coming days to train up to 3,000 Iraqi’s to help American forces in a possible war against Iraq and take part in a new administration.
Defense officials told BosNewsLife earlier that the American training officers are arriving at the U.S. military base in the village of Taszar, about 120 miles (200 kilometres) south west of Budapest.
In an interview with BosNewsLife, a general director of the Hungarian Defense Ministry, Peter Matyuc, said the U.S. personnel will train thousands of Iraqi opponents of Saddam Hussein, who are expected to come to Hungary from January.
"The United States wants to use the base in southern Hungary which it already has for (nearly) eight years (as part of the peace operation in the Balkans)," Matyuc explained. He stressed however that there are "no combat" troops among them.
LOCAL TRADITIONS
"They could be translators, they could be people who can help [understand] the local traditions, and stuff like this," he said. "Their role is taking part in the future in the civil administration [of Iraq], when it will re-start," after Saddam Hussein is overthrown.
Matyuc, who has direct knowledge of ongoing negotiations with U.S. diplomats, said the opponents of Saddam Hussein will be accompanied by about 2,000 U.S. military personnel and trainers.
Yet the acting mayor of Taszar, Tibor Mercz, expressed concern that this otherwise quiet and peaceful town of just over 2,000 people will become a target for terrorist attacks. He told BosNewsLife that Taszar’s schoolteachers and parents are already training children to be aware of suspicious looking people.
SECURITY CONCERNS
"I am very curious about the security guarantees the authorities will provide," he said. Mercs also told reporters that he is disappointed "no one ever asked Taszar what help it might need to handle base-related tasks."
But Defense officials say the US and Hungarian military will closely cooperate to limit the risks. They also point out that the Iraqi exiles will not be allowed to leave the well guarded base and that they do not include combat troops.
Questions remained however as to why America wants to train Iraqi’s outside its territory in countries such as Hungary. Some US officials have reportedly said one of the reasons was Washington’s concern that the Iraqi exiles could include spies of the Saddam Hussein regime.
