Lithuania should not withdraw from Iraq: President

  • 2007-02-23
  • From wire reports
"If Lithuania withdraws from Iraq today, I wouldn't be proud," President Valdas Adamkus said on Jan. 23.
"I am one of those traditionally-minded people who believe that if some obligations are undertaken, if partners are related by common human ties, if some principles are observed then it has to be that way till the end," the country's president said in an interview with the Atgimimas daily newspaper.
On Feb. 21, Defense Minister Juozas Olekas said Lithuania would not send extra troops to relieve the contingent based in southern Iraq. He made his remarks following the announcement that Great Britain and Denmark would begin to withdraw their troops from Iraq.
When asked whether Lithuania should withdraw from Iraq and focus more on Afghanistan at the end of 2007, Adamkus stressed that "when it gets tough, running away is an easy thing to do."
"But we have to be decent, as we have spoken for common principles together with the US and other Western democracies, rather than running away from a complicated situation whenever chance permits. When it is convenient for us," the president said.
"One rather large European country has unilaterally withdrawn its troops from Iraq. But really I do not think that it should be very proud about it," Adamkus added.