{"id":565,"date":"2005-02-09T22:16:53","date_gmt":"2005-02-10T04:16:53","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=565"},"modified":"2005-02-09T22:19:25","modified_gmt":"2005-02-10T04:19:25","slug":"bush-to-seek-100-million-in-military-aid-for-poland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/?p=565","title":{"rendered":"Bush to Seek $100 Million in Military Aid for Poland"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve stated before that Poland, steadfast ally that they have been in our efforts against radical Islamic terror, needed to be rewarded. It seems that is about to come to pass<\/a>.<\/p>\n

President Bush told President Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland on Wednesday that he would ask Congress for $100 million to modernize the Polish military, part of a program of support for a new NATO ally that has more than 2,000 soldiers in Iraq.<\/p>\n

In an interview shortly after his meeting with Mr. Bush, the Polish president said he had no intention of withdrawing Poland’s troops from Iraq this year, unless the new government asked them to leave. “I’m almost sure that if it will be necessary, they will be there,” said Mr. Kwasniewski, who has been under pressure at home to bring the troops back. “The question is how to organize it.”<\/p>\n

That indication of support is critical to Mr. Bush, who is struggling to maintain a broad international presence in Iraq, where the United States and to a lesser extent Britain have provided the great majority of the troops.<\/p>\n

Mr. Kwasniewski has been among the strongest supporters of Mr. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq, and there are 2,400 Polish soldiers in Iraq, leading a 5,000-strong multinational division in the central and southern parts of the country. About 800 Polish soldiers are to leave this month.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

The $100 million for military modernization was hinted at by the new secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, during a brief stopover in Warsaw a week ago. “I don’t get to write the checks in the American system,” Mr. Bush cautioned. “The government – the Congress does that. But I get to put out requests.”<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Mr. Bush also announced that he would ask Congress for $400 million in additional funds “to strengthen the capabilities of our partners to advance democracy and stability around the world.” Poland would receive a significant portion of those funds as well, officials said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Kwasniewski said the money was not a quid pro quo for Poland’s troop presence in Iraq. But clearly, returning home with financial commitments from Mr. Bush will help him in a parliamentary debate about how long to remain in Iraq, at a time when opinion polls show that a clear majority of Poles want an end to the troops presence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Military assistance is entirely appropriate for a country with a backbone and a willingness to stand along side its allies. Certainly, Poland and other coalition nations, particularly those whose militaries were shaped and equipped during the days of the Warsaw Pact, could stand to have some martial modernization.<\/p>\n

I entirely endorse this move, though I’m certain that some will deride it as a payoff, as little more than a twenty left on the dresser on the way out the door. I hope those who take this view, those who sided with Sen. John Kerry when he derided our allies as the “coalition of the bribed and coerced,” will recall that Kerry himself called for rewarding Poland<\/a> after he essentially insulted our staunch ally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve stated before that Poland, steadfast ally that they have been in our efforts against radical Islamic terror, needed to be rewarded. It seems that is about to come to pass. President Bush told President Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland on Wednesday that he would ask Congress for $100 million to modernize the Polish military, part […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe","category-general","category-war-on-terror"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/targetcentermass.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}