Iraqi forces will improve dramatically -US general

WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) Iraqi security forces will improve dramatically next year and become more willing to deploy in hot spots such as Baghdad, the top US commander in charge of training Iraqi troops predicted today.

Army Lt Gen. Martin Dempsey also backed increasing the number of US military trainers embedded with Iraqi units -- a proposal of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group which has also been endorsed by the top US regional commander.

President George W Bush is conducting a major review of his Iraq policy but one of Washington's central goals is training Iraqi forces to allow US troops to withdraw.

The capability of Iraqi army and police units has been widely questioned as violence has increased despite the training of more than 3,00,000 security personnel and US commanders have not reduced their force of some 1,35,000 troops in Iraq.

But Dempsey said the Iraqi forces would improve greatly as they developed more capabilities to support themselves without US backup and acquired better equipment.

''I think the progress you'll see among the legitimate Iraqi security forces here in the next six months will be dramatic,'' Dempsey told Pentagon reporters by videolink from Iraq.

Commanders also have struggled to get Iraqi units to deploy to danger areas such as Baghdad, the center of much of the country's sectarian, insurgent and al Qaeda violence.

Absenteeism has risen to more than 50 per cent in units ordered to combat zones outside their normal areas, said a Pentagon report for the US Congress released yesterday.

Dempsey said US and Iraqi officials had taken measures to make Iraqi troops more willing to deploy such as providing more training, offering financial incentives and making clear how long the units would be expected to serve.

''And I'll let you know if it's going to work here, because we've got two or three brigade headquarters and six additional battalions that are scheduled now over the next couple of months to come to Baghdad,'' Dempsey said.

''I think you're going to see that they come when you train them to come, give them some incentive and give them some information but we'll see,'' said Dempsey, who heads the US military's Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq.

The Iraq Study Group, a high-level panel of veterans of American public life, has recommended increasing the number of US trainers embedded with Iraqi units to between 10,000 and 20,000 from 3,000 to 4,000 now.

Army Gen John Abizaid, the top US commander for the West Asia, has also advocated boosting the training effort but not yet presented concrete proposals. Dempsey said the US military was working on precise plans but he backed the idea.

''I think that growing the size of the transition teams makes a great deal of sense,'' he said.

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