US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Tuesday that Iraqi security forces needed equipment as well as training and anything Nato allies could do to support them would helpful.
Nato defence ministers holding informal talks in this ski resort in the Carpathian Mountains are expected to take up a Nato plan to train Iraqi security forces in a significant expansion of the alliance's involvement in Iraq.
US officials are concerned that Nato trainers will not be on the ground in Iraq until next year, too late to have an impact before crucial January elections.
But Rumsfeld, speaking to reporters after meeting with Romanian leaders in Bucharest, said there was much US allies could do before the elections.
"We need more equipment. We need it from Nato nations, we need it from non-Nato nations. We need it gifted," he said. "
"They (the Iraq) are going to have to buy some things. There's a donors conference coming up that's going to support it," he said. "Whatever they do will be helpful."
He said the expanded Nato training mission was an "important decision" by the alliance but acknowledged it "very likely will be more helpful for the elections that follow" the January vote for a National Assembly.
The United States is racing to train more Iraqi police, army, national guard and border patrols before the elections, which are expected to be a magnet for insurgent violence.
By Rumsfeld's estimate, about 100,000 security force members are already fully trained and equipped and 45,000 are supposed to be ready by the end of January.
The US-led force in Iraq has had to retrain the security forces after many units fled or refused to fight during an April uprising.
Rumsfeld made a surprise one-day visit to Iraq on Sunday to meet with Iraqi leaders and US military commanders on a new strategy to retake insurgent-held cities before the elections.
He also invited defence ministers from countries that have contributed troops to Iraq and Afghanistan to a meeting aboard an aircraft carrier in the Gulf over the weekend to review the situation in Iraq.
In Bucharest, Rumsfeld saluted Romanian military veterans of the US-led operations in Iraq and Afghanistan at a luncheon, telling them the United States was grateful for their contributions.
"It is good to be among freedom's defenders. You represent the civilised world's determination to stop the new tyranny of terrorism," he said.
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