Washington: Iraq's government has kept thousands of dead, injured or absent policemen and soldiers on the pay roll as a way to compensate or care for their families, an audit found.

The practice is just one example of why there are no reliable numbers on how many Iraqi forces are on the job at any given time, says the report which was made public yesterday by Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.

"There are continuing uncertainties about the true number ... Who are present for duty at any one time," Bowen said of Iraqi policemen, soldiers, border guards and other forces. Bowen said another part of the problem is that Iraqi ministries lack automated accounting systems needed to keep good data.

"I would not call it a damning report. I would say it's reflective of the difficulty of assessing troop strength ... And, more importantly, capabilities," Bowen said in an interview yesterday.

Bowen had been asked to assess last month's Defence Department report on Iraq, one in a series of quarterly documents required by Congress to measure progress toward military and political security there.

The US $ 20 billion US programme to train Iraqis to provide their own security is crucial to when US troop levels can be reduced in Iraq.

He gave no details on how many might be receiving pay while being absent, but noted the Pentagon once reported the number of present-for-duty soldiers was about one-half to two-thirds of those being paid.

Source : PTI