Poland to keep troops in Iraq, chides Spain

[Mistress Quickly]

REUTERS
7:51 a.m. March 15, 2004

TARNOW, Poland – Poland vowed Monday to keep troops in Iraq and warned Spain's incoming government that its plan to pull out could be seen as weakness in the face of terror after the Madrid bombings.

Poland has 2,400 troops in Iraq and commands a 9,000-strong division of troops from 24 nations, including 1,300 Spanish soldiers, in a central-south zone.

"Revising our positions on Iraq after terrorist attacks would be to admit that terrorists are stronger and that they are right," Prime Minister Leszek Miller told a news conference in the Polish town of Tarnow.

Spain had been due to take over the command of the international division on July 1 but the plan was thrown into doubt Monday when Socialist Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said he would bring the troops home.

more: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/iraq/20040315-0751-iraq-poland.html



Anyone think they're scared they're next for their support of *Bush?

[mmm]

1. That which is not worth doing is not worth doing well

I hope Poland sees this and pulls their people out before
Iraq turns into Hell.

[Mistress Quickly]

2. aren't they getting lots

of perks from *Bush?

[Bozita]

4. Yep, the US "loaned" them a few billion in late '02 which was ...

... promptly spent on 46 F-16s.

Can you say "loan forgiveness"?

I knew you could.

This statement may have been the March monthly payment.

[Sagan]

3. I wonder how much THAT cost us American taxpayers...

"Hey, we need you to chide Spain so we look, you know, diplomatic and stuff.."

"What's it worth to you?"

"How about some free F-16's, our treat?"

[MasterKey]

5. 311 was a cheap shot at stoppong the socialists

311 was a cheap shot by fake al queda to try and stop the socialist victory;

now its going to backfire for a long time---

MasterKey-- :)

[seemslikeadream]

6. A QUESTION OF MISTRUST:HOW MI6 BUGGED LESZEK MILLER

A QUESTION OF MISTRUST:
HOW MI6 BUGGED LESZEK MILLER

by
Gordon Thomas


LONDON:
As Leszek Miller, the former Communist with a classic English family name, left office after steering Poland into the European Union on May 1 - a dream he had repeatedly shared with Tony Blair - there is mounting speculation in London whether Warsaw will be the next to follow Madrid to withdraw its troops from Iraq.
"The more the Poles say 'no, of course not', the more we tend to worry", said a senior diplomat in Britain's Foreign Office.
He is not alone in expressing his concern. In the cheerless corridors of the monolithic Ministry of Defence and the rabbit warren of offices in Downing Street, the question is being repeatedly asked.
It is also one that fifteen months ago - on February 9, 2003 - had led to a top-secret surveillance operation being mounted against Miller, then Poland's prime minister for the previous eighteen months.
At the root of the operation was not whether Poland would withdraw its forces from Iraq - but would they ever actually go there to partake in what President George Bush had called "the Coalition of the Willing"?
There was a fear that Miller, for all his repeated assurances, would at the last moment pull Poland out of joining in the Blair/Bush axis to topple Saddam Hussein.
Alastair Campbell, Blair's Director of Communications and close confidante, had said that Miller "is a good guy with a sense of history. A tough guy and very anti-French".

more
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