U.S. offers training to Iraqi opposition
From Barbara Starr
CNN Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Pentagon has approved a list of 400 to 500 members of Iraqi opposition groups who will be invited to undergo U.S. military training early next year, officials said.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is expected to approve final details of the training effort shortly. The plan calls for the exiles to be trained mainly in noncombat skills so they can serve as translators, guides and in other support functions to U.S. troops.
Basic firearms training also will be part of the effort, which is expected to take place at a military base at Taszar, Hungary.
Iraqi opposition groups originally provided a list of about 5,000 names, but only a fraction have been approved so far. The Defense Intelligence Agency is vetting them for security concerns, and additional names may be approved in the coming weeks.
Senior Pentagon and military officials have been meeting with opposition groups privately in recent days in London to work out details.
The proposed trainees are expected to gather somewhere in the Persian Gulf region, perhaps Jordan, and then move to Hungary. One Pentagon source noted that the United States isn't sure how many of those invited will show up.
About 1,000 U.S. Army trainers are on standby at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, to conduct the training once the plan is approved.
The program will be funded under the Iraqi Liberation Act, enacted in 1998 to promote democracy and a change of power in Iraq. Some $96 million remains available under that legislation.
