Poland congratulates US on death of Bin Laden

"YES, THEY DID! Congratulations, Americans. On 9/11 Poles were also killed [in the Twin Towers in New York]. Justice has finally been done," writes Minister Sikorski, referring to Barack Obama’s presidential election slogan, “Yes we can…”.

"This is also an important day for Poland,” President Bronislaw Komorowski has said in Rome, where he attended the beatification ceremony on Sunday of the late pope, John Paul II.

“It is worth to remember that one of the objectives of the antiterrorist coalition, founded 10 years ago, and of which Poland has played a part, was to punish those responsible for bombing the World Trade Centre in New York and other places in the United States," he told reporters.

"It's also Obama's personal success and a source of great satisfaction for America,” added Komorowski.

Poland currently has around 2,600 troops in Afghanistan as part of the multinational ISAF mission there.

“This is a warning to all enemies of freedom around the world that if they kill our citizens, it will not remain unpunished,” Foreign Minister Sikorski later told the TVN24 news station.

A Foreign Ministry statement adds: “Congratulations from your allies”.

A more secure world?

Former prime minister of Poland and now president of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek stressed this morning that although the war on terror is far from over, “a step has been made to overcome Al-Qaeda. This event is also a step towards ensuring the safety of millions of people, Christians, Muslims and representatives of other religions, especially those who believe in peaceful coexistence,” he said.

"We have woken up in a more secure world," he adds.

Many analysts disagree that the death of the al-Qaeda leader is a meaningful event, however, other than acting as a catharsis for the US following 9/11.

“It‘s a symbolic success but not a major step in the war on terror,” Bohdan Szklarski, political scientist, at the Collegium Civitas in Warsaw told our reporter Michal Kubicki (hear more of the comment below).

President Obama said in a special TV address late Sunday night/Monday morning US time that a team of American forces undertook the operation in an upmarket area of the town of Abbottabad, 60 km north-east of Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, where, after a firefight, troops killed Osama bin Laden and captured his body.

Reuters is reporting that the United States conducted DNA tests on Bin Laden’s body and have used facial recognition techniques to help identify him.

The reports say that Bin Laden had been shot in the head. US sources say that the terrorist leader has already been buried at sea, in accordance with Islamic tradition. (pg)

source: PAP/IAR

Last updated 18.56