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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (540368)	2/14/2004 5:10:10 PM
From: J_F_Shepard	Respond to of 769670

Are you suggesting the international coalition Havel wanted was the "Coalition of the Willing"......your outta your tree...The guy isn't your average wingnut....

To: Neocon who wrote (540368)	2/14/2004 7:08:46 PM
From: Gordon A. Langston	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769670

The Poles cared enough to send the very best....GROM. EASTERN EUROPE’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE WAR WITH IRAQ CZECH REPUBLIC: Czechs committed army specialists (357 people) – experts in combating chemical weapons to Iraq. USA has also asked permission for coalition forces to pass through Czech territory and airspace. Czech Republic gave similar assistance during the first Gulf War in 1991, and is unlikely to raise objections this time. SLOVAKIA also send their 59 soldiers to join Czechs battalion. Czech’s policy was friendly towards the USA but this may change because there was a change in a leadership recently. Vaclav Havel, a charismatic leader of Czech’s opposition during communism left office in Feb. 2002, after 13 years as president. Havel signed the "letter of eight" supporting U.S. policy over Iraq. He was considered as pro-American in his policy partly because he was closely advised by the deputy Foreign Minister Alexandr Vondra, a former ambassador to Washington. Vaclav Klaus became a new president. He is a conservative economist and he is much more in tune with a public mood that is skeptical towards the war. But he was not going to withdraw the Czech troops currently in Kuwait (March, 03). President Klaus recently told the troops that he was deeply proud of what they were doing; at the same time he says the government's policy must reflect public attitudes to the Iraqi crisis. So, in the future there is expected to be a turn from pro-American and pro-European Union policies. POLAND: On March 18, 2003 Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski announced sending up to 200 Polish chemical troops to take part in a US-led war with Iraq. They were going to help in case of use of chemical weapons. Their task would be cleaning up chemical poisoning from drinking water supplies and the ground to protect the civilian population. Ironically Poland did never admit (until the pictures of Polish special troops were known all around the world) sending to Iraq 54 soldiers from its elite military unit called “Grom”. These are the only soldiers from Eastern Europe involved in ground operations in Iraq alongside more than hundred thousands of American and British troops. They were deployed to secure Iraqi oil installations. The Reuters photographs showed masked GROM soldiers taking prisoners, scrawling graffiti on a portrait of Saddam and posing with U.S. Navy Seals holding up a U.S. flag. Also president Bush mentioned Polish active presence in Iraq, after that Polish government finally had to admit sending this special unit to Iraq. Polish government is among the strongest and most trustful American allies in Europe. In spite of that Poland did not close Iraq Embassy in Warsaw as Americans requested. By the way, for all the years when there was no official diplomatic relations between the USA and Iraq it was Poland that represented American interests through its embassy in Iraq.