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Nato has agreed to send a training mission to Iraq:

Nato agreed on Friday night to send a training mission to Iraq, following a request by the interim government of Iyad Allawi and a concerted diplomatic push by the US.

The decision comes after Nato diplomats in Brussels defused a dispute between Washington and Paris over the relationship between the mission, which will initially be about 40 strong, and the US-led multinational force.

The compromise will put a training mission in Iraq during August - despite earlier French reservations. But it also accedes to French calls not to "prejudge" the relationship with the US-led coalition by blurring the Nato mission with the multinational force.

NATO's been slow to move in helping Iraq, but slow is better than not at all.