Iraq Notebook
Poland hints it might pull soldiers from Iraq coalition

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WASHINGTON — New signs of trouble are emerging in the U.S.-led military coalition in Iraq, with two Latin American nations following Spain's lead in saying they will pull out their troops and another, more significant U.S. partner — Poland — hinting at a similar move.

Yesterday, Poland's outgoing prime minister suggested that his country, which commands a division of 9,500 European troops in a violent area of central and southern Iraq, might have to reconsider its commitment to stay in Iraq after Spain's decision last weekend to withdraw its soldiers.

The multinational force that Poland leads includes 2,400 Polish troops.

"We cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that Spain and the Latin Americans are leaving Iraq," said Prime Minister Leszek Miller, who leaves office next month.

A spokesman for Poland's Foreign Ministry quickly stressed that "Poland will be in Iraq as long as necessary, until the situation there is stabilized." Nevertheless, Miller's comments reflected growing uneasiness among troop-contributing nations whose soldiers are battling a two-front insurgency among Sunni and Shiite militants and a rash of kidnappings.

Administration officials chafe at Spain's swift troop exit

WASHINGTON — After announcing last weekend its decision to withdraw forces from Iraq, Spain has raised further ire in Washington by giving notice of plans to pull out faster than expected, a move that Bush administration officials said yesterday is complicating military operations in Iraq and could put lives in danger.

Initially, officials here had expected the withdrawal to start in a month or two and be carefully coordinated with U.S. military commanders in Iraq. But the Pentagon received word this week that about half of Spain's 1,300 troops would be leaving within the next 10 days and the rest within 20 days after that.

"We completely respect their political decision to remove their forces, but the way they're doing it is a big disappointment," said a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity. "This is just not the way that allies should treat each other. It's disappointing, and it's unprofessional."

To replace the departing forces, which have been responsible for securing areas in south-central Iraq, U.S. commanders have shifted 1st Armored Division troops who had been based near Baghdad. The division, which had been scheduled to leave Iraq this month after a year of combat duty, had its stay extended by 90 days last week.
 
Interim government's authority will be limited after handover

WASHINGTON — The new Iraqi interim government scheduled to take control on July 1 will have only "limited sovereignty" over the country and no authority over U.S. and coalition military forces already there, senior State and Defense officials told Congress this week.

In testimony before the Senate and the House Armed Services Committees, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman said the United States would operate under the transitional law approved by the Iraqi Governing Council and a resolution approved by the U.N. Security Council in October. Both those provisions give control of the country's security to U.S. military commanders.

Under the current plan, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's special adviser, Lakhdar Brahimi, will appoint a temporary government that will run Iraqi government agencies for six months and prepare the way for January 2005 elections of an assembly that will select a second, temporary government and write a constitution.

10 percent of new Iraqi forces fought with militants in uprising

WASHINGTON — About one in every 10 members of Iraq's security forces "actually worked against" U.S. troops during the recent militia violence in Iraq, and an additional 40 percent walked off the job because of intimidation, the commander of the 1st Armored Division said yesterday.

In an interview beamed by satellite from Baghdad to news executives attending The Associated Press annual meeting, Maj. Gen. Martin Dempsey said the campaign in Iraq was at a critical point.

"We have to get this latest increase in violence under control," Dempsey said. "We have to take a look at the Iraqi security forces and learn why they walked."

The militia violence aggravated underlying troubles in Iraq's new military and police forces — the unfulfilled desire for "some Iraqi hierarchy in which to place their trust and confidence" and a reluctance by Iraqis to take up arms against their countrymen, Dempsey said.

The failure of Iraqi security forces to perform is significant because it could hurt the United States' overall exit strategy from Iraq, which is dependent on moving U.S. troops out of the cities and handing authority to Iraqis. Officials have said the U.S. military would delay its withdrawal from parts of Iraq until Iraqi forces were ready to take control.

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