Debate on Iraq Deployment Flares Up
Controversy over the government's decision to send four military instructors to Iraq reached boiling point this week, as the current government traded blows with members of the previous cabinet over actions and agreements that have led to the deployment.
Defence Minister Karl Erjavec added oil on the flame when he presented declassified documents proving that the government of PM Anton Rop was in talks with Denmark in 2003 on whether Slovenia would send troops to the country as part of the Danish contingent.
The minister came under fire from the opposition for declassifying diplomatic correspondence, but he was flanked by Prime Minister Janez Jansa, who spoke up for the decision a week after it was taken and said the minister had helped "disperse the fog."
Shouldering the responsibility but nevertheless pointing a finger at the previous government, Jansa said this was a decision made by this government, but at the same time it represents a completion of procedures started by the previous cabinet.
If the decision was not taken this year, the government "would have lost credibility considering the promises that had been made and the decision taken by the previous government...that Slovenia would take part in the [NATO] project" of training Iraqi forces, he said on Wednesday, 18 January.
The same day, LDS deputy group leader and Jansa's predecessor, Anton Rop, rebuffed the prime minister's claim, saying that the previous government "did not send and would not have sent" Slovenian soldiers to Iraq.
Major General Ladislav Lipic, the chief of staff, meanwhile announced that operational preparations for the deployment are already under way and the army was in talks with NATO to find appropriate posts for the quarter of Slovenian soldiers.
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