Polish Forces should leave Iraq by early 2006, says Defense Minister

Poland's defense minister on Tuesday
said the government wants its troops to leave Iraq in the
first weeks of 2006 after the authorizing United Nations
resolution expires.
"It is the government's opinion that, together with the
end of the U.N. mandate for the stabilization mission, all
the activity of the Polish stabilization mission should
also end," said Defense Minister Jerzy Smajdzinski.
Smajdzinski said that after the resolution expires at the
end of the year, it would take "a few weeks" for all the
troops and equipment to return to Poland.
Smajdzinski said his statement reflected the position of
the Polish Cabinet, which would need to be confirmed by
President Aleksander Kwasniewski.