WARSAW - Seventy percent of Poles want troops from the central European country stationed in Iraq to be withdrawn as soon as possible, a survey published Monday said.
Only 26 percent said the troops should stay in Iraq until the end of their mission at the end of 2005, while four percent had no opinion on the matter, the poll conducted by the polling agency CBOS said.
Poland, a close ally of the United States in the Iraqi conflict despite strong domestic opposition, controls an area south of Baghdad and commands a multinational force of around 4,000.
Two weeks ago, Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski said Poland will withdraw its troops from Iraq at the end of 2005, when the mandate of the UN multinational stabilisation force in the country expires.
Since 2003, when the UN-mandated multinational force deployed in Iraq, some 10,000 Polish soldiers have been sent to the country on tours of duty, Szmajdzinski said.
Thirty-seven percent of respondents to the poll believed the main reason behind the US-led invasion of Iraq two years ago was to "take control of Iraqi oil fields".
Twenty-two percent said the elimination of the regime of Saddam Hussein was behind the invasion.
Publication of the poll, which surveyed 1,025 Poles between March 4 to 7, was delayed until Monday due to "the death of Pope John Paul II and because the author of the survey had flu", a spokeswoman at CBOS told AFP.
04/25/2005 14:35 GMT