Posted on 11/25/2003 5:57:44 AM PST by witnesstothefall
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia -- Slovakia plans to deploy some 30 more soldiers to Iraq to ensure safety of the country's military engineering unit already in place, Defense Minister Juraj Liska told reporters Tuesday.
Slovakia, a central European country of 5.4 million, deployed a unit of 82 military engineers to Iraq in summer. The unit is there as a part of international troops under Polish command and concentrates on de-mining work.
Liska said the new unit could be deployed to Iraq in February. The decision still requires approval from the government and the Slovak parliament.
Brig. Gen. Pavol Gajdos, who visited the Slovak engineers, said the deployment of more soldiers would ensure "protection of our unit and the lives of our men," adding the security situation in Iraq "has dramatically worsened."
Slovakia has soldiers deployed in peacekeeping operations around the world, but according to Liska it plans to cut their numbers from some 850 to about 600 by June, 2004. The cuts would mostly affect peacekeeping missions in East Timor and Eritrea.
Liska said Slovakia is considering to send eight to 11 more soldiers to Afghanistan. Slovakia, which is set to join NATO in 2004 along with six other newcomers, dispatched 40 military engineers to Afghanistan last year.
Somebody post their flag for a virtual salute. It's no small thing for such a small poor country to send its best young men into a combat zone like Iraq. ;)
Good question. It's not as widely publicized as we might like, for the very good reason that we don't want to give the global terrorists a target list. That's not to say it's secret, just not widely reported.
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