WASHINGTON, Jan 24 (AFP) - A retired general sent to assess the development of Iraqi security forces has endorsed concepts being devised by US commanders in Iraq for shifting the US military's role from direct combat to supporting frontline Iraqi units, a Pentagon spokesman said Monday.
Teams of military advisers and trainers already have been placed with some deployed Iraqi units as "mentors" to help strengthen their confidence, and commanders have said thousands of US soldiers may ultimately be assigned to Iraqi units in an advisory role.
The concepts being tested and devised by the commanders were the subject of an assessment by retired General Gary Luck, a former US commander who has been intimately involved in studies of "lessons learned" in Iraq.
Luck concluded "that across the board the commanders over there have a very good concept of the evolving relationship between US and Iraqi security forces. He felt they really have it in hand," said Lawrence DiRita, the Pentagon's chief spokesman told AFP.
Luck also offered the commanders ideas of his own, including ways US forces can go about becoming "enablers" that provide Iraqi forces with special skills they will need to assume a larger combat role, DiRita said.
"Everybody's expectation is that the Iraqi security force will continue to take on combat capability, and as they do that you'll see less direct responsibility for security by US forces. And then you may see the US forces do more of this kind of enabling," DiRita said.
"In other words, if they don't have the capacity for air support, then US forces can provide for that. If they don't have capacity for communications or intelligence, they can marry up the right capabilities in the evolving Iraq security forces," he said.
01/24/2005 18:24 GMT - AFP