Poland's thunder commandos hunt Saddam

Reuters ^ | 11/7/03 | Wojciech Moskwa

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

BALTIC SEA COAST, Poland (Reuters) - Under cover of darkness and in complete silence Polish elite commandos stormed an offshore Iraqi oil platform in the first days of the U.S.-led war to oust Saddam Hussein.

As they advanced towards the rig's control centre, it was far from clear if Saddam would use chemical weapons or even if the platform itself was a booby-trapped.

"Suddenly an old telephone we passed on the platform began to ring. We held our breath thinking the ringer could be a fuse mechanism for a bomb," recalled an officer who took part in the mission.

"After a few rings it went quiet. Probably a wrong number," said the 31-year-old commando from his base on Poland's Baltic Sea coast.

His elite GROM unit was Poland's only active participant in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Under U.S. command, GROM captured one platform with a second rig taken by U.S. Navy SEALs.

Special Forces unit GROM -- which means "thunder" in Polish -- may have also won a new lease on life during the Iraq war.

Months before a Polish-led international force took control of a zone in postwar Iraq in September, GROM cleared vessels from the port of Umm Qasr and helped secure a dam near Baghdad.

Now GROM troops are helping the hunt for Saddam, Poland's top general, General Czeslaw Piatas, revealed in unexpectedly candid comments.

Asked about Piatas's statement, GROM Commander Colonel Roman Polko smiled wryly and said: "We never discuss missions before they end and rarely after they end."

SILENT FORCES

Despite GROM's success since its creation in 1990 to counter terror threats linked to Operation Bridge, which brought Soviet Jews to Israel via Poland, it is paradoxically weak inside the military, reflecting the often-rigid views of the top brass.

Unlike the U.S. military which allowed some press access to their "silent forces", Poland did not confirm its involvement in Iraq until a Reuters news photograph showed Polko alongside American troops celebrating in front of a mural of Saddam.

"That picture caused one hell of a storm, egos were bruised. Only public handshakes with leading civilian commanders began to settle things a bit," said one GROM officer.

Retired General Slawomir Petelicki, founder and first commander of the unit -- which trained with U.S. and British special forces before formerly communist Poland joined the NATO alliance in 1999 -- makes a more stinging assessment.

"This war saved GROM. Poland's generals do not understand GROM and wanted to split the unit between the army and navy," said Petelicki, now a senior consultant at Ernst & Young.

"GROM's approach is based on the knowledge of experts who train the world's best special forces, while the generals who still rule in Poland had their training in Soviet academies."

Elite foreign troops who have cooperated on missions with GROM also paint a positive picture of their Polish peers.

"We really hit it off with GROM. They are well-led, well-equipped and very professional. As good as any unit we've worked with in the (Iraq war) coalition, perhaps better," Navy SEALs Lieutenant Commander Jay Richards told Reuters.

PRAISE

GROM has won praise for its missions, such as its operations in Haiti in 1994, and later in the war-torn Balkans.

"GROM needs freedom and flexibility to react quickly to a wide range of problems, while regular troops, amassed in large forces, need unified action and thinking to be successful," said Polko, a graduate of the prestigious U.S. Army Rangers school.

This approach has led to differences in attitude, equipment, pay and dress -- GROM troops usually wear street clothes not army greens -- fuelling jealousy among the old-guard. GROM's heritage as an elite unit born outside the walls of the defence ministry further isolates the force.

Less than five percent of candidates actually get into GROM, which in previous years has accepted women recruits.

"The introduction of women into our ranks has made us more versatile and has a positive balancing effect on troops, who work under tremendous stress," said a lieutenant who leads a marine sub-unit at GROM, which also has a paratrooper outfit.

Polko said he tendered his resignation as GROM commander after hearing of military plans to curb its role but the scheme was quickly withdrawn.

"The Iraq conflict showed that GROM is the only combat-ready and NATO-compatible unit in Poland's 150,000-strong army," said one senior defence ministry source, who asked not to be named.

"But that also irritated some who seek to sideline special forces and give more dominance to army regulars."

[dinok]

We need more poeple like the GROM boys (and girls). if only the rest of Europe was like Poland.

One of their officers died in Iraq yesterday. His famnily is in our prairs.

[Prodigal Son]

GROM are pretty cool. I'm glad they're on our side.

[Samwise]

ping

[PoorMuttly]

I pray for him, and his family and people, too.

May we NEVER forget.

[Consort]