Participation in foreign military missions necessary: Polish DM

The participation of soldiers in military missions is necessary for Poland to meet its obligations toward the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), Poland's Defence Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on Tuesday.

Sikorski, bidding farewell to a group of 200 troops leaving for missions abroad, also rejected critical opinions voiced by some politicians on the sending of Poland's contingents abroad,

"Let me remind you that it was the previous government, which decided to increase our presence in the ISAF mission in Afghanistan. Up to mid-2006 our four-year participation was symbolic. Now there are ten Polish soldiers in the ISAF mission, while the entire NATO force counts 18 thousand. For a nation with a population of 38 million it's really not many," Sikorski said.

Sikorski said that decisions to send soldiers on peacekeeping missions were difficult but none of them were accidental. "Missions are necessary for our country. Our participation in them means security for those sent abroad and security of our entire country," he added.

To be a first-tier nation in the 21st Century, a country will have to have a strong economy, a military, and the ability and the will to project that military beyond their own borders.

Ironically, most force projection will not be in the cause of war, but in disaster-relief, peacekeeping, and international anti-crime efforts.

The second-tier of nations will be those in the peaceful 20th Century model of having a good economy, and a purely defensive military. However, they will have much less of an international "voice", because they can neither help nor hinder. Even in emergencies, the most they can commit are monies and "boots on the ground".

But there will be an unexpected and positive outcome for first-tiered countries: their military will be introduced to the militaries of other nations. Military people tend to be very focused and clear-eyed about their potential adversaries, and will let their peers know when it probably would not be a good idea to get into a fight with a nation that has superior firepower.

Conservative towns in this country need to get busy finding sister cities in Poland. The Poles drove the Muslims from the gates of Europe before, and they are bravely stepping into harm's way again to defend civilization, while richer countries cower. We need to take every opportunity to befriend them. Poland has all the potential to be a major European power.

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