Analysis: Poland, America's last friend

The Washington Times ^ | January 28, 2005 | Sebastian Christ

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Analysis: Poland, America's last friend

By Sebastian Christ UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

Washington, DC, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Spain has already left the "Coalition of the Willing." Great Britain's and Italy's governments support President George W. Bush, but their people do not. France? Don't even talk about France. In Europe there is only one country that stands faithfully alongside the United States -- an unnoticed friend -- Poland.

According to a recent British Broadcasting Corp. survey almost two-thirds of Poles feel that Bush's second term will bring more peace to the world.

In contrast, 77 percent of Germans, 75 percent of the French and 64 percent of Brits think that Bush's re-election will make the world a more dangerous place.

Of a total of 21 countries taking part in the survey, only one country in Europe -- Poland -- was pleased with Bush's re-election.

"For Poland, greater cooperation with President George W. Bush is good news," announced Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski the morning after the re-election of the 43rd American president.

Although many Poles opposed involving their country in Iraq, a majority of Poles supported former Prime Minister Leszek Miller in sending troops to that country.

There are basically three reasons why Poland views the United States positively.

First, America is freedom. The United States was the first country in the world with a modern constitution. Very few Americans know that Poland was the second. Inspired by the United States, the Polish Parliament, or "Sejm," in 1791 passed a progressive constitution.

The Poles also like to think in historical terms. America is the only power that (almost) never had any conflicts with Poland. The Polish people gratefully remember President Woodrow Wilson, who in 1918 became the first Western politician to support plans for the recreation of the Polish state -- a state that had disappeared from the map in 1795. Wilson's support proved key to the success of the Polish national movement.

During the Cold War, the Polish people never accepted the Soviet occupation, and of all the Warsaw Pact countries, Poland always displayed the most antipathy towards Moscow. Within a decade of the fall of the Soviet Union, the country joined NATO in 1999 and made it into the European Union in May 2004.

America, however, was seen as the foremost natural ally in resisting the Soviet occupation, and was looked to as "the land of the free."

To this day, President Ronald Reagan remains a popular figure in Poland due to his support of the free Polish labor union, Solidarity, in the early 1980s. The rise of Solidarity and its charismatic leader Lech Walesa marked the fall of Poland's communists.

The word "freedom" in Poland still has a stronger meaning than in the rest of the European Union. Poland has only been free for 37 of the past 210 years, having been occupied at various times by Russia, Prussia, Germany and Austria. When Bush appealed to "spread freedom" in the world his message was well received in Poland.

Second, Bush's Christian beliefs in Poland -- where 95 percent of the population is Catholic -- are taken very seriously. Two-thirds of Poles attend church regularly.

When Democratic presidential contender John Kerry confessed that he was for abortion rights, he became unpopular even among Polish war protestors. The church is still an important institution in Poland, where in some rural regions it is even more prominent than the state.

Despite the fact that Poles are Catholic and Bush is Protestant, nevertheless, Poles regard him as one of their own for his strong Christian beliefs.

Third, Poles long for the United States. America, in Poland, still sounds like the Promised Land. A large number of Poles live in poverty. A doctor's average income is about $400 per month. Public school teachers earn roughly the same. For most families, a car is a luxury item. Millions of Poles have relatives or friends who immigrated to the United States. The government in Warsaw estimates that 60 million American citizens have Polish roots, another reason for strengthened ties between the two countries. Given that the situation in Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and Russia may even be worse, Poland has turned to the West, instead of where it historically belongs, in Central Europe.

The Polish capital, Warsaw, is in contrast to Kiev, Minsk, Vilnius and Moscow a Western-oriented city. Young people, particularly, try to emulate the life of their contemporaries in Berlin, London or Paris.

On Warsaw's main shopping streets like the newly renovated Nowy Swiat, or "Marszalkowska" all Western goods are now available, although very few people can really afford to buy them.

Finally, America's friend is very sensitive, something that the United States should not ignore if it intends to keep Poland as an ally.

Some conservative war supporters in Poland began questioning their country's engagement in Iraq as a result of what may seem to be somewhat unimportant to most Americans. When the U.S. government denied Poland's request to abolish visa requirements for Polish citizens traveling to the United States, a number of commentators expressed their anger, claiming the United States was disinterested in Polish concerns.

And with every Polish soldier killed in Iraq, the anti-war movement in Poland grows stronger. More than 20 Poles have died so far -- a big price for a country that is not used to seeing pictures of their boys coming home in coffins.

Many questions remain unanswered. What has Poland gained from its adventure in Iraq? Does Poland earn more for that? And why has the Polish contingent been assigned to one of the poorest zones of occupation in Iraq?

Yet Poles, for the most part, still believe they are defending more than a country thousands of miles away from home. Many Poles feel they are defending an idea.

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"There is a joke going around the Polish Parliament: We buy F-16s and in return, we send troops to Iraq," Sikorski said. "You don't want to create the impression that being friends with the United States is a costly business."