Visit of NATO Secretary-General
On March 4 NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer (pictured with Polish PM Leszek Miller) paid his first visit to Poland since taking over the post at the beginning of the year. He met President Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Prime Minister Leszek Miller, Sejm Speaker Marek Borowski, Foreign Affairs Minister Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz and Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdziński. The main subject of the talks in Warsaw was the potential involvement of NATO in the stabilization operation in Iraq. De Hoop Scheffer expressed hope that before the United States hands sovereign power over to the Iraqis June 30, the U.N. Security Council will adopt a new resolution authorizing the stabilization forces in Iraq to stay there under NATO command.

The final decision on NATO participation in Iraq will probably be made at the June NATO summit in Istanbul. The decision is also awaited in Poland. Since the beginning of the Iraqi crisis, Warsaw's stand has been that the stabilization forces should be under the widest possible international control as soon as possible. Polish politicians and military officials believe that the decision on NATO involvement in Iraq might result in reducing the number of Polish troops. At present, over 2,400 Polish soldiers are stationed there. After NATO enters the operation, that figure might drop to 2,000 in early 2005 and even 1,000 by the end of that year.


SLD Deputies Facing Court
Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) deputies Andrzej Jagiełło and Henryk Długosz, as well as former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Zbigniew Sobotka, were presented Feb. 9 with a formal accusation concerning a leak in the Starachowice scandal. They are facing up to five years' imprisonment. Jagiełło and Długosz have been accused of impeding penal proceedings, and Sobotka was accused of disclosing a state and business secret and "consenting to impeding preparatory proceedings and exposing police officers acting under cover to direct risk of death or serious health loss while carrying out a controlled purchase of firearms, ammunition and narcotics."

According to the prosecutor's office, March 25, 2003, Sobotka informed Długosz about the secret police operations planned for the following day and concerning local government officials from Starachowice. Długosz passed the information on to Jagiełło, and the latter warned local government officials who were the operation's target. A day later in Starachowice, police officers from the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested people suspected of membership in a criminal organization that traded stolen cars, drugs and arms. Several people were arrested, including SLD activists Mieczysław S., who was the local county administrator, and Deputy Chairman of the County Council Marek B.


Ukrainian President in Warsaw
Representatives of Poland and Ukraine will soon discuss economic projects related to the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline, the power system and the ordering of a customs system in relation to Poland's accession to the European Union. This is the result of several-hour political consultations conducted Feb. 12 in Warsaw by Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski and Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma (pictured below). Last year the volume of trade between the two countries reached a record $2 billion. The Polish president declared a continuation of Polish-Ukrainian cooperation within the international division in Iraq, and cooperation of both countries in projects to reconstruct Iraq. He also announced that Kuchma had accepted an invitation to the European Economic Summit in April in Warsaw.

Kwaśniewski also confirmed the intention to hold the 7th Polish-Ukrainian Economic Forum. The year 2004 will mark the Polish Year in Ukraine. Related events will include the unveiling of a monument to poet Juliusz Słowacki in Kiev, and the opening of a museum in his hometown of Krzemieniec. The Polish Year inauguration ceremony will take place March 30 in Kiev. The year 2005 will mark the Ukrainian Year in Poland.


Poles Wounded in Attack
Twelve Polish soldiers were hospitalized in Karbala and Baghdad after a Feb. 18 attack on the logistics base Camp Charlie in Iraq. Six Iraqis were killed and 44 wounded in the attack. Two vehicles, a pickup and a tanker truck with 700 kg of explosives, were used by the attackers. The first vehicle damaged the wall: the explosion made a hole through which the tanker truck was to enter the camp. The tragedy might have been much worse, were it not for the cool head and professional behavior of Mongolian sergeant Ganbold Az-Zaya, who was on sentry at that time. On seeing two speeding vehicles that did not react to calls to stop, he fired his machine gun, killing the driver of the first vehicle and severely wounding the man behind the wheel in the second vehicle. That is why the main explosion took place at the camp wall and not inside the camp. The soldier was awarded at a ceremony Feb. 25 in Camp Charlie. Gen. Mieczysław Bieniek, commander of the international division, awarded him a gift-a digital camera.