Leifur
Since Apr 4, 2004
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I am a student from Iceland, with rather conservative views, at least in comparison to Icelandic politics wich are though very different to US politics it seems.
I like playing football (soccer as you call it), skiing, hiking and reading. I am also very interested in politics (including US politics), history and my education. And as english is a second language to me I want to apologise for my spelling and language in advance.
I have started a few threads about issues that greatly interest me, and I would be glad if commented on:
" We will not force the US to maintain its military presence"
Make way for the women- Chalabi´s tactics for future of Iraq and Iraqi oil
TIME FOR REGIME CHANGE IN EUROPE
The future of conservatism in Europe
Remarks by President Bush and Prime Minister Oddsson of Iceland in a Photo Opportunity
Here is some text taken from the wikipedia article about Iceland and below that some pictures from the Icelandic police, the viking forces (same as S.W.A.T.), Icelandic Coast guard, their bomb squad in Iraq and our civilian peace keeping mission in Afganistan. Just remember no one of these are soldiers, as Iceland does not have a military:
"The Republic of Iceland has no regular armed forces. Defense is provided by a predominantly US-manned NATO base in Keflavík. Iceland has a Coast Guard (Landhelgisgæslan) and an anti-terrorism team named Sérsveit Ríkislögreglustjóra (English: "The Special Operations Task Force of the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police"), commonly referred to as Víkingasveitin (The Viking team).
Sérsveit Ríkislögreglustjóra The Special Operations Unit of the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police, The Viking Team, is similar to Germany's GSG-9 and Britain's SAS, a small and well trained group of operatives. The unit handles security of the state, anti/counter-terrorism projects, security of foreign dignitaries, as well supporting the police forces in the country when needed.
The Viking team has five main squadrons: Bomb Squadron that specializes in explosives; Boat Squadron that specializes in operations on sea and water, diving and underwater warfare, and boat operations; Sniper Squadron that specializes in sniper warfare, entries, and close target reconnaissance; Intelligence Squadron that specializes in anti-terrorism intelligence, surveillance, and infiltration; and Airborne Squadron that specializes in airplane hijacking operations, skydiving and surprise assault operations, and port security.
Members of the Viking team were deployed in the Balkans as a part of an operations lead by NATO, and some members have been deployed to Afghanistan. The Special Operations Unit used to be under the command of the Reykjavík Chief of Police; however, in 2004, a new law was passed that put the Viking Team directly under the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police."
The police and the viking squad (our only armed forces):
Pictures from Iraq (we worked with the Danish military there):
Peace keepers in Kabul, Afganistan:
Iceland´s Prime minister Halldór Ásgrímsson visits the Icelandic Crisis Respsonse Unit in Afghanistan