Iran offers to train and arm Iraqi forces

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2007/May/middleeast_May485.xml§ion=middleeast

BAGHDAD - Iran’ ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, offered weapons and training to the Iraqi army on Monday 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’, Kazemi Qomi told US ambassador Ryan Crocker that the Iraqi army was not receiving the weapons it needed.

Crocker, for his part, reiterated US accusations that the Iranians were funneling weapons and sophisticated explosives to Iraq’s militias.

[pinkpops]

1. If the Iraqi Army had the arms to defend itself they would turn them on

the Americans. Think about it. To "stand up" and fight the "insurgants" they would need equipment on a par with what the US forces now have, not pop-guns and spiffy uniforms.