Taken for a ride
The following morning, U.S. President George W. Bush held a phone conversation with his Polish counterpart. Facing the threat of isolation in Europe, after Spain's defection to the Franco-German camp, this country could now risk losing its closest ally.
The 20-minute phone conversation between the two presidents had been planned long before Aleksander Kwaśniewski's controversial remarks, says Marek Siwiec, the head of the National Security Bureau.
During the talk, Siwiec added, Kwaśniewski, "was keen to explain the lexical and translatorial misuderstandings," that arose from the AFP's English Language translation of his words as "we were taken for a ride." George W. Bush, on the other hand, "did not mention the lexical and translatorial issues at all." In a phrase eerily reminiscent of the previous system's rhetoric, Siwiec added that such problems would not in any way, "disturb the Polish-American brotherhood of arms. Our troops will stay in Iraq, as long as is necessary and a day longer."
The 20-minute phone conversation between the two presidents had been planned long before Aleksander Kwaśniewski's controversial remarks, says Marek Siwiec, the head of the National Security Bureau.
During the talk, Siwiec added, Kwaśniewski, "was keen to explain the lexical and translatorial misuderstandings," that arose from the AFP's English Language translation of his words as "we were taken for a ride." George W. Bush, on the other hand, "did not mention the lexical and translatorial issues at all." In a phrase eerily reminiscent of the previous system's rhetoric, Siwiec added that such problems would not in any way, "disturb the Polish-American brotherhood of arms. Our troops will stay in Iraq, as long as is necessary and a day longer."
