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Poland 'taken for a ride' over Iraq's WMD: President
sg.news.yahoo.com ^ | Friday March 19, 12:56 AM | AFP

Posted on 03/18/2004 10:22:44 AM PST by Destro

Friday March 19, 12:56 AM

Poland 'taken for a ride' over Iraq's WMD: President

AFP

In a first sign of official criticism in Poland of the US-led invasion of Iraq, President Aleksander Kwasniewski said that his country had been "taken for a ride" about the alleged existence of weapons of mass destruction in the strife-torn country.

"That they deceived us about the weapons of mass destruction, that's true. We were taken for a ride," Kwasniewski said Thursday.

He argued however that it made no sense to pull US-led coalition troops out of Iraq.

His comments marked the first time Poland has publicly criticized Washington's argument for invading Iraq and for winning support from Poland and other European allies such as Britain and Spain.

Poland heads up a 9,000-strong multinational force patrolling a swathe of Iraq south of Baghdad.

Warsaw itself has the fourth-largest contingent in the coalition, with around 2,500 soldiers.

Kwasniewski was speaking days after the prime minister-elect of Spain, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, said Madrid would withdraw its 1,300 soldiers from the Polish-led contingent by June 30, unless the United Nations took over administration of Iraq.

The Polish head of state questioned the wisdom of pulling foreign troops from the strife-torn country saying such a move could have a counter effect.

"What would be the point of pulling the troops if it meant a return to war, ethnic cleansing and conflict in neighboring countries," he told a group of visiting French journalists.

"If we protest against the United States' dominant role in world politics and we withdraw our troops knowing they will be replaced by US soldiers, what would be the point of such a move?" he questioned.

He said he was disappointed by the new Spanish government's threat to withdraw its 1,300 soldiers.

"We cannot alter our mission to stabilize Iraq to one to destabilize the country," he said.

"Passiveness will lead us nowhere," he added.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: iraq; kwasniewski; poland; stabilizationforce; wmd
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Say what?? At least the Pole understand that withdrawl would mean disaster. I will take what we can get these days.
1 posted on 03/18/2004 10:22:45 AM PST by Destro
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To: Destro
I would like more data on the "we were mislead about WMD" comment.
2 posted on 03/18/2004 10:32:42 AM PST by Alia (California -- It's Groovy! Baby!)
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To: Alia
you are correct-did he mean Iraq mislead us?
3 posted on 03/18/2004 10:40:46 AM PST by Destro (Know your enemy! Help fight Islamic terrorism by visiting www.johnathangaltfilms.com)
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To: Destro
It's EU politics.

Even Blix thought there were such "weapons"

Admin not explaining context, the UN votes, France's "no" to any enforcement, ever, the "lie" story gains traction.
4 posted on 03/18/2004 10:45:43 AM PST by Shermy
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To: Alia
My first impression was we were all taken for a ride....not that the US took Poland for a ride.I will never understand why Saddam and the Iraqis thought war or sanctions,bombing,etc were better than being open and honest.Was is so important to look defiant and strong?
5 posted on 03/18/2004 10:50:00 AM PST by MEG33 (John Kerry's been AWOL for two decades on issues of National Security!)
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To: Destro
I'm digging around. Ahern (Ireland) said something interesting yesterday, too. I know what I'm going to write here goes against "conventional" wisdom; however, I am interpreting Ireland and Poland's messages differently -- Unlike many who are so worried today about the open endorsement of Europe for Candidate Kerry, I'm not. The two countries also had troops in Ghan. If I find anything I'll post here. I would also predict besides Libya, there were be other countries suddenly "offering" to dismantle their corrupt and illegal WMD programs.

The WOT Card Game is on in a BIG WAY, IME.

6 posted on 03/18/2004 10:52:50 AM PST by Alia (California -- It's Groovy! Baby!)
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To: MEG33
Good point. And, I get your drift.

However, given all the "movement" of WMD material(s) between south Korea, China, Malaysia, and the mid east during the 90s; however; couple this with the scandalous oil for food programs; add to this Shroeder's assertions of an "independent" EU over a year ago.. My own hunch run two-fold. A. There are indeed WMDs -- but now the Socialist cover-up begins. B. Socialist Party International (including US Dems) is feverishly working overtime to protect these weapons from discovery. (they think). C. The assertion that we were "all taken for a ride" -- could also mean that certain "members of the US intel" committee did a bang up job on their conversations with international leaders in setting up A red herring scenario. Socialists have, in all my life, never given me any substantive reason to trust them -- ever.

