Posted on 04/11/2003 6:54:32 AM PDT by Land_of_Lincoln_John
US President George W. Bush has invited Poland, a staunch ally in the Iraq war, to help organize a "rolling dialogue" planned for next week on the future of the country, an aide to the Polish president said Friday.
Bush made the invitation to Poland's President Aleksander Kwasniewski by telephone Thursday, said Marek Siwiec, Kwasniewski's top security aide. Speaking on Polish state radio, Siwiec quoted Bush as saying that "we are inviting you because we have confidence in you."
Poland contributed about 200 troops, including 56 members of its elite GROM commando, a logistics vessel and anti-chemical warfare unit to support the US-led intervention.
On Thursday, US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said the Bush administration is planning a "rolling dialogue" next week to discuss a government for Iraq in discussions with local assemblies in different parts of the country that will include Iraqi notables or potential leaders.
Gen. Tommy Franks, who is running the war, will host the meetings. They are being organized together with Britain, Australia and Poland, which have troops on the ground. They are expected to expand later to involve more countries, Siwiec said.
The United Nations and other countries that backed the US-led military intervention are being invited to attend as observers.
A statement from Kwasniewski's office said the president stressed to Bush the readiness of Poland -- and Polish companies -- to contribute to Iraq's stabilization and reconstruction. He added that his country has "thousands of specialists who have experience from having worked in Iraq and in the region."
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Polish companies constructed roads and industrial plants in Iraq, while Poland hosted thousands of Iraqi students.
Bush thanked Kwasniewski for "Poland's political support ... and for participation, competence and efficiency of its troops in military operations in Iraq," the statement added.
Some slang designations were always intended to be cruel or to mock: Polack, Bohunk, Kraut, Spic, Dago, Wop, Frog, Chink, Jap, Squarehead, and dozens of others were the result of hatred or scorn, whether caused by war, as were Hun, Kraut, Jap, Gook, and the like, or by the social strife that waves of immigration, competition, and poverty (and religious or racial differences too) have so often caused, which gave us Mick for the Irish, Wop and Dago for the Italian, and the term wetback for illegal immigrants from Mexico.
I'm just saying why offend when there are other, more appropriate words, one could use. That's all.
it is being a little PC to worry about these designations, don't you think Paul? it is precisely to combat the PC-ness that i use the word!
Polish jokes used to be so popular in the '70's, but where I am in Virginia we just don't hear them anymore. Maybe Solidarity, Lech Walesa, et al, helped change the misguided perception of Poles. I used to get into arguments with a college roommate about Poles vs. the Irish (he was a big Kennedy-loving Tip O'Neil-loving liberal from Massachusetts) and who has given more to the world. I would spout off about Copernicus, Chopin (half Polish), Ignace Paderewski (sp?), Walesa, John Paul II (when he was still in control of his faculties and helping Reagan to kick the Soviets butt), etc. I had to tell him about James Joyce. Beyond that he was at a loss.
If anybody cares about useless trivia, the Polish joke supposedly originated with jokes that were told by the Poles about a small Jewish community in Chelm, whose members were known for being less-than-bright. The jokes were brought to America by Polish immigrants, and somehow Americans just applied the attributes to Poles in general.
Which a thinking person would have taken into account, before being so IMPOLITE, to take the matter to task PUBLICLY, rather than quietly on the side.
Before concerning yourself with others politeness, perhaps a little concern for your own is in order.
I resemble that remark!
And it's days like this that I'm proud to be a Polish descended American Infidel.
Most of the polish chicks I know are all beautiful too. They are living proof that polish scientists discovered "anti-gravity" devices. Have mercy!
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