WASHINGTON - Iraq's ambassador to the United States Wednesday launched a withering attack on the US administration's reluctance to provide basic weaponry to his country's ill-equipped armed forces.
Samir Sumaidaie said US foot-dragging was inexplicable given President George W. Bush's oft-stated desire for Iraqi forces to "stand up" and so allow US troops to withdraw from the frontlines.
Angrily rejecting suggestions that the Pentagon is reluctant to allow high-tech US weaponry to fall into Iraqi hands, the ambassador told reporters "we're not talking about nuclear submarines" but basic arms like rifles.
Despite being willing to pay out of its own funds, the Iraqi government has been "waiting and waiting and waiting" for Washington to come forward and has had to turn to other suppliers, such as China, for guns.
"There's constant frustration in the Iraqi government about the speed of equipping our armed forces," Sumaidaie said, as the Bush administration comes under fierce pressure at home to start pulling out of Iraq.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman acknowledged "it is clear that there is still much to be done with respect to equipping the security forces" of Iraq.
"But there is a program in place to do it in a very deliberate way, and do it in a way that ensures that they have the type of the equipment they need for the types of missions they are going to be conducting," he said.
The Iraqi embassy was unable immediately to provide a detailed list of the arms it is seeking from the United States, as Congress awaits a pivotal report due in September that Democrats hope to lever into a timetable for withdrawal.
But Sumaidaie said among Iraqi troops' needs are armored personnel carriers to replace their light pickup trucks, which leave them as vulnerable "cannon fodder" while US soldiers patrol in reinforced armor and heavy vehicles.
"This is not helping morale," he said.
"This is a collaborative effort between the Iraqi government and the government of the United States, and the process is not moving quickly enough to improve the fighting capacity of Iraqi armed forces.
"A way must be found to improve this process."
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said in January that the United States could dramatically and quickly cut its troop presence in Iraq if it provided enough weapons to the country's embattled security forces.
The United States is said to have held back from supplying the Iraqi army with large quantities of weapons because some have ended up in the hands of militias and insurgents.
But under a recent "surge" of US troops into Baghdad and surrounding provinces, US commanders are now arming Sunni tribal leaders to take the fight to Al-Qaeda extremists who are accused of stoking Iraq's communal bloodshed.
In May, Iran offered weapons and training to the Iraqi army after accusing Washington of not supplying Baghdad with the equipment needed to defend itself.
"The Iraqi government is in need of strong military and security structure to confront its security problems and we have offered all forms of assistance such as weapons, training and equipment," Iranian ambassador to Iraq Hassan Kazemi Qomi said following a landmark meeting with his US counterpart.
Iran and the United States followed up that contact with a second meeting in Baghdad between their Iraq envoys on Tuesday.
At the meeting, the United States accused Iran of stepping up its alleged support of militia groups and US ambassador Ryan Crocker admitted afterwards the encounter had been marked by "heated exchanges."

07/25/2007 17:15 GMT