Thanks for the laugh! Freedom Sausages indeed.

Hopefully Edwards sticks it to that curled-lipped Dick in tonight's debate, and these old guard wankers lose their grip on power. They've already lost all grip on reality...

you silly kids should follow the news more closely. The polish prime minister said he thinks their mission should be wrapped up by the end of 2005 but if its not, they will stay until it is. being spoon fed liberal propaganda is no way to go thru life, son.

Oh my, you're absolutely correct on being spoon fed trash. If you're to make comments, please know what you are talking about.

The Defense Minister stated he thinks the troops will not be needed by late 2005. Which means they are optomistic about the outcome of Iraq's needs by late next year. To be taken seriously requires speaking from the truth, and debating facts, not spewing propaganda.

12clicks is right. The Polish Defense Minister said in a newspaper interview that he'd like to see the troops withdrawn by 2005 but the Polish PM quickly moved in and said he had not authorised the Defense Minister to say that and that no timetable for withdrawal had been set and that he'd speak with the Defense Minister and ask for explanation. The Foreign Minister later said that "We have to grit our teeth and be consistent. Poland, which in the past has so often been betrayed by its allies, would not like to betray for the first time its ally." And the Polish President said that no date has been set but the end of 2005 is considered. The Defense Minister later said that he had been expressing his personal opinion. I dont understand how AFP could have entitled their message "Polish troops to quit Iraq by end 2005".

I love when people mis-report. It was not President, it was defense minister. He said he hopes that by end of 2005 POlish forces will be able to leave Iraq , as he hopes job will be done. Both Prime minister and President spoke later publicly saying that poland will not leave till job is done. Also, they both critisized Kerry for offending all the allies of USA as being "bribed and coorced"

President of Poland Aleksander Kwasniewski:

"I also feel uncomfortable due to the fact that we were misled with the information on weapons of mass destruction." -March 18, 2004

Or how about:

"They deceived us about the weapons of mass destruction, that’s true. We were taken for a ride." -March 19, 2004

I wish Kerry had had these quotes handy during the debate.

Reacting to John Kerry's omission of Poland’s efforts in Iraq, President of Poland Alexander Kwasniewski said, "I find it kind of sad that a senator with 20 year parliamentary experience is unable to notice the Polish presence in the anti-terror coalition." When asked about Kerry's derogation of non-U.S. coalition countries fighting in Iraq, Kwasniewski said: "I don't think it's an ignorance. The anti-terror coalition is larger than the USA, the U.K. and Australia. There are also Poland, Ukraine, and Bulgaria etc. which lost their soldiers there. It's highly immoral not to see our strong commitment we have taken with a strong believe that we must fight against terror together, that we must show our strong international solidarity because Saddam Hussein was dangerous to the world." "That's why we are disappointed that our stance and ultimate sacrifice of our soldiers are so diminished," President Kwasniewski said. "Perhaps Mr. Kerry thinks about the coalition with Germany and France, countries which disagreed with us on Iraq."

You really think he's (translation) a Kerry supporter? Nice try.

(Won't let me post Polish URL because it thinks it's comment spam. Nice.)

"Some polls suggest public support for Poland's role in Iraq has declined to 35%."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3525356.stm

Whose support would YOU rather have: Kwasniewski's or 65% of Poland's people?

One interesting point that is missed in all of this wrangling about whether Poland is or is not part of the coallition, is the fact that the vast majority of Polish people are vehemently opposed to the Iraqi invasion. In fact, the majority of the British public are also overwhelmingly against the war also.

Oh yeah, and need I remind anyone that we've already seen one of our "coallition" partners crumble (Spain); Spaniards tossed their leadership after the Madrid bombings, partially over concerns that the focus on Iraq took attention away from their national security...sound familiar?

Nader: exactly.

The Spanish people were also pissed that Aznar launched a concerted campaign to indict ETA, the Basque Separatist group, when when he knew, and all the evidence indicated, it was Radical Islamists.

The Spanish people weren't "caving in to terrorists" when they voted Aznar out, they were voicing their disgust with a leader who attempted to mislead them on a critical national security issue.

As Nader said above...sound familiar?