Green Light for NATO Training Mission

In principle, the expansion of the NATO training programme in Iraq was agreed upon last week, but final endorsement was slowed down by France and Belgium's calls for greater clarification on who will be commanding the mission. Both countries were also concerned for the safety of the instructors, and were keen to make certain that NATO would not be engaged in fighting.

"The aims of this mission are training, equipment and technical assistance, not combat," NATO spokesman James Appathurai told reporters. But he added that the instructors would receive "robust" protection from US-led coalition forces.

The plan to deploy the instructors comes in response to Iraq's cries for help, the latest of which was made by the Iraqi interim president Ghazi al-Yawar, on a visit to NATO in Brussels last week when he called on both the EU and NATO to step up aid.

"We want further help from NATO ... to enhance our security forces, especially going towards elections in January. We want a safe environment for Iraqis to cast their votes without being afraid of anybody," he said.

A difficult birth

The 26-member military alliance launched the beginnings of its training program back in July, when it deployed 40 NATO instructors to train Iraqi military. But with continuing security problems and elections scheduled for January, a broader mission is fast becoming crucial.

Nonetheless, the agreement was no easy birth. Money was a significant issue, with France, Belgium, Germany and Spain calling for those countries participating in the mission to foot the bill, rather than leaving the whole of NATO to pick up the tab. None of these four countries will be sending instructors from their national ranks.

"We have said that we will send no German soldiers to Iraq and that is how it will stay... no instructors either," German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder said in an interview with the German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper. "We are not going to give up this position," he added.

Diplomats played down the significance of the French delays, and stressed that the objections from Paris were not a re-run of the crisis at NATO in 2003 when Paris blazed a trail of opposition within the alliance to the US-led war against Iraq.

"Once again, the alliance showed it can come together to meet the most urgent security challenges of our times." Nicholas Burns, the US ambassador to NATO said in reference to the final agreement.