combat training from the United States military for a possible war against Iraq, officials told BosNewsLife.
United States Major Robert Stern, the spokesman of the American trainers, said the Iraqi were flown to the U.S military base in the village of Taszar, about 200 kilometres (120 miles) south west of Budapest from an undisclosed location.
"The volunteers have arrived here for there training in Taszar, and we are looking forward to starting the training program within the next few days. I am not going into the route of the flight into Taszar but they arrived safely into Taszar today," he told ANS late Wednesday, January 29.
Peter Matyuc, a general director at the Hungarian Defense Ministry told ANS that "dozens" of Iraqi exiles had landed in Taszar. Hungarian officials have said that in total up to 3,000 Iraqi exiles will come to Hungary in two waves, accompanied by about 2,000 U.S. military personnel.
OPPOSITION GROUPS
Major Stern explained the Iraqi exiles, which were recruited by America from opposition groups around the world, will be trained to support the U.S. led coalition if it comes to a war against Iraq.
"They are going to be trained in basic skills such as self defense," he said. "And they are also going to be trained in support functions such as translation and liaison work in support of the coalition forces in the event of potential conflict with Iraq."
He did not rule out that several Iraqi’s trained in Taszar could take part in a future administration after the liberation of the country from what he described as "Saddam Hussein’s brutal grip" if that was the "will of the people in a free and democratic society.
HUNGARIANS CONCERNED
Yet, Hungarians seem not pleased with the arrival of the Iraqi opposition force. The acting mayor of Taszar, Tibor Mercz, said there is concern this otherwise quiet and peaceful town of just over 2,000 people will become a target for terrorist attacks.
In addition an opinion poll released this week shows that about 80 percent of Hungary’s population opposes a war against Iraq while two-third is against the training of Iraqi exiles in Taszar.
The base in Taszar has been used by the U.S. military since December 1995, as a logistics post for the NATO-led peacekeeping operations in the nearby Balkans.
