Poland mulls Iraq exit options

"We cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that Spain and others are leaving," Prime Minister Leszek Miller, who stands down on May 2, told a news conference.

"I cannot say when we will leave (Iraq), but I'm sure the new prime minister will say something more precise."

He said his successor Marek Belka would map out a strategy for the troops in his first policy speech next month.

"We will not make any rash gestures. A final decision about the pullout date will be agreed and well thought over," Miller said.

A government official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters Poland was ready to keep its troops in Iraq until the end of 2004 but wanted to cut numbers from the current 2,500.

Miller said Poland would not follow Spain's example and pull its troops out of Iraq quickly, as this could destabilise the situation.

Poland, a staunch U.S. ally in the war to topple Saddam Hussein, leads a 9,500-strong multinational force in south-central Iraq. Miller suggested NATO assume command of the force, but the alliance has said it had no such plans.

His government faces growing pressure from some opposition parties to pull out troops from Iraq as public opinion is increasingly sceptical about Poland's mission in the country.

GOVERNMENT UNDER PRESSURE

A decision by Spain's new left-wing Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to withdraw his 1,400 troops from the force left Poland scrambling for ways to keep peace in the increasingly violent Iraqi region.

Miller -- who plans to resign on May 2, a day after Poland joins the European Union -- said a U.N. resolution authorising an international peacekeeping operation in Iraq would help solve the conflict there.

"This conflict should be solved by political means, preferably under U.N. auspices. Many countries would get engaged (in Iraq) under U.N. auspices," he said.

Politicians say Belka, who has so far pledged full commitment to the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, will do nothing to upset Washington after serving for nearly a year as a top official in Iraq's provisional authority.

Miller urged political parties to avoid turning the troops debate into an electoral issue in a campaign ahead of general elections which are due next year but could be earlier.

He hinted that should this happen, al-Qaeda extremists could be tempted to launch attacks in Poland, as they did in Spain where bomb explosions last month helped Zapatero win elections.

"There are those who say that it was al Qaeda which won elections in Spain, and there is something in this," he said.

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