The following comes courtesy of The Drudge Report:
Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski has slammed Dem president hopeful John Kerry for not recognizing Poland's contributions and sacrifice to the war in Iraq."It is sad that a senator with twenty years of experience does not recognize Polish contribution. This is immoral," Kwasniewski told FACTS in an interview commenting on the U.S. Presidential Debate.
"It is sad that a senator with twenty years of experience underestimates Polish sacrifice, this is sad."
The Polish President added however that one should consider this was a part of the ongoing electoral campaign.
"I do not think this was out of ignorance," the president emphasized on the TVN Facts.
"There is one thing which should be stated clearly: this coalition is not just the United States, Great Britain, Australia alone; it also involves participation of Polish, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Spanish soldiers who have died. It is immoral not to recognize the involvement we contributed based on our conviction that there should be unity in fighting terrorism, that there was a need to display international solidarity and that Saddam Hussein was a dangerous individual of this world."
"President Bush acted like a real Texan gentleman, he made sure to show appreciation for other countries' involvement in the coalition," Kwasniewski pointed out.
Article comments
1 - Hal Pawluk
This story is also available in the Washington Times and is Coming To A Right Site Near You (for those of you who can't stand Drudge).
2 - Cap'n Ken
I thought Kerry was the one all the world leaders love.
3 - Craig Lyndall
I really wish we could ban links from the Drudge Report and quotes from Michael Moore. Do we really need representations of the musings of extremists?
4 - Shark
Those Polish ingrates!
How dare they!
And after Gerald Ford was kind enough to liberate them from the Soviet Union's tyranny!
What manners! They should stick to making sausage and just shut the fuck up!
(um... do they have WMDs? hmmm... Just wonderin'...)
5 - Shark
Every post that is based on the Drudge Report should have an automatic disclaimer:
Warning: The following 'report' is almost as reliable as something on FOX News.
6 - boomcrashbaby
Poland is withdrawing it's troops by the end of 2005 apparently. Austrailia is having an election this Saturday. If the Labor Party wins, they have said they will pull their troops out.
When Bush mentioned during the debate that Kerry forgot Poland, Kerry then pointed out the percentage of money the U.S. spends and the percentage of deaths our soldiers incur. Which leads me to conclude that Kerry is attempting to refer to a 'lop-sided' coalition of which he might not have mentioned everybody. And judging from the news, not only is he correct in the coalition being lop-sided but it is only growing more so, rather than more allies coming into our global war on terror.
We should acknowledge that Poland has contributed to the coalition. I don't believe it was an 'immoral' intentional slam against Poland though. I don't believe Kerry would do that, even right wingers should logically concede that fact. But while we acknowledge Poland's contribution, we should also acknowledge that they are bailing out, and the danger of our coalition shrinking even more, depending on who our future foreign policy leader is, is very real.