President George W. Bush has announced that 20,000 US combat troops will be withdrawn from Iraq, commencing this month.
Delivering a televised address from the White House, Bush made no mention of when the remaining American forces would be withdrawn.
The occupation force will still be larger than it was before the troop “surge” earlier this year.
Bush said that the role of the US troops would shift from patrolling Iraqi neighborhoods to providing support for Iraqi troops. The American force would turn its attention to hunting down Al Qaeda terrorists, he said.
In a wide-ranging address to the National Press Club in Canberra, McCallum was asked about Article 4 of the treaty which states that “each Party recognizes that an armed attack in the Pacific Area on any of the Parties would be dangerous to its own peace and safety and declares that it would act to meet the common danger in accordance with its constitutional processes.”