Soviet-trained army officers face dismissal

On Friday the Ministry of Defense announced that general Henryk Tacik and general Zbigniew Cieslik have been dismissed, with the official reason being the Minister of Defense Andrzej Szczyglo was not satisfied with their work. Rzeczpospolita sources on the other hand claim the real reason is the fact that both generals studied in the former Soviet Union. The sources also say that a decision was made to dismiss all generals with similar histories, which could mean serious changes in the Polish army since almost half of Polish generals studied in Soviet or Russian military academies. The Ministry of Defense denies the decision was based on this premise, but it seems some rumors have already reached NATO headquarters. A NATO officer quoted by Rzeczpospolita said: "There is a question whether Poland has the human resources to allow it to dismiss graduates of Moscow military academies."  (Rzeczpospolita, pp. A1, A3) E.B.