Posted on 05/07/2003 4:04:57 PM PDT by Pokey78
GERMANY has responded angrily to a proposal that its troops be deployed in northern Iraq under the command of Poland, one of the newest members of Nato.
The United States recommended that Poland take over the military administration of northern Iraq, in charge of peacekeeping duties. The force under its command would number about 7,000, including contingents from Nato members such as Romania, Bulgaria and possibly Germany. Peter Struck, the German Defence Minister, said he would “look into” the proposal, but was clearly opposed. Poland, which contributed 200 men to coalition forces in Iraq, had promised 10,000 men for a peacekeeping force. This has shrunk to 1,500, with troops from other countries added. The US will be responsible for central Iraq and Britain for the south. Neither Germany nor France had expected to take a leading military role in postwar Iraq, but the idea that Poland could take charge has stirred a hornets’ nest. President Kwasniewski of Poland will try to resolve the matter when he meets German and French leaders tomorrow, but there is no mistaking the dismay in “old Europe” as Poland flexes its muscles. “We would like to have German troops,” Jerzy Szmajdzinski, the Polish Defence Minister, said after talks with Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary. “I’m sure the United States would be interested in that.” The comment was intended to be practical rather than polemical. Poland recognises that it has no experience in leading a multinational force. But there is a Polish-German-Danish brigade based in Szczecin in northwest Poland that could be deployed in Iraq. The German press has been particularly dismissive. Perhaps Gerhard Schröder, the Chancellor, should use the summit to “remind President Kwasniewski who exactly has been the strongest champion of Polish entry into the EU and Nato,” the Süddeutsche Zeitung sniffed. The Poles have responded in kind. “Germans and French, leave the Poles in peace!” was the headline in Superexpress. “We were right about the war, you do not have to teach us what to do in Iraq.” France and Germany do not find it easy to accept the Nato and EU newcomers as equals. This was clear when President Chirac chided Poland and other members of the former Soviet bloc for signing a letter of support for the US ahead of the Iraq war. “They had lost,” he said at the time, “a good opportunity to stay silent.” The Germans also suspect that the US is again trying to drive a wedge between “old” and “new” Europe. Poland was surprised by the German response. Where Germans see conspiracy, Poland sees a chance to bring them into the loop. “I’m afraid there is some misunderstanding,” Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, the Foreign Minister, said. “We would like as many European partners as possible.” Deep down, most German politicians are unwilling to accept the concept. From the days of Bismarck until 1945, the Poles were seen as a subject people by Prussians and by Germans. The notion that a Polish captain can give orders to a German soldier will take some getting used to.
Get used to it!
Germany would have had more say in the matter had it co-operated with Pax Americana in settling Saddan's hash.
Particularly if the US ever decides to stop protecting them.
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