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The
first Iraqi soldiers to be trained in Britain since
the fall of Saddam Hussein ended their training in
Brecon, mid-Wales, yesterday.
Thirty-five officers and non-commissioned officers
were picked from Iraqi army recruits and will return
to Iraq to the Ar Rustimiyah Military Academy near
Baghdad.
There they will train the new generation of the
Iraqi Security Forces (ISF).
Some of the students served in the Republican Guard
during Saddam Hussein's regime. One, Captain Durgar
Jassim, fought against British forces, having joined
the army 12 years ago, in 1993.
But he said that training with those he was formerly
fighting presented no problem. "We are not political
persons, we are military."
Another of his fellow students, Qhazwan Haji Abala,
a 29-year-old from Kurdistan, admitted that signing
up for the army posed a risk to him and his family.
But, he said: "We are not doing something wrong in
Iraq, we are doing something to be proud of. It
should be the enemy that are afraid, not us."
The most important part of the training was to teach
the Iraqi recruits "how to think for themselves",
said Ministry of Defence spokesman David Stevens.
Adam Ingram, the minister of state for the armed
forces, said: "This is about training the trainers.
It is about giving them the confidence to train
their own people. This is a small number here today
but they will now multiply very quickly."
The course was based on British army junior
leadership training.
The deputy chief of staff of the Iraqi armed forces,
Lieutenant General Nasier al Abadi, was also there
to receive their salute.
www.guardian.co.uk
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