Polish President: Bush Might Visit Poland
Sunday, May 04, 2003
Bush should do this.
WARSAW, Poland ? President Bush is considering a stopover in the Polish city of Krakow en route to Russia this month to thank Poles for participating in the Iraq war, Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski (search) said Sunday.
Bush administration officials said the trip was in the works, but declined to provide details. Kwasniewski said Bush might visit on May 30. It would be his second trip to Poland.
Poland (search), among Washington's strongest European supporters in toppling Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (search ), is preparing to take command of one of Iraq's three postwar zones. The United States and Britain would control the other zones.
The stabilization plan excludes France and Germany, America's harshest critics of the Iraq war who were angered at Poland -- their future EU ally -- for its support of Washington.
Poland, set to join the EU next year, sent about 200 troops to the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
Under the stabilization plan, Poland is expected to take command of the northern part of Iraq, where it would supervise military and humanitarian relief. Ukrainian, Slovak and Romanian forces would likely participate under Polish command, the president said.
Poland's defense and foreign ministers were to hold talks in Washington on Monday and Tuesday to determine how many troops Warsaw will send to Iraq and how the deployment will be financed. Poland has said it cannot pay for the mission or send more than 2,000 troops.
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