WARSAW, 22 August 2004 — “Why did we go there?” the conservative daily Rzeczpospolita wondered recently about Poland’s military mission to Iraq.

The newspaper is not the only one to question Poland’s military presence in the Gulf region.

Ever more Poles eye the deployment of 2,500 Polish soldiers in Iraq with a mixture of fear and skepticism. According to recent polls, about 75 percent of the Polish population reject the risky adventure in the desert.

Only a year ago it was quite different. When Poland took over control of five Iraqi provinces on Sept. 3 last year, Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinsky called it the “most important mission of Polish soldiers since World War II”.

Even those media normally highly critical of the government were enthusiastic.

Poland, the poor country with a tragic history of oppression and occupation by stronger neighbors, had suddenly become an occupying power. The staunch alliance with the US during the Gulf War had been rewarded.

During the conflict, Poland’s strong support of the US-led war had snubbed European friends and allies like Germany and France. Now the public could watch Poland’s contribution to world politics.

Camp Babylon, the headquarters of the multinational division commanded by a Polish general, became center-stage for a Poland taking pride in its new role. Polish businessmen hoped for lucrative contracts in Iraqi reconstruction. Even before the first soldiers took off for Iraq, President Aleksander Kwasniewski stressed the role of Poland as a partner, not as an occupier. “Iraq for the people of Iraq!” he proclaimed.

Kwasniewski’s message was translated into Arabic. Together with “Bolonia” imprinted T-shirts, baseball caps and videotapes about the life of the Muslim Tatar minority in Poland, Polish participation was meant to open the hearts of the Iraqi people.

The optimism was shattered on Nov. 6 last year when Maj. Hieroim Kupczyk died near Karbala. The 44-year-old officer from Szczecin was the first Pole to be killed in Iraq. His death brought the realization of the dangers of Poland’s mission.

Since that day 13 Poles have been killed in Iraq, among them two journalists. Attacks are more and more frequent in the Polish occupation sector which was once regarded as “peaceful”.

And among the Polish media, little is left of the jubilant headlines of last year.

“Mr. President, how many more have to die?” the Polish tabloid Super Express asked as it called for a withdrawal of Polish soldiers from Iraq. Only a year ago the same paper had printed optimistic reports about “our Babylon” and the fondness the local population felt for the Poles.

The torture of Iraqi prisoners by US military personnel at the Al-Ghraib prison shocked many Poles, among them Adam Michnik, a former dissident and editor in chief of the liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza.

Michnik publicly supported the war against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Now he wonders aloud if he might have been wrong.

And many Poles, hearing about abused and humiliated prisoners, express the same doubts: “We did not take part in this war only to exchange the torturers.”

Over the past twelve months the multinational division has shrunk after the withdrawal of several nations, among them Spain and the Philippines.

The Polish occupation sector is smaller as well, since the US took over control over part of it. No one in Poland is complaining about this loss of responsibility, especially as Najaf and the bloodletting around it was a part of what Poland gave up.

Politicians and military leadership keep planning how to reduce the Polish troops without jeopardizing the fragile stability in Iraq.

Szmajdzinski has stressed several times that Poland would keep its commitments in Iraq as long as the government in Bagdad needed and wanted its support. Poland hoped to have a “considerably smaller troop contingent” in Iraq next year, he says.

Opposition parties demand a fast return of the Polish soldiers from Iraq. The populists in particular are calling the mission a political and military mistake. The first year of Polish presence in Iraq is no reason to celebrate for most Poles. According to polls, they not only object the military presence of Polish soldiers in Iraq. More than 80 percent are afraid that their country’s role in Iraq makes Poland a target of terrorists.