Friday, July 4, 2003
First Polish troops leaving for Iraq
Associated Press Warsaw (Poland), July 2
About 250 Polish soldiers were heading to Iraq on Wednesday, the first major group to prepare the ground for Poland to command an international force in one of the post-war zones being set up to stabilize and rebuild the country. The United States invited Poland to run one of the three sectors in Iraq, a central part wedged between US and British zones, after Warsaw strongly backed Washington's hard line on terrorism and contributed some 200 troops to the military campaign to oust Saddam Hussein.
Prime Minister Leszek Miller was to send the first batch of soldiers, a logistics unit and an advance team of officers, officially on their way at a ceremony in the western city of Wroclaw later Wednesday.
The troops, flown by US transport planes, are to land in Kuwait and then move to Iraq by land, officials said.
The Polish-led stabilization force, to be operational by September, will consist of more than 9,000 troops from at least 15 nations.
Beyond underscoring Poland's crucial partnership with Washington, the mission is a sign of recognition for Poland's efforts to modernize its military - part of the NATO alliance since 1999 - and a peacekeeping tradition dating back decades.
However, Poland has said it can only foot about one-third of the bill and is looking to its allies to pay for the rest. Officials have said that one brigade will be based around a Polish force of 2,300 soldiers, backed by smaller European contingents that include units from Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Lithuania.
A second brigade will have 1,700 Ukrainians and the third 1,100 Spanish troops and units from Honduras, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador. The force will operate in a central zone including the cities of Karbala and Nassiriyah.
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