In one of the more memorable exchanges of last week’s debate, Bush emphasized the significance of Poland’s role in the war in Iraq.
Kerry: [W]hen we went in, there were three countries: Great Britain, Australia and the United States. That’s not a grand coalition. We can do better.
Bush: Well, actually, he forgot Poland. And now there’s 30 nations involved, standing side by side with our American troops.
First, as I noted last week, Kerry was right and Polish troops weren’t in Iraq when the invasion began. Second, as Tom Schaller noted today, they won’t be “side by side” with us much longer — they’re already planning their pull out.
Poland will pull its troops out of Iraq by the end of 2005, when UN resolution 1546 endorsing the timetable for political transition in Iraq expires, Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski says.
“The final date (of our military presence in Iraq) should be that of the expiry of the UN Security Council resolution,” in December 2005, the minister said in an interview with Polish public radio.
His comments marked the first time a Polish official has set a precise timetable concerning the withdrawal of Polish troops from Iraq.
That “coalition” just keeps getting smaller.