Tacoma SDS

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Dozens of U.S. troops in Iraq fell sick at bases using "unmonitored and potentially unsafe" water supplied by the military and a contractor once owned by Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, the Pentagon's internal watchdog says.

North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan has led Democratic inquiries into contracting abuses in Iraq.

SYDNEY (AFP) — Australian prime minister-elect Kevin Rudd said Friday he would pull the country's 550 combat troops out of Iraq by the middle of next year, marking a significant shift in Canberra's role in the conflict.

Rudd was elected in a landslide on Saturday that ousted veteran conservative prime minister John Howard, a staunch supporter of the US-led war in Iraq and a friend of US President George W. Bush.