Pentagon says Iraqi troops not a threat to Israel

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is still closely watching the movement of Iraqi troops west of Baghdad but the move appears only to be part of an annual training cycle, the Defense Department said Tuesday,

"We continue to pay very close attention to what they are doing," Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters.

"Our best assessment is that it is, indeed, training activity and that they have not postured themselves ... to do some threatening act toward any of their neighbors," he added in response to questions.

Quigley said he did not agree with some assessments from Israel that Iraq was massing troops along its border in support of Palestinians at odds with Israel.

"I can't speak to the motivation of placing them west of Baghdad as they have," the spokesman said.

"But I would not agree with that (threatening) characterization," he stressed. "There is a lot of Iraq to the west of where these forces are located. And they don't have with them the essential elements of logistic support that you would require in order to use them in an offensive or a threatening manner."

"The movements seem to be local and training and administrative in nature," Quigley said.

The Pentagon said earlier this month that members of the 15,000-man division had been moved out of their bases into an area west of Baghdad and that it was watching the movement closely although it did not appear to be threatening.

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