"It's very clear that what the terrorists are trying to do, the terrorists and insurgents, is that they're trying to derail the process of building a stable Iraq," she said.

"This is ... meant to be a challenge to the new Iraqi government. ... Iraq's democracy is going to have to be defended by Iraq -- by Iraqis.

"And so what they're asking now of NATO is that they get help in doing that. And the beginning of this is for NATO to answer the request for some help on the training side."

She said any further NATO role in Iraq was something "we'll have to continue to discuss."

In Brussels, NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer confirmed he had received a letter from Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi Monday requesting NATO's help in training security forces and "other forms of technical assistance."

He said alliance leaders could agree, at their summit in Istanbul next week, to comply with the request, saying it was unlikely they would "slam the door" in Allawi's face.

The NATO summit will be held days before the handover of sovereignty in Baghdad.

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