Iraqi Training to Continue Uninterrupted, Press Secretary Says

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By Nick SimeoneAmerican Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2, 2012 – U.S. militarytraining for Iraq’s security forces will continue uninterrupted despiteCongress’s failure to approve money for it in a temporary spending bill nowfunding government operations, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little saidtoday.
When Congress approved a short-termspending bill last month to keep the government running in the new fiscal yearthat began yesterday, the measure left out funding for the roughly 200 U.S.troops in Iraq who are training Iraqi forces.
Little told reporters during a Pentagonnews conference that Navy Adm. James A. Winnefeld Jr., vice chairman of theJoint Chiefs of Staff, approved U.S. Central Command’s request for $1.7 millionfor continued training through the Combatant Commander Initiative Fund, which ismoney already in the Pentagon budget.
“This is a temporary bridge while weseek a longer-term way ahead in the [fiscal 2013] national defenseauthorization, which we expect to be taken up by Congress later this year,” hesaid.
Congress is in recess until after theNovember elections. The financial bridge is a 90-day stopgap measure thatincludes funding for counterterrorism operations as well as military trainingand education, a Defense Department official said.
The last U.S. combat troops left Iraq lastyear, but the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad continues to maintain an Office ofSecurity Cooperation under which the U.S. trains the Iraqi security forces incapacity building and counterterrorism. The office also oversees militarysales.