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Current AffairsAn Iraqi Czech's view of the war
As war rages in Iraq, it may come as a surprise that the Czech Republic
itself has its own Iraqi community. This dates back to the days of
communism, when many students from the Arab world studied on scholarships
at Czech universities. Many stayed - sometimes to work, sometimes for
political reasons, and often because they found a Czech partner. This was
the case of the Iraqi engineer, Sulaiman Fahad, who has spent most of the
last forty years in Prague and today has Czech citizenship. David Vaughan
caught up with Mr Fahad to gauge the feelings of Iraqi Czechs, nearly all
of whom are strongly opposed to Saddam Hussain's regime, as the war
unfolds.
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Press ReviewPress Review
The war on Iraq has overshadowed everything else. Front pages carry
snapshots of soldiers in the desert, maps of Iraq and any available
details of the military operation against Saddam Hussein. 280,000 troops
are ready to march on Iraq, says Lidove Noviny. "The US predicts a
short war," reports Mlada Fronta Dnes.
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Current AffairsCzech troops on battle alert in Kuwait, but the Czech Republic is not part of the US-led invasion of Iraq
A few hours after US and British missiles started falling on Iraq, senior
Czech ministers and the prime minister met to discuss the latest dramatic
developments. After Wednesday's cabinet meeting the Czech Republic's
official position concerning an invasion of Iraq still seemed less than
clear. With that invasion now a reality, and Czech troops stationed in
Kuwait on full alert, the meeting on Thursday morning was a far more
practical affair. Radio Prague's David Vaughan was at a press conference
immediately after the meeting. David, to start with, was there any
clarification of the Czech government's position?
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Current AffairsRoman Joch: Support for the war against Iraq
Opinion polls indicate that around seventy per cent of the Czech public
opposes the war against Iraq. But, just hours after the American-led
attack on Iraq began on Thursday morning, I spoke to Roman Joch, one Czech
who is part of the other thirty per cent of the population that supports
the war. Mr Joch is a political commentator from the Civic Institute in
Prague, and he supports the war because he regards Saddam Hussein as a
threat to his own people and the world. Mr Joch cites Saddam's Hussein's
oppressive regime, his aggressive wars against his neighbours and his
desire to amass weapons of mass destruction as the reasons why the Iraqi
leader should be removed by war. But why does Mr Joch think that so many
Czechs are opposed to a military attack?
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