclear, and Warrant Officer David Nary, killed while training in Kuwait - plus others serving as private security contractors and guards while serving with other nations.

Despite Labor's longstanding opposition, Mr Smith acknowledged that involvement in Iraq had produced some benefits for Australia.

He said a decade of land war in Iraq and Afghanistan had seen Australia working very closely with the US.

"We have seen a much stronger relationship so far as special forces are concerned and a much stronger relationship so far as intelligence has been concerned," he said.

Mr Smith said senior Australian defence personnel had worked closely for a decade at a senior level with US, NATO and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) personnel.

"That has also left a singularly good impression," he said.

"A combination of those things has seen in my view our standing in ISAF never stronger, our standing with NATO never stronger and the practical cooperation between Australia and the US putting the alliance relationship ...into the best position historically it's been."