Washington, D.C. (PMN)—Having recently returned from a visit to Iraq, the Polish ambassador to Iraq, Lt. Gen. Edward Pietrzyk, addressed the impending finale of Poland’s military presence in Iraq and his observations of the situation on the ground at a program on May 12, 2008, at the Wohlstetter Conference Center in Washington, D.C. He discussed how the Polish forces contributed materially to the mission in Iraq over the past five years and how Polish-American cooperation in Iraq can inform future multilateral counterinsurgency operations

Following his address, Ambassador Pietrzyk joined Captain Ann Gildroy, who served in Diwaniyah alongside Polish forces, and AEI's Frederick W. Kagan to discuss those and other questions.

When coalition forces overthrew Saddam Hussein in 2003, Polish special forces seized the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr to enable immediate delivery of humanitarian aid to the rest of the country. Since then, Poland has expanded its commitment in Iraq: at one point, it maintained 2,500 in-country soldiers, more than any nation except the United Kingdom or the United States. Most recently, the Polish brigade provided key support to November’s Operation Lion Pounce, which reduced the influence of the Sadrist Jaysh al Mahdi and the Iranian-backed Special Groups in Diwaniyah.

This assistance will come to an end with withdrawal of the Polish forces in October, 2008, announced by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in December, 2007.