Final Word from Thursday, March 23, 2006
Americans have a good idea of the U.S.'s level of involvement in Iraq, but most Czechs have no clue what the CR is doing there. The defense and interior ministries were helpful in informing us that the CR has 97 military policemen and 14 civilian policemen in Iraq, and 10 civilian policemen in Jordan. The foreign ministry wasn't able to respond immediately, because the requested information had to be approved for release. Its reticence was in line with the policy of riding the fence on sensitive issues. Jiří Paroubek told the Czech Council on Foreign Relations in Feb. that he still hasn't understood whether the CR is part of the coalition in Iraq or not. The Americans think Yes, he said, and the Europeans think exactly the opposite. This is in the best Czech tradition, he said. An ambitious country of the CR's size, he explained, can't rush into any one-sided relationship. So, the Czechs are still in Iraq, but don't expect them to talk about it much.[Czech Republic United States US USA European Union]