DISINFO: Poland took part in destroying Iraq
SUMMARY
Polish politicians who are cursing Alyaksandr Lukashenka and accusing Minsk of causing problems with Iraqi migrants should recall how Iraq was destroyed with Poland’s active participation. Over 2,000 Polish troops invaded this sovereign state to impose democracy. Why not admit at least so many “grateful Iraqis”, whose ancestors had not been dreaming of such a life before the insolent democratisers broke there?
RESPONSE
Disinformation message that appeared in the context of the attempts of Lukashenka regime to instrumentalise migration to pressure the EU.
Poland was a member of a broad international coalition which in 2003 took part in a US-led operation in Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom). Warsaw was entrusted with the command of the Central-South Zone as part of the International Stabilisation Force in Iraq up to the withdrawal of the Polish military contingent in 2008.
At first, it kept 2,500 soldiers in the country, but the numbers gradually fell to 900. Polish troops were mostly training Iraqi troops and providing logistical support. Several dozen soldiers of a special ops unit (GROM) were mainly in charge of searching for and neutralising co-workers of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and members of Al-Qaeda.
There is plenty of evidence that the Belarusian authorities have instigated the ongoing migration situation at the EU borders.
The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has stated that the situation on the EU-Belarus border is "the attempt of an authoritarian regime to try to destabilise its democratic neighbours". Similarly, High Representative Borrell has highlighted that the Lukashenka regime is weaponising human beings as a tool for political purposes by giving migrants false expectations and putting them in a situation of extreme vulnerability.
On 15 November 2021, the EU broadened the scope for sanctions to tackle hybrid attacks and instrumentalisation of migrants. The EU will now be able to target individuals and entities organising or contributing to activities by the Lukashenka regime that facilitate the illegal crossing of the EU's external borders.
See related examples of disinformation claims about migration here.
See our earlier articles on the Belarus migration situation here and here.