Graduation Ceremony at the Iraqi Defence Language Institute.
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Baghdad, Iraq – On 12 December 2011, some 50 students from Iraq's Defence Language Institute (DLI) received graduation certificates that marked the end of nearly six months of study towards military language qualifications in English, Italian, German and Russian. Overall there were 38 graduates of English, 7 graduates of Italian, 8 graduates of German and 5 graduates of Russian.Staff Maj Gen Ziad, representing the President of the National Defence University, was the senior Iraqi officer present at the ceremony. Gen Ziad presented awards to the best overall students from each of the language groups, whilst Brigadier Russ Wardle, representing Commander NTM-I presented awards to members of the teaching staff. The Italian Military attaché, Col Marchese, presented course certificates to the Italian students and certificates of appreciation to the Dean of the DLI, BG Abbas Lafta Safit, and other members of the DLI Italian department. |
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Baghdad — Brigadier Russ Wardle, representing Commander NTM-I
presents awards to members of the teaching staff (Photo by NTM-I) |
This is the third time these courses have been delivered by the DLI. More courses are planned for January 2012, including the first English Language Train the Trainer course to be delivered by Iraqi members of the DLI staff."
The NATO Training Mission in Iraq (NTM-I) was established in 2004 at the request of the Iraqi Interim Government under the provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 1546. The aim of NTM-I is to assist in the development of Iraqi security forces training structures and institutions so that Iraq can build an effective and self-sustainable capability that address the needs of the nation.
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NTM-I is not a combat mission but is a distinct training mission, under the political control of NATO's North Atlantic Council. Its operational emphasis is on training and mentoring. The activities of the mission are coordinated with Iraqi authorities and the Office for Security and Cooperation-Iraq (OSC-I) Chief, who is also dual-hatted as the Commander of NTM-I. NATO has an enduring commitment to Iraq. NTM-I advises and supports the Defence University for Military Studies, National Defence College, War College, and the Defence Language Institute with the other institutions in Baghdad. Other cooperation projects for NATO in Iraq are out-of-country training courses for Iraqi nationals at NATO schools as well as the Iraqi Police (Iraqi Federal Police and Oil Police) training led by Italian Carabinieri. |
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Baghdad — Italian Military Attaché to Iraq, Col. Giovanni Marchese, presents
course certificates to the Italian students and certificates of appreciation to
the Dean of the DLI, BG Abbas Lafta Safit (Photo by NTM-I) |
Currently, NTM-I is a small tactical force of NATO/PfP personnel, representing 12 member nations (as of November 2011): Albania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine (Partner for Peace), UK, USA.