Warsaw Business Journal - 30 August 2004

http://www.wbj.pl/?command=article&id=23711&type=wbj

30th August 2004

PLAYING THE GAME

From Warsaw Business Journal

by Chris Wells

Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski was all over the world's English language press this week, in a deft piece of verbal jiggery-pokery that aimed to keep the voters at home happy, while not unduly worrying the other members of the Coalition of the Willing-To-Do-Anything-for-a-Few-Extra-Bucks.

Chris Wells takes a rheumatic rummage through what the world's English-language press are saying about Poland

As reported by al-Jazeera, among many others, what the Minister said was "We [Poland] want to get out of Iraq as soon as possible, but first we have to build solid security conditions there."

Szmajdzinski was in Iraq to attend a 'religious ceremony' in the wake of a car bomb attack that left one Polish soldier dead. His office's official statement was that he'd gone there to assess the political and military situation in the area under Polish command.

However, when he made the comment, the media obviously only reported the first half of the sentence, which made for very good headlines in the Polish press, especially given the continuously growing local unpopularity of the occupation. The minister was also quoted as saying, "Only a democratic Iraq can ensure world security and therefore Poland's security," which must be a strong candidate for 'most meaningless sentence uttered by a Polish politician this year' (despite terrific competition).

But, hang on a minute, haven't we been here before? Last March, in the wake of the Madrid bombings, the then Prime Minister Leszek Miller said something about not turning a blind eye to the ongoing carnage. This caused a great deal of press speculation at the time, but then vanished in a puff of hypocrisy, in much the same way as Miller himself did a couple of months later.

Nevertheless, nearly a year and a half into this extremely bloody occupation and the sense of bewilderment in the Polish government is almost palpable. Wasn't it all supposed to be over by now? Peace and democracy flourishing, with Polish firms raking in profit and prestige in equal measure, and Poland basking in the reflected glory of American military might?

While across the Atlantic Bush and Kerry slug it out in the cesspit of American politics, the number of casualties creeps up relentlessly, having now reached the point where single-figure murders there are barely news at all.

Thus far in Iraq 14 Poles have died; 10 soldiers and four civilians. Each one of these events is a deeply personal tragedy, but the Iraqis have suffered rather more (if you're interested just how much more, visit http://www.iraqbodycount.net).

As it was last March, the absence of an official international response to the Polish government's latest mumblings just goes to show that once again they were designed almost exclusively for local consumption, not for the rest of the world. Szmajdzinski has had his first outing into the international arena, presumably with the objective of being instantly forgotten. In this he was almost certainly successful.