MINISTER OF DEFENSE SIKORSKI ON F-16 PROGRAM, IRAQ

C O N F I D E N T I A L WARSAW 000862

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR FRONT OFFICE, EUR/NCE AND EUR/RPM
SECDEF FOR ISP
JOINT STAFF FOR J5
EUCOM FOR ECJ4 AND ECJ5

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/04/2016
TAGS: MARR MOPS MCAPS PREL PL IZ
SUBJECT: MINISTER OF DEFENSE SIKORSKI ON F-16 PROGRAM, IRAQ
DEPLOYMENT

REF: A. WARSAW 833


B. IIR 6 878 0337 06 (USDAO WARSAW 021626Z MAY 060)

C. WARSAW 761

Classified By: Amb. Victor Ashe, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

1.(C) Summary: Ambassador met one-on-one May 9 with Polish
Minister of National Defense Radek Sikorski to review the
F-16 program, urging him to appoint a general officer to
oversee the program within the Air Force. Sikorski confirmed
Poland would maintain its troop strength in Iraq at 900
through January 2007, and said he had not thought reducing
troops would have posed a problem or caused the reaction that
it did in Washington. He expressed concern about the Russian
reaction to any Missile Defense site in Poland, and asked
support from the U.S. for the positioning of the NATO Air
Ground Surveillance (AGS) System in Poland. End Summary.


2. (C) Ambassador opened the meeting by reviewing with
Sikorski the status of the F-16 program and some of our
concerns about the state of POland's preparations for
receiving the jets in November 2006. He urged Sikorski to
appoint an Air Force general officer to oversee the program
in order to ensure preparations move forward. Sikorski
agreed that was necessary and said he would do so by the end
of May or early June. He said that he does not personally
have the technical background to judge for himself the real
state of preparations. He gave no hint of a delay in
receiving the F-16 (Ref B),and Ambassador did not raise the
issue.


3. (C) On Iraq, Sikorski confirmed that Polish troop levels
will stay at 900 through January 2007. Sikorski, who two
weeks ago floated the idea (Ref C) of reducing troop strength
"by 300 to 400 troops," said he was not aware that the
numbers of Polish soldiers in Iraq mattered to us as much as
the simple fact of Poland's presence. He asserted that the
central-south area of Polish responsibility was peaceful.
The Poles have turned over much responsibility to Iraqi
forces, leading him to conclude that Polish troops were not
needed at the same level, and that a reduction of 300-400
troops would not make that much difference. He was surprised
the matter had gone so quickly to the presidential level, and
confirmed that troop strength will remain stable through the
remainder of the year. He noted, however, that the scheduled
deployment to Afghanistan in 2007 would require Poland to
reduce its troop numbers in Iraq.


4. (C) Sikorski raised Missile Defense, saying that the
U.S. needed to "fix" Russia's concerns. (Note: The MFA has
asked that we do these consultations in coordination with the
Poles. End Note) He said that if Russian concerns were not
addressed, they would likely put missiles in Kaliningrad or
Belarus, threatening Poland.


5. (C) Sikorski said his "one wish" was that NATO place the
AGS system in Poland. He hoped the U.S. would support
placement of the system in Poland. He said he had spoken to
General Jones in Brussels, and that Poland's Ambassador to
NATO had raised the matter with U.S. Ambassador Nuland. He
said Ambassador Reiter has instructions to press the issue in
Washington as well.

ASHE