Over the last year, the institute has conducted several visits to train Iraqi cadets. In March 2010, the institute sent a team to Iraq to train the Defense Ministry, Finance Ministry and Interior Ministry to draft and apply for the procurement of U.S. military equipment.

Officials said the Iraqis learned to examine and work with such documents as a Letter of Request and Letter of Offer and Acceptance. During the nine-day course, the U.S. team also taught such skills as logistics support, funds management, pricing, requisition process, billing, selection of a freight forwarder and end-use monitoring.

"It was important for Iraqis who had the previous training opportunity to be involved this time," Reynolds said. "Our intent was to build upon previous visits and we would not have been able to do that if we had new students."

The institute also conducted seminars for 18 Iraqi generals and other senior officers involved in weapons procurement and management. Officials said the generals were introduced to the intricacies of U.S. legislation and policy as well as FMS regulations.

Officials said the courses were meant to facilitate Iraqi plans to procure up to $10 billion worth of U.S. weapons and combat platforms over the next five years. They said Baghdad has sought to acquire up to 100 F-16 multi-role aircraft from Lockheed Martin.

"First, the Iraqis are trying to ensure that the personnel they envision doing internal training of Iraqis on FMS issues attend DISAM training," Reynolds said.

Officials said the institute, like other U.S. defense and security advisers, has faced significant obstacles in teaching Iraqi personnel Western government and military standards. They said the first challenge was the lack of English-language skills by most of the Iraqi cadets.

As a result, U.S. instructors required translators in classes that included up to 40 Iraqis. Unlike other missions by the institute's Mobile Education Teams, the translation was not simultaneous.

"We cannot achieve the same volume and depth of instruction that is possible during other MET training classes because the translation time cuts the actual instruction time by over half," Reynolds said.

In the March course, the institute instructed 22 Iraqis who had undergone a course four months earlier. Reynolds said this allowed for greater comprehension and in-depth instruction.

"This time, there were no problems for our folks, and they were also impressed with the Iraqis' efforts to make things go," Reynolds said. "We had good interactive and honest dialogue from them, especially with their leadership involved in the executive-level presentations."

Officials said the institute would train additional Iraqis in the United States after the American military withdrawal from their country at the end of 2011. They said future courses would seek to enhance skills, particularly proficiency in English.

At this point, officials said very few Iraqis meet what the institute terms the required English Comprehension Level of 80. They said this could hamper their work on U.S. programs over the next two years.

"Simply, we're not done yet," Reynolds said. "To not continue to support Iraq would simply be the wrong thing to do because they need our help and we need them as a viable continuing partner."

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