Leaders of Washington's top allies in Iraq, Britain and Poland, backed an appeal for an Olympic Truce on Saturday just as intense fighting involving the allied forces was set to resume in the holy city of Najaf.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and several other top government and sports officials signed the truce declaration at a ceremony on the first day of competition at the Olympic Games in Athens.
Kwasniewski said sometimes military engagement was necessary in the quest for peace: "This is an appeal. We have to work for peace but it's not easy."
"In some places in the world we have to act, we have to fight, because without such engagement it is impossible to solve the problems."
Poland commands a multinational force of 8,000 troops in south-central Iraq. They include 2,500 Polish soldiers who have seen action not far from Najaf, where US troops have battled militiamen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
In ancient Greece, all fighting had to stop from a week before the games until a week after so that athletes, artists and spectators could travel safely to and from Olympia.
The concept was revived by the modern Games' organizers in 1992 during the war between Serbs and Muslims in Bosnia and endorsed by the UN.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell, speaking in Washington on Friday, said the truce appeal was a "noble effort" but sadly it would have no impact on Iraq: The violence was the work of "outlaws and ... former regime elements and ... terrorists who respect no truce, who respect nothing except force."
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