Yahoo! News – Poland to Pull Troops from Iraq at End of Year
WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland’s government decided on Tuesday to withdraw its troops from Iraq at the end of 2005, making official an earlier proposal, Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski said.
Poland, a close ally of Washington in Europe and one of the few supporters of its war to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003, has about 1,700 soldiers in south-central Iraq, where it runs a multi-national stabilization force.
“Belka’s government will surely not make any new military commitments. We are carrying out an exit strategy from Iraq.”
See, George? We didn’t forget about Poland! They’ve forgotten about you! How’s the Coalition of the Willing workin’ out for ya?
Members of the “Coalition of the Willing”
In descending order of troop commitment, boldface indicates country that has withdrawn or plans to withdraw by the end of 2005:
- 100,000+ troops: USA (~152,000, or 86% of the “coalition”)
- 10,000+ troops: nobody
- 1,000+ troops: United Kingdom (~9,000 or 5%, nobody else tops 3,000), Italy, Poland, Ukraine, Spain, Netherlands
- 100+ troops: Australia, Romania, Bulgaria, Thailand, Denmark, Honduras, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Hungary, Japan, Norway, Mongolia, Azerbaijan, Portugal, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia
- <100 troops: Czech Republic, Philippines, Albania, Georgia, New Zealand, Moldova, Macedonia, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Tonga, Nicaragua