President George W. Bush said Wednesday that he would seek a 50 percent increase in U.S. military assistance to Poland

President George W. Bush said Wednesday that he would seek a 50 percent increase in U.S. military assistance to Poland, a staunch ally in Iraq but one engaged in debate over withdrawing its entire force from that country. The White House later said that the $100 million for Poland would come from a $400 million "solidarity initiative" it plans to ask Congress to provide for countries supporting its efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. In a brief session with reporters at the White House, neither Bush nor the visiting Polish prime president, Aleksander Kwasniewski, publicly addressed the question of how long Polish troops might remain, though Kwasniewski said Poles looked forward to "the successful completion of our mission." The 2,400 Polish soldiers in Iraq are the fourth-largest coalition force, and about 800 are set to leave this month. Poland leads a multinational division of about 6,000 troops in the country's south-central region. But amid the unrelenting violence in Iraq - where 16 Polish soldiers and 4 Polish nationals have died - debate continues on whether Poland should follow its partial withdrawal by pulling out remaining troops, perhaps by year's end. Warsaw, under political and economic pressure, had sought an increase in U.S. military-to-military aid, and a Polish reporter asked about that. "The president and I talked about that," Bush said. "He has been very insistent about our mil-to-mil relations." Bush said he would ask Congress to increase aid from the current $65 million to $100 million. "Poland's been a fantastic ally," Bush said, "because the people of Poland love freedom." The U.S. president also thanked Kwasniewski for his help in nudging leaders in neighboring Ukraine toward a peaceful solution of the tense electoral standoff last year. And he suggested the two were on track to resolving a visa dispute: Americans do not need visas to visit Poland, while the United States requires them of visiting Poles.