Poland’s Ambassador to Iraq, Gen. Edward Pietrzyk, said that with stability established in Diwaniyah, the Iraqi province that Poland’s military forces are overseeing, economic partnerships are his country’s new priority. (Lisa Burgess / S&S)
ARLINGTON, Va. — After spending nearly six years as a member of the coalition providing security to Iraq, Poland is preparing to draw down the last of its troops from Iraq later this year, but America’s European ally has no intention of closing the book on Iraq for good, according to Poland’s ambassador to Iraq, Gen. Edward Pietrzyk.
Instead, Pietrzyk said, with stability established in the Iraq province Poland’s military forces are overseeing, economic partnerships are his country’s new priority.
Poland contributed 2,700 soldiers to the Iraq coalition in 2003 and Pietrzyk, who was commander of Poland’s Land Forces at the time, came with them as their leader.
Poland, and Pietrzyk, was then assigned command of 12,000 international troops in the Multi-National Division-Central South region, including Diwaniyah province.
Since then, most of the international coalition members have left, and the Polish contingent has also gradually drawn down. After 10 six-month rotations, it now numbers about 900 troops, with the last Polish troops scheduled to leave in October, Pietrzyk said.
That’s because the military mission in the area is mostly complete, Pietrzyk said.
“Diwaniyah is free of the JAM,” or Shia rebels belonging to the Mahdi Army, he said, and “Al-Qaida were pushed up to the north.”
Meanwhile, the all-Sunni Diwaniyah province is now largely the responsibility of Iraq’s 8th Army, “which is ready to take control” of security there, Pietrzyk said. “The posture of their soldiers is completely different from what it was three years ago.”
Political control of the province is scheduled to be turned over to the local governor on July 15, Pietrzyk said.
Pietrzyk isn’t waiting for all this to happen, however.
In his role as ambassador to Iraq — which the general has held since 2004 — Pietrzyk already has a group of Polish investors prepared to forge a contract with Diwaniyah’s governor in June.
After that deal is off the ground, he is hoping to quickly bring in more than 80 additional Polish business members who he has been busy wooing in Poland.
“They are interested in developing economic cooperation between Poland and the province,” he said.
Pietrzyk wants to introduce the Polish investors to the province while the Polish troops are still in Iraq, because “they will help our businessmen feel comfortable and secure, so [the efforts] can be rooted,” he said.
Pietrzyk’s eagerness to get the deals moving has a very basic motivation, he said: The province “has a very high rate of unemployment, about 70 percent,” Pietrzyk said, and bringing in business to help get them working will be critical to maintaining the security his country’s troops have fought so hard to develop.
Pietrzyk has another motivation: honor.
Although Poland’s military has gained invaluable direct combat experience from Iraq, the mission has not come without a price, Pietrzyk said.
Twenty-three Polish military members have died in Iraq.
“So, to keep the memory” of those Poles who gave their lives in the coalition, he said, “it’s necessary to keep our presence there.”
