Forget Poland, They're Out By The End Of 2005

By Sam Felder on October 5, 2004 9:47 AM | | Comments (3)

In last weeks debate, George Bush harangued John Kerry about his failure to include Poland when describing our glorious "coalition of the willing." Although Poland had agreed to support the invasion, there were no Polish boots on the ground in the first wave.

Since that time, twenty-five hundred Polish soldiers have represented the third largest troop deployment behind the United State and the United Kingdom.

In a surprise announcement on Monday, Poland's defense minister declared that all Polish troops will be withdrawn "with the expiry of United Nations Resolution 1546 of the Security Council" at the end of 2005.

Their departure will leave South Korea as the third-largest contributor of troops.

This move comes on the heels of an announcement in Australia by the opposition party who announced that if they win in upcoming elections they will follow Spain's lead by withdrawing all troops from Iraq.

Since Spain's withdrawal, Poland has led the eight-thousand troop multinational force in south-central Iraq. The imminent departure of Polish troops and the possible withdrawal by the Australians calls into question the ability of a Bush second term to negotiate with our allies for more troops.

Update: YouForgotPoland.com

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3 Comments

Jeremy said:

Tin foil hat time.

Do you suppose Bush made such a deal about Poland during the debate because he knew about this? Now he can say, "See. Kerry insulted Poland, and now they're pulling out."

October 5, 2004 2:26 AM
Mark said:

The article says that there were no polish boots in the first invasion. What about the GROM troops that secured the southern oil fields?


http://www.jinsa.org/articles/articles.html/function/view/categoryid/884/documentid/2076/history/3,2360,884,2076

October 9, 2004 4:23 AM

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