US dispatches Iraq exiles to help relief effort

5.45pm

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has sent 69 Iraqi exiles, trained by the US military in Hungary, to help co-ordinate humanitarian efforts in Iraq -- far fewer than originally envisioned, a US Army general said today.

"I would like to have a lot more. This is what I have," said Brig. Gen. John Kern, commander of the Army 352nd Civil Affairs Command in charge of using the so-called Free Iraqi Force soldiers.

Kern said the 69 men are being sent around Iraq with US forces as civil affairs specialists to serve as translators and help assess local needs, including food, water and electricity, as well as police and firefighting deficiencies.

Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon from the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr, Kern said their knowledge of specific regions of Iraq was proving invaluable.

The Pentagon had not revealed specifics about the number of Iraqi exiles who were trained at the air base in Taszar, Hungary. Nato ally Hungary gave the United States permission to use the base to train up to 3,000 Iraqi volunteers.

On March 14, Army Maj. Gen. David Barno, who headed the programme in Hungary, refused to disclose the number trained but said there were "certainly hundreds available" for training.

The Pentagon cancelled the last of three scheduled training groups. The first group comprised Iraqi exiles living in America and Canada, and the second group involved Iraqis living in western Europe.

Kern said the training programme "was originally envisioned to be much larger. For a number of reasons, it was finished."

He said he understood that "there were some concerns about the loyalty of the next cohort" of Iraqis who signed up for the training programme. He did not provide further details.

A defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Pentagon put the exiles "through a very rigorous vetting process" for security reasons.

"We wanted to make sure that we had the right people as opposed to just a large number of people," the official said.

The official said the programme was terminated also because the war began and putting a third group of exiles though a month-long training process may not have been of any value.

Kern said he initially was assigned 74 Iraqis who had completed the training in Hungary, but one was jettisoned amid security worries about his past associations and others were sidelined due to medical problems.

The 69 Iraqis wear their own uniforms, distinctive from US military uniforms. Kern said they are being sent with US Army and Marine Corps forces to the regions from which they hail, accompanied by American civil affairs specialists.

Kern said they already were in Baghdad, Kerbala, Najaf, Nassiriya, Basra, Umm Qasr, and four were sent on Thursday to Kurd-controlled territory in northern Iraq.

During the briefing beamed from Umm Qasr, Kern appeared with two Free Iraqi Force soldiers, Habib Ali, 39, a native of Umm Qasr who resides in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Ali Ethari, 42, a native of Basra who resides in Louisville, Kentucky.

"I've got enough to cover the country, although I could very easily use many, many more," Kern said, noting that their very presence with US forces helps establish a trust with local Iraqi officials.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq war