Run away, run away!

This reminded me of that Monty Python bit, where John Cleese is the sergeant drilling the troops, who starts sarcastically asking the soldiers if they'd rather be doing something else instead. One by one, they answer yes, only to be dismissed with a "right, off you go then."

When the Czech defense minister paid a visit on Monday to his country's troops engaged in chemical warfare defense in Kuwait, he made an unusual offer. With an American-led invasion of Iraq appearing increasingly possible, the minister, Jaroslav Tvrdik, a former career officer, announced that any Czech soldiers who did not really want to go to war could return home with him that evening.

Seven soldiers threw their packs aboard the ministerial jet and flew back to Prague. Twenty more soldiers from the 250-member Czech unit, stationed with United States troops at Camp Doha, about 60 miles from the Iraqi border, are expected to return in the next few days, a Defense Ministry spokesman said.

Loved this quote:

"It's certainly a unique approach" to troop morale, said Ian Kemp, news editor of Jane's Defense Weekly in London.

Meanwhile the reaction back home in the Czech Republic was less than sympathetic:

Czech soldiers who accepted an offer to return home from Kuwait if they "did not feel ready" for a US-led war against Iraq have come in for huge public criticism.

Nobody expected any of the 250-strong Nuclear, Biological and Chemical unit to take up the offer from a defence minister hoping to illustrate his soldiers' dedication. But when 27 of them did - with seven of them flying straight home - national pride was severely dented.

Posted by David on January 24, 2003 2:55 PM