Iraqi Exiles Mass for Training

U.S. Tutelage in Hungary May Develop Into War Coalition

A Hungarian soldier, right, and a U.S. soldier raise a barrier for a U.S. Army jeep leaving the Taszar air base in Hungary. (Bela Szandelszky -- AP)

TASZAR, Hungary, Jan. 31 -- A force of Iraqi exiles is gathering at an air base here under a blanket of snow and secrecy for U.S. training to act as intermediaries between a U.S. invasion force and civilians and soldiers in Iraq if President Bush orders war to destroy President Saddam Hussein's government.

The trainees represent the first Iraqi military component of what U.S. officials hope will become a war coalition, but the trainees' role is limited to guiding invading troops and helping them communicate with the Iraqi people, a U.S. Army spokesman said today.

Civilian exile leaders, who helped recruit the force, describe a grander mission. The volunteers will provide a magnet for Iraqi officers and soldiers who want to abandon Hussein and defect to the invading side, they have said. Such a scenario presumes a repeat of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, when many Iraqi troops in Kuwait gave up without a fight.

Iraqi exiles predict the training will take up to a month. U.S. officials here declined to provide any time frame, citing what they called operational security. Nor would they say how many Iraqis have reported to this base 120 miles southwest of Budapest. Iraqi exiles and Hungarian officials say the corps will eventually number 3,000.

"Currently, the volunteers are being in-processed and receiving orientation to the training program," said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. David W. Barno in a written statement.

Barno is in charge of the task force that will train the Iraqis. The exiles are being taught no combat skills but will learn "such protective measures as basic first aid, land mine identification, the use of small arms for self-defense and the use of protective equipment in the event of nuclear, biological and chemical attack," according to the statement.

The training, which is scheduled to begin this weekend, is a small part of U.S. war preparations, which include the dispatch of four naval battle groups to waters near Iraq, transport of thousands of troops to the area and establishment of a command headquarters in Qatar, an oil sheikdom in the Persian Gulf.

Most instruction for the Iraqis will center on handling refugees and communicating with relief agencies. "It is not a question of military training," Hungarian Defense Minister Ferenc Juhasz has said. "We will be preparing people to take care of the relations between the civilians and the military." Juhasz said the U.S. instructors number 1,500.

At a minimum, the Iraqis might prove valuable in making sure U.S. soldiers do not make any wrong turns on the way to Baghdad. "Who knows Iraq better than Iraqis?" remarked an Army spokesman, Maj. Bob Stern.

Stern declined to provide a profile of the volunteers. Last month, Barno said some were former military officers but others had no military background. The volunteers' history could be a controversial point, because many Iraqis fear and mistrust Hussein's officer corps for playing a role in repression, particularly in putting down revolts after the Gulf War.

Barno's announcement said the volunteers will study the Geneva Convention, human rights standards and "ethical decision-making."

Barno has assured reporters that rigorous vetting has kept spies out and let "only the right type of people enter." No one outside the base has been allowed to see or talk to the Iraqis. The Americans fear that Iraqi officials might be able to identify them and punish their relatives in Iraq.

The list of volunteers was provided by the Iraqi National Congress, an exile group led by a longtime foe of Hussein, Ahmed Chalabi. The Pentagon has been an ally of Chalabi, and officials of his exile group say the volunteer program was his idea. Chalabi is in northern Iraq trying to organize a conference of exile groups with an eye to playing a role in a post-Hussein Iraq.

The Iraqi National Congress's recruitment of volunteers added fuel to rivalries among opposition groups. Some scornfully dubbed the volunteers "Chalabi's army" because they viewed it as a vehicle for him to put handpicked supporters close to U.S. military commanders. A pair of Kurdish parties, with a combined militia force of about 30,000 men inside Iraq, wondered aloud why no one from their forces was selected.

The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a Shiite Muslim group based in Iran, opposed U.S. recruitment of Iraqis. The council commands a militia of about 15,000. No plans for the fighters to cross the border into Iraq have surfaced.

"We think that the Americans should help Iraqis overthrow Saddam Hussein, rather than have Iraqis help the Americans get rid of him," Hamid Bayati, a council representative in London, said recently. "We don't want to be seen as puppets of the Americans."

Dozens of tents have been set up at the Taszar base to house the Iraqis, who will receive $1,000 to $2,000 a month, according to reports from Washington. Hungarian soldiers in green camouflage and tall hats march back and forth. Extra barbed wire has been strung along the perimeter for fear of commando infiltration from the snow-covered fields beyond.

The Iraqis are not permitted off base, but the heavy security has made their Hungarian neighbors nervous. Some fear that Hungary's involvement in a war could invite terrorist attacks. A Budapest newspaper wrote that whoever agreed to train the Iraqis in Taszar "should move there with their family."

Hilda Konczlikne, a shopkeeper in the nearby town of Kaposvar, said that area residents generally favor the presence of the NATO base in this far corner of Hungary. But, she said, "they shouldn't be training Arabs there."

Hungary's government -- along with those of Britain, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic, Poland, Denmark and Portugal -- signed a letter this week in support of Bush administration policy on Iraq. But public opinion here, as in most of Europe, opposes the war option. According to a recent Gallup poll, 76 percent of Hungarians surveyed said they opposed war.