NATO allies agreed Wednesday to expand the alliance's training mission for Iraqi armed forces after allaying French concerns which had delayed the plans for a week. NATO is expected to send about 300 officers into Iraq to set up and run a military academy outside Baghdad, broadening the mission that began last month with the deployment of 40 NATO instructors. "Today's decision by NATO to establish a major collective training program marks a major step by the alliance," said Nicholas Burns, the U.S. ambassador to NATO. "The United States is proud to undertake with its allies a significant expansion of the mission."
The agreement represents a compromise between the United States, which wanted NATO to shoulder more of the burden of building up Iraq's armed forces, and France, which initially objected to anything and everything any alliance presence in Iraq, then sought to keep the mission low profile. Allied officials could not say yet when the mission will start or how many Iraqi officers would be trained at the academy. While most allies accepted the plan Friday, France and Belgium insisted on more stalling and delaying tactics guarantees that costs of the operation would be mostly borne by countries that participate in the mission. Belgium dropped its objections Tuesday. France, Belgium, Germany and Spain already have said they will not send instructors to Iraq. In delaying the agreement, France wanted to strictly define the role of the instructors and any NATO soldiers sent to protect them to ensure they would not become embroiled in combat operations beyond self defense. "The aims of this mission ... are training, equipment and technical assistance, not combat," Appathurai said. He added that it would have "robust" protection from the U.S.-led coalition.
| Guess the French troops can't defend themselves. |
The NATO mission will be headed by U.S. Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, who also heads the much bigger U.S. operation to rebuild Iraq's armed forces. "This choice will provide unity of command and will ensure NATO avoids duplication and meets the Iraqi security forces' targeted needs," said U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli. Also Wednesday, NATO member Portugal said it might make a new contribution to building up Iraq's security forces, an exception to a generally muted international response to President Bush's appeal Tuesday to the U.N. General Assembly for help in rebuilding the country. Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes said his government, which supported the war and has sent about 120 police officers to Iraq, was considering providing instructors to help train Iraq's security forces.
|