http://www.geostrategy-direct.com/geostrategy-direct/secure/2005/1_04/3.asp
Training for Iraqi special forces called best in Arab world BAGHDAD � Iraq has been steadily building its special operations forces. Western instructors have been training Iraqi cadets in counter-insurgency and advanced military tactics in the effort to form the Iraqi Counterterrorism Task Force. The special operations unit is to comprise the spearhead of Iraq's campaign against insurgents, particularly in the Sunni Triangle. Cadets have undergone a 12-week course at the Jordanian Counterterrorism Training Academy in Amman, Jordan. So far, the force includes more than 170 officers. On Dec. 1, 72 cadets graduated from the special operations course at the Amman facility. The cadets were among more than 250 recruits selected to apply for what Iraqi officials termed a leading counterterrorism force in Iraq. Three cadets were dropped during the course. "The training we have now from the Jordanian and the American instructors was very hard," said one graduate, who could not be identified for security reasons. Officials said the course was divided into two phases. The first phase was composed of six weeks of basic training. The second phase included advanced weapons handling, combat marksmanship, assault planning, advanced sniper training, advanced communications training and search techniques. In the final training phase, cadets received integrated sniper and assault training as well as integrated team planning of assault and post-assault operations. The cadets also were required to develop a database for lessons learned to ensure that follow-on courses would be more efficient and productive. The trainers were members of Jordan's Special Operations Force. Officials said the use of the Jordanians provided training suitable for the Middle East and constituted the best training available in the Arab world. "The training tasks that you have learned have prepared you well for what lies ahead when you return to Iraq," said U.S. Army Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq. In another course, 101 Iraqi Police Service Emergency Response Unit officers graduated from a four-week training course on Dec. 16 in Baghdad. Officials said the Interior Ministry was building an elite 270-man police unit trained to respond to national-level law enforcement emergencies. The four-week training runs recruits through SWAT-type emergency response training that focuses on terrorist incidents, kidnappings, hostage negotiations, explosive ordnance, high-risk searches, high-risk assets, weapons of mass destruction and other national-level law enforcement emergencies, officials said. -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
