Polish involvement in the 2003 invasion of Iraq

On March 17, 2003, then Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski announced that Poland would send about 200 troops to the Persian Gulf to take part in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Polish soldiers were present in the region since July 2002, and combat was first confirmed on March 24. These formed the third and one of the largest military contributions to the forces arrayed against Iraq (with the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia).

Forces committed

The original Polish contingent contained:

* 70 soldiers from the elite GROM commando unit. 24 "Marine division" GROM commandos were in the region for some months before March 2003, 56 more joined them before the invasion,
* the logistic support ship ORP Kontradmirał Xawery Czernicki with over 50 crew and a small FORMOZA navy commando unit,
* 74 antichemical contamination troops from 4. Brodnicki Pułk Chemiczny (4. Chemical Warfare Regiment from Brodnica).

Also a 53-man antichemical contamination unit was ready to be sent to Turkey, but because of the quick victory it was stopped one day before departure.

The logistical support ship "Xawery Czernicki" served as a base for special operations conducted by the Polish commandos.

Operations by Polish Forces

[
28 march 2003.] Polish commandos took part in security operations on Iraqi Oil Platforms. Fearing a repeat of the destruction of Iraqi oil wells in the Gulf War by Saddam Hussein, this operation aimed to prevent similar acts that would have led to pollution of the region and loss of infrastructure. [http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20030627-9999_1m27seals.html] Polish special forces also assisted in securing the port of Umm Qasr.

In April of 2005, Poland had 2,500 troops in Iraq and is also commanding a number of other coalition troops being part of the Polish-led Multinational Division Central-South.

International relations

In 2003, controversy erupted between Poland and France when Polish forces found French Roland surface-to-air missiles that the international press reported that Polish officers claimed had been manufactured in 2003. France pointed out that the latest Roland missiles were manufactured in the early 1990s and thus the manufacturing date was necessarily an error (it turned out it was probably the expiry date that was indicated), and affirmed that it had never sold weapons to Iraq in violation of the embargo. Investigations by the Polish authorities came to the conclusion that the persons responsible for the scandal were low level commanders; Wojskowe Służby Informacyjne, the Polish Army's intelligence service, had not verified their claims before they were leaked to the press. Poland apologized to France for the scandal, but these allegations against France worsened the already somewhat strained relationships between the two countries.

The Foreign Minister of Poland, Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz, stated in July, 2003, "We have never hidden our desire for Polish oil companies to finally have access to sources of commodities" [cite news | title=Poland seeks Iraq oil stake | date=2003-07-03 | accessdate=2007-10-15 | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3043330.stm | publisher=BBC News ] and was criticized for that by many fellow politicians and Polish popular opinion.

"You forgot Poland"

In the first debate of the United States Presidential election of 2004, John Kerry accused President Bush of failing to gain widespread international support for the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, saying "... when we went in, there were three countries: Great Britain, Australia and the United States. That's not a grand coalition. We can do better." Bush, who had used Poland earlier in the debate as an example of the international presence in Iraq, replied by saying "Well, actually, he forgot Poland." [cite web | title = Transcript of the first Bush-Kerry presidential debate | publisher = Commission on Presidential Debates | date = 2004-09-30 | url = http://www.debates.org/pages/trans2004a.html | accessdate = 2006-12-07 ] Paraphrased as "You forgot Poland", the term became a popular catch phrase among Bush detractors, who saw it as a humorously petty rebuttal of Kerry's original point, since Bush had originally claimed that over 40 nations were supporting the invasion, when the number of nations that had contributed over 1,000 troops was far lower; therefore, they argued, even if Bush's statement was entirely accurate, four nations with significant troop numbers on the ground as opposed to three was still not "a grand coalition." The four countries that participated in the invasion were the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Poland. [ [http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/coalition/index.html Iraq War: U.S. & Coalition - Special Reports from CNN.com ] ]

References

See also

* Post-invasion Iraq, 2003-2006
* Governments' pre-war positions on invasion of Iraq
* Polish Army

External links

* [http://www.president.pl/x.node?id=2011993&eventId=1508071 President of Poland's decision to commit troops to Iraq]
* [http://www.polandembassy.org/News/Biuletyny_news/p2003-03-20.htm Additional troops to leave for Iraq on the 21st]
* [http://www.piomndcs.mil.pl/ Multinational Division Central-South homepage]
* [http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/tables/06s1286.xls U.S. Foreign Economic and Military Aid by Recipient Country: 2000 to 2003]