DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - U.S.A./IRAN: IRAN OFFERS WEAPONS & TRAINING TO THE IRAQI ARMY

US has failed Iraqi soldiers, claims Iran

BAGHDAD: Iran's ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, offered weapons and training to the Iraqi army yesterday 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," he said following a landmark meeting with his US counterpart.

While describing the meeting, the first of its kind in nearly three decades, as "positive", Mr Kazemi told US ambassador Ryan Crocker that the Iraqi army was not receiving the weapons it needed.

Mr Crocker reiterated US accusations that Iran was funneling weapons and sophisticated explosives to Iraq's militias.

Mr Kazemi also said there was a proposal to form a trilateral security commission with the US and Iraq to help address the country's security problems.

"The negotiations today were an important first step between the two sides," he told reporters. "The Iraqi Government said it will invite the two sides to resume negotiations and we received this proposal positively."

Mr Kazemi, however, added that he would have to consult with Tehran first, and one of his assistants said no date had been set for the follow-up meeting.

Mr Crocker earlier dismissed the idea of a tripartite US-Iran-Iraq commission and pointed out that further meetings were not necessarily the solution to Iraq's continuing crisis.

While the US continues to struggle with ways to halt the bloody insurgency gripping Iraq, it will transfer responsibility for security in Kurdistan's mountainous northern region to Iraqi Kurdistan's autonomous Government today.

At a ceremony in the regional capital, Arbil, the commanders of the peshmerga - former anti-Baghdad guerillas and now staunch US allies - will be handed responsibility for three northern provinces.

"This week the responsibility for security in the Kurdistan region will be officially transferred from multinational forces to the peshmerga affiliated with the regional Government," said Jabar Yawar, a Kurdish military spokesman.

The peshmerga are former Kurdish rebels who have been incorporated into the Iraqi and Kurdish armed forces in the four years since a US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein. The US military confirmed the handover in an invitation to the event sent out to local media.

The decision comes at a time of growing tension between Iraq's Kurds, who are pursuing greater autonomy, and the country's neighbours, principally Turkey, who oppose anything resembling Kurdish independence.

Turkey has long accused Iraq's Kurds of sheltering fighters from the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and last week threatened to launch an operation in northern Iraq if local authorities failed to combat the group.

"Either you prevent illegal activities on your soil or if you are not powerful enough, the occupation forces there ... should prevent them," Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said.



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1) US has failed Iraqi soldiers, claims Iran