WOLF BLITZER: (…) Poland of course, is one of the key players in the president's coalition of the willing in Iraq. And today Poland's leader was discussing the situation in Iraq over at the White House. The Polish prime minister, Marek Belka, joining us here in our Washington studio.
Mr. Prime minister, welcome to Washington. Thanks very much for joining us.

PRIME MINISTER MAREK BELKA: Good evening. (…)

WOLF BLITZER: How many troops does Poland have in Iraq right now in?

PRIME MINISTER MAREK BELKA: Well, at the moment, it's over 3,000, but it's because we are shifting. We are changing shifts. Normally we would have about 2500.

WOLF BLITZER: And these are combat forces?

PRIME MINISTER MAREK BELKA: No, the mandate civilization - well, these are combat forces. But they are not executing assaults - I mean, offensive operations. Well, unless they are themselves attacked. (…)

WOLF BLITZER: I know your government obviously is aligned with the Bush administration, but is this a popular move inside Poland?

PRIME MINISTER MAREK BELKA: It's never popular in Europe. It has never been very popular in Poland. And obviously with the casualties, the support - the public support for the Polish involvement in Iraq is diminishing.

What is your government's policy on negotiating with terrorists in order to win the freedom of Polish citizens who may be caught up in Iraq?

PRIME MINISTER MAREK BELKA: Well, our policy is not to negotiate with the terrorists. As a matter of fact, we had one case, one incident, in which a Polish citizen was captured, was taken hostage. Fortunately, he was released. So we didn't have this very important, very, very difficult dilemma.

WOLF BLITZER: Did you make any concessions?

PRIME MINISTER MAREK BELKA: No. (…)