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Georgia sends new troops to Iraq
More than 500 U.S.-trained Georgian soldiers left for Iraq on Saturday as part of a regular rotation of troops by the former Soviet republic, AP reported. The mainly combat troops were to fly first to Kuwait for two weeks of additional training before heading to Baghdad to serve under U.S. command for six months, battalion commander Capt. Niko Nemsitsveridze said. "We are proud that we have been given the honor to provide help to the people of Iraq," he said at the ceremony at the Krtsanisi training center south of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. The impoverished Caucasus nation, which has forged close ties with the United States under President Mikhail Saakashvili, has 860 troops serving in U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq. Four Georgian soldiers were wounded there last year. In the rotation, nearly 560 troops were going to Baghdad. The United States has played a big role in training the military in Georgia, which has been destabilized by two breakaway regions and which borders on the war-torn Russian region of Chechnya. In April, U.S. military trainers launched a $50 million training program, the second of its kind here. About 2,000 Georgian servicemen will go through the training to prepare for service in Iraq and other international peacekeeping missions.
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