ZAGREB, Feb 10 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic has said that no one has explicitly asked Croatia to send its soldiers to Iraq, and if such a request is made and the Croatian mission suffers fatalities, he has the right to
decide on his own to withdraw the troops.
ZAGREB, Feb 10 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic has said that
no one has explicitly asked Croatia to send its soldiers to Iraq, and
if such a request is made and the Croatian mission suffers fatalities,
he has the right to decide on his own to withdraw the troops.#L#
"If Croatia is asked to send its troops to Iraq, that should
presuppose a UN resolution, meaning that the UN is taking over a
leading role in the restoration of civil authority and establishment
of democratic society in Iraq," Mesic said in a talk show on the local
OTV television network in Zagreb on Monday night.
Mesic recalled that under the Croatian Constitution, a decision on
sending troops on a mission outside Croatia was to be made by the
president of the country and the parliament.
Asked to comment on the possibility of Croatia becoming a target of
terrorist activity should its soldiers go to Iraq, the president said
that "it is certain that countries involved in Iraq are in a way
targets of terrorist organisations," but added that Croatia should not
necessarily become a target.
In a separate interview with the Zagreb-based Vecernji List daily
published on Tuesday, Mesic said that it would be hard to explain to
the Croatian public any Croatian casualties in Iraq, and that this
would be even harder if Croatia became a target of terror attack such
as the one in Bali.
Speaking of his talks with US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in
Zagreb on Sunday, Mesic said they had discussed Croatia's involvement
in the anti-terrorist coalition and its possible participation in
Iraq. "I told him that this would be decided by the Croatian Sabor
(parliament) and that in principle we accepted operations under the
leadership of the United Nations."
(Hina) vm sb