Poland sets pullout from Iraq in 2005
Judy Dempsey/IHT Monday, October 4, 2004
Minister's revelation surprises Warsaw
BERLIN In a surprise announcement, Poland said Monday that it would withdraw its troops from Iraq by the end of 2005, leaving the U.S.-led multinational forces the task of finding replacements to fill a crucial security role in south-central Iraq.
Jerzy Szmajdzinski, Poland's defense minister, said in an interview with the daily Gazeta Wyborcza that the withdrawal of the 2,500 troops should coincide "with the expiry of United Nations Resolution 1546 of the Security Council." ...
Other NATO officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Monday that the Polish announcement *s*howed that groupings like the so-called coalition of the willing in Iraq could not be sustained.
Opposition parties in Australia have pledged to withdraw Australian troops from Iraq if they win elections next week.
Szmajdzinski's announcement is likely to win wide support among a population increasingly critical of Poland's involvement. Nowak said that more than 80 percent of Poles now wanted the troops brought home. Seventeen Poles have died in Iraq.