First Spain, now Poland is expressing displeasure with the U.S. operation in Iraq. Specifically, Poland’s President.
President Aleksander Kwasniewski, a key U.S. ally, said Thursday that Poland was “misled” about whether Saddam Hussein’s regime had weapons of mass destruction and was considering withdrawing troops from Iraq several months early.
The remarks came as polls show about half of Poles are opposed to involvement in Iraq and after deadly bombings in Madrid – possibly by al-Qaida in retaliation for Spain’s alliance with the United States – triggered fears of a terror attack on Polish soil.
Kwasniewski’s comments were the first by a Polish leader to raise doubts about the intelligence behind the decision for going to war. He tempered them by stressing that Poland is not about to abandon its mission in Iraq, and said Iraq was a better place without Saddam.
“But naturally I also feel uncomfortable due to the fact that we were misled with the information on weapons of mass destruction,” Kwasniewski told French reporters, according to a transcript released by his press office.
“This is the problem of the United States, of Britain and also of many other nations,” he later told a news conference.
Poland isn’t withdrawing its support — or troops — from the goings on in Iraq. Still, it’s a legitimate question just how the Bush administration is affecting our reputation and relations abroad. The answer appears to be, not good.