← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Polish Noble
Thread ID: 9475 | Posts: 4 | Started: 2003-09-02
2003-09-02 21:45 | User Profile
**US delays handover of Najaf to Polish troops By Daniel Howden in Warsaw 02 September 2003
US forces have delayed a planned withdrawal from the troubled Iraqi city of Najaf on the eve of its handover to Polish commanders.
Defence ministry sources in Warsaw confirmed that the city, 100 miles south of Baghdad, will remain under US command in the aftermath of the car bomb attack on Friday that left more than 100 dead.
America's decision not to hand over Najaf to Polish control will widen the split in public opinion about the war in one of America's staunchest European allies. Critics of the war have warned that a silent majority of Poles oppose military involvement in Iraq.
Thousands of Polish troops will lead a multinational brigade that is set to take over from American forces tomorrow, in the country's biggest military operation since the Second World War. General Andrzej Tyszkiewicz will oversee an area stretching from the border with Iran to the Saudi frontier, sandwiched between the US and British zones.
Poland's mission in Iraq underlines the country's new status as capital of what the US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld controversially calls "new Europe" - a bloc of eastern European countries which have forged close links with Washington after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
But the price for standing by Washington could be more than the present Polish administration can afford, according to Professor Tadeusz Iwinski, the Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller's senior foreign policy adviser and the chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe's migration and refugee committee. "The mission is the most risky decision this government has taken. If there are major casualties it could lead to a parliamentary rebellion, an erosion of the government's majority and an end to this administration."
The US decision to remain in Najaf and the attack on the supposedly neutral UN headquarters in Baghdad has left many concerned that poorly equipped Polish troops have been put in the firing line by their political leaders. Morale was not helped when standard issue pistols were recalled at the last minute because of persistent jamming and troops were forced to travel to Iraq with older weapons.
"Even top officials have reservations over whether our military can keep it together if things deteriorate further. But unless we try, we won't find out," a senior defence adviser said.
The gamble could set Warsaw at odds with its senior partners in Paris and Berlin in the run-up to Poland's formal accession to the European Union next spring. By far the largest new entrant to the 25-member bloc, with a population of 40 million, Poland is routinely referred to as Washington's "Trojan horse" in the EU.
After the difficulty it has encountered in finding allies prepared to commit troops to Iraq, the US is talking up Poland's international standing: "Nato's centre is shifting eastwards," the US ambassador to Nato, Nicholas Burns said during a recent visit. "Poland is emerging as one of the more powerful countries in Nato, it's a watershed."
But the flattering words followed intense political pressure that left many in Warsaw feeling there was little choice in following the White House to war. "You simply don't say 'No' to the Americans," said Bronislaw Komorowski, defence minister in the previous centre-right cabinet that oversaw Poland's entry to Nato in 1999.
In Warsaw there are clear signs of opposition to the policy. Opinion polls at the outbreak of hostilities showed two-thirds of Poles opposed the war and even after the fall of Saddam Hussein the figure remains at over 55 per cent.
For a country more accustomed to being occupied, the presence of Polish troops on potentially hostile foreign soil is deeply discomfiting. The abiding image of the Polish army has been that of the valiant cavalryman who charged the oncoming Panzers of Nazi Germany's invasion forces in 1939, matching his medieval lance against the might of mechanised armour. After the attack on Iraq, cartoonists in the Warsaw media satirically recast the cavalryman as a callow accomplice to the invaders, a tiny figure trotting alongside the American tanks overwhelming Saddam's army.
An series of corruption scandals has exhausted Mr Miller's government. He is the leader of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and now has an approval rating of just 16 per cent.
Andrzej Stasiuk a former anti-communist dissident, argues that the Warsaw administration will gain little from its Iraq gamble.
"It is easier to occupy Iraq than to admit, deep in our hearts, that we ourselves need stabilisation from Europe," he wrote in Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. **
2003-09-03 04:29 | User Profile
Yes, "delay" as in practically "never". I'm sure the Americans will never hand command over to the Polish troops.
But the price for standing by Washington could be more than the present Polish administration can afford, according to Professor Tadeusz Iwinski, the Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller's senior foreign policy adviser and the chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe's migration and refugee committee. "The mission is the most risky decision this government has taken. If there are major casualties it could lead to a parliamentary rebellion, an erosion of the government's majority and an end to this administration."
Good! I hope this administration crumbles. Putting Polish troops in harm's way just so the politicans can get a chance to have some American bones thrown at them? This sickens me! Didn't most people in Poland oppose this war? Guess the Communists are still in power, just under new names.
2003-09-03 09:49 | User Profile
Perun,
According to this you are alot closer to the truth than you realize.
[John] Fund [of the Wall Street Journal] cites the outraged cries of the various Vassals, including Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, the Polish Foreign Minister: "In the European family, there are no mummies, no daddies and no kids. It is a family of equals. In particular, there are no kids who are not mature enough to be partners with other members of the family."
While it is only natural for an "ex"-Commie apparatchik to mouth the rhetoric of egalitarianism, in this case it seems the minister is a case in point as to why Polish "democracy" still has a lot of growing up to do. It was Cimoszewicz, after all, who barely survived a no confidence vote in the Polish parliament for unilaterally surrendering Polish sovereignty at the EU bargaining table ââ¬â completely contrary to the instructions of the Poles' elected representatives.
**
[URL=http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j022103.html] [url=http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j022103.html]http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j022103.html[/url][/URL]
Frankly, I hope the Poles make their government pull their people out of there. That will put pressure on the U.S. government to do the same. -S
2003-09-03 16:51 | User Profile
*Originally posted by Sertorius@Sep 3 2003, 03:49 * ** Frankly, I hope the Poles make their government pull their people out of there. That will put pressure on the U.S. government to do the same. -S **
Guess it's time for a new Solidarity movement! :th: