By Dean Yates
Kirkush - As the 711 Iraqi army squad leaders stood at attention before graduating in this desert base near the Iranian border, the symbolism was plain to see.
No American flag fluttered next to the Iraqi national colours. The visiting United States general made no speech. Instead, an Iraqi officer saluted the graduates and called them the "bricks in a wall that will defend Iraq from its enemies".
In line with handing power to an interim government on June 28, the US-led occupiers transferred to Iraq much of the responsibility for training its fledgling security forces.
| 'Virtually all the training is now being done by Iraqis' |
At the Kirkush army base in the country's east, Iraqi soldiers now put new recruits through drills, teach them how to fire weapons and battle insurgents who attack Iraqi security forces just as much as US-led coalition troops in the country.
"Virtually all the training is now being done by Iraqis. All you see coalition soldiers doing at this point is advising and assisting," said Brigadier General James Schwitters, commander of the coalition's Iraqi army training programme.
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Building a sizeable, fully equipped army will take time, something Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has precious little of.
Iraq holds landmark elections in January, and its security forces will have to play a key role in reducing car bombings and assassinations to ensure the vote is not disrupted.
The United States abolished Iraq's 400 000 strong army in May last year, one month after ousting Saddam Hussein. Some critics say that helped fuel the insurgency by creating a large pool of disaffected men.
| 'We are prepared to keep advisers and mentors' |
The new army stands at just over 3 000 trained troops. The target is 27 battalions, or 20 000 soldiers, by January.
After graduating from the squad leaders course on Thursday, the 711 non-commissioned officers will eventually deploy to those battalions and take on many training duties themselves.
While the tendency has been to rush police and National Guardsmen onto Iraq's dangerous streets with minimal training - those forces number roughly 84 000 and 40 000, respectively - more time is being spent preparing the army.
Soldiers get eight weeks of basic training, compared to two to three weeks for National Guardsmen.
But there is still a long way to go.
When they pledged loyalty to Iraq on Thursday, the non-commissioned officers swore to fight any enemy.
Asked who that enemy was, new recruits undergoing weapons training nearby said it was only foreigners, not Iraqis.
"All the insurgents are from foreign countries," said Nemit Kamal Ali, 28, a former mechanic who has been in basic training for eight days.
That presents a problem for officers who have to convince recruits that Iraqis are part of the insurgency, even if the spectacular attacks are often blamed on foreign militants.
There have also been some setbacks.
Some Iraqi soldiers refused to join operations in Falluja when US Marines laid siege to the rebellious city in April.
Schwitters said in the past couple of months he had not seen evidence the Iraqi army was reluctant to fight Iraqis. There was also growing recognition that Iraqis were among the adversaries, he added.
Under Saddam, soldiers were often cannon fodder, ordered into bloody wars such as the Iran-Iraq conflict in the 1980s.
US officers and Iraqi trainers said they wanted to ensure there was no repeat of past excesses.
"We are prepared to keep advisers and mentors here for as long as necessary to ensure that doesn't happen," said Schwitters.
Around 100 coalition advisers offer guidence in Kirkush, one of the main bases for training the Iraqi army, although those numbers will drop in the coming months.
Warrant Officer Khudir Ali, an 18-year veteran of the former army, said it made sense for Iraqis to do the training.
Asked what was the most important thing Iraqis had learnt from American troops, he said it was not battlefield tactics, but administration skills and how to use the Internet.
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