Polish 'Dogs of War' will stay in Iraq

Cry 'Havoc!’, and let slip the dogs of war.
Julius Caesar: Act III, scene i

Aliens, and stuff
The State tends to be a bit like an alien spaceship - the more you attack it, the stronger its' will and the more steadfast it becomes in pursuit of its' nemesis. Advocates of 'propaganda by deed' discovered this over 100 years ago. Nowadays, we can see such apocalyptic battles between the 'goodies' and 'baddies' take place in Hollywood movies, from Independence Day to War of the Worlds. And of course, those with the most gel in their hair and sexiest tan usually win the good fight to save humankind from nasty looking sub, meta, or non-humans. Tom Cruise , for example.

But jokes aside, all these foreign objects of animosity tend to have an Achilles' heel. And super heroes like Kirk, Dr. Spock, Will Smith or Tom usually end up developing MacGyver-like innovative equivalents of a weapon sharp enough to pierce the evil terrorist space saucers' weakest points, consequently bringing them crashing down into the abyss of oblivion. An hence, happy days for us good people, and tough luck for them death-loving swines!

Ok, enough of that shite and more to the point.

Polish establishment unite after attack in Baghdad
The Polish gvt. have been joined by their arch nemesis in the media, leading liberal-ish daily, Gazeta Wyborcza, in calls for calm and resolve in the aftermath of the attack on the Polish ambassador, Polish General Edward Pietrzyk (see photo), and his convoy in Baghdad. All indications prior to this event, where 2 people were killed including one Polish security guard and over 14 others injured, were that the Polish presence in Iraq would be extended indefinitely.

This was also surely an important demand from the U.S. in their 4th round of negotiations with Poland recently on the planned U.S. Anti-Ballistic Missile Defence system which will probably be constructed in northern Poland by 2012. The roadside bomb seems now to have hardened the resolve of the current Polish administration. And even if the Civic Platform opposition come to power with the help of the Social Democrats in the forthcoming elections, little if anything will change.

According to the Prime Minister, Jaroslaw Kaczynski:

‘Desertion is always the worst option. It’s a solution which doesn’t bring anything positive, not to mention the moral side. Any embassy in Iraq could be attacked.’

Why is desertion always the worst option? It most certainly wasn't in Vietnam. And though Poland were part of an illegal invasion force that was post-hoc legitimised by the U.N., the disingenuous assertion by the Prime Minister that Poland are there for 'moral' purposes is quite frankly sickening and bullshit, smothered with a gallon of cynicism.

So why the fuck is Poland in Iraq?
The reasons for their warmongering and sycophancy were and remain numerous - reasssertion of political alliance with Washington D.C. as well as Brussels; hope for lucrative financial benefits through investment; desire to have their armed forces off their arses and doing something dangerously not worthwhile. And then of course there are the comments made by previous Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz in 20006, which give a blunt insight into some of the prominent reasoning:

‘Orlen (State oil company) should have oil deposits. And it will have them'

Asked if that would include Iraqi deposits and if that could happen this year, he remarked, respectively:

‘For sure as well' and 'Possibly.’

And despite the fact that 27 Poles have now perished in the Iraqi quagmire, while Polish soldiers have been responsible for countless deaths there - all in the name of an immoral and illegal invasion - the Law and Justice party, that purports to embody Catholic social dogma in it's political philosophy, continue to pronounce their intention in Iraq is 'moral'. Benedict XVI, will ya get up off yer red slippers and bar these fellas from communion on Sundays and leave the poor 'aul homos alone.

Bumar, Polish State owned Arms Company

Big boys and their war toys
Lest we forget, war is big business. The appointment of a former general as Polish ambassador 6 months ago was undoubtedly well thought out. Poland are desperate to expand their business interests in Iraq, and who better to see arms deals negotiated successfully than a general. As the Iraq News Monitor reported in May of this year:

“Iraq needs weapons quickly. Once the {Iraq} government decides it wants something, it wants it right away,” says Mr Skowron (Polish State owned Bumar Arms company chief executive), who was in Iraq with Mr Szczyglo (Polish Minister of Defence) earlier this year.

Bumar have already sold approximately $400m worth of weapons and equipment to Iraq in 2003.

The Iraq News Monitor continues:

Warsaw has been disappointed with Iraqi contracts, a sore point because Poland was one of only four countries to take part in the initial invasion in 2003, and continues to maintain a military presence there despite widespread opposition in Poland.

Euphemisms for the 58 year old Polish General strategically turned envoy, Edward Pietrzyk, as Polish 'ambassador' and 'diplomat' are useful terms to hook the media into misleading the public from the truth and blindly leading Poles (who are against their country's presence in Iraq - 81% in recent polls, that is, but unfortunately not to be seen on the streets) into thinking their moral mission must not be 'deserted'........

Mercenaries, no more - no less!
Think Christopher Walken in the infamous film 'Dogs of War.'

Think Maggie Thatcher's mercenary son Mark and his dog of war SAS comrades in their attempt to stage a coup d'etat in Equatorial Guinea to rob that country's oil resources.

Think Blackwater.........and try not to puke.
Think Edward Pietrzyk, his security guards and political masters - they all have one thing in common, 'Dogs of War.'
Is there any legitimate resistance in Iraq?
And despite my perspective of what they truly are in this drama, my heart goes out to the families of the deceased security guard and the Iraqi victim, and to all those injured in this attack.

Nevertheless, wind back 60 years to Warsaw, 1947. Were the occupying forces then a legitimate target in the eyes of the Home Army? If yes, it's hard to evade the logical conclusion that even though the historical circumstances are entirely different now, those who fought oppression and occupation in 20th century Poland are not all that different to the Iraqi resistance we don't receive much clarity about today. The resistance is boxed off as 'terrorist' - period.
But it just ain't that black and white ye all.

The ones who don't kill little kiddies for breakfast, dinner and supper but target specific military, mercenary targets are the nationalist resistance. The other lunatics, well they're just wired to the moon!

We don't hear much of the legitimate resistance (permissible under International Law) because the lines are so blurred - the amount of paramilitary groups who only target occupation forces are vast compared to the terrorist groups that would even blow up your ham sandwich if they had a mini-second to plant a bomb in the butter!
And the fact that most media outlets don't stress that the differences between the various anti-occupation factions in Iraq are as extreme as those between Legia Warsaw and Wisła Kraków is testimony to the fact that we continue to paint Iraq as black and white - just like Kaczynski, Bush, Brown, the European Commission, and so on do.

Blackwater helicopters in Baghdad

Epilogue
And now I'm off to bed............. but a little bit of good news for you to digest, Congress in the U.S. have just voted that private security contractors can be legitimately held responsible in the U.S. for their misdeeds in Iraq and beyond. Associated Press report:

The Democratic-led House of Representatives voted 389 to 30 in favor of expanding the US Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, to make all security contractors in conflict zones subject to action in US courts.

About fucking time Senators!