Denmark slams Poland for hasty withdrawal troops from Iraq

AFP ^ | Jan 31, 2005

[jb6]

Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller on Monday criticized Poland for planning to pull out a third of its troops from Iraq following the successful elections at the weekend. "I think it is simply absurd to say that now that democracy is in place, we can leave," Moeller was quoted as saying by the Danish news agency Ritzau at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels.

"Democracy is a threatened plant. We must be glad that it has started to grow, but this does not mean that it is ready to withstand all storms and pressure," he said.

Polish Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski confirmed Monday that Poland plans in the coming weeks to reduce its contingent in Iraq to around 1,600 soldiers from the current 2,400 serving there.

"At the end of February, there will be 800 fewer troops than today," Szmajdzinski said.

Poland, a close ally of the United States in Iraq like Denmark, administers a multinational force in Iraq of 5,600 troops.

Denmark also has 525 troops serving as part of the multinational force in Iraq, and polls suggest that two thirds of Danes wish to see the contingent withdrawn from the country.

Denmark's opposition Social Democratic party has said it would withdraw the country's troops from Iraq if it wins a February 8 general election

[26lemoncharlie]

Denmark's opposition Social Democratic party has said it would withdraw the country's troops from Iraq if it wins a February 8 general election
_____________________________________
All these Socialist know is to cut and run!!

What are they going to do when someone starts shooting at them??

[UbonGhostrider]

The Poles are there with 10 times as many troops as the Danes. I am thankful that they are helping us and the Iraqi people. If criticism is to be leveled, let it be toward the the countries that have not lifted a finger to help in this just cause. If a country has made a sacrifice at any level of manpower to help, we should consider them our Allies.

[Free Vulcan]

Wow, European cajones. Wonder at it's appearance, it doesn't happen very often.

[Qwinn]

"Denmark's opposition Social Democratic party has said it would withdraw the country's troops from Iraq if it wins a February 8 general election."

Awesome, an election coming up quite soon. Wish there was more of them. Sunday's events were so startlingly successful that I'm willing to bet the "Social Democrats" lose the election.

We'll see in a week.

Qwinn

[bd476]

Denmark and finger pointing.

[bd476]

525 Danes to Poland's 5,600? Denmark's leftsocialists threaten to pull out their 525 if they win the election next week.

Thank God the EU is "over there."

[Grzegorz 246]

Actually we have 2400 soldiers + a few in NATO training mission - in Fabuary 700-800 will be withdrawn, but the same number will be ready to be deployed in Iraq within a few days in case of any troubles. Is this a good decision from tactical point of view ? In my opinion yes, especially that this is quite peaceful region and the number of soldiers will be cut mostly in logistical units, because most of supply is provided by private companies. However from political point of view the number of soldiers shouldn't be reduced at least until the end of 2005.
Anyway Mr Per Stig Moeller should shut up.


BTW A year ago Spain said that they should take command of these multinational forces, unfortunately they escaped 3 months later, I think that in this case situation will be similar - "Denmark's opposition Social Democratic party has said it would withdraw the country's troops from Iraq if it wins a February 8 general election"

[jb6]

Danmark is like 1/8th the size of Poland.

[bd476]

Yes, I know that jb6.

The point though is that Denmark is criticizing Poland for withdrawing some of their troops, yet depending on election results next week, if they win Denmark's leftist party's candidate has stated that they will withdraw all of Denmark's troops.

It's like the pot calling the kettle black.