“It’s a pity that this important ceremony was upstaged by ignorance and
incompetence,” he wrote.
Mr Obama’s gaffe was widely reported on Polish television and on Twitter.
Tommy Vietor, the President’s National Security Council Spokesman, issued a
clarifying statement but stopped short of an apology.
“The President was referring to Nazi death camps operated in Poland. The
President has demonstrated in word and deed his rock-solid commitment to our
close alliance with Poland,” he said, according to the Economist.
Such is Poland’s sensitivity on the subject, its embassy in Washington carries
an extensive online fact sheet advising on how to correct journalists who
use the phrase “Polish death camp”.
“We cannot allow history to be distorted,” the guide says.
While Poland remains a staunch US ally – and has 2,500 troops in Afghanistan,
making it the sixth-largest contributor – relations between its government
and the Obama administration have sometimes been strained.
Some in Poland felt betrayed by Mr Obama’s decision to abandon George W Bush’s
plans for a European missile defence shield, which would have been based in
Poland and the Czech Republic.
The proposals had been furiously opposed by Russia.
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