Abstract

Letter From Poland

The article looks at the rise of anti-Americanism in Poland as of October 2004. Western visitors here have often been surprised by Poland's avid pro-Americanism. Until now. United States President George W. Bush has managed to do what forty-five years of Communist rule could not: puncture the image of essential American goodness that has always been the United States' key selling point. The Iraq war has been the turning point. Poland was one of America's most zealous supporters, the leader of what Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dubbed the "new Europe." According to Maciej Letowski, a prominent right-wing thinker, an imperial America needs strategic allies in key spots around the world, and Poland had a historic chance to become one. Less than two years later, positions justifying eager support for America are in tatters, their proponents feeling disillusioned, if not betrayed. In early September 2004, President Aleksander Kwasniewski, long one of Bush's closest supporters, offered an unprecedented rebuke. Aleksander Smolar, a leading strategic thinker, says Poland's policies have left it isolated in Europe and taken for granted in America, and calls for a thorough change of course.