A leading Prague newspaper on Thursday highlighted the alleged historical errors and insults written by United States secretary of state nominee Condoleezza Rice in her 1984 book about communist Czechoslovakia’s Soviet-backed army.
The Lidove Noviny newspaper chided Rice for calling Czechs ”passive” and claiming Czechoslovakia would not resist foreign invaders, such as Soviet-backed Warsaw Pact troops in 1968.
But the newspaper said Rice defended herself by saying: ”My book about the Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak army has always been widely accepted.”
Under the headline ”Rice: Czechoslovaks never fight”, the newspaper said Czech-born historian Josef Kalvoda found numerous errors in Rice’s book Uncertain Allegiance: The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army.
The book fails to separate fact from communist propaganda and ”abounds with meaningless phrases”, Kalvoda said.
Rice, who has served as President George Bush’s National Security Adviser since 2001, stands nominated to succeed Secretary of State Colin Powell. — Sapa-DPA