Poland, Italy - Major Policy Shift on Iraq

WARSAW, October 5 (IslamOnline.net) � Poland, one of the main pillars of the US-led occupation in Iraq, will soon fix a date for the withdrawal of its 2,500 troops, its defense minister said Tuesday, October 5, while his Italian counterpart also shocked Washington by saying that US forces pullout from the Arab country would help Iraqi democracy.

Polish Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski, speaking before tense talks with visiting US Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, said that a final timetable for the withdrawal would be decided soon after October 15, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"There is an ongoing debate within the government. Some preliminary conclusions will be presented by the prime minister to the parliament on October 15, when there is a vote on a no-confidence motion in the government," he told the private radio Zet.

"We would like shortly afterwards to adopt a clear position and fix the withdrawal date," the minister added.

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski said Monday, October 4, after talks in Paris that no firm date to complete the withdrawal had been decided yet, but confirmed that Poland hoped "to finish our mission at the end of 2005."

Popular Opposition

Poland is the fourth largest troop contributor to the US-led coalition in Iraq -- after the United States itself, Britain and Italy -- and has been one of Washington's staunchest allies there.

It sent 2,500 troops to Iraq last year in the wake of the US-led invasion and heads up a multinational division of 6,000 soldiers in south-central Iraq.

Seventeen Polish nationals have died in Iraq -- 13 soldiers and four civilians -- including three soldiers killed in an attack last month near the central Iraqi city of Hilla.

According to a latest poll, more than 70 percent of Poles are opposed to the presence of their country's troops in Iraq.

The issue has sparked internal divisions within the Polish government, with Prime Minister Marek Belka complaining that he had not been consulted over the defense minister's announcement.

In an interview with the daily Rzeczpospolita published Tuesday, Belka insisted that Szmajdzinski's comments "do not reflect the position of the government."

But Szmajdzinski stressed that he had agreed his latest announcement with Belka.

"The prime minister has authorized me to inform public opinion of this," he said.

Italian Blow

The US received a further blow with Italian Defense Minister Antonio Martino disagreeing with Washington that an Iraq pullout would not help democracy.

"Both Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and his Deputy Defense Minister Al Jabati, whom I recently met, have outlined to us how much the withdrawal of coalition forces would help Baghdad," Martino told the newspaper La Stampa.

"It would strengthen the government and democratization."

On Monday, October 5, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini suggested the possibility of the 3,000-strong Italian contingent being withdrawn from Iraq, without giving any deadline.

Frattini said that forces from Muslim countries should gradually take over from troops of the US-led coalition.

"We should tell our Arab friends that... there is a process of political stabilization guided by the UN and that we need a commitment on the ground from Muslim nations," Frattini said in an interview with the newspaper Corriere della Sera.

Analysts in Warsaw and Rome believe that the US election is a key factor in the apparent policy shift of the two allies as Democratic candidate Sent. John Kerry leading incumbent George W. Bush after their first televised debate.

"The Polish government is trying to moderate its position (over Iraq) among other reasons because there is a possibility that Kerry will become president of the United States," an analyst told AFP.

Last April, Spain inspired Honduras, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Thailand and Philippines to pull out their troops of Iraq.