A NATO military academy near Baghdad is unlikely to be operational before September due to allies' reluctance to offer staff and funds, the alliance's top soldier in Europe said on Saturday. The delay of nine months on original plans is a new setback to NATO efforts to show unity within the alliance ahead of a Feb. 22 visit by U.S. President George W. Bush to its Brussels headquarters. "It is something that hasn't been completely resolved," U.S. Gen. James Jones told reporters at a defence conference in the German city of Munich. "The mission still needs to be properly funded, and of course manning remains a concern," he said, citing September as the new target date for the start of training at the academy in al-Rustamaniya, just outside the Iraq capital. Jones nonetheless stuck by a NATO target of training 1,000 Iraqi officers a year inside the country. Washington has pressed NATO to help it train Iraqi security forces to enable the U.S. military to start leaving Iraq. --More 2225 Local Time 1925 GMT
