NATO training mission faces challenges in Iraq
NATO training mission is expanding in Iraq, but the mission could empower Iranian-backed elements in the Iraqi state.
Canada announced Aug. 21 that Maj. Gen. Dany Fortin would lead a new NATO training and capacity-building mission in Iraq. For NATO, the mission marks a return to a country where it has conducted training missions in the past and a possible model for a similar program in Libya shortly.
In July, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used the NATO Summit in Brussels to announce the new NATO training mission to Iraq. Trudeau pledged that Canada would lead the first year of the mission.
The fractious nature of Iraqi politics could endanger the success of NATO’s new training mission to Iraq before it has even begun. While Trump's tweets captured the headlines at the 2018 NATO Summit in Brussels, the alliance didn’t just discuss burden sharing.
The mission will include 250 troops and four CH-146 Griffon helicopters, roughly the same size of Canada’s recent mission to Mali. There seems to be bipartisan support for the measure within Canada, although the mission is new enough to not yet have been added to a list of current missions on the Canadian armed forces website.
