IRAQI NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR LETTER TO NATO

UNCLAS BAGHDAD 003719 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: IZ MARR MOPS NATO PGOV PINS PNAT SUBJECT: IRAQI NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR LETTER TO NATO SECRETARY GENERAL REGARDING NATO TRAINING MISSION IN IRAQ SIPDIS ¶1. (U) This is an action request, please see paragraph 2. ¶2. (SBU). The Office of the Iraqi National Security Advisor requests the assistance of Embassy Baghdad and USNATO in forwarding the letter in paragraph 3 to the NATO Secretary General. Embassy Baghdad POLMIL has already provided a facsimile copy of this letter to USNATO and will forward the original signed document via pouch. ¶3. (SBU) The following is the text of a letter written by the Iraqi National Security Advisor to the NATO Secretary General regarding the NATO Training Mission in Iraq: Begin Text: Dear Mr. Secretary General: On behalf of the Government and people of Iraq, I wish to express my deep gratitude to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization for its enormous and crucial assistance to our efforts to establish a secure, prosperous, and democratic Iraq. We especially wish to thank NATO for the work of the NATO Training Mission - Iraq whose efforts have contributed significantly to the growing self-reliance of our security forces. As our security improves, the burden of maintaining order and assisting the general public falls increasingly on our police. In this connection, we are thankful for the Italian-led carabinieri-type training for our National Police recently begun. Although in recent months, with the assistance of the Coalition and NATO, we have made significant visible strides in improving security, much remains to be done. The NATO Training Mission - Iraq's contribution is now even more important than ever as we complete the organization, equipping, and training of our forces and support organizations to achieve self-reliance. We hope that NATO will continue to provide this support for the remainder of 2007 and for 2008. We continue to work closely with the commander, Lieutenant General James Dubik, to make the best use of NATO capabilities to assist us to meet our most important training requirements. Sincerely, Dr. Mowaffak al Rubaie National Security Advisor Republic of Iraq End Text. CROCKER