Jaruzelski's Elite Thugs

"Polish soldiers will not fire on Polish workers." That statement, which is widely believed to have been made by General Wojciech Jaruzelski when workers rebelled in 1976, was often cited in the past year by optimistic Poles who believed that their experiment with liberalization would not end in repression and bloodshed. Despite the fact that the clampdown killed 17 people, by the government's admission, Jaruzelski may have remained true to his pledge—at least in a literal sense. Most of the acts of brutality that have been committed in the five weeks since...