Sydney, Oct 15 (IANS/EFE) Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott Wednesday said he is waiting for legal guarantees in order to deploy some 200 soldiers of the special forces in Iraq as a part of the campaign against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.
"We owe it to our special forces to only deploy them with the right legal protections," said Abbott, who admitted that the process of putting those protections in place was taking "a little longer than we would have liked" but was quick to add that it would be finished in the next few days.
The pre-deployed Australian soldiers have been in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for nearly a month now waiting for a go-ahead to assist and train the Iraqi ground forces in contrast to the Australian fighters that began conducting airstrikes early this month.
Abbott said that his government wanted "the same kind of legal basis as the Americans and we think that's fair and reasonable".
Australian media has reported that Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jafari is opposed to the presence of foreign military forces and the setting up of foreign military bases in the country.
Abbott, however, insisted that the special forces will play an "advise-and-assist" role and not enter into combat.
"We are not proposing independent combat operations by Australia or other coalition forces," said Abbott, adding that "it is about helping the people of Iraq to reclaim their country".
Australia participated in the invasion of Iraq in 2003 as part of the multinational force led by the US to overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussain who they accused of possessing biological weapons and the capacity to manufacture nuclear bombs.
--IANS/EFE
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