Footnote to the footnote to the footnote

New Zealand has said it will withdraw the country's small contingent of 60 military engineers from Iraq in September, while leaving open the possibility of finding other ways "of helping Iraq to return to full sovereignty."

Meanwhile, the leader of the Labor Party in Australia, Mark Latham, who hopes his party will replace the conservative coalition of John Howard in elections late this year, has pledged in that event to end Australia's involvement in Iraq by Christmas.

"If Labor had been in government in Australia we wouldn't have had troops in Iraq in the first place," he said.

Thanks to Counterspin for the link.