Gość: radoslaw
IP: *.proxy.aol.com
08.11.03, 23:40
Friday, November 7, 2003;
Losing The New Europe
By Radek Sikorski
Throughout the transatlantic marital spat over Iraq, Central Europeans have
remained friendly to the United States. The new democracies risked the wrath
of France and Germany, whose favors they need as they enter the European
Union, and they backed up their words with deeds. Polish special forces have
fought in the port of Umm Kasr and in more than 60 operations since.
Yesterday Poland suffered its first casualty: Maj. Hieronim Kupczyk was shot
dead on the road between U.S. Camp Dogwood and Poland's headquarters at
Babylon. Soldiers from Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia and
Ukraine serve in the Polish sector between Basra and Baghdad, providing
relief for about 10,000 U.S. troops. Yet unless the United States acts, this
may be the last emergency in which it can count on Central European support.
These are countries that have good historical reasons to feel comfortable
with U.S. leadership. Thanks to President Woodrow Wilson, Poland was
resurrected and Czechoslovakia created after World War I. Ronald Reagan
supported dissident movements behind the Iron Curtain while many West
Europeans appeased the Soviet Union. The United States insisted on confirming
the permanence of borders in Europe at the time of German unification, and it
insisted that NATO embrace Central Europe when the EU was dragging its feet.
Central Europeans' feelings of gratitude are enhanced by the fact that the
current generation of their leaders, whether post-Communist or post-
dissident, were brought up on Radio Free Europe broadcasts and Fulbright
scholarships.
But it would be a mistake to think that they shared all of the United States'
concerns about Iraq. While many in the region have sympathy with human rights
arguments, most never felt threatened by Saddam Hussein, and they were
skeptical of intelligence reports about his weapons of mass destruction. As a
result, the public in the most pro-American country in Europe, Poland,
opposes military involvement in Iraq 2 to 1