Spokesman Richard Boucher said an initial group of 26 American police and judicial officials would be going into the country shortly under the aegis of retired general Jay Garner's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for Iraq (ORHA).

They "will be working as part of the Garner group to conduct assessments of how to establish local policing, local security," he told reporters.

After that, Boucher said Washington was currently working on a contract with the Virginia-based firm DynCorp, a private military and security consulting company, to send another 150 such experts to Iraq.

In addition, he said President George W. Bush had asked Congress for additional funding to pay for another 1,000 police and judicial officials to help restore order in Iraq.

"These people who we're sending out will conduct assessments, provide advice, help people get organized," Boucher said. "They're not cops on the beat, we're not going to do the policing of Iraqis cities."

His comments came in response to questions about what the United States would do to help restore law and order in security in many Iraqi villages, towns and cities that have descended into chaos with the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.

SPACE.WIRE