SINAIA, Romania (AP) - Romania has no intentions of withdrawing its troops from the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, President Traian Basescu said Saturday, vowing to stay ``because it's a dishonor to leave your allies.''
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In an interview with The Associated Press, Basescu said he empathized with mounting calls to withdraw the country's 608 non-combat personnel in Iraq, including impassioned pleas from the families of those serving. But ``Romania's honor is greater than its feelings,'' he said.
``An exit strategy is a matter of concern for us, and we are building it with our main allies, the U.S. and the U.K. But the states that form the coalition cannot abandon Iraq as it is now,'' he said after addressing reporters at a presidential retreat about 60 miles northeast of Bucharest. ``We have an obligation to the Iraqi people. We will leave when the local authorities can provide security for the people,'' he said. |