Poland Considers Pulling All Troops Out

[Defarge]

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[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

You forgot Poland.
BTW, hasn't Poland done horribly in every war they've fought in? I think that the French bashers should bash Poland some, you know, to be fair.

[A18]

They're about it with coalition partners. No alarm.

By the end of 2005, BTW.

[Defarge]

They're about it with coalition partners. No alarm.

By the end of 2005, BTW.

Woops.  Corrected

[zachman]

No not Poland!!! I thought their people loved the war!!

[freedomburns]

Jeeze, doesn't that mean that we have lost 10 of the original 30 members of the coalition already?  And now we are losing the country that has contributed the second largest amount of troops (second to England).

This bodes ill for the future prospects of the war in Iraq.  Who do we have left after Britain?  I know Honduras and Costa Rica and Haiti have pulled out?  Who is still in this coalition?  Japan?  Phillipines?  Who has troops on the ground?  Fewer and fewer as the going gets tough.

freedomburns

[agcatter]

No problem.  President Kerry will have French and German troops flooding into Iraq.  Chirac is just waiting for Kerry to say when.

[freedomburns]

No problem.  President Kerry will have French and German troops flooding into Iraq.  Chirac is just waiting for Kerry to say when.

Your sarcasm is unappreciated. 

[Shira]

Jeeze, doesn't that mean that we have lost 10 of the original 30 members of the coalition already?  

Coalition? don't make me laugh.

[A18]

Seeing as even the United States, Great Britain, and Australia is a coalition...start laughing.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

And things keep going downhill and Iraq.

LOL, this is funny.  Just a week after the debate where Bush corrected Kerry by saying "You forgot Poland!"  If I'm Kerry, I'm all over this. 

[Giant Saguaro]

Well somebody brought up a good point. All we need to do is get Kerry in. It's a wrong war, it's ill-advised, it's a diversion, we can't win, and knowing all of the above (because John Kerry says so, and that's all the reason we need), Kerry will get France and Germany to come in (because Kerry's just better than Bush) and get it done for us. They'll help. Boy, I feel better already. Chirac's a regular Napoleon, boy, you bet.

[khirkhib]

Jeeze, doesn't that mean that we have lost 10 of the original 30 members of the coalition already?  And now we are losing the country that has contributed the second largest amount of troops (second to England).

This bodes ill for the future prospects of the war in Iraq.  Who do we have left after Britain?  I know Honduras and Costa Rica and Haiti have pulled out?  Who is still in this coalition?  Japan?  Phillipines?  Who has troops on the ground?  Fewer and fewer as the going gets tough.

freedomburns

I would actually be impressed had Haiti had troops in Iraq.  I'm not even sure if Haiti has troops in Haiti.  I think your thinking about the Dominican Republic.  The people were estatic when they pulled out.  They country is broke right now though and really couldn't afford a military expedition.  It was probably good training for the troops though.

[David S]

Looks like the head Pollock is smarter than Bush or Kerry.

[The Duke]

Not much reaction.  They made a notable contribution, but they can't be expected to stay forever.  In the end, Poland should be congratulated for going above and beyond the call of duty.

Btw #1
Poland likes the US and agrees with the war.  Even Globescan's survey shows that.

Btw #2
Kerry did forget Poland, and a country that gave us a year and a half of commitment and is now promising over a year more, is no small potatoes.

[A18]

I agree with John Ford 100%

[Brambila]

You forgot Poland.
BTW, hasn't Poland done horribly in every war they've fought in? I think that the French bashers should bash Poland some, you know, to be fair.

Actually, Poland was historically a huge Kingdom that controlled what is now Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, and parts of Russian and Moravia. They were a great power from the 15th to 17th centurys thanks to the Jagiellonians, and in the 18th century their power began to weaken. In (I believe) 1832 Poland officially became part of Russia. Poland had previously been a Russian and Prussian vassal duchy, but they nonetheless were their own nation. The Poles have also been a very tolerant people, and one of the reasons why they were so successful is because they had educated Jews running the government. After World War II, the Polish nation was created, but after only around 20 years of freedom Poland was once again conquered by another power, this time the Germans. Directly afterwards, the Soviets took over Poland and it became incorperated into the USSR as the Soviet Republic of Poland.

