Australia troops withdraw, former PM comes under fire

The withdrawal of Australian combat troops from Iraq is coinciding with a push to have the man responsible for the country's participation in the "coalition of the willing," former prime minister John Howard, indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes. "Our soldiers have worked tirelessly to ensure that local people in southern Iraq have the best possible chance to move on from their suffering under Saddam's regime and as a government we are extremely proud of their service," said Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon in a statement on June 2, the same day that he announced the end of Australia's combat mission. Roughly 550 troops are currently in the process of being "extracted" from Iraq, where they had undertaken security operations and the training of Iraqi army personnel in the provinces of Al Muthanna and Dhi Qar since 2005. The withdrawal -- which is not expected to have major implications for Australia-US ties -- fulfills "a key election promise" of the governing Labor Party, according to Fitzgibbon. Labor opposed the Mar. 2003 invasion while in opposition. With some 800 Australian Defense Force (ADF) personnel to remain in and around Iraq -- at sea, at coalition headquarters, and as the security detachment to Australia's embassy in Baghdad -- questions have been raised regarding what actually constitutes a withdrawal. While the opposition coalition has said that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd government's claim of a withdrawal of combat forces is "pure spin," Robert Marr, from the Medical Association for Prevention of War (MAPW), argues that the pullout has not gone far enough. "It is only a part-withdrawal. We're calling on the Australian government to set a firm timetable for the withdrawal of all of the rest of the Australian troops, except those guarding the embassy, from Iraq," says Marr. He told IPS that Australia's decision to be a part of the coalition of countries that invaded Iraq in 2003 -- performed under the auspices of former leader John Howard -- is "the worst foreign policy mistake Australia has ever made." "Australia owes an enormous debt to Iraq for the disaster and destruction that we have been part of and we owe Iraq enormous compensation in terms of health facilities," says Marr. In February, ADF chief Angus Houston estimated that the financial cost of Australia's involvement in Iraq -- with aid and reconstruction efforts to be stepped-up following the current troop withdrawal -- would top two billion Australian dollars by 2010. However, the cost of the coalition's invasion in lives is far greater, although exact numbers remain a highly contentious issue. Iraq Body Count -- which maintains and updates a public database of violent civilian deaths during and since the 2003 invasion -- has documented that between 84,000 and 93,000 Iraqi civilians who have died from violence. A 2006 study -- conducted by Iraqi physicians and epidemiologists from Johns Hopkins University in the US -- estimated that more than 655,000 Iraqis had died. About 601,000 were thought to have died from violence, with the rest from disease and other causes. In a recent interview with the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, John Howard acknowledged that the cost of the war has "been very, very heavy." But he insisted that the invasion of Iraq -- described in 2004 by then- Secretary General of the UN, Kofi Annan, as illegal and "not in conformity with the U.N. Charter -- was the right action to take. Howard said that the call to join the US-led coalition "was very much my decision." He said that the major influencing factor was Australia's alliance with the US. Other factors, according to Howard, include being in Washington on the day of the Sept.11 attacks, as well as his concern regarding "what terrorism represented." Marr says that by giving such credence to Australia's alliance with the US, Howard was subjecting Australian troops and Iraqi civilians to life-threatening situations. "He's been a willing participant in causing severe loss of life in Iraq," Marr told IPS. Comments from former high-ranking Howard government officials have also revealed that the government was well versed on the likelihood of the Middle East becoming further destabilized by an invasion. But more than five years on, it is Howard -- awarded the nation's highest honor earlier this month when he was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) -- who appears to be under attack. An organization called ICCACTION -- described by its director and founder, Glenn Floyd, as "a group of people who simply were outraged at the attack on Iraq" -- submitted a detailed brief of evidence to the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno-Ocampo, on June 13. The ICCACTION brief alleges that Howard committed war crimes under Article 8 of the Rome Statute -- the treaty that led to the 2002 establishment of the ICC. There are currently 106 signatories, including Australia and Britain, to the Rome Statute. The US is among those countries that do not recognize the ICC's jurisdiction. Floyd told IPS that as a result of the 1991 war, Iraq was an economically and militarily ruined country. "After the huge Desert Storm operation its army was ruined, its economy was ruined, all of its sewerage and services were busted. And then it underwent 12 years of economic sanctions," he says. Floyd argues that the invasion was excessive as Iraq was unable to defend itself and did not have the capacity to protect its citizens. The invasion was "a vile war crime in our belief," he says. While it remains to be seen whether Moreno-Ocampo will decide that an investigation into the grounds for the indictment of Howard is warranted, indications are that it is a possibility. Last year, the chief prosecutor said that he could envisage Howard's cohorts - - former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and current US president George W. Bush -- one-day facing charges at the ICC. But Floyd has his doubts. "It's a long journey with the International Criminal Court, even with the most heinous of criminals. And this indeed is a heinous crime," he says.