The Aussies Are Owt!

They are set to leave Iraq.

Australia's top military commander said on Wednesday the job of the country's combat soldiers in southern Iraq was done, bolstering a government decision to bring them home mid-year.

Ahead of weekend talks in Canberra with U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on the planned withdrawal of 550 soldiers, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said Iraqi forces had not needed Australian backup for two years now.

"The situation on the ground in Al Muthanna and Dhi Qar (provinces), the Iraqis are taking care of business," Houston told a hearing before Australia's upper house Senate.

"The conditions on the ground have been established whereby we can leave them to it and, because we have influenced their training, we are very confident in their ability to handle the circumstances in those two provinces. The job is done."

Australia, a close U.S. ally, has around 1,000 troops in and around Iraq, and was an original member of the U.S.-led coalition which invaded the country in 2003 to oust Saddam Hussein.