Obama Statement on Visit of Polish President Lech Kaczynski

Obama Statement on Visit of Polish President Lech Kaczynski
Monday, July 16, 2007

CONTACT: Ben LaBolt

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today released the following statement on the visit of Polish President Lech Kaczynski to the United States:

“I welcome Polish President Lech Kaczynski to Washington. Recognizing the rich history of cooperation between our two countries, I am happy to say, Witam Serdecznie w Washingtonie [Welcome to Washington].”

“The Polish President's visit reminds us that for the last 200 years America and Poland have been linked in the struggle for freedom. Today there is a strong legacy of sacrifice between the two nations – sacrifice for the cause of American and Polish freedom alike.”

“As early as the Revolutionary War, Polish patriots like Casimir Pulaski and Tadeusz Kosciuszko fought alongside American patriots – from Germantown to Saratoga – to help win our country’s independence.”

“During World War I, Ignacy Paderewski, an unparalleled musician, helped lead the fight for a free and independent Poland. He became Prime Minister after the war, only to be forced into exile by the Nazi Occupation. After he died in exile in the United States, America gave this great friend of freedom a place alongside our honored dead in Arlington National Cemetery. There he would rest, in the words of President Franklin Roosevelt, ‘until Poland would be free.’”

“It was a moving sight when, in 1992, President George H. W. Bush escorted Paderewski's ashes home to Poland. No one will forget seeing thousands of Poles lining the streets over the miles from the airport to the city center, waiting to see the horse drawn carriage.”

“It was the world’s good fortune that a Pole infused with this same dedication to freedom and the dignity of all people was elected Pope at such a critical time. Polish-Americans were thrilled at the election of Karol Wojtyla as Pope, a man who kept the faith when faith was forbidden.”

“At the same time, American Polonia’s dedication to freedom in their native Poland was vital in ensuring that Soviet totalitarianism would not succeed. Millions of personal packages were sent to friends and family back home, and each package was a message of hope in dark days – like the imposition of Martial Law in 1981 – of the Soviet Union.”

“The razing of the Iron Curtain provided opportunities to renew the linkage between Poland and America. Two centuries after the deaths of Pulaski and Kosciuszko, Poland and America became formal allies in NATO, institutionalizing the faith in freedom our countries have shared for centuries.”

“Since joining NATO in 1997, Poland has become one of America’s most important strategic partners, dedicating troops and resources to our operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

“We now have an opportunity to build on this long and deep relationship. Here is how we can.”

1. Renew the unity of purpose of the Transatlantic Relationship. “The Bush Administration's policy of splitting Europe into “old” and “new” was not just wrong, it was counterproductive. Poland should not have to choose between its vital interest in closer integration with Europe and its alliance with the United States. America must repair its relationship with Europe as a whole, so that Poland and our other Central European allies are never put in that position again.”

2. Finish building a Europe whole and free. “Poland has been a steadfast champion of liberty in the countries to its east. America and Poland should stand together to help Ukraine build a strong and stable democracy, and to help the people of Belarus regain their human rights. We also share an interest in working with Russia to meet common security threats and to encourage Russia’s integration into Western institutions. But we should also embrace, not abandon, those in Russia working to preserve their hard won liberty, and draw clear lines against Russia’s intimidation of its neighbors. 21st Century Europe cannot be divided into 19th Century spheres of influence.”

3. Meet global challenges together. “Not long ago, we looked to Poland as a country that needed American help in its own efforts to be free and secure; now we look to Poland as a critical partner in building a safer, freer world. We should work with Poland to secure more European troops, with stronger rules of engagement, to stabilize Afghanistan. And we should work together to send an unmistakable signal to Iran that its insistence in pursuing a nuclear weapons program is a profound mistake.”

4. Energize the alliance to confront new challenges. “From Poland to the United States, we are facing a new kind of threat – in the form of energy insecurity and climate change. The North Atlantic community has always joined forces to confront and defeat new challenges, and we should be doing the same now by, among other things, sharing best practices on energy conservation, inviting India and China to join the International Energy Agency, and dedicating our significant resources to establishing a global cap and trade on greenhouse gas pollution.”

