Polish Troops Look Forward to Iraq Duty

SZCZECIN, Poland (AP) - The Polish public is less than supportive about sending their soldiers into Iraq. But as Poland readies for its largest peacekeeping mission ever, soldiers say they are looking forward to showcasing their military prowess while offering Iraqi a helping hand.

``We have some idea about what life will be there - certainly dangerous - but we are trained for that,'' says Pvt. Jacek Herbot, 23. ``It will be difficult for us to understand each other, hard to adjust to Arab customs. I hope they will not treat us as enemies.''

The Polish-led force of 9,000 will compromise soldiers from 22 nations and be responsible for enforcing security in south-central Iraq.

A command staff of about 250 already is in Iraq, and 2,000 Polish troops left Tuesday for the Middle East. Officially they start their tour of duty on Sept. 1.

``Our tasks are standard: patrolling, convoying, searches of vehicles and buildings,'' said Maj. Zenon Szczybylo, who will command a mechanized battalion of 420 Poles, 100 Latvians and 45 Lithuanians. ``But when we are shot at, we have to respond with fire.''

While Poles initially greeted the army mission with pride at their country's steady advance on the world stage, near-daily reports of enemy attacks on U.S. forces has sharpened awareness of the dangers and soured many citizens on the mission.

In the first poll measuring sentiment about the mission, 55 percent of 952 Poles surveyed in early July said they were against sending troops, while 36 percent supported the mission. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

For the soldiers, the mission - Poland's largest military operation since World War II - will allow them to show how much the Polish military has modernized since it was little more than an oversized, Soviet satellite force 13 years ago.

The former Soviet bloc nation, which joined NATO in 1999, has struggled to raise its military to Western standards under a tight budget constraints. But most observers say the troops are ready for the task.

For the Iraq mission, commanders have chosen the best divisions and are outfitting them with the latest equipment - including new lightweight uniforms, TRG22 sniper rifles from Finland and U.S.-made Humvees.

``They are very ambitious and they will do everything to do a good job,'' said Lt. Col. Uwe Semprich, a spokesman at NATO's Multinational Corps Northeast, which groups Polish, Danish and German troops in the Baltic port of Szczecin. ``They know that there is always something that you can learn to do better.''

Most of Polish troops heading for Iraq this week come from the elite Szczecin 12th Mechanized Division, the Polish army's most modern and best equipped, chosen for the mission after receiving top marks in NATO exercises.

The division - which is contributing two battalions and a command staff to work at the sector headquarters in Hillah 40 miles south of Baghdad - earlier sent troops to peacekeeping operations in the Middle East and the Balkans.

Troops have been training since May, perfecting their peacekeeping and shooting skills. They also are taking lessons from the field, adjusting their training based on reports from Iraq.

American advisers warned, for instance, that Iraqis often attack vehicles at the end of the column at night, prompting the Poles to prepare more night watch equipment.

The training has also included classes with experts from the Polish Center for Eastern Studies on Iraqi life, language and customs, with an emphasis on solving conflicts and negotiate.

``There was a lot of stress on body language and behavior to avoid misunderstandings,'' said Maj. Dariusz Faszcza, a Szczecin Division spokesman. ``What could be taken for a quarreling group in Poland, can be a joyful company in Iraq.''

Along with their peacekeeping roles, Col. Waldemar Czarnecki said their aim will be building good relations with local leaders and rebuilding the country's infrastructure - including roads, hospitals and bridges destroyed during the war.

``If we follow the rules then I don't think it will cause negative reactions,'' Czarnecki said. ``But you cannot rule out terrorist acts.''

I wrote this one back in November.

"God is smiling on us today"

The scene at Bucharest's Revolution Square Saturday may as well have been in Heartland, U.S.A.
An ebullient throng of tens of thousands of cheering Romanians gathered there to warmly welcome U.S. President George W. Bush, waving U.S. flags and 'Bush' insignia amid the drizzle with all the fervor and ardor of a Texas crowd as a jolly rainbow charmed the skies over the east side of the historic Square, site of the 1989 citizen-led rebellion that toppled murderous communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu as a wave of freedom swept across eastern Europe, ending the Cold War.
The President, capping a whirlwind week of NATO summitry and intense diplomacy as he sought to rally support for his tough stance on Iraq, noted how much Romanians "value freedom, because you have lived without it," adding that "you know the difference between good and evil, because you have seen the face of evil," drawing comparisons between Romania's long struggle for liberty and human rights and that of the people of Iraq, long enslaved under the crushing yoke of Saddam Hussein, whose fascist regime shares many eery similarities with that of the former dictator Ceausescu, who met his fate by firing squad shortly after his overthrow in 1989.
"The people of Romania know that dictators must never be appeased or ignored," he said. "They must be opposed."
But the War President, whose tested tenacity and indomitable resolve have garnered grudging respect from even intractable rivals, reached beyond mere philosophical/ideological analogies, bringing the Iraq issue smack-dab home on a practical level -- that of security, as he did earlier Saturday in a speech during a stopover in
Lithuania.
"An aggressive dictator now rules in Iraq," thundered the President, undaunted by the steady rain, warning that "the dictator threatens the security of every free nation, including the free nations of Europe," a view that corrupt Saddam Kool-Aid gulpers in western Europe, with lucrative business ties to the dictator, blithely -- and self-servingly -- dismiss.
But "every nation must confront danger," said the take-charge President, wrapping up a power-pack, triumphant tour, his 11th overseas, insisting that "every free nation has a responsibility to play its full and responsible role."
Romania, with its Black Sea ports, is a gateway to the Mideast, and could prove a pivotal resupply link to U.S. and British forces in the event of war on Iraq.
NATO, at a landmark summit meeting in Prague this week, formally rolled out the red carpet for Romania and six other former communist-captive states, bidding them to join the ranks of a military alliance which for over four precarious decades forcefully stood down the once-mighty Soviet colossus, then aggressively threatening freedom in Europe as well as the rest of the world.
The rock-star-like, overwhelmingly enthusiastic reception Bush drew in Bucharest as the rain-soaked crowd, estimated modestly at 50,000, shook the rafters off the old Communist Party headquarters nearby, marked a pointed rebuke to Bush's sneering critics, at home and abroad, who once disdainfully dismissed the man from Midland as a doddering buffoon. They now burn with jealously over el hombre de Tejas's winning ways.
'Why, O why is Bush so damn successful?', they wonder in sheer frustration.
'Can't anything -- ANYTHING! -- go wrong, even once?'
From the moment the wheels of Air Force 1 touched down in Prague, there was never any doubt over who was in command, just who was calling the shots: President George W. Bush. By Thursday, Bush had the 19-member NATO alliance dancing the Bush mambo, declaring in a scorching, four-paragraph statement that the allies "stand united in their commitment to take effective action to assist and support the efforts of the U.N. to ensure full and immediate compliance by Iraq without conditions or restrictions," threatening "serious consequences" should Saddam refuse.
"As we started speaking, a rainbow appeared," Bush told the crowd at Revolution Square in an off-the-cuff remark.
"God is smiling on us today," he added.
Methinks el Presidente has it exactly right.
Great Job, Mr. President.
Anyway, that's...
My two cents...
"JohnHuang2"

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