Polish General Jaruzelski returns medal to President
Polish President Lech Kaczynski honored General Jaruzelski with the Cross of Deportees. The general has, however, returned the medal to the president.
Three years ago, in order to honor all those people who were deported to Siberia and Kazakhstan, the Cross of the Deportees was established. General Jaruzelski was deported to Siberia with his parents in 1940 thus qualifying him to receive the medal. President Kaczynski signed the authorization for General Jaruzelski to receive his medal.
General Jaruzelski told Polish television station TVN, "I really appreciate Kaczynski ' s gesture". "It shows that President Kaczynski has risen above divides. "
But when confronted by television reporters as to why President Kaczynski awarded the medal to a man that President Kaczynski in the past has wanted to strip General Jaruzelski of his rank and pension benefits, Andrej Urbanski, the chief of the President ' s Chancellery, said the Chancellery staff gave the president a document to sign, without the knowledge and against the will of the president. It was also without the knowledge and consent of the chief of medal department. The employees involved would meet consequences according to the labor law.
On private television station TVN 24 spokesman Maciej Lopinski said "Someone at the presidential chancellery made a mistake. " "The President does not read everything he signs. "
Jan Rokita, deputy leader of the opposition political party Civic Platform, "If I came to believe that the President signed documents the content of which he ignores, I would consequently have to say that he should cease to be president."
This sequence of events has created a political firestorm and received much coverage in the Polish press and on Polish television.
As a result General Jaruzelski decided to return the medal and said that he was returning the medal because he did not want to cause problems for the Polish President. He felt that it would be best for Poland to look forward to the future rather than looking at problems of the past.
Jan Rokita, deputy leader of the opposition political party Civic Platform, "If I came to believe that the President signed documents the content of which he ignores, I would consequently have to say that he should cease to be president."
Will the Polish government think like General Jaruzelski and start to look toward the future rather than fighting the battles of the past?
