Leaders clash on U.S. base proposal

The Prague Post ^ | May 8, 2003 | Kevin Livingston

[IoCaster]

Leaders clash on U.S. base proposal

President rejects plan to station American forces on Czech soil

By Kevin Livingston

Staff Writer, The Prague Post

(May 8, 2003)

Hints that the United States might seek to move its German military bases to former Eastern bloc countries, including the Czech Republic, are polarizing politicians.

Government leaders are lining up on both sides of the issue. In an interview with a German newspaper, President Vaclav Klaus compared the proposal to the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia.

"The stationing of foreign troops would probably not be welcome," he said.

Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda, who has been publicly feuding with Klaus over their differences on the war in Iraq, said he approved of the idea. Attending a meeting of foreign ministers from European Union and EU candidate countries in Greece, Svoboda said the United States has a record of ensuring security in Europe.

A recent poll by the newspaper Mlada fronta Dnes also found that unlike Poland, where the idea of hosting U.S. bases is popular, less than half of Czechs favor such a plan.

U.S. diplomatic sources in Prague called the debate speculative and premature and said no concrete plans to move bases here have been proposed. However, lawmakers have made an issue of the proposal.

"I would find this step to be entirely unacceptable," said Vladimir Lastuvka, a Social Democrat (CSSD) and chairman of the Chamber of Deputies Foreign Committee. "I will do all that I can to make the realization of this idea difficult."

Lastuvka said that there was no reason for the presence of American troops and added that bases here could mean the country could get pulled into a future conflict, such as the recent war in Iraq.

The Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia also opposes the plan.

On the other side, several Civic Democratic deputies said they favored the idea, as did Defense Minister Jaroslav Tvrdik. He said stationing U.S. troops here would increase security and employment.

Deputy Prime Minister Petr Mares of the Freedom Union said he would also approve if stationing American troops on Czech soil is in line with the country's NATO responsibilities.

Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla said it would take time to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of U.S. bases.

[Asclepius]

A recent poll by the newspaper Mlada fronta Dnes also found that unlike Poland, where the idea of hosting U.S. bases is popular, less than half of Czechs favor such a plan.

The Czechs won't accept us? Usually it's the other way around (we don't accept checks).

[yooper]

I wouldn't accept us either, if I were a Czech. While I can certainly appreciate Manifest Destiny, the time for that was long ago. We need to get ourselves home at the first safe opportunity, and with the promise that anyone who screws with us again will be fodder for our point of view.

The last thing Dubya should want is to be painted as a an imperialist. The Iraqi's have shown themselves to be less than appreciative of our efforts to free them, and we should take the hint, issue a warning, and leave. Staying there, or in the Czech Republic, when we are not wanted, is a mistake.

The final conclusion to all of this insanity? We need to take all of the money we are feeding these ingrates and pump it into SDI.

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

On the contrary the future will be more of the same. We will need to have a strong military presence just to maintain our economic and trade partnerships.

This is why the commie French and Germans were against us in the Iraq (and war on terrorism in general) recently. They think that the future will hold a strong and dominant China in all of Asia and the Pacific and that if they can screw us in Europe we will not be just diminished but be ,in actuality, a lesser power in the world. That might just save sus a few hundred thousand casulties.

They hope (the commies in Europe) to unite the European Countries into a socialist/Commie Republic under the EU and then with the Chinese (in their dreams) dominating the Pacific we will be at the mercy of those two entities.

Of course Freedom would be screwed in that scenario. Which is another reason we need to spend the next two decades promoting freedom in the Muslim/Middle East world. We will need all the freedom loving friends we can get.

Hopefully the Chinese people will eventually demand the freedom that is desired in every human heart.