5. Prudently but decisively prepare for emerging threats. “The Bush Administration has been developing plans to deploy interceptors and radar systems in Poland and the Czech Republic as part of a missile defense system designed to protect against the potential threat of Iranian nuclear armed missiles. If we can responsibly deploy missile defenses that would protect us and our allies we should – but only when the system works. We need to make sure any missile defense system would be effective before deployment. The Bush Administration has in the past exaggerated missile defense capabilities and rushed deployments for political purposes. The Bush Administration has also done a poor job of consulting its NATO allies about the deployment of a missile defense system that has major implications for all of them. We must not allow this issue to divide “new Europe” and “old Europe,” as the Bush Administration tried to do over Iraq.”

6. Invite Poland to join the Visa Waiver Program. “We should work to include countries like Poland that are members of both the EU and NATO into the Visa Waiver Program. Today’s visa regime reflects neither the current strategic relationship nor the close historic bonds between our peoples, and is out of date.”

“These are important steps, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to implement them.”

“It is wonderful to welcome the Polish President at a time in which America and Poland share the same freedom. Our two nations share a common legacy and destiny, and I am honored to welcome President Kaczynski to Washington.”

Lech Aleksander KACZYŃSKI

President of the Republic of Poland





Biography *

Born in Warsaw in 1949. Studied law at Warsaw University. In 1971, he moved to Sopot to work as a scholar at the University of Gdańsk. In 1980 he took a doctor’s degree in labor law, and in 1990 he was awarded a post-doctoral degree.

In 1977, he began to work for the Interventions Office of the Worker Defense Committee. A year later he became involved in the activity of Independent Trade Unions. In August 1980 he was nominated as an adviser of the Gdańsk Inter-plant Strike Committee. He was also a delegate to the First National Congress of the „Solidarność” Trade Union. Interned during the martial law. When released from internship, he returned to trade union activities. He was a member of the underground Solidarity authorities.

In December 1988, be became a member of the Civic Committee with Lech Wałęsa. He took part in the Round Table Talks in the team focused on trade union pluralism. W 1990, he was nominated as the Union’s first deputy chairman involved in the running of the Solidarity Trade Union. He was elected senator in the June 1989 election, and two years later a parliamentary deputy representing the Center Civic Alliance Party. In 1991, he was appointed as the head of the National Security Office at the President’s Chancellery. A year later, in1992, he was nominated as the president of the Supreme Chamber of Control (NIK) and he continued to hold that office until 1995.

In June 2000, Lech Kaczyński was nominated as the Minister of Justice by Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek. He soon became the most popular member of the cabinet.

In April 2001, he was elected as the head the National Committee of the Law and Justice Party (PiS) to be elected the party’s president in spring 2001. After the September 2001 parliamentary election he returned to the parliament as the party’s deputy. In autumn 2002 he was elected Warsaw’s mayor with a big advantage over his opponents. He started his term in office by declaring a war against corruption – the so-called „Warsaw connections” - and by restoring law and order. In March 2005 he officially declared his intention to run as a presidential candidate.

Elected President of the Republic of Poland on October 23, he assumed the office on December 23, 2005 by taking an oath before the National Assembly.

Lech Kaczyński’s wife, Maria, is an economist. His daughter Marta graduated from the Department of Law at Gdańsk University. She is married to Piotr, and in 2003 she gave birth to her daughter, Ewa.
Mr. and Mrs. Kaczyński are fond of animals. They have two dogs and two cats.


Background
The Kaczyński twins are sons of Rajmund (an engineer who served as a soldier of the Armia Krajowa in World War II and a veteran of the Warsaw Uprising) and Jadwiga (a philologist at the Polish Academy of Sciences). Lech is a graduate of law and administration of Warsaw University. In 1976 he was awarded his PhD by Gdańsk University. He later assumed professorial positions at Gdańsk University and Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw. He is married and has one daughter.


