U.S. Brig. Gen. Dana Pittard, commander of the Iraqi Assistance Group, said the problems stem from the Iraqi Army's regional divide, because soldiers are recruited in their home area and expect to train and serve there.

Pittard said about 100 members of a battalion in the 4th Brigade, 10th Iraqi Army Division, who were serving in the southern Maysan province, refused to deploy to Baghdad.

"What's tough, right now, is the Iraqi army, for the most part, is a regionally based unit," Pittard told Pentagon reporters. "The majority of this particular unit was (Shiite.) And they felt, or the leadership of that unit and their soldiers felt, like they were needed down there in Maysan."

Many soldiers, he said, thought they would be operating only in their home region, and it will be up to the Iraqi Ministry of Defense and the military commanders to resolve those issues. He said it is too soon to tell what actions might be taken against those soldiers.

Pittard said he's heard of only one other instance where Iraqi soldiers refused to move with their unit. A battalion of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Iraqi Army Division was in northern Iraq, and "a number of the members of that unit" refused to go to Ramadi to serve with the U.S Army's 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division.

There are more than 127,000 members of the Iraqi Army. Recently U.S. military officials said that five of the 10 Iraqi Army divisions are now in control of their own battlespace, working with the support of the coalition forces.

Iraqi forces often rely on U.S and coalition support for logistics, fuel, maintenance and some equipment.

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