Poland decides to postpone withdrawl of troops

The Polish government has decided to postpone plans to withdraw troops from Iraq untill the end of 2006. The country has around 1,500 troops stationed in the south of Iraq and is the fifth biggest army in the country.

Like in much of America the decision to deploy Polish troops into Iraq is an unpopular one according to opinion polls in Poland. The Polish prime minister, Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, said the decision was a difficult one.