NATO to send staff to Iraq

The Australian ^ | 14oct04 | From correspondents in Romania

[Pfesser]

NATO will send military trainers to Iraq before the end of the year in response to appeals by Iraqi leaders for speedy action, US ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns said today.

"We have an agreement that those trainers will go into Iraq by the end of the year," Mr Burns told reporters here after NATO defence ministers discussed the issue at an informal meeting here.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the NATO trainers and forces to protect them must be on the ground in Iraq "as soon as possible. And as soon as possible to me means this year."

"Speed is of the essence here," he said. "This is what the Iraqis want."

The pledge for fast action comes as the US is trying to rapidly build up the Iraqi security forces to help secure the country in time for January elections.

"I think what it means is we're not going to wait for the full complement (of trainers)," Mr Burns said. "As soon as those trainers are available, and we identify them from the allied countries, including our own country, they will go in."

Under a plan agreed to by NATO last week, several hundred NATO officers are to train senior Iraqi military officers at a military academy on the outskirts of Baghdad.

The final size of the NATO contingent has not been determined yet but would require support elements and troops to protect them.

The NATO mission will come under the command of Lieutenant General David Petraeus, the American general who is heading up the larger effort to train Iraqi security forces.

NATO already has a contingent of about 50 officers in Baghdad advising the Iraqi defence ministry and general staff. But Germany and France, which opposed last year's US-led invasion of Iraq, had serious reservations about the expanded NATO mission. They have agreed to take part in training Iraqi troops, but only outside Iraq.

[My2Cents]

Staff? STAFF?!