NATO arming Iraq
 

"Iraq gets ex-Soviet weapons
NATO has stepped in to boost the Iraqis? ability to keep the peace, officials said Wednesday, organizing the shipment of thousands of AK-47 assault rifles, dozens of Soviet-designed tanks and other weapons as part of the alliance?s program to help train and equip the Iraqi military.

Romania has offered 6,000 AK-47s along with 500 machine guns, 300 sniper rifles and 100 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, while Estonia has offered 2,400 AK-47s and Denmark has offered 104 pistols, officials of the alliance told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

NATO is also arranging the transport of 77 T-72 tanks from Hungary to Iraq, they officials. All arms and military hardware were being given as a donation.

The alliance agreed last year to help coordinate the supply of weapons to Iraq?s fledgling armed forces. Several former Warsaw Pact nations that joined NATO last year have surpluses of Soviet-era equipment, which military experts say is ideal for the Iraqi military because it familiar with those weapons from the days of former President Saddam Hussein.

Officials said about 100 NATO personnel were in Iraq preparing an expansion of the alliance?s training mission, which was launched in August.

Alliance foreign ministers last month approved plans to expand the mission to about 300 personnel early this year, but officials said many of those due to deploy were still undergoing preparation."