Thank you, Poland
Posted on 10/02/2008 5:41:38 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar
A ceremony will be held Saturday to mark the departure of Polish troops from Iraq, further decreasing the international coalition formed at the beginning of the war.
After the approximately 900 Polish troops leave Iraq, there will be only around 6,000 non-U.S. troops in the country, officials have said. There are around 145,000 U.S. servicemembers in Iraq now.
The Polish 12th Mechanized Division and Maj. Gen. Andrzej Malinowski, commander of Multi-National Division-Central South, will be among those participating in the "End of Mission" ceremony, officials said. The ceremony will be held at Camp Echo, near Diwaniyah.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced the Polish military departure this year.
The Saturday ceremony will mark the end of the 10th and final Polish rotation in Iraq.
According to the Web site icasualties.org, at least 23 Polish fatalities have been reported in Iraq.
After the Polish troops leave, the main non-U.S. contingents in Iraq will be British, Romanian and South Korean. Earlier this year, when conflict with Russia broke out, Georgia removed its 2,000 troops from southeastern Iraq, putting a crimp in U.S. troop drawdown plans.
In September, Japan announced it would end its mission — which was largely flying goods and personnel — in Iraq.
ping.
I met some Polish troops earlier this year and they were dedicated to the mission to fight the Islamic terrorist.
A huge THANK YOU to all the Polish troops that have served in this endeavor
They were loyal and good allies in Iraq.
SALUTE!
US 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division is taking over their overwatch duties.
The press has been downplaying it, but all but of a handfull of our allies are departing by the time the UN Resolution expires.
They are downplaying it because, it equates to a three-to-four brigade equivalent reduction in overall coalition forces. Instead they focus on the only one US brigade being reduced...
Kochamy Polske
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