Rudd Makes Unannounced Visit To Baghdad

Australian troops are based mainly in Iraq´s more peaceful Shi´ite Muslim south, where they help maintain security and train Iraqi forces.

New Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who plans to withdraw about 550 combat troops from Iraq by mid-2008, made an unannounced visit to Baghdad on Friday, Iraqi officials said.

Australia was one of the first countries to commit troops to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, but Rudd, who swept aside 11 years of conservative rule in a national election on Nov. 24, campaigned on a promise to bring frontline forces home.

Australian troops are based mainly in Iraq's more peaceful Shi'ite Muslim south, where they help maintain security and train Iraqi forces. Australia has about 1,500 troops in and around Iraq.

Rudd held talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in his office but it was not immediately clear what they discussed, one of the Iraqi officials said.

Rudd's predecessor, John Howard, boosted relations with the United States with strong support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, prompting the media to describe him as Bush's "deputy sheriff" in the region. Rudd has said he wants Australia to retain its close U.S. ties.

While Australia is planning to withdrawing its troops, it is keen to regain its role as a major wheat supplier to Iraq, one of the world's biggest importers. Iraq last year switched to buying most of its wheat from the United States.

Iraq agreed with Australia in October to resume wheat sales by mid-2008 after suspending dealings with the Australian Wheat Board (AWB) in February 2006 as an Australian judicial inquiry began probing allegations that the AWB paid $222 million to Saddam Hussein's government in kickbacks.