Melbourne: Prime MinisterJohn Howard today said Australian troops wouldn't stay in Iraq fordecades but refused to divulge any timeframe for their withdrawal from thewar-ravaged country.

Howard said any early withdrawal of troops would be seen as a psychological anddiplomatic repudiation of the United States.

He said neither Australianor any other coalition member would want to stay on once the US withdraws its forces from Iraq.

Howard rejected the suggestion that Australian troops might be in Iraqfor decades to achieve the desired level of security.

"I wouldn't describe it as decades, but I am not going to try and put sometarget date," he said.

"I certainly believe that if the Americans decided to go, then I don'tthink any other members of the coalition would remain. But America is not about to go,"he said.

"Self-evidently Australiais not going to remain in Iraqon her own. Everybody knows that and it is just foolish to play the game thatit is otherwise" he said.

He said about 900 Australian military personnel are in Iraq and the strength of the troops wasappropriate considering Australia'ssize and other regional commitments, according to local TV report.

"We have been there from the beginning. And if we were to pull out, notonly would Iraq and thecoalition lose the value of Australia'scontribution but the diplomatic and psychological repudiation that wouldrepresent would be very significant," he said.

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