Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz said Poland could work with Denmark, another member of the US-led coalition that drove Saddam from power, in the peacekeeping operation.

But he also said that someone would have to come forward to foot the bill.

"I think that we can talk of several hundred Polish officials," he told reporters at a European Union gathering in Athens.

"I'm thinking here of soldiers, police or members of other services which will be necessary," he added.

Cimoszewicz said the US-led coalition had already embarked on discussions about a peackeeping presence in Iraq, and that Poland could act in concert with Danish peacekeepers.

But Poland lacked the financial means to fund the operation on its own, he added.

"Those with money" would have to foot the bill, he said without specifying who.

In Warsaw, defence ministry spokesman Eugeniusz Mleczak said on Tuesday that US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had proposed a Polish role in Iraqi peacekeeping during a meeting with his counterpart Jerzy Szmajdzinski.

Around 200 Polish soldiers are currently in the Gulf, and Warsaw has indicated it does not plan to bring them home soon.

SPACE.WIRE