--- In Ova adresa el. pošte je zaštićena od spambotova. Omogućite JavaScript da biste je videli., Rick Rozoff wrote:

1)Reprising Role In War On Yugoslavia In 1999, US-NATO
Base In Hungary To Host Training For War Against Iraq
2)3,000 Exiles To Train In Hungary For Attack Against
Iraq


http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/
FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1039523815808&p=1012571727172

Financial Times
December 19, 2002

Hungary permits training for Arabs
By Robert Wright in Budapest

-The pro-opposition newspaper Magyar Nemzet has
suggested that the US prefers to use Hungary for the
training because of security worries over admitting
some of the opposition activists to the US.
Taszár has been used by the US since 1994, mainly as a
base for peacekeeping operations in
Bosnia-Herzegovina.
It also played a role in the Nato-led attack on
Federal Yugoslavia during the 1999 Kosovo crisis.


The United States has won permission to use Hungarian
territory to train up to 3,000 Arabs - mainly Iraqi
opposition activists - for an invasion of Iraq.


The Hungarian cabinet agreed yesterday to the use of
the US-run Taszár airbase, near Kaposvar in south-west
Hungary, for the training.

According to the MTI news agency, Zoltán Gál, a
government spokesman, said the first of two expected
groups of trainees would arrive in January.

The cabinet decision follows a request delivered last
week from Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary.

Mr Gál told reporters that training would be given in
civil-military co-operation, likely to mean training
in setting up civil administration after any US-led
invasion of Iraq.

There would also be training in translation skills, Mr
Gál said.

There has been widespread speculation that the
trainees will be mainly exiled opponents of Saddam
Hussein, the Iraqi leader.

Mr Gál said only that the trainees would be Arabs
currently living in Europe or the US.

The decision on the base's use was taken by the
cabinet after the centre-left government decided that
parliamentary approval was unnecessary and likely to
be blocked by the centre-right opposition.

The opposition had claimed that allowing the training
in Hungary would lay the country open to terrorist
attack.

Hungary has so far been largely unaffected by
international terrorism.

Ferenc Juhász, the defence minister, visited the area
around the base two weeks ago to talk to residents and
reassure them.

The pro-opposition newspaper Magyar Nemzet has
suggested that the US prefers to use Hungary for the
training because of security worries over admitting
some of the opposition activists to the US.

Taszár has been used by the US since 1994, mainly as a
base for peacekeeping operations in
Bosnia-Herzegovina.

It also played a role in the Nato-led attack on
Federal Yugoslavia during the 1999 Kosovo crisis.

The trainees will not be allowed to leave the base,
nor will they be allowed to go directly from the base
to Iraq. None of the training should be for roles in
combat units.

The present government, elected in April, has sought a
more active part in international military operations.

Under its centre-right predecessor, Hungary was seen
as doing little to live up to its international
obligations as a member of Nato, the North Atlantic
Treaty Organisation, which it joined in 1999.

-------------------------------------------------------

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/12/19/
wirq119.xml&sSheet=/news/2002/12/19/ixnewstop.html

Daily Telegraph
December 19, 2002

3,000 exiles will train in Hungary to aid attack


-Some Hungarians have voiced fears that aiding a
central plank of the invasion plan could attract
reprisals. Similar fears were expressed during the
Nato-led campaign against Yugoslavia in Kosovo.
-The Taszar base has been used by American forces
since 1995.




More than 3,000 Iraqi exiles hired to accompany
American troops during any invasion to topple Saddam
Hussein are to be trained at a base in Hungary, it was
agreed yesterday.

The men will be housed from next month at the air
force base of Taszar, 120 miles south-east of the
capital, Budapest, where they will be trained to aid
troops and air strike spotters during an advance into
Iraq.

Although the Iraqis will receive rudimentary military
training, they would be expected to carry out a number
of auxiliary roles including work as interpreters with
combat units.

Up to 1,500 American training and security personnel
will also be stationed at the base.

Hungary, a Nato member since 1998, did everything
possible to play down the military aspects of the
scheme.

A spokesman, Zoltan Gal, said: "The training is
primarily theoretical, which means military and civil
relations, interpreting and translating, and
theoretical training for military police."

Hungary has insisted that those trained at the camp
should not be deployed directly in combat roles in any
conflict with Iraq.

Some Hungarians have voiced fears that aiding a
central plank of the invasion plan could attract
reprisals. Similar fears were expressed during the
Nato-led campaign against Yugoslavia in Kosovo.

Other restrictions imposed by Budapest included a
limitation to two rounds of training lasting no longer
than 90 days each. The men will not be allowed to
leave the base.

The government had wanted parliament to give its
backing to the plan, but decided to grant permission
on its own after opposition parties expressed doubts.

The Taszar base has been used by American forces since
1995.


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