Poland's prime minister says he wants to keep troops in Iraq until the end of next year, despite the previous government's plan to pull its forces out in the coming months.
Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz said Tuesday his government decided to ask new Polish President Lech Kaczynski to extend the country's mission in Iraq. The deployment is not popular in Poland.
Poland has about 1,500 troops in Iraq. Seventeen have been killed since they were deployed in the country.
Meanwhile, the last Ukrainian troops left Iraq Tuesday, completing Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's promised withdrawal. Mr. Yushchenko made a surprise visit to Iraq Monday to visit Ukrainian troops before they withdrew.
Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP, Reuters and Bloomberg.
