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Thursday, January 21, 2010     INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING

Iraq resumes basic training after budget crunch

BAGHDAD — After nearly a year, Iraq's military has resumed basic training.   

Officials said Iraq's military has graduated its first cadets in a basic training course. The graduation in December 2009 was the first basic training course since 2008, when the Defense Ministry was rocked by a fiscal crisis, Middle East Newsline reported.

"Because of money restraints, basic military training was suspended for nearly a year," Maj. Bill Holl, a U.S. adviser to the Iraqi military, said.


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On Dec. 28, the Iraqi military held a ceremony for the completion of the largest basic training course since 2007. Officials said more than 330 air force recruits graduated from a 12-week course at Camp Taji. They said the course had been delayed for nearly 18 months.

Officials said the Defense Ministry was hampered by a 30 percent cut in the budget for 2009. They said the budget, nearly a third of the ministry's request for $12 billion, led to a suspension of training, recruitment and procurement in all arms of the military.

The Defense Ministry's budget cut also blocked infrastructure programs required for the housing of recruits. The Iraq Army regional training center failed to complete its program to house recruits, a deadline for which was re-set for early 2010.

In the end, Iraqi and U.S. commanders rearranged the military's training schedule and allowed the 330 recruits to report to air force school before the completion of basic training. Officials said the course, the largest by the air force, was under the command of the Iraqi military.

"Other than being the largest class to graduate, it's the first time the Iraqis were trained solely by Iraqis with very little U.S. involvement," Holl said. "The instructors are completely certified. As far as basic training goes, the Iraqis have an outstanding group of instructors."

In 2010, Iraq also accelerated training in specialty skills. Officials cited mortar, helicopters and commando courses.

The Iraq Air Force has about 2,000 personnel, the majority of them holdovers from the Saddam Hussein regime. The military service has fallen way behind in plans to triple its force by the time the U.S. military leaves Iraq in late 2011.

Officials said the new cadets would help man the expanded fleet of fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft in the Iraq Air Force. The service has been preparing for deliveries of U.S.-origin aircraft throughout 2010.

"We are very proud to see one of the first groups to build our new Iraq Air Force," Lt. Col. Ali Hussein Muhaimeed, the Iraqi Air Force Training Squadron BMT director, said. "We want our Air Force to be built on the modern sands of Iraq."



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