European Countries Maintain Troop Dispatch to Iraq Despite Terror Threat

European countries, including Italy, Poland, and Denmark, stated a policy to maintain military power for dispatching troops to Iraq on March 17.

Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Franko Fratini said, “We will maintain 3,000 troops stationed in Iraq despite a potential terrorist threat against Italy.”

Bulgaria’s Defense Minister Nikolai Svinarov and Hungarian Defense Minister Ferenc Juhasz declared the maintenance of the troop dispatch.

The president of Poland, Aleksander Kwaniewski, insisted at the conference on European security in Warszawa that Spain’s decision to withdraw its troops was a mistake. Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at the parliament, “We will not withdraw 500 troops from Iraq because the action of withdrawing troops can cause terrorists to continue to attack.” Romanian Defense Minister Ioan Mircea Pascu urged the Spanish government to reconsider a plan to withdraw its troops through the statement.