Political biography
As children the twin brothers Lech and Jarosław starred in a Polish 1962 movie The Two That Stole The Moon (Polish title O dwóch takich, co ukradli księżyc) based on a popular children's story by Kornel Makuszyński.
In the 1970s Lech Kaczyński was an activist in the democratic anti-communist movement in Poland. In August 1980 he became an adviser to the strike committee in the Gdańsk Shipyard and the Solidarity movement. During the martial law introduced by the communists in December 1981 he was interned as an anti-socialist element.
Lech Kaczyński takes part in a mass marking the 21st anniversary of the death of communist era Solidarity figure Father Jerzy Popiełuszko, in the Stanisław Kostka church in Warsaw October 19, 2005.
When Solidarity was legalized again in the late 1980s, Lech Kaczyński was an active adviser of Lech Wałęsa and his Citizens' Committee Solidarity (Komitet Obywatelski Solidarność;) in 1988. Kaczyński was elected a Member of Parliament in June 1989, and vice-chairman of Solidarity trade union (NSZZ Solidarność). He was a leader and founder of the centrist political party Porozumienie Centrum (Center Agreement) and the main adviser and supporter of Lech Wałęsa when he was elected the President of Poland in December 1990. Wałęsa nominated Kaczyński to be the Security Minister in the Presidential Chancellery.
Lech Kaczyński was the President of the Supreme Chamber of Control (Najwyższa Izba Kontroli, NIK) from February 1992-May 1995 and later Minister of Justice and Attorney General in Jerzy Buzek's government between June 2000 and his dismissal in July 2001).
In 2001 he founded the Prawo i Sprawiedliwość party, and since 2002 Kaczyński has been Mayor of Warsaw, the capital of Poland. As mayor, he supported the construction of the Museum of the Warsaw Uprising. He will be also remembered for banning a gay movement parade (in 2004 and 2005), claiming the lack of neccesary documentation by organisers as the reason; earlier he referred to security measures, an offence to public morals and coinciding with the unveiling of a monument of Bór-Komorowski). His opponents called that unconsitutional in 2004 and he had been repeatedly criticised by the Mazowieckie voivodeship (region), which officially supervises the Mayor of Warsaw.
On 19 March 2005, he formally declared his intention to run for president in the October 2005 election.
Casimir Pulaski (1745?-1779) is a hero of two countries, Poland and the United States. Pulaski (in Polish: Kazimierz Pulawski) was born in a small town near Warsaw, Poland during the mid-1740s. In 1768, Pulaski and his father Jozef founded the Confederation of the Bar to defend Poland against the aggressive Russian forces, which later arrested and killed Casimir's father. Unable to prevent the partition of Poland, Pulaski left Poland and lived in exile in Turkey and the Balkans between 1772 and 1775, and then to Paris where he met Benjamin Franklin. Franklin convinced him to support the colonies against England in the American Revolution.

Pulaski impressed with the ideals of a new nation struggling to be free, volunteered his services. In 1777, Pulaski arrived in Philadelphia where he met General Washington, Commander-in -Chief of the Continental Army. Later at Brandywine, he came to the aid of Washington's forces and distinguished himself as a brilliant military tactician. For his efforts, Congress appointed him Brigadier-General in charge of Four Horse Brigades. Then again, at the battles of Germantown and Valley Forge, Pulaski's knowledge of warfare assisted Washington and his men.

Later in 1778, through Washington's intervention, Congress approved the establishment of the Cavalry and put Pulaski at its head. The Father of the American Cavalry demanded much of his men and trained them in tested cavalry tactics. He used his own personal finances, when money from Congress was scarce, in order to assure his forces of the finest equipment and personal safety.

Pulaski and his legion were then ordered to defend Little Egg Harbor in New Jersey and Minisink on the Delaware and then south to Charleston, South Carolina. However, it was at the battle of Savannah in 1779 that General Pulaski, riding forth into battle on his horse, fell to the ground mortally wounded by the blast of cannon.