Poland “misled” over WMD
Poland’s president Aleksander Kwasniewski said yesterday he was “deceived” or “misled” by pre-war reports on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.
He also expressed some unease about keeping Poland’s 2,460 troops in troops in Iraq in the medium-to-long term, telling a local radio station he may withdraw troops early next year, ahead of the previous date of mid-2005.
Poland has the fourth largest foreign contingent in Iraq after the US, UK, and Italy.
Mr Kwasniewski told reporters: “Naturally, one may protest the reasons for the war action in Iraq.
“I personally think that Iraq today without Saddam Hussein is a truly better Iraq than with Saddam Hussein.
“But of course I am uncomfortable with the fact that we were deceived by the information on weapons of mass destruction.”
On the timing of the proposed removal of Polish troops from Iraq, he said: “Everything suggests that pull out from Iraq may be possible after the stabilisation mission is crowned with success and, in my assessment soon, it may be the start of 2005.”
Mr Kwasniewski’s comments have deep-seated political resonance as Spain’s incoming prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is threatening to withdraw 1,300 peacekeeping troops from Iraq if the UN fails to assume charge of the country by July.
But the Polish leader was defiant in the face of terror. “We are facing the same threat as Spain,” he said, but he stressed “terrorism must be combated, also with force.”
Poland commands a near 10,000-strong multinational peacekeeping force in south-central Iraq that includes a sizeable Spanish presence.
