President Aleksander Kwasniewski reassured President Bush on Friday that Polish troops will stay in Iraq "as long as needed," a day after suggesting they might leave months early.
During a telephone call by Bush, Kwasniewski also discussed his Thursday remark that he was "misled" by intelligence about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.
Kwasniewski said "misunderstandings" about his remarks should be discounted because Poland's alliance with the United States was strong, his national security adviser, Marek Siwiec, said.
"We will be in Iraq as long as needed to achieve the intended goals, plus one day longer," Kwasniewski told Bush during a 20-minute conversation, according to Siwiec.
Poland sent combat troops into the Iraq war and commands a postwar multinational force of some 9,500 soldiers, including 2,400 of its own, in south-central Iraq, a sign of Warsaw's allegiance to Washington.
On Thursday, Kwasniewski said he believed Iraq was stabilizing and that Polish troops might start leaving earlier next year, months before the mid-2005 date previously cited by Polish leaders.
He also told French reporters he felt "uncomfortable" with being "misled" by intelligence concerning Iraq's suspected weapons of mass destruction arsenal.
He then told a separate news conference, "this is the problem of the United States, of Britain and also of many other nations."
Kwasniewski's remarks on weapons of mass destruction were the first by any Polish leader to criticize prewar intelligence reports - a controversial issue in the United States and Britain.
But Siwiec said Friday the Polish president's comment about being "misled" was meant to criticize intelligence failures in general, not Washington.
"It was not a complaint by Poland addressed to the United States," he said.
Kwasniewski tempered Thursday's remarks by stressing that Poland still believes the invasion of Iraq was the right course of action and the country was better off without Saddam.
"Poland will not withdraw from Iraq until the mission of stabilization is successfully accomplished and counts on effective cooperation with the United States, Great Britain, Spain and other NATO and U.N. member states," the statement said.
"Any demonstration of weakness in view of terrorist attacks undermines the foundations of democracy, nations' security and world peace."
President Bush sets great store by their friendship and Poland is a terrific ally and friend!
But boy, howdy, did the Leftist media run with Kwasniewski's "misunderstood" remarks on Thursday, trying to show that the rats were leaving the surely sinking ship that is the U.S.-led War on [Islamist] Terror!
Of course, we are winning the WOIT and Poland is sticking with us, because (sadly) the Poles know only too well what it's like to live under a tyrannical régime, be it Nazi or Communist.
God Bless you, Mr. Kwasniewski and God Bless Poland!
We will win this war but we can win it faster and more decisively with allies like the Poles.
Home
