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P 011315Z DEC 06
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C O N F I D E N T I A L PRAGUE 001466 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
EUR/NCE FOR FICHTE, PM FOR DOWLEY, OSD FOR SADOWSKA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/30/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PREL EZ MARR MASS IZ AF YI BK LE
SUBJECT: PLANNED CZECH MILITARY DEPLOYMENTS FOR 2007 
 
REF: PRAGUE 1423 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Michael Dodman 
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: The Czech Chamber of Deputies will vote in 
December on a bill authorizing proposed foreign military 
deployments for 2007. The bill is likely to pass without 
serious opposition. Increased numbers of troops are planned 
for Afghanistan and the Balkans, while Iraq troop levels will 
remain the same. A small deployment in Lebanon is planned. 
End Summary 
 
¶2. (U) The Czech Chamber of Deputies will vote in December on 
a bill authorizing proposed foreign military deployments for 
¶2007. The government's draft legislation would permit a 
maximum of 1125 Czech troops to be deployed outside the Czech 
Republic, up from 1000 in 2006. Each request is usually the 
subject of a separate vote, allowing parliamentarians to 
register their support for, or opposition to, specific 
deployments. 
 
¶3. (C) The plan calls for authorized Iraq troop levels to 
remain unchanged at 100. The deteriorating security situation 
around Basra has led to changes in British operations, which 
have in turn affected the Czech deployment plans. Czech 
soldiers will greatly reduce or phase out Iraqi police 
training in 2007 as they focus more on a force protection 
role. One option being explored with London is for the Czech 
contingent to provide security at Basra airport. 
 
¶4. (C) As Czech President Vaclav Klaus noted at Riga, 
authorized total troop levels for Afghanistan will be 50 per 
cent higher in 2007, having risen from 150 to 225. However, 
Afghanistan has so far proven to be the only point of (minor) 
disagreement in Parliament. Jan Hamacek, the CSSD Chairman of 
parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, told Poloff on 
November 22 that he had removed the provision for 35 Special 
Operations forces from the total of 225 troops planned for 
Afghanistan. However Hamacek said this had more to do with 
insufficient notification of the plan to Parliament rather 
than opposition to the mission itself. Hamacek indicated he 
believed the 35 Special Forces would be reintroduced for the 
second reading of the bill and said he would not oppose it. 
Rumors of a possible contribution of an 80-person military 
field hospital circulating in the press December 1 relate to 
a Czech General Staff idea rather than a plan with current 
backing. Embassy sources doubt the accuracy of this figure, 
saying 80 sounds extremely high. (Note: The Czech idea of 
taking over and leading a PRT in Afghanistan in 2008 (reftel) 
will undergo its first crucial step in the coming weeks, when 
the Cabinet meets to formally consider whether or not to go 
forward with the proposal. Post will report on this septel. 
End note). 
 
¶5. (U) Authorized troop levels for the Balkans will be set at 
a total of 730, divided between KFOR and the EU,s ALTHEA 
operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. By lumping both missions 
into a single authorization the government will be free to 
move troops freely between the missions as necessary. 
 
¶6. (U) Ten new slots are allocated for Lebanon, made up of 
deminers and unexploded ordinance experts. 
 
¶7. (C) Embassy sources at the Defense and Foreign Affairs 
Ministries say that the current ODS minority government had 
virtually assured passage of this deployments bill by 
adopting the previous government,s plan for 2007. As a 
result CSSD, which led that previous government, could not 
generally object to the provisions of the plan. The Christian 
Democrats (KDU-CSL) should not have difficulty supporting the 
plan. The Communist KSCM will oppose. KSCM opposition during 
the same vote last year was notable only for the several 
abstentions from some Communists who did not wish to oppose 
some of the deployments, particularly on the Iraq vote. MFA 
Security Policy Director Veronika Smigolova on December 1st 
confirmed that all provisions of the deployments bill are 
expected to pass without difficulty. Note that if for any 
reason the bill fails to win approval before the end of the 
year, Czech law permits troops to serve outside the country 
without Parliamentary approval for 60 days, which would 
provide time for legislative action without disrupting 
existing deployments. 
 
¶8. (U) Changes will be possible throughout the year. While 
 
each year,s bill is generally aimed at being comprehensive, 
further ad-hoc deployment bills are possible. In 2006 the 
Czech Parliament used a second bill to authorize a 6-month 
deployment of Czech Special forces to Afghanistan, something 
that had not been finalized in time for the previous year,s 
omnibus bill. 
GRABER