Poland's new conservative government will extend its military presence in Iraq until the middle of next year, daily Rzeczpospolita reported on Thursday. Quoting an unnamed senior army officer, Rzeczpospolita said that training exercises for new troops going to Iraq will be held in January. The daily said about 900 Polish soldiers would remain in south-central Iraq, down from about 1,400 troops now. Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, who visited Baghdad and the Polish base in Divania on Wednesday, said a decision on whether to keep the troops in Iraq would be made soon. "The government will decide this issue over the next few days," Rzeczpospolita quoted Marcinkiewicz as saying in Iraq. "We must make this decision carefully because it is important not only for Poland but also in a wider sense -- in the war against terrorism and for the stability of Iraq."
