Operation Simoom
Operation Simoom | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Poland United States | Iraq | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Gromosław Czempiński | Saddam Hussein | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
| |||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
None, successfully escaped without raising any suspicion | None |
Operation Simoom
In 1990 the
Poland had connections in Iraq due to Polish engineering firms' construction work throughout the country so they could escape from Iraq in a bus, alongside Polish and Russian workers.
The six agents were hiding in Kuwait and Baghdad for several weeks before the escape was carried out.[2] The operation was very difficult because the Iraqis started to suspect some kind of American-Polish intrigue.[2]
The agents were given refuge at a Polish construction camp, and then provided with passports and put on a refugee bus. An Iraqi officer at checkpoint on the border had studied in Poland and spoke Polish well enough to communicate. When the bus arrived at the border, he asked one of the American spies a question in Polish. Since the spy did not know Polish at all, he pretended to be heavily drunk (another version states that the operative in question fainted). Nevertheless, the bus managed to cross the border with all occupants.
As a reward for Poland's help, the US government promised to urge other governments to cancel half, or $16.5 billion, of Poland's foreign debt.[4]
In at least two other operations, the Poles later aided another 15 foreigners to escape, mostly Britons, held hostage by the Iraqis as part of Saddam Hussein's "human shield" campaign to deter an allied invasion.[2]
Information about this operation was first revealed in 1995 by The Washington Post.[3][4] In 1999, Polish director Władysław Pasikowski made a movie, Operacja Samum about this operation; it was the first Polish production co-financed by Warner Bros. and third by HBO.[3]
Notes
- Simoonmeans a desert wind. Note that this name was used in the movie Operacja Samum, but there are no references it was the actual name of the operation.
- ^ ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
- ^ a b c d Reprint of article from Warsaw Voice, The Warsaw Voice, 23. 5. 1999
- ^ a b "During Gulf War, Polish Agents Saved 6 American Spies". The New York Times. January 18, 1995. p. 4. Archived from the original on May 5, 2021. Retrieved March 10, 2023.
Further reading
- John Pomfret, "Cloak and Dagger and Johnnie Walker Red", Washington Post National Weekly Edition, 23–29 January 1995, 15–16. summarized here
External links