- WASHINGTON (AFP) -- US commanders
have stepped up deployment of Iraqi security forces after a spate of attacks
and suicide bombings, fielding more than 100,000 of them, US Defence Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld said today.
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- Rumsfeld said congressional approval of more than $US18
billion in supplemental funds for Iraq's reconstruction would help speed
the process.
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- "They've got a push on all of those activities:
the army, the police, the site protection people, the border patrol, the
civil defence people, as well as counter-terrorism people," Rumsfeld
told reporters in Washington.
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- Rumsfeld said some Iraqi police were being fielded with
less than the minimum eight-week training with the understanding that they
would finish their training later.
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- Rumsfeld said the number of Iraqis deployed so far in
the various security forces had climbed to more than 100,000, adding that
their number will soon surpass the 130,000 US troops in the country.
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- That represents a jump of about 40,000 in less than a
month, according to past figures Rumsfeld has cited in past interviews
or press conferences.
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- Civil defence units and a guard force to protect infastructure
around the country have grown the fastest because they require less training
than either the army or the police, a senior defence official said.
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- The race to field Iraqi security forces was launched
late last summer amid growing criticism here that the Pentagon had failed
to deploy enough US troops to pacify the country.
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- But coordinated suicide bombings on Monday targeting
the Baghdad offices of the International Red Cross and Iraqi police stations
have highlighted the urgency of the situation.
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- President George W. Bush had told the Pentagon to revamp
and accelerate their plans to put Iraqis on the streets of Baghdad and
other places where US forces have come under attack, the New York Times
reported.
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- "I mean, you don't get from zero to 100,000-plus
Iraqis involved just by sitting around thinking about it," Rumsfeld
told reporters.
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- "You add money. You set higher goals. You increase
the number of Iraqis who are helping you doing the recruiting. You increase
the number of countries who assist you with the training. And you adjust
your techniques as to where you put your emphasis within those five or
six categories," he said.
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- Copyright 2003 News Limited.
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- http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,7724427%255E1702,00.html
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