AD DIWANIYAH, Iraq — The multinational zone in Iraq took another step closer to local control yesterday as the Polish army, which oversees the provinces of Diwaniyah and Wasit, began what is expected to be the final rotation of its troops here.

Although President Kaczynski has said he expects to withdraw his country’s army from Iraq next year, the exact date for its departure has not been set. Until then, Poland will continue to oversee this zone in central south Iraq, which has soldiers serving from 12 countries.

A U.S. Army lieutenant general, Peter Chiarelli, told The New York Sun that the Polish troops “are doing an absolutely outstanding job. They’ve been one of the most steadfast members of the coalition. And these are two of the most peaceful provinces in all of Iraq, Diwaniyah and Wasit. And that’s largely attributable to the great leadership of successive Polish generals who have come down here and the Polish units who have served here.”

The violence in this region is not on the scale of the horrors taking place in Baghdad. While three rockets were fired at the international base of Camp Echo on Monday, within hours of the attack Poles had received a tip about the identity of the attacker and Iraqi troops were searching the area where the rockets were launched.

Poland’s involvement in Operation Iraqi Freedom has had two distinct phases. GROM, the country’s special forces unit, took part in dozens of military operations in the invasion of Iraq, such as capturing the port at KAAOT oil platform near the port of Umm Qasr and the Mukarayin Dam.

The second phase, carried out by the Polish army, has more resembled a peacekeeping mission. While Polish troops have taken part in locating and destroying weapons and manned security checkpoints, the army has focused mostly on helping to rebuild Iraqi infrastructure. The Polish army has invested millions to help the Iraqis rebuild electric plants, water distribution systems, roads, bridges, schools, and medical facilities. It also has

helped train the Iraqi army, police, and border guards; taught engineering and medical classes, and provided lessons in logistics and tactics for capturing terrorists and liquidating illegal arsenals of military equipment.

A gradual return of this region to Iraqi forces began earlier this year and will continue in stages throughout the next few months. The national commander of Iraq’s ground troops, General Ali Zejda, told the Sun, “The Poles have helped the multinational coalition a great deal, and they’ve helped keep the Iraqi people safe.”

That sentiment was echoed by the local commander, General Othman Al Farhood, who said he has worked closely with the Poles to train his troops.

The good relationship with the Iraqi military has helped the Poles catch terrorists. Just last week, Polish military intelligence provided a tip to Iraqi security forces that led to the capture of suspected terrorist, Salah Khabbas, 38. Mr. Khabbas, a former Baath Party official, is believed to have been involved in the recent kidnapping and killing of two American soldiers, as well as the 2004 killing of a well-known Polish television journalist, Waldemar Milewicz, and his assistant, Moumir Bouamrane.

Polish General Edward Gruszka, who is finishing his six-month tour as commander of the international division, said the terrorist attacks on Iraqi military officials and civilians also hurt the local economy, hindering a quicker return to normalcy for the 3.5 million people in this region.

Iraqi civilians sometimes come to Camp Echo in Diwaniya and Camp Delta to ask the Poles for help finding jobs. The military doctors at Camp Delta, and to a lesser extent Camp Echo, have set aside hours on Mondays and Thursday to help Iraqi civilians.

In his speech yesterday to the hundreds of troops from 12 nations at Camp Echo, General Chiarelli compared General Gruszka to General Casimir Pulaski, who came from Poland to take part in the American Revolution, where he founded the U.S. cavalry.

General Chiarelli also cited the acceptance speech Henryk Siekiewicz gave in 1905 when he received the Nobel Prize for Literature: “‘She was pronounced dead, yet here is proof that she lives on. She was declared incapable to think and to work, and here is proof to the contrary. She was pronounced defeated, yet here is proof that she was victorious.’ Of course, in 1905, he was talking about his native Poland. But his words ring true of Iraq today.”