saynotochimp2004

Polish Troops Leave to Head Force in Iraq Zone

Wed July 2, 2003 02:36 PM ET

By Wojciech Moskwa


WROCLAW (Reuters) - The advance guard of the 9,200-strong
multinational stabilization force Poland will command in central and
southern Iraq left Wednesday on the country's biggest military mission
in nearly 60 years.

The 250 Polish troops, including the zone's future commander General
Andrzej Tyszkiewicz, will pave the way for the force that will control
a stretch of territory running from the Iranian to the Saudi border.

"The Polish forces are beginning their biggest military operation
since the end of World War II," Prime Minister Leszek Miller told the
troops and their families at an airport in the southwestern city of
Wroclaw.

"This is the most important mission of the world of the early 21st
century," added Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski as the troops
began to file aboard two U.S. transport aircraft.

The United States asked Poland, which backed the U.S.-led war to oust
Saddam Hussein, to run the central-southern zone between Britain's
southern zone and the U.S.-controlled north.

"We are well on track to take control on Sept. 1," Szmajdzinski told a
news conference earlier in the day.

Any casualties during peacekeeping operations, like the deaths of 23
U.S. and six British soldiers since President Bush called an end to
the war on May 1, would test Poland's resolve to follow through on the
support it pledged.

Asked about possible casualties, Szmajdzinski said: "We are ****yzing
each death of U.S. and British troops and preparing our soldiers as
best we can."

Opinion surveys show Poles are no more keen on supporting military
efforts in Iraq than western Europeans, even though mainstream
politicians staunchly backed the U.S.-led war.

U.S., NATO SUPPORT

Poland, an ex-communist state which joined the NATO military alliance
in 1999, had trouble organizing the force until it received financial
support, transport and equipment from the United States and logistical
help from NATO.

Poland will send 2,300 troops to Iraq to work side by side with 1,300
Spanish troops, who will take over control in the zone at some point,
officials said.

The force will be completed by soldiers from Ukraine, Bulgaria,
Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, the Baltic states and possibly from the
Philippines, Thailand, Mongolia and Fiji. Officers from west European
NATO states will also take part.

"In the first days of operations our main task will be to contact
local and ethnic leaders to clarify that Poland will lead this
stabilization force, that we want to help keep peace, fight crime and
aid humanitarian efforts," Tyszkiewicz said.

Poland hopes its extensive business ties with Iraq in the 1970s and
1980s, when Polish engineers and workers built roads and factories
there, will help troops gain the trust of Iraqis.

Running the zone will be a major test for the Polish army, which has
modernized considerably since communism collapsed in 1989 but is still
run mainly by generals educated in Soviet military academies.


http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=3028321

kirill

Idiots. They'll be dying for Bush as he tries to pacify the Iraqi people.
Let the Americans do all the glorious work of occupying Iraq.

bolshoymurza

In western Europe Poland is referred to as the "Trojan Donkey".
Bolshoy Murza

robert

Dumb Polacks and this from someone with Polish ancestry

james hall

"SayNoToChimp2004" ...

Well it appears that not just americaaaaans are numb and dumb.

One does not ****yze a soldier's death one ****yze the CAUSE
of a soldier's death.

Every one who dies dies due to a shortness of breathe - they
stop breathing.

Methinks any ****yzing of any form, manner and/or matter with
respect to deaths suffered while occupying a sovereign nation
will conclude with - it appears that we, said occupiers, are not
wanted.

Oh well.

JHall.