Freedom's Champions

Well it looks like our friends in Poland have decided to allow its contingent of some 1,500 soldiers to stay in Iraq until the end of 2006 to continue their vigilant stand beside their American, British and Iraqi brothers-in-arms in their fight for freedom and democracy in the heart of the Middle East. You'll be hard pressed to find a more loyal European ally on Iraq than Poland who with due diligence has sunk some $600 million on the deployment (Some 10% of their $6 billion defense budget) and seen some 17 brave soldiers killed and 45 seriously wounded fighting for freedom. I guess the folks of Poland are more willing to expend some blood and treasure to provide a helping hand to a burgeoning democracy like Iraq due to the fact they know first hand what its like to live under the jackboot of a totalitarian system. This is truly a testament that the Lord works in mysterious ways.

I'd say that our best bet is to strengthen this partnership and ensure that they get all the military upgrades and financial help that they need. As the New York Sun rightly noted in an editorial today, maybe we need to rethink our current $1.8 billion subsidy to Egypt and send it to more deserving friends like Poland who share our same goal on freedom and democracy in the Middle East. We'll kill two birds with one stone by helping out a friend and showing the Mubarak regime that the US will not continue to pay out reams and reams of money to someone who continues to abrogate the freedoms of the peace loving parties and people of Egypt. We can also show our thanks by allowing the people of Poland the right to travel in our nation without having to apply or pay for an expensive Visa. If we just start showing the same gratitude and devotion that Poland has given our nation in Iraq and the GWOT, we'll go a long way in concreting this already strong bond.

With the most recent election of a pro-American right-of-center party and the elevation of Radoslaw Sikorski (a fellow of AEI and a strong Atlaticist) to Poland's Minister of Defense, and well as this recent agreement on extending their stay in Iraq, I can foretell a bright future ahead between the US and Poland. So on behalf of America, I'd like to offer a gracious thank you to Poland for their continued stand beside us and their great sacrifices of blood and treasure in helping install freedom and democracy in Iraq.