Czech government to deploy special forces unit to Iraq

The Czech government has agreed to deploy the Army of the Czech Republic's (ACR's) Special Operations Group's (SOG's) military police special forces unit to Iraq in late December 2004, in preparation for that country's first democratic elections. The deployment has come at the request of the Anglo-American military command that is anticipating a rise in armed resistance. The ACR will initially deploy 20 SOG personnel in late December, and reinforce unit strength with another 20-30 team members. SOG is the first ACR unit of any type to be fully armed and equipped with US weapons, communications and breaching and entry tools.