The coalition of the dwindling...He does say they'll be a presence in Iraq, but as for the actual troops...

(h/t Scarce) ABC.au

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But he also says Mr Rudd wanted to send strong messages both to the Australian people and the United States. "To the Australian electorate, he wanted to go to Iraq and say that the troops that he had promised would come out by the middle of next year, will come out," he said.

"He's also sending a very important message particularly to the United States - also to Baghdad - that although some of our troops, they will be coming home in the middle of the year, something like 1,000 Australian military personnel will stay in and around Iraq to support the US coalition. "In the end there's a lot of continuity here.