Will Poland withdraw from Iraq in October 2008? and then Afghanistan?
Prime Minister Tusk is squaring up for a 'celebrity death match' with his nemesis, the one and only (oh no wait, he's got a doppelganger) President Kaczynski. Yesterday in the Sejm (parliament) his cabinet officially requested an extension to the Polish mission in Iraq, until the end of October 2008. Wait a minute, haven't we heard all this shit before?
You may be forgiven for thinking so. According to Polskie Radio "the motion reads that Polish troops and the remaining personnel will perform tasks connected with the termination of the mission as part of the International Stabilization Forces in Iraq. The Polish contingent will number 900 soldiers plus 300 people kept in reserve on Poland’s territory."
So it's the British style of withdrawal, rather than the Spanish type. SLD promised a withdrawal in 2005. PiS then extended it to the end of 2006 and one of PO's election promises was to have a phased withdrawal in 2008. Time will tell whether they hold to this promise - afterall, we can;t just believe them now, can we!
I suspect Polish arms and oil dealers are this morning having a fit, trying to work out how they can maintain pressure on gvt. agents to keep every opportunity open so they can exploit the Iraqi disaster zone. All in all, they certainly didn't do as well as they would have hoped, U.S. firms winning all the lucrative contracts (Halliburton, Bechtel and other monsters).
Well, not to worry - I'm sure they filthy, greedy assholes who trade in arms and oil are licking their lips at the prospect of an increased Polish contingent in Afghanistan under the unwinnable NATO ISAF forces that increasingly fuck up that country.
Poland would do well to remember that this is Britain's 4th time in Afghanistan - they lost the 3 previous times, and their main general some months ago reported to the Guardian that they were likely to lose the current battle also.
As for my last comments to the Polish state and their army - lie in a bed of fleas and you are sure to be bitten!
As for the public, well, there is a growing disapproval of the Polish presence in Afghanistan. A recent CBOS poll found that 83% of the respondents do not endorse the Polish military presence. This an increase by 6% rise from the last poll conducted just 2 months ago. Supporters for the mission amount to a mere 14%, a reduction of 5 points in the dame period.
Of course, it doesn't take a genius to understand why Polish society are concerned about what the hell fellow Poles are doing out there in the wilderness of a country their former enemy, the USSR, had occupied and committed countless atrocities in over 2 decades ago.
Reports transpired recently that Polish troops had killed 6 Afghan civilians in cold blood last August has obviously impacted the perspective of the public about the purposelessness and immorality of their participation.
60% of those questioned in the poll believes there should be a complete withdrawal of Polish troops in Afghanistan.
Comments
The Catholic Worker crew have been maintaining a weekly vigil at Ennogera Army Gallipoli (named after a huge military defeat in WW1) Barracks in Brisbane, Australia, for the past 6 months.
Recently, an Australian Labor Party government was elected on an anti-war ticket after 11 years of conservative PM hoWARd , U.S. sychophantic, war mania rule. The ALP government had promised withdrawl of Australian combat troops form Iraq and an escalated military commitment to the war on Afghanistan (where Australia has been taking more combat fatalities....they had scored from the U.S. a relatively safe role in the southern extremes of Iraq as part of their cheerleading participation at the outset of the war in 03).
A few weeks after the ALP/PM Rudd election a fresh rotation of troops left Ennogera for Iraq. New ALP Prime Minister Rudd also promised to leave 1,000 Australian Navy and Air Force personnel in the Iraq theatre of operations and send in "trainers".
Ciaron
firstly, i'm not sure IFOR has much affect on Afghanistan as they were opereating in Bosnia.. perhaps ISAF? ... :)
Generally, though you are right, but i'm still sceptical as to the guilt of the 'Poznan 6', as all i've heard points at a cover up and a bit of scape-goating.
I think it was more likely an accident, perhaps caused through incompetence.