Divided forces
By Mirko Kaupat
Many people in Germany - the country's largest trading partner and biggest supporter of its accession to the European Union - could hardly believe their ears when they heard that Poland would become one of the security powers in post-war Iraq. But what was even worse from Berlin's point of view was Warsaw's invitation to Germany to join the stabilization force in the "Polish zone," probably in northern Iraq.
Defense minister Jerzy Szmajdziński made the proposal during his visit to Washington last week when he met with American secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld. Szmajdziński said that the stabilization force could be based on the existing joint Polish-German-Danish corps operating in Szczecin. His premise was, of course, that this country would simply be unable to run the zone on its own, even though the United States promised the mission financial support. The nation's army, however, is so poorly equipped that even the old tanks from the Bundeswehr that the Germans couldn't use any more and gave to Poland for nothing were welcomed with enthusiasm some months ago.
Berlin couldn't agree to a common force, though, because it strongly opposed the war from the beginning and didn't want to legitimize it by joining the American-led troops now. Furthermore, Germany claimed it was totally surprised by Szmajdziński's idea. Defense minister Peter Struck said that Szmajdziński informed him about the invitation to join forces at the meeting in Washington, but claimed that his Polish counterpart told the press first - an accusation that the Pole strongly denied.
Politicians and press here reacted sharply to German criticism that Poland is merely a puppet on Washington's strings. The largest papers praised the country's new role as a global player, with the tabloid Super Express screaming: "Germans and French, hands off Poland. Concerning the Iraq war, we were right!" A few others raised concerns that too close a relationship with the U.S. could harm Poland's ties with the EU, especially its two largest countries, Germany and France.
Diplomats are now trying to quell the commotion. Foreign minister Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz said that he would try to convince Washington to let the United Nations participate in overseeing the reconstruction operations in Iraq. And Germany, which is also calling for UN participation, added that it might play a role if both the UN and NATO back the mission.
At the end of the week, President Aleksander Kwaśniewski discussed the matter at a summit in Wrocław with German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and French President Jacques Chirac. Their main task was to improve relations between the three countries, which have significantly suffered of late, though a potential Polish-German force in Iraq was also touched upon.
The last word on the matter has yet to be spoken.
