WARSAW, 22 April 2004 — Poland is considering options for withdrawing its troops from Iraq, but any possible pullout will not be sudden and will be agreed with Washington, outgoing Prime Minister Leszek Miller said yesterday.
Miller said his likely successor as prime minister, Marek Belka, would map out a strategy for Polish troops in his first policy speech expected in early May.
“We will not make any rash gestures. A final decision about the pullout date will be agreed and well thought over,” he said.
He told reporters that Poland would not follow Spain’s example to pull its troop from Iraq quickly, because this could destabilize the situation in the country.
“The problem (of pulling out troops) exists. We cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that Spain and others are leaving Iraq,” Miller said. “I cannot say when we will leave (Iraq), but I’m sure the new prime minister will say something more precise.”
A government official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters, however, that Poland was ready to keep its troops in Iraq until the end of 2004 but would like to cut numbers from the current 2,500.
Poland’s soldiers are responsible for a swathe of central and southern Iraq, leading a multinational force of which the Spanish contingent is currently part.
Italians to Stay Put
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi confirmed yesterday that Italian troops will remain in Iraq after the US-led coalition hands over power to a sovereign Iraqi government on June 30.
“I think we must stay in Iraq after June 30,” Berlusconi said during a trip to this central Russian town with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I think that this is a question of responsibility.”
Berlusconi was attending the opening of a joint venture firm south of Moscow.
Italy has stressed that its 3,000 troops in Iraq would remain there despite threats to kill three Italian hostages. Four Italian security guards were abducted on April 12.
One, Fabrizio Quattrocchi, was murdered two days later. The kidnappers have threatened to kill the other three men unless Italy withdraws its troops.
Meanwhile, Britain said it has no plans to increase the number of its troops in Iraq
after suicide bombers killed at least 68 people in the British-patrolled southern city of Basra.
“We are satisfied that we have sufficient troops in Basra,” Prime Minister Tony Blair told Parliament. “We don’t have plans to increase the number.”
There are about 7,500 British troops in Iraq according to the Ministry of Defense.
“Of course, we always have to keep that situation under review but at the present time the British troops are managing actually extremely well down there,” he added.
Britain has the largest number of troops in Iraq, after the United States.
Washington and London are working to keep other allies on board in Iraq following decisions by Spain, Honduras and the Dominican Republic to pull their troops out of the country.
Blair urged the international community to join forces to ensure that the “terrorists do not succeed”.
Earlier, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the suicide attacks would not derail plans to hand sovereignty to the Iraqi people within a planned timetable.
“My message to the terrorists is clear -- we will not allow you to derail the process of transition to a sovereign and democratic Iraq,” he told reporters.
“We are determined to maintain the June 30 handover of sovereignty to Iraqi people and we are not going to be deflected from that,” he added.
Straw said the international coalition in Iraq remained “strong” despite Spain’s decision to pull out.
Asked whether British soldiers, who patrol the Basra region, would change their tactics to deal with the growing violence in Iraq, Straw said that would be decided by commanders on the ground.
