President Bush has authorized U.S. combat training for Iraqi opponents of Saddam Hussein, and the Pentagon has identified as many as 5,000 recruits for an initial training phase to begin next month.
According to the Saturday edition of the Washington Post, Bush authorized the training in a National Security Presidential Directive on Oct. 3 that also approved the expenditure of $92 million in Defense Department funds, officials said. Plans to instruct the Iraqis include basic combat as well as specialized skills to serve as battlefield advisers, scouts and interpreters with U.S. ground troops in an invasion force.
Others in a force eventually to number about 10,000 will be trained as forward spotters for laser-guided bombs and as military police to run prisoner of war camps inside Iraq. Officials said the recruits, drawn largely from lists of exiles in the Iraqi diaspora that are being provided by the London-based Iraqi National Congress (INC) and vetted by the Pentagon, would be trained together outside the United States, the report added. (Albawaba.com)
