Poland was valued by Iraq because its labor costs were low, and the quality of its work was comparable to that of other European countries. Some Poles note sardonically that their workers were so busy building roads in Iraq that the roads here suffered, adding to its problems in luring investment.
"It would be difficult to find another country with so much experience in Iraq," said Tadeucz Iwinski, a foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Leszek Miller.
Polish officials spent two days last week appealing to the secretary of commerce, Donald Evans, who visited Warsaw on a tour of Central Europe. Evans was lavish in his praise of Poland's military support, but he offered few tangible economic benefits, largely because contracts sought by Poland are being awarded by the Pentagon, not his department.
Evans, after meeting with M.B.A. students at the Warsaw Stock Exchange, said: "We have assured officials that we will help them in making their case. There are going to be lots of opportunities for investment in Iraq."
The likelihood, executives here said, is that Polish companies will be given subcontracts by American firms, like the Halliburton, which has a huge no-bid reconstruction contract from the Army. Boraks said his group had signed an agreement with a Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown & Root, which will give it the first crack at subcontracts.
Diplomats here say the Poles could make out nicely with a series of subcontracts, perhaps even earning US$2 billion over five years. But Polish officials understand that, at heart, this is a political process. There is talk of Miller paying another visit to Washington.
Meanwhile, the Poles are making their case to whomever will listen. After Evans' visit to the stock exchange on Tuesday, its chief executive, Wieslaw Rozlucki, sought out a reporter.
"There is a great deal of expectation in Poland," he said. "I would say we view it almost as a moral obligation."
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