Iraqi official: prolongation of Czech presence in Iraq has political significance

The Iraqi Culture Minister Mufid al-Jazairi has said that the prolongation of the stay in Iraq of Czech military police officers would have political significance for his country. Speaking on Czech Television on Sunday, Mr Jazairi said that technically, the withdrawal of a hundred Czech soldiers is of no great importance but, as he said, the enemies of democracy are trying to threaten countries involved in Iraq and make them leave the country. Even the withdrawal of such a small group as the Czech unit would be seen as a political signal of support for the terrorists, the Iraqi official said. A Czech military police unit are helping to train local security forces in southern Iraq. The Czech Parliament is going to discuss whether their stay will be extended until the end of February 2005.