Lt. Gen. Frank Helmick, head of the US training command in Iraq told reporters in BaghdadT on September 30 that Iraq’s budget shortfall due to low oil prices will pose a challenge to efforts aimed at building up the country’s armed forces. The Tdrop in oil prices has hampered efforts to buy ships, planes and weapons. US combat troops are scheduled to leave Iraq by August 31, 2010, and only up to 50,000 troops will train and advise Iraqi forces until the end of 2011.

Gen. Helmick’s comments came a day after Iraq’s Deputy Finance Minister Fadhil Othman stated that the proposed budget for 2010 was 20 percent higher but was still short of the country’s funding needs. The Iraqi government had to cut its 2009 budget from $79 billion to $58.6 billion as oil prices plummeted from a high of nearly $150 per barrel1.

• 1. “Iraq budget shortfall poses security challenge,” Khaleej Times, September 30, 2009, at HThttp://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2...