NATO could ship tanks for Iraq, as well as training

BRUSSELS, Jan 12 (AFP) - NATO is helping ship military hardware including guns and possibly tanks for use by Iraqi security forces, at the same time as expanding its training mission in Baghdad, a NATO official said Wednesday.
NATO military experts are seeing if they can provide transport for 77 T74 tanks offered by alliance member Hungary to Iraq, along with a growing list of equipment from other countries, said the official on condition of anonymity.
"We are studying the viability of this offer, because transporting these tanks is not easy," she said, detailing the hardware already agreed to by some of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)'s 26 member states.
Iraqi military officials and experts from NATO's Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) will visit Hungary shortly to assess how the tanks could be shipped.
Other equipment already on its way includes: 6000 AK47s, 500 machine guns, as well as sniper rifles and rocket propelled grenade launchers from Romania; 2,400 AK47s from Estonia; and 100 pistols from Denmark.
The transport and coordination of the hardware offers comes on top of NATO's training role, agreed at a summit in Istanbul last June.
NATO leaders agreed then to rush up to 300 military trainers into the country, saying the operation was crucial as the country faced mounting violence ahead of elections at the end of this month.
As of this week some 100 NATO staff are on the ground, the official said Wednesday, rebuffing suggestions that the figure was less than hoped for. "It is not disapponting."
"This is a long term mission. It's a very complicated mission," she said. "There have been no delays."

01/12/2005 16:57 GMT - AFP