On March 17, 2003, then

Polish President The president of Poland ( pl, Prezydent RP), officially the president of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Prezydent Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej), is the head of state of Poland. Their rights and obligations are determined in the Constitution of Pol ...

Aleksander Kwaśniewski Aleksander Kwaśniewski (; born 15 November 1954) is a Polish politician and journalist. He served as the President of Poland from 1995 to 2005. He was born in Białogard, and during communist rule, he was active in the Socialist Union of Pol ...

announced that

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

would send about 2,000 troops to the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bo ...

to take part in the

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including ...

. Polish soldiers had been present in the region since July 2002 and combat was first confirmed on March 24. These formed the fourth of the larger military contributions to the forces arrayed against

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

(with the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

Forces committed

The original Polish contingent contained: * 70 soldiers from the

JW Grom JW GROM (full name: ''Jednostka Wojskowa GROM im. Cichociemnych Spadochroniarzy Armii Krajowej'', English: ''Military Unit GROM named in honour of the Silent Unseen of the Home Army'') is a Polish special forces unit and forms part of the Spe ...

SOF unit, already deployed to the region, before March 2003. These were joined by another 56 men, just before the invasion. * The logistic support ship ORP ''Kontradmirał Xawery Czernicki'' which served as a base for special operations, included 50+ crew as well as the navy SOF unit '' JW Formoza''. * 74 chemical-contamination personnel from 4 Brodnicki Pułk Chemiczny (4. Chemical Warfare Regiment from

Brodnica Brodnica (german: Strasburg in Westpreußen or Strasburg an der Drewenz) is a town in northern Poland with 28,574 inhabitants . It is the seat of Brodnica County in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. The nearby Brodnica Landscape Park, a pro ...

). * Another 53 men strong chemical-contamination contingent was ready to be sent to

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

, but because of the quick victory it was stopped one day before departure. In April 2005, Poland had 2,500 troops deployed in Iraq, and was also commanding a number of other coalition troops within the Polish-led

Multinational Division Central-South Multinational Division Central-South (MND-CS), created in September 2003, and supported by NATO, was a part of the Multinational Force Iraq. Headquartered in Camp Echo, it was under Polish command until October 2008, when the last of Poland's tr ...

Operations by Polish Forces

Polish commandos took part in security operations on Iraqi Oil Platforms. Fearing a repeat of the destruction of Iraqi oil wells in the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...

, this operation aimed to prevent similar acts that would have led to pollution of the region and loss of infrastructure. Polish special forces performed the operation of securing the port of

Umm Qasr Umm Qasr ( ar, أم قصر, also transliterated as ''Um-qasir'', ''Um-qasser, Um Qasr'') is a port city in southern Iraq. It stands on the canalised Khawr az-Zubayr, part of the Khawr Abd Allah estuary which leads to the Persian Gulf. It is se ...

International relations

In 2003, controversy erupted between Poland and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

when Polish forces found French

Roland Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

surface-to-air missiles that the international press reported that Polish officers claimed had been manufactured in 2003. France pointed out that the latest Roland missiles were manufactured in the early 1990s and thus the manufacturing date was necessarily an error (it turned out it was probably the expiry date that was indicated), and affirmed that it had never sold weapons to Iraq in violation of the embargo. Investigations by the Polish authorities came to the conclusion that the persons responsible for the scandal were low level commanders;

Wojskowe Służby Informacyjne Military Information Services (, or WSI) was a common name for the Polish military intelligence and counter-intelligence agency. The agency was created in 1990 after the Revolutions of 1989 ended the Communist regime as a merger between the fo ...

, the Polish Army's intelligence service, had not verified their claims before they were leaked to the press. The Foreign Minister of Poland,

Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz (, born 13 September 1950) is a Polish left-wing politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland for a year from 7 February 1996 to 31 October 1997, after being defeated in the Parliamentary elections by the Solidari ...

, stated in July 2003, "We have never hidden our desire for Polish oil companies to finally have access to sources of commodities" and was criticized for that by many fellow politicians and Polish popular opinion.

References

{{reflist

External links

President of Poland's decision to commit troops to Iraq

Multinational Division Central-South homepage

U.S. Foreign Economic and Military Aid by Recipient Country: 2000 to 2003
Military history of Poland

History of Poland (1989–present) Iraq–Poland military relations

Forces committed

Operations by Polish Forces

International relations

See also

References

External links