Denmark vows to keep its troops in Iraq (Oxygen tanks sent to Kerry and Dean!)

Reuters ^ | 3/17/04

[areafiftyone]

COPENHAGEN, March 17 (Reuters) - Denmark's prime minister said on Wednesday his country would not cave in to pressure from "terrorists" by pulling its 500 troops out of Iraq.

"The government has no plans to withdraw Danish forces from Iraq. That would be a victory for the terrorists and be a fatal signal that terrorism pays," Anders Fogh Rasmussen said during a debate in parliament.

Spain's incoming socialist leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has pledged to withdraw his country's 1,300 troops from Iraq by July 1 if the United Nations does not take charge there.

Zapatero ousted Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who had backed the U.S.-led war, in a surprise general election victory just days after a suspected al Qaeda attack in Madrid killed 201 people. A claim of responsibility said the attack was retaliation in part for Spanish involvement in Iraq.

"We are closely following the risk scenario... We will not hesitate to take further steps if necessary and are ready to strengthen the international fight against terror in the European Union, the United Nations and NATO," Rasmussen said.

Rasmussen said Denmark's security alert level was raised in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks.

[areafiftyone]

THANK YOU DENMARK!

[OXENinFLA]

I can't wait for Pres. Bush to meet w/ Spain's new PM.

I wonder how much his tune will change?

[Sister_T]

Someone here on FreeRepublic said that Poland announced they would send troops to replace the ones Spain plans to pull out.

Anyone have a link to that?

[Gefreiter]

I guess Denmark, Poland, Italy, the Netherlands, et al haven't heard about the "disaster" that the war and occupation have become.

Spain's new PM is a pr--k.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Just line the 9/11 attacks, I think that the 3/11 terror attacks to influence an election will work exactly once. Everyone has had a chance now to determine BEFORE the next attack what the proper response ought to be instead of a knee-jerk like happened in Spain. I feel sorry for the 47% of Spainiards who voted AGAINST socialism.

[veronica]

Reuters puts the term terrorists in quotes! Pathetic....

[risk]

FT

[areafiftyone]

I don't think so. This guy looks like he hates Bush as much as Chirac does. He practically endorsed Kerry and is going to do what the Spanish people want and that is get their troops out of Iraq! If he doesn't then the Spanish people will hate him too and I don't think he wants that right now.

[MinuteGal]

President Bush and Secretary Rumsfield, please send Spain's hugh committment of 1300 troops packing NOW.

I'm series.

Gracias,

Leni

[Arpege92]

"Someone here on FreeRepublic said that Poland announced they would send troops to replace the ones Spain plans to pull out."

Are you serious? Wow, I'm impressed to say the least.

[Dog Gone]

I can't wait for Pres. Bush to meet w/ Spain's new PM.

I think he'll get invited to the Crawford Ranch as often as Chretien was.

[twigs]

I heard on the news last night that that was NOT true. I'm not sure what the real story is right now.

[twigs]

Denmark is the world's oldest democracy which has seen plenty of its own trials. They have learned... I'm proud that we stand among such stalwart allies

[areafiftyone]

They are good friends and allies.

[Dog Gone]

POLAND PLEDGES TO KEEP TROOPS IN IRAQ

By Jan Cienski

Published: March 17 2004 4:00 | Last Updated: March 17 2004

Polish leaders insist they have no intention of withdrawing the 2,500 Polish troops in Iraq even if Spain's triumphant Socialists carry out their threat of pulling out Spain's 1,300-soldier contingent, reports Jan Cienski in Warsaw.

"Spain wants to withdraw its troops as we want to withdraw our troops, but we cannot change the stabilisation mission into one of destabilisation," said Aleksander Kwasniewski, the Polish president. Poland is in command of the 9,000-member multinational division controlling central Iraq. Spain was expected to take over the task later this year.

In spite of its insistence it will sit firm in Iraq, Poland is clearly uncomfortable at possibly losing one of its most stalwart European allies. Mr Kwasniewski called for an expanded role for both Nato and the United Nations in Iraq. Even if Spain does pull out, Poland has no plans to send more troops because the military does not have enough soldiers ready to deploy, Mr Kwasniewski says.

[ozzysmom]

"Zapatero ousted Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar" Is this correct? I thought Aznar was not running this time. This article makes it sound like this socialist pig actually ran against Aznar and beat HIM!

[twigs]

Thank you. This is what I heard on the news.

[BlueNgold]

The government has no plans to withdraw ... forces from Iraq. That would be a victory for the terrorists and be a fatal signal that terrorism pays.

Simple, eloquent, and right on the point.

Send this quote to a liberal friend...
Then, later, fill them in that it was from the hard core VRWC leaders in ... Denmark.

[rightwingextremist1776]

"The government has no plans to withdraw Danish forces from Iraq. That would be a victory for the terrorists and be a fatal signal that terrorism pays,"

Wow, talk about a slap in the face! I'll bet that Spain's cheek is still stinging!