[Ria]

Feel free to delete this if it has been posted before..

LISBON, Aug. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Portugal is still undecided whether to pull out its 128-strong police contingent from Iraq in November when it ends a one-year mandate, Interior Minister Daniel Sanchez said Thursday.

    "No policy decision on maintaining the national guard unit (in Iraq) has been made," Sanchez said after meeting police officers returning on rotation at a military airport near Lisbon.

    "This decision will be made before next Nov. 12," when the current mandate expires, he added.

    Portugal sent a police contingent of 128 officers to Iraq in mid-November 2003, after President Jorge Sampaio ruled out a military deployment.

    The move provoked widespread concern and opposition in the country, and the government has been accused of disregarding the soldiers' lives and "turning those men into cannon fodder."

    A poll in early June also showed that 70 percent of Portuguese wanted their troops to come back home.

What do you guys think Sampaio will do?  Do you think the officers will be brought back to Portugal?  Do you think they should be brought back, or continue working over there?  What are your other feelings?  Nevertheless, the US appreciates Portugal's support.  Muitos grandes abraços.

And also, I haven't heard about this, but have any Portuguese soldiers been killed over there?  I hope the answer to this is no ...

[Spectral]

No, there have been no portuguese troops have been killed ( thankfully). There have been only some light injuries.

In my opinion Portugal should withdraw its troops at the end of its commitment ( but never before, as Spain wrongly did), but I never really supported their presence there.

However, I think that they will stay. The decision will ( I think) be made by the government ( as was the first deployment), and there are no signs that the current line of foreign affairs, which consists in a full backing of US actions, will change.

BTW, when will these americans learn to spell correctly the names ? The Minister name is Sanches with an "s" at the end, while Sanchez is a spanish.  

[Ria]

Thank you Spectral :?

Oh, and thank God for this:

No, there have been no portuguese troops have been killed ( thankfully). There have been only some light injuries.

I hope they are doing well!

[P44]

Ria wrote:

What do you guys think Sampaio will do?

Well, taken into consideration what happened after "José Manuel Barroso" ceased to be "Durão Barroso" and runned away to Brussels to make some extra bucks, Sampaio will summon aprox. 5467456305030403054 ppl to advise him about what to do, consult an astrologer, the oracle from the "Matrix", the famous African Wizard "Professor Karamba", the "Orixás" from Brazil, throw a coin to the air and finnaly (more or less one year later) phone the prime-minister asking for what to do...

[Luso]

Yes, and like a world class portuguese comediant would say:

"- E mai nada!"

[Ricardo Nunes]

p44, you´re mean m8!  

[P44]

p44, you´re mean m8!  :roll:    

[Ria]

Hmm P44...do you not like Sampaio?    What do you guys think of him?