When the United States invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003, there were roughly 70 soldiers of the Polish army involved and approximately 50 members of its navy on a single ship. A contamination unit with about 75 people deployed to deal with the possible use of chemical weapons from Saddam Hussein’s forces. Of course, Iraq no longer had any chemical weapons.
More Polish soldiers came later, peaking at around 2,500. Despite these small numbers, Poland contributed the third most foreign troops to President George W. Bush’s “coalition of the willing,” trailing by far the United Kingdom and Australia. Poland’s minor contribution became a subject of the first presidential debate between Bush and Democrat John Kerry in September 2004. Kerry criticized Bush for failing to rally international support for the invasion as his father had for the Persian Gulf War, stating, “…when we went in, there were three countries: Great Britain, Australia and the United States. That’s not a grand coalition. We can do better.” Bush testily responded, “Actually, you forgot Poland.”
The response was widely considered a ridiculous and inadequate rebuttal to Kerry’s point, and “You forgot Poland” became a shorthand meme for mocking the Bush administration on other fronts. That was fair play, but it did diminish Poland’s decision to side with the United States at a time when the rest of Europe refused to get behind the invasion. While polls indicated that the Polish public was opposed to sending troops to Iraq, the elites felt it was a good strategic move. Poland was scheduled to join the European Union the next year, and it also hoped that participation would increase the chances the United States would come to their aid if they were ever again menaced by Russia.
Both the political and intellectual elites agree, though, that supporting the U.S. is fundamentally in Poland’s interest. When the French ambassador complained about Warsaw’s pro-American stance, a former dissident and foreign minister, Bronislaw Geremek, otherwise a sworn Francophile, was rumoured to have replied, “Do you seriously suggest that we entrust the security of Poland to the French army?”—a stinging reminder of France’s failure to come to Poland’s aid at the outset of World War II. To put it bluntly: placing Polish troops in harm’s way at Washington’s request increases the chances that American troops might, in some future hour of need, put themselves in harm’s way at Warsaw’s request.
Poland did indeed enjoy increased American support, especially in Republican circles, in gratitude for their willingness to buck European opponents of the war. But all of that has eroded. This became very clear on Sunday when Elon Musk and Secretary of State Marco Rubio ganged up on Polish minister of foreign affairs, Radosław Sikorski.
Sikorski had responded to a tweet from Musk in which Musk defended himself from accusations that he and the Trump administration were abandoning Ukraine. Musk wrote that his “Starlink system is the backbone of the Ukrainian army. Their entire front line would collapse if I turned it off.” Sikorski pointed out that Poland was paying $50 million annually for Starlink in Ukraine and would seek another provider “if SpaceX proves to be an unreliable” partner.
Musk tweeted back to Sikorski, “Be quiet, small man. You pay a tiny fraction of the cost. And there is no substitute for Starlink.”
Rubio then chimed in, writing “Just making things up. No one has made any threats about cutting Ukraine off from Starlink And say thank you because without Starlink Ukraine would have lost this war long ago and Russians would be on the border with Poland right now.”
If Poland felt any comfort in assurances that Starlink would not be cutoff, it was undermined by Musk’s insistence that “Ukraine will inevitably lose.”
This all happened over the weekend, but it’s important to put it in a fuller context. On Friday, Polish prime minister Donald Tusk spoke to the parliament and announced that “his government is preparing to require every adult male to undergo ‘large-scale military training’ to more than double the size of the army in the event of a war with Russia.” The plan would result in an army a half a million strong, and that’s just the beginning. Tusk announced that the country, despite being a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, may now explore nuclear weapons and is already negotiating with France to have its nuclear umbrella replace the American one which is no longer considered reliable.
As the New York Times reports, “the Polish government has become increasingly worried about the country’s security since Trump made the false claim that the Ukrainians had started the war with Russia and then halted U.S. military aid and intelligence help to Ukraine.” In general, Europe no longer has faith that America will come to their aid if they are attacked and, as Rubio noted, Poland could soon be in the frontline.
Having their foreign minister publicly belittled and bullied on social media by Musk and Rubio cannot possibly increase Poland’s comfort level. On Monday, Tusk “called on ‘friends’ to respect their allies and not be arrogant, in a post on X which mentioned no-one by name but came a day after an extraordinary social media spat between top U.S. and Polish officials over Starlink.”
“True leadership means respect for partners and allies. Even for the smaller and weaker ones,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote in English on X. “Never arrogance. Dear friends, think about it.”
Despite Musk’s insistence that “there is no substitute for Starlink,” Eutelsat shares shot up 650% last week on speculation that it might do just that in Ukraine. Meanwhile, a $1.5 billion contract promoted by Italian prime minister Giorgio Meloni to use Starlink to secure diplomatic and military communications appears to be a casualty of domestic opposition to making deals with Musk. Musk is now seeking an audience with Italian president Sergio Mattarella in the hope that the deal can be salvaged, which seems a little desperate. Despite his immense wealth and seemingly limitless power as Trump’s sidekick, Musk has watched shares in Tesla tumble dramatically with no let up on Monday.
Meanwhile, over the weekend here at home, Chicago had to deploy a phalanx of cops to protect a Tesla dealership while a New York City dealership was the victim of a sit-in protest in its showroom. This follows widespread vandalism of Tesla cars, dealerships and charging stations that began in February.
If it doesn’t seem like Poland’s investment in America’s war in Iraq paid off the way they hoped it would, the same can be said for an increasing number of people who invested in another Trump administration or in Elon Musk’s companies.
Amongst all the chaos, while we’re busy feeling sorry for ourselves, let’s not forget Poland. And let’s remember that these things will get worse every day until this fascist regime is defeated.
