The Israelis should thank the Aussies for preventing Scud attacks during the war:

Australian troops fought the first battles of the Iraq war, killing and capturing Iraqi soldiers a day before US President George Bush declared the invasion had begun.

Penetration of Iraqi defences by Australian SAS teams in long-range Land Rovers and helicopter drops deep inside western Iraq sparked a week-long series of intense battles with Iraqi forces, Colonel John Mansell, Chief of Staff of Australia's Special Operations Forces, revealed yesterday.

The teams massed in the western Iraq desert, ambushing and confronting their pursuers, emerging unscathed after inflicting more than 100 casualties.

During that first week of fighting, the Australians "stirred up a hornet's nest", said Colonel Mansell, by destroying a radio relay station vital for the launch of Scud missiles against Israel, routing several heavily armed Iraqi convoys, destroying surface-to-air missile launchers and directing air strikes against a command and control centre.

By week's end the SAS had effectively neutralised enemy opposition across a large area of western Iraq, preventing any Scud attacks.

The Aussies and the Poles were a great asset in this campaign and don't get the recognition they truly deserve.