WASHINGTON, March 18 (Xinhuanet) -- The United States downplayed on Thursday the significance of the remarks made by Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski that the world has been deceived by the United States on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction(WMD), insisting that the US-Polish alliance remains strong.

    "We have no reason to have any, sort of, questions or doubts about Poland's steadfast support of the mission in Iraq," State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said at a news briefing. "It is not something that is cause for concern."

    Ereli noted that Polish leaders had spoken of standing with theUnited States "shoulder to shoulder" in the efforts to rebuild Iraq only a few days ago, shortly after the March 11 terrorist attacks in Madrid, Spain, which killed over 200 people.

    He said that the relationship between the United States and Poland, which has deployed 2,500 troops in Iraq, are still "strongand close."

    The spokesman argued that though the US weapons search team hasnot found any WMD stockpile in Iraq, the hunting is still continuing. "The search is not over. We continue looking," he said.

    Speaking to a group of visiting French journalists in Warsaw onThursday, President Kwasniewski said: "They deceived us about the weapons of mass destruction, that's true. We were taken for a ride." Enditem ¡¡