"You forgot Poland" is a political slogan based on a statement by United States President George W. Bush during the first presidential election debate on September 30, 2004. During the debate John Kerry accused Bush of failing to gain international support for the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, saying the only countries assisting the USA during the invasion were the United Kingdom and Australia. Bush replied by saying "Well, actually, he forgot Poland." Paraphrased as "You forgot Poland", it became a popular catch phrase among Bush detractors. The phrase was used on bumper stickers, T-shirts and other merchandise.

Some people found the phrase funny because they considered the Polish contribution to the 2003 invasion of Iraq insignificant or believed that Poland was not part of the invasion at all. Also, while George Bush is known for his witty remarks, his repartee's vocabulary lacked finesse as a rebuttal and seemed misplaced in a formal debate.

Whether Poland was part of the invading forces became subject to debate, but at the time Bush made the comment, Poland had made a significant contribution of troops to Iraq. Official American and Polish sources show that 184 soldiers from the elite Polish commando units GROM and Formoza participated in the March, 2003 invasion. By August, 2003, Poland had become one of the major partners of the multinational force in Iraq, with 2,500 soldiers in southern Iraq. This contribution placed them behind only the United Kingdom, South Korea, and Italy in terms of the number of troops contributed.

The issue of "forgetting Poland" may have reminded some of President Gerald Ford's statement in a 1976 televised debate that he did not "believe that the Poles consider themselves dominated by the Soviet Union," widely regarded as a crucial gaffe.

See also

• Full transcript of the presidential debate from Wikisource
• Bushism
• Polish contribution to the 2003 invasion of Iraq
• Military of Poland
• Internet humor

External links

• Youforgotpoland.com
• Liegirls -- a political parody site with a video with a creative "You Forgot Poland" joke