7 posted on 03/18/2004 10:58:40 AM PST by Alia (California -- It's Groovy! Baby!)
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To: Alia
I don't trust socialists,either.
8 posted on 03/18/2004 11:02:21 AM PST by MEG33 (John Kerry's been AWOL for two decades on issues of National Security!)
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To: Shermy
Lesseee... US Dems have worked out sweetheart deals with: France, Spain, Malaysia, Germany -- and who else? Honduras is folding, El Salvador might, Venezula submits to Castro, "legal divorce" is approved as law in the land in Chile (first time ever.)Hmph.

And these bombings in Iraq -- as in "submit to the fascist order or we will kill you, people of the "world".

Some wicket group is trying to play "dominos" when in fact, we were all playing cards, right?

It was smart of Blix to admit to even that much.

Possible many lights have gone on inside the heads of leaders within the WOT Coalition as to how they are going to clearly get screwed by the Pro-US-Dem "international" party. No, no.. I take that back: How they HAVE BEEN screwed by the "US Dem International".

I think things are about to get even more interesting. With this kind of clarity -- old leads suddenly come back into life and meaning, and in re WOT.

9 posted on 03/18/2004 11:10:41 AM PST by Alia (California -- It's Groovy! Baby!)
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To: MEG33
They are fanatical zealots. Yuck.
10 posted on 03/18/2004 11:11:26 AM PST by Alia (California -- It's Groovy! Baby!)
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To: Alia
Did you get my ping to the meeting of our dems with the Socialists?
11 posted on 03/18/2004 11:16:13 AM PST by MEG33 (John Kerry's been AWOL for two decades on issues of National Security!)
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To: Destro
That they deceived us about the weapons of mass destruction, that's true. We were taken for a ride," Kwasniewski said Thursday.

He argued however that it made no sense to pull US-led coalition troops out of Iraq.


These two comments contradict themselves. I know Aleksander Kwasniewski. He is not a person to make statements like this. I don't know where you getting this from but this to me sounds like totally bs. Kwasniewski is not a person who will doubt his ally USA. As a polish person I can tell you this to me sounds total stupid and fake.

“"What would be the point of pulling the troops if it meant a return to war, ethnic cleansing and conflict in neighboring countries," he told a group of visiting French journalists.” This it self contradicts statement above you have mention. Poland is not France. We don’t lick ass to look nice. We kick ass of those who attack us. Aleksander knows that very well.

12 posted on 03/18/2004 11:23:54 AM PST by bogdanPolska12
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To: Shermy
Blix had a perfectly reasonable postiion. He certainly knew that Saddam had once possessed and WMD and thought he still had them in 2002 but changed his mind as a result of the inspections. Turns out he was probably right, despite the vitriolic attacks by freepers who were convinced that he was some sort of stooge and were inclined to take Bush's word as holy writ.
13 posted on 03/18/2004 11:27:12 AM PST by Austin Willard Wright
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To: bogdanPolska12; All
I have notice some disturbing threads today by trolls and liberals. Are we under attack by these people? Some idiot just signs in to say f... word and other moron say he wish Kerry would win. I think we are under attack.
14 posted on 03/18/2004 11:27:29 AM PST by bogdanPolska12
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To: MEG33
No, I didn't. Where do I go to?
15 posted on 03/18/2004 11:32:21 AM PST by Alia (California -- It's Groovy! Baby!)
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To: bogdanPolska12
I back up your assertion. Poland was right there with us (WOT) from the get go.
16 posted on 03/18/2004 11:33:46 AM PST by Alia (California -- It's Groovy! Baby!)
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To: Austin Willard Wright
The collective history of what Poland has learned about being in the cross-hairs of the agenda of other countries, and totalitarian leaders could fill volume after volume.
17 posted on 03/18/2004 11:35:08 AM PST by Alia (California -- It's Groovy! Baby!)
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To: Destro
OK, so who did the misleading?!

