Polish Troops Take Final Turn Patrolling in Southern Iraq

NY Sun ^ | July 20, 2006 | ALEX STOROZYNSKI

[twinself]

The multinational zone in Iraq took another step closer to local control yesterday as the Polish army, which oversees the provinces of Diwaniyah and Wasit, began what is expected to be the final rotation of its troops here.

Although President Kaczynski has said he expects to withdraw his country's army from Iraq next year, the exact date for its departure has not been set. Until then, Poland will continue to oversee this zone in central south Iraq, which has soldiers serving from 12 countries.

A U.S. Army lieutenant general, Peter Chiarelli, told The New York Sun that the Polish troops "are doing an absolutely outstanding job. They've been one of the most steadfast members of the coalition. And these are two of the most peaceful provinces in all of Iraq, Diwaniyah and Wasit. And that's largely attributable to the great leadership of successive Polish generals who have come down here and the Polish units who have served here."

The violence in this region is not on the scale of the horrors taking place in Baghdad. While three rockets were fired at the international base of Camp Echo on Monday, within hours of the attack Poles had received a tip about the identity of the attacker and Iraqi troops were searching the area where the rockets were launched.

Poland's involvement in Operation Iraqi Freedom has had two distinct phases. GROM, the country's special forces unit, took part in dozens of military operations in the invasion of Iraq, such as capturing the port at KAAOT oil platform near the port of Umm Qasr and the Mukarayin Dam.

[twinself]

ping!

[XR7]

In his speech yesterday to the hundreds of troops from 12 nations at Camp Echo, General Chiarelli compared General Gruszka to General Casimir Pulaski, who came from Poland to take part in the American Revolution, where he founded the U.S. cavalry. General Chiarelli also cited the acceptance speech Henryk Siekiewicz gave in 1905 when he received the Nobel Prize for Literature: "‘She was pronounced dead, yet here is proof that she lives on. She was declared incapable to think and to work, and here is proof to the contrary. She was pronounced defeated, yet here is proof that she was victorious.' Of course, in 1905, he was talking about his native Poland. But his words ring true of Iraq today."

Cool.