Polish church leaders divided over presence of troops in Iraq

Published: 2003-11-13

WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- Polish church leaders were divided over the involvement of Polish troops in Iraq after the first Polish soldier was killed in the conflict. A professor at Warsaw's Cardinal Wyszynski University said troops shouldn't be in Iraq because they are not on a humanitarian mission. However, a Polish archbishop said gestures of solidarity often require defending democracy. Father Piotr Mazurkiewicz, head of the university's political science department, said he believed Polish troops should not be in Iraq. "We aren't dealing here with a humanitarian intervention, but with a preventive war. So one can validly doubt whether the life and health of Polish soldiers should be put at risk." Polish Army Maj. Hieronim Kupczyk, 44, died in a Karbala military hospital Nov. 6 after being shot in the neck during an attack on a Polish convoy. Archbishop Jozef Zycinski of Lublin said the presence of Polish troops was a "gesture of solidarity" with Iraqi citizens.

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