SLOVENIA: DESPITE OPPOSITION PROTESTS, NEW IRAQ

UNCLAS LJUBLJANA 000522

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/NCE, EUR/RPM, PM/RSAT FOR KDOWLEY

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PINR NATO SI
SUBJECT: SLOVENIA: DESPITE OPPOSITION PROTESTS, NEW IRAQ
NTM-I DEPLOYMENT TO GO FORWARD



1. (U) SUMMARY. Last week leaders from the opposition
parties Liberal Democracy (LDS) and Social Democrats (SD)
hoped to take advantage of the slow news cycle as well as
this week's scheduled deployment of Slovenia's second
rotation of instructors to NATO Training Mission Iraq (NTM-I)
for a quick political win. Opposition parties called for the
current government to rethink its policy of support in Iraq,
convene a special meeting of the Parliamentarian Committee
for Defense, and hold back on the scheduled deployment of new
instructors. A special session was held in response to the
request, but the committee rejected the demands and new
instructors are scheduled to depart for Iraq later this week.
END SUMMARY.


2. (U) On August 7 members of parliament from the opposition
LDS and SD parties demanded that Tone Anderlic, the Head of
the Parliamentary Defense Committee and an opposition LDS
leader, call an urgent session of that body to discuss the
decision to send a new rotation of Slovene military
instructors to the NATO Training Mission Iraq (NTM-I).
Opposition leaders requested that the cabinet reconsider the
presence of Slovenian soldiers in Iraq and reverse its
decision to send a second rotation of military instructors,
stating that Iraq is too dangerous, the current situation has
all the characteristics of a civil war, and that Slovenian
participation in something that is not a classic peacekeeping
operation is not appropriate. The opposition called, at the
very least, for the government to seek parliamentary approval
for the mission.


3. (U) The special Defense Committee session was held August
11 and included representatives of the government, Defense
Minister Karl Erjavec and MFA State Secretary Bozo Cerar.
Erjavec and Cerar made the case that the situation in Iraq is
critical but has improved since the first rotation of
Slovenian instructors arrived in February 2006, that Iraq has
formed a government, and that there is no reason for Slovenia
to withdraw its instructors. Deputies from coalition parties
supported arguments of the GoS and agreed that there is
positive progress on Iraq.


4. (U) The committee voted unanimously to urge the government
to submit regular (monthly) reports to parliament and the
committee on the activities, experiences, and possible
security challenges of soldiers in the Slovene Mission and
the overall situation in Iraq. The group of four instructors
- who are instructing local security forces for NTM-I - are
set to relieve Slovenia's first set of instructors deployed
on February 24, 2006.


5. (U) COMMENT. The move by the opposition parties was a
quick political jab, likely intended to force the current
Jansa government to once again defend its somewhat
controversial decision to send troops to Iraq. The story has
received daily coverage in the media over the past week, a
traditional slow news time in Slovenia, but the debate has
been largely focused on reiterating arguments made in during
the initial GoS commitment of troops in Spring 2006.
ROBERTSON