Miller's visit intended to boost moral on Independance Day

Prime Minister Leszek Miller said on Monday he will tell Polish troops in Iraq they are "in the right place" because for Poland to be secure its soldiers must be where threats originate. Miller traveled to Poland's main military base in Iraq southwest of Baghdad near Hilla on Tuesday on a morale-boosting visit to troops on their national Independence Day. "It is a very important day for Poles and it is our duty to be with the soldiers who are carrying out this difficult mission, and assure them they are in the right place," Miller told reporters traveling with him in Kuwait. The trip is also meant to reassure Poles of the need to remain in Iraq, after the burial on Monday of the first Polish soldier killed by hostile fire in Iraq. Despite opposition to the war, Poland backed the U.S.-led campaign to oust Saddam Hussein, and since September has led a 23-nation force in stabilizing a swathe of south-central Iraq. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A1)