Staying the course: Howard rolled Defence plan to cut Iraq presence

John Howard’s department rolled plans by the Defence Department in late 2003 to slash Australia’s troop numbers in Iraq and deploy some of them to help train a new Afghan army, previously secret cabinet documents reveal.

He also urged cabinet’s national security committee to put more personnel into training the Iraq army and navy, deploy an “explosive ordnance disposal team” and send 18 troops to Afghanistan to help train its armed forces. But PM&C pushed back against any notion of reducing Australian troop numbers in Iraq while rejecting the idea of putting more people into Afghanistan.

“In the case of Afghanistan, and in addition to security considerations, US, UK and New Zealand forces are already providing training assistance,” it said.Almost three years later, Australia would sharply increase its commitment to Afghanistan, sending troops to Uruzgan province. In 2008, it would use Australian troops to mentor and train elements of the Afghan army.

He continued: “The stakes are high for the US in Iraq, and there is an expectation that we will carry through in a responsible manner the commitments we have made. “We are not coming under significant pressure to do more,” Downer said, arguing that any additional deployments be focused on key Australian objectives such as agricultural rehabilitation and the return of Iraqis.In the Howard government’s decision to take part in the Iraq invasion, a key issue was the belief that Saddam held weapons of mass destruction.

“This will be at a time when the allied coalition faces significant challenges in Iraq and the Australian government and coalition objectives which underpin Operation Catalyst have not yet been achieved,” it said.

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