"It will be a very substantial commitment," said Walter Slocombe, the senior adviser to the US coalition in charge of rebuilding Iraq's military institutions.

Slocombe said a "large amount" of the 87 billion dollars in additional funds the administration is seeking for Iraq is needed to cover the costs of fielding a 40,000-strong Iraqi army.

Speaking at a Pentagon news conference, he said, "It's very important for the United States ... to get across the message that we want this to be over in the sense of turning over primary responsibility for Iraq's security just as soon as possible."

The coalition is starting from scratch because the old Iraqi army disintegrated after the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, he said.

"There is no significant serviceable captured military equipment in anything like the numbers that are necessary, so all the equipment will have to be obtained, either used or donated or bought or reconditioned, except ammunition," he said.

Looters stripped even bathroom fixtures and plumbing from Iraqi military installations across the country, so barracks and other buildings will have to be reconditioned, he said.

"They need everything: uniforms, weapons, vehicles," said Slocombe, a former top Pentagon official in the Clinton administration.

The Pentagon already has ordered 40,000 new AK-47s abroad at a cost of 59 dollars each, he said.

The AK-47, which was originally a Soviet design but is now made in several countries, was chosen over the US-made M-16 because it was already widely used in Iraq.

"It turns out every Iraqi male above the age of about 12 can take them apart, and put them together blindfolded and be a pretty good shot," he said. "Apart from other reasons, it would be silly to change them."

The new army's first battalion, which is being trained by the Vinnell Corporation, a private US contractor, is scheduled to be operational next month.

Plans now call for fielding 27 motorized infantry battalions, or three divisions, within a year instead of two years as originally planned, Slocombe said.

He said the time will be cut by focusing training on officers and non-commissioned officers, and then filling the ranks with Iraqis with previous military experience.

Unit training time will be reduced from eight weeks to six weeks, he said.

Former top Baathists, members of the Special Republican Guard and other security services will not be allowed to join. But an overwhelming majority of the old Iraqi army's officer corps are elegible.

As they become ready, the Iraqi forces will be used for territorial defense or to guard installations, he said.

Although they will not come up to US standards, the Iraqi forces will be "a first class army" by regional standards, he said.

It will have limited capacity to move about by helicopter or transport planes, and relatively small armor and artillery units.

Slocombe said the new force was intended as the seed of what may evolve into a larger, more capable military but those decisions would be left to a new Iraqi government.

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