So to answer your illintended and foolish question, the Poles only after the 18th century lost many battles, but only because they were a conquered nation. In addition, Poland has faithfully helped the US forces in the Iraqi war, and I would understand why they would pull them out in January (especially with the growing amounts of terrorism in Slavic Europe.

[Silent Hunter]

Polish pilots played a major role in the Battle of Britain. Don't knock them.

Poland was a satellite state of the Soviet Union, but was never actually incorporated into it.

As for troops on the ground:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multinational_force_%28Iraq%29

[Brambila]

No, Poland was incorperated into Russia, not the Soviet Union. I believe that was in 1832, but Russia de facto integrated Poland with Russia.

[Silent Hunter]

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That's what I was saying was inaccurate.

[Brambila]

You are correct, I was mistaken. Yes, Poland became a Russian satellite state, not an SSR as I had initially thought, though Russia, Kazakastan, Ukraine, Belarus, etc became SSRs.

"It became a Soviet satellite state following the war, but its government was comparatively tolerant and progressive."
-World Factbook

[Filuwaúrdjan]

My Grandad taught Free Poles English

[Jens]

My Grandad taught Free Poles English

Sweet. Where I come from we used to import Poles as a cheap workforce working in the sugar turnips fields. Result: people with funny surnames and a large catholic minority

[Jens]

And here is a short outline of Polish history (with years)

1386: Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania is united in a personal union under Jagiello of Lithuania who is baptised at the same time

1466 Poland-Lithuania finally defetes the Teotonic Order and gains Danzig (Gdansk)

1569 Lithuania is finally incorporated into Poland

1572 Death of the last of the Jagiellos kings marks the end of the Polish "golden" age. Poland becomes an electorate and the nobilities becomes more and more powerfull via the Sejmen (parliament) where the need for unanimity (Liberum Veto) hinders a centralized and powerfull state.

1605-12 Polish occupation of Moscow. The strike for the Russian throne fails but Smolensk is gained in 1618. The Polish state reaches its territorial zenit

1697- 1763 Poland is united with Saxony. Constant fighting with the Swedes who tries to take over the country.

1764 The Russian candidate (and the lover of Katherine the Great) is elected as king.

1772 The first partition of Poland after attempts to abolish the Liberum Veto

1791 An attempt to create a heditary monarcy is stopped by Pressia and Russia and to reestablish order the second partition is conducted in 1793

1795 After a rebellion Poland is partitions for the third time and ceases to exist

1807/09 Napoleon recreates Poland as the Grand Duchy of Warcaw

1814/15 The majority of the Grand Duchy is united with Russia as "Congress Poland"

1830-1831 After a rebellion Poland is incorporated into Russia in 1832

1846 and 1863 Fruitless Polish rebellions. A sense of Polish nationality is created in Austrian Galizia at the universities of Krakow and Lemberg.

1916 Kingdom of Poland, a German protectorate is created

1918 Poland gains her independence after the collaps of Russia and Germany

1918-1921 Poland starts conquering nabouring territories and after a war with USSR the Polish border is establised some 250 km from the Curzon-line, the border originally surgested by the Entente thus creating a state with more than 8 million non-polish inhabitants

1926 the Pilsudski-coup brings an end to Polish democracy

1938 At Munich Poland gains parts of Czechoslovakia

1939 Poland is conquered by Germany and USSR

1939-1945 between 3 and 8 million Poles is killed. The majority is civilians

1944-1945 Poland is conquered by the Red Army

1947 The Communists gains the power via heavy election fraud and Poland becomes "People's Republic of Poland"

1956 Rebellions in Poznan (Posen) is defeted but creates a system change where the national communists under Gomulka gains the power

1980 Strikes begins in Gdansk and Warsaw lead by Solidarnosc (Lech Walesa)

1981-1983 As a respons to the strikes Poland is a de facto military dictatorship under General Jarulezski

1989 Poland becomes a republic and Solidarnosc wins the first elections

1990 Lech Walesa becomes president

1999 Poland becomes a NATO-member

2004 Poland becomes a member of the EU


Well, I suppose "short" isn't really the correct term. I got a bit carried away

[Brambila]

I was right about 1832, yay.

Eastern Europe one of the most fascinating part of European history. It's so melancholious. Ukrainian history is very fascinating (even though Ukraine's history really is Russia's history, since Ukrainians really are just physically better-looking Russians with a different dialect).