Polakkene har vært amerikanernes beste venn i Europa. Nå teller de på knappene om de skal trekke seg ut av Irak.

Poland’s prime minister, Leszek Miller, said he was considering a retreat from Iraq and conceded the decision by the new Spanish government to pull out was a problem – a view echoed by the conservative Australian prime minister, John Howard.

Australia has 800 servicemen and women in Iraq, while Poland has 2,400 and is in command of 9,500 soldiers from 23 countries, including Spain, in the south-central sector that has witnessed an intense insurgency recently.

Ordinary Poles fear possible terrorist attacks in Poland, and Warsaw, where there will be a conference of European leaders this weekend, is being turned into a fortress.

Zbigniew Siemiakowski, Poland’s intelligence chief, did not help calm anxiety , saying: «We have untested structures and zero experience in reacting to such events. The shock society could experience in the aftermath of the attack could have incalculable political and social consequences.»

After the Madrid bombings Mr Miller pledged Poland would keep its Iraq mission. But yesterday he said: «We cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that the Spanish and others are leaving Iraq.»

However, the foreign minister, Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz said later: «We will continue to keep our troops in Iraq at the same level this year.» He said Poland intended to gradually cut its presence in Iraq next year, based on the assumption that an Iraqi government would be in place.

Anxious Poland may follow Spain’s lead

Ian Traynor, and Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Thursday April 22, 2004