It needs to be remembered that when Pres. Bush went to the UN to discuss the need for that august body to enforce its own resolutions against Saddam and his madcapped regime, and he discussed the dangers posed by Saddam by his WMDs, Bush used the UN's own intelligence in summarizing the threat.

Remember back in January of 2003, the UN weapons inspectors found 16 chemical warheads, and documents about Iraq's nuclear and missle programs? The discovered prompted Deputy Secty. of State Richard Armitage to say in a speech, "finding these 16 warheads just raises a basic question: Where are the other 29,984? Because that is how many empty chemical warheads the UN Special Commission estimated [Saddam] had and he has never accounted for."

By the UN inspectors' own estimates, Iraq has or had significant stockpiles of WMDs, or WMD material.

Based on the UNSCOM report to the UN Security Council in January 1999, when the UN inspectors left Iraq in 1998, they had been unable to account for:

-- up to 360 tonnes of bulk chemical warfare agents, including 1.5 tonnes of VX nerve agent;
-- up to 3,000 tonnes of precursor chemicals, including approximately 300 tonnes which, in the Iraqi chemical warfare program, were unique to the production of VX;
-- growth media procured for biological agent production (enough to produce over three times the 8,500 litres of anthrax spores Iraq admitted to UN inspectors to having manufactured);
-- over 30,000 special munitions for delivery of chemical and biological agents;
-- 20 al-Hussein missles with a range of 650 km, in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 687 (Iraq had told UNSCOM that it filled these warheads with anthrax and botulinum);
-- 2,850 tonnes of mustard gas, 210 tonnes of tabun, and 795 tonnes of sarin and cyclosarin;
-- development of the Al-Samoud short-range missle (which had the capability to fly beyond the 150 km allowed by UN resolutions)

Saddam never produced evidence or documents that these weapons systems or components had been destroyed.

(Link to UNSCOM documents: http://www.un.org/Depts/unscom/unscmdoc.htm)

The Euro-American left claim that "Bush misled the American people about the reasons for going to war in Iraq." In reality, it's the Democrats who are misleading the American people. In President Bush's speech to the UN of Sept. 12, 2002, he outlined not one issue, but five concerns with Saddam:

-- "immediately and unconditionally forswear, disclose, and remove or destroy all weapons of mass destruction, long-range missiles, and all related material" (note his reference to the means to deliver WMD, and to "related materials" which would include R&D infrastructure, both of which David Kay's team has found in Iraq);
-- end all support for terrorism and act to suppress it; cease persecution of its civilian population;
-- account for all Gulf War personnel whose fate is still unknown, return the remains of deceased, return stolen property, and accept liability for losses resulting from the invasion of Kuwait;
-- end all illicit trade outside the oil-for-food program

Five conditions to avoid war, not one. It's the Democrats, the naysayers, the media, the anti-war left, who have reduced the debate on Iraq to the single issue of still-unfound WMDs. And this is ironic, in that these same naysayers more than likely wouldn't have gone to war against Saddam if his agents had lobbed a nuke over the White House fence -- they all would have argued that this was "understandable" because we somehow deserved it.

So, memo to the Polish president: If you were "misled" about Iraq's WMD, join the club, because we were also "suckered" by the UN's own findings!

The facts are more likely that nobody was misled, but that Saddam moved the WMD into Syria and Iran, and/or so cleverly hid them they have not yet been found. It says a lot about the Euro-American left that they would jump to the conclusion that "Bush lied," rather than suspect a conspiracy on the part of the other Axis of Evil member states to cover-up Iraq's WMD program.

18 posted on 03/18/2004 11:40:51 AM PST by My2Cents ("Well...there you go again.")
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To: Alia
Click on Comments (right hand top of page) and look for my message ,my last said "ping again".
19 posted on 03/18/2004 11:48:42 AM PST by MEG33 (John Kerry's been AWOL for two decades on issues of National Security!)
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To: MEG33
All Saddam had to do was open up. What was he afraid of, loosing face or something? Why did he act as he were hiding something? UN money for food rip off, maybe? With his 'body language' he was begging to be invaded. Saddam clearing up all that would better for him than now being locked up in some sh*t hole.
20 posted on 03/18/2004 12:00:06 PM PST by oyez (We lead; others follow.)
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