NATO Nears Agreement on Iraq Expansion

[Barrett808]

NATO Nears Agreement on Iraq Expansion
By PAUL AMES, Associated Press Writer

BRUSSELS, Belgium - NATO envoys neared agreement Wednesday on a limited expansion of the alliance's training mission for the Iraqi military after the United States and France narrowed differences over the scale and command of the operation.

An agreement could mean the deployment of up to 300 NATO instructors in Iraq, supplementing the larger U.S. operation to rebuild a 260,000-strong Iraqi military force, diplomats said. A deal on setting up the training center for Iraqi officers is expected by early next week, diplomats said.

But any agreement would represent a compromise between France, which initially rejected any ground deployment of NATO instructors in Iraq, and the United States, which had pushed for a higher profile role for the alliance.

If approved by NATO ambassadors, Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, who currently commands the U.S. operation to rebuild Iraq's military, also would head the NATO mission operating under a "double-hat" arrangement allowing him to report back to alliance headquarters, officials said.

The United States had argued for a unity of command between the American and NATO training missions, while France sought to avoid the alliance operation becoming "subservient" to the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq.

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