- WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Pentagon
has awarded a 48-million-dollar contract to train the nucleus of a new
Iraqi army to Vinnell Corporation, a US firm which also trains members
of the Saudi National Guard.
-
- Work on the contract announced Wednesday was to begin
July 1. The Fairfax, Virginia-based company, a subsidiary of the US aerospace
firm Northrup Grumman, said on its website it was hiring former US army
and marine officers to train light infantry battalions and combat service
support units for the new Iraqi army.
-
- The new army is expected to reach 12,000 troops within
a year and swell to 40,000 within two years.
-
- Iraq's former standing army of some 400,000 soldiers
was disbanded after US-led forces ousted the ruling Baath party regime
in April. Creation of a new force became a priority for occupation officials
amid continuing unrest and protests by cashiered former soldiers demanding
to be paid.
-
- Vinnell has for the past 20 years trained members of
Saudi Arabia's National Guard and those of other Middle Eastern military
forces.
-
- Ten of the company's employees -- two Filipinos and eight
US nationals -- were among those killed in May 12 suicide attacks on compounds
for foreign workers in Riyadh.
|
