Polish troops under fire in Iraq

[Rose Siding]

A BASE housing Polish troops in Iraq came under mortar fire overnight but there were no casualties or damage, the defence ministry said on Friday.

snip>

"Our men were immediately evacuated to a shelter, while US special forces and gendarmes set off to chase the assailants," ministry spokesman Eugeniusz Mleczak said.

However, the assailants escaped, he said.

The attack was the first reported against Polish troops in Iraq, where about 300 military personnel are working to prepare for the deployment of a multinational division under Polish command.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,6847753%255E401,00.html

[short bus president]

1. What does this say

about the Dutch strategy of publicizing "hey! we're not Americans!" for their 5000 or so troops headed to Iraqnam? This does not bode well for the UN takeover I had hoped for. Perhaps we should never have poked that big flaming stick into this hornets' nest in the first place?

[Neutrino]

2. Just wait til the Japanese get there---

I just gotta see that!

[FatbackSlim]

3. Um...

Any idea why the Poles didn't shoot back?

[Chico Man]

4. I had the same thought

They were shuffled off to some "shelter"? What kind of troops are these?

I do remember hearing that most of the non-american "coalition forces" were not combat troops but scientists, chemical weapons experts, etc?

[samsingh]

9. show troops

.

[short bus president]

5. shoot back at what?

It's not like the mortar rounds falling into their compound had obvious return addresses.

[ze_dscherman]

6. The Spanish almost wore a "Moor Killer" badge

Troops given another cross to bear

A row has broken out in Spain after the country sent its first troops to patrol Iraq wearing on their shoulders the Cross of St James of Compostela - popularly known in Spain as the Moor Killer.

Patches bearing the cross, the symbol of a saint who allegedly guided the medieval Christian reconquest of Spain from the Muslims, are to be worn by a 2000-strong Spanish brigade in central Iraq that will patrol the sacred Shia city of Najaf.

The uniforms will carry an emblem showing a red cross. The triangular top and arrow-like arms of the cross identify it as that of St James, who is believed to have miraculously appeared to Christians fighting Moors in 19th Spain. Muslims ruling large parts of Spain were expelled after 800 years by the reconquest in 1492.

While newspapers and radio stations reacted with astonishment at the choice of symbol, politicians avoided the argument. "If we start debating this subject the risks surrounding the mission will only be increased," said Jesus Caldera, a spokesman for the opposition Socialist party.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/07/27/1059244488784.html

That saint, Santiago Compostela, is very prominent in Spanish churches. They liked to depict him riding a horse that tramples the Arabs, while he's swaying his sword.

[pansypoo53219]

8. i guess

they didn't get the message that this wasn't a 'crusade'.

[Robb]

10. Er,

Who, exactly, would've told them that? More likely they got the message it was... :eyes:

(not rolling my eyes at you, to be clear!)

[gratuitous]

7. "US special forces and gendarmes" pursued the attackers?

I thought the French weren't participating in this little quagmire? Though it is an amusing mind picture to see some French guy in a kepi (Claude Rains from Casablance) running through the hot desert streets after some shifty looking Arabs in robes.

My guess about why the Poles didn't do their own shooting back at their attackers is that they were assured by their American hosts that no one would be shooting at them. I foresee a short and not very pleasant stay for the Polish troops, who will suddenly remember that they left the stove on and have to go back to Warsaw.