NATO at odds over Iraq mission

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NATO allies have approved plans to send military instructors to Iraq amidst concerns over the refusal by some nations to allow their troops to participate in the mission.

NATO officials said on Wednesday that they are prepared to send up to 300 military instructors backed by hundreds of guards and support staff to Iraq in an expansion of the alliance's military training programme.

The approval sets up a meeting of officers from the 26 allies next week at NATO's military headquarters in southern Belgium to muster troops for the mission, which would run a military academy outside Baghdad for Iraqi officers.

NATO officials are particularly worried that their refusal to allow officers posted to alliance staff positions to participate in Iraq could undermine the unity of NATO's integrated military command.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/093F8D5F-6F97-4EB2-B31F-B209F570E4FE.htm