Soon after I took my seat on the BA flight from New York to London late last month, I requested a US newspaper. It must have been in response that I heard the voice of the only other passenger in the same cabin exclaim that they did not even have a French newspaper. He turned out to be a Pole. His offer of help did not surprise me. I had already been told of the twenty Polish soldiers who joined the invasion of Iraq and cemented the two invading armies into a coalition force.

The motives of the new Poles are aptly stated by Timothy Garton Ash in his article in the Guardian: “For two centuries, Poland’s fate was to be occupied and partitioned by imperial powers; suddenly it is itself to be an occupying, colonial power. For 40 years, under Communism, my Polish friends spoke longingly of “the West,” now they could be suicide-bombed because they are part of it. Both the prime minister and the foreign minister explained to the Guardian correspondent: “Post-Communist Poland has much to offer post-Baathist Iraq. After all, no one knows better what it takes to transform a dictatorially run state and economy into a free, democratic one.” The current coalition administration must have bought the story about Polish aspirations. The Poles have been told they need about 9,000 soldiers to run their zone. So far, they have committed only 1,500. According to my Polish fellow passenger, “the government has no budget for this force and the soldiers have zilch experience of this kind of thing.” I am curious to know who would want to serve under them to make up the required number of 9,000. But I heard through the grapevine that the Poles quite naively suggested to Germany that it might like to help out, “since, after all, there is already a Polish-German-Danish Corps working within the framework of NATO.”

The Germans replied with a sharp, angry “nein.” Knowing the Poles, they don’t usually take no for an answer. Only oil concessions might persuade Spain to join. Some of the smaller Eastern European countries might support Poland out of solidarity. For good measure the Poles might still try the Arabs. The outcome is unpredictable. The reason is that the Arabs seem accommodating about the occupation and trust its declared intentions, which keep changing by the day. Once the hidden agenda of the occupiers becomes clear, the Poles may realize the true extent of their commitments. There is still time for the Arabs to consider their Hobson’s choice. The Arabs should make their presence felt with deeds rather than words. Instead of competing with foreign companies for projects in Iraq, they should begin with voluntary work to help the Iraqis. The Iraqi people should get all the help they need to build their own country and end the occupation in line with the timetable declared in the early days of the invasion. Deviation from this goal not only will give permanence to the status quo but also make all Arab land vulnerable.