By Missy Ryan

BAGHDAD, Sept 5 (Reuters) - As violence ebbs and Iraqi forces grow more skilled on the battlefield, the U.S. military is turning its focus to helping Iraqi police and soldiers equip, feed and fuel themselves in order to sustain security gains.

U.S. officials say they aim to ensure that, by April 2009, Iraqi security forces are no longer handicapped by weak systems needed to move soldiers and weapons to the front lines, repair tanks or trucks, or provide police with food and medicine.

They acknowledge that meeting their deadline to improve the complex, and not yet mature, systems to keep Iraq's force of 560,000 police and soldiers running is no easy task.

"They have made tremendous strides on the manoeuvre side, if you will, but on the logistics side it has been a weakness," Brigadier General Keith Walker, who heads the U.S. effort to improve Iraqi forces' operational ability, said in an interview.

In the U.S. army, officials say, there are 8 support staff, like medics or mechanics, for every combat soldier. In the Iraqi army, there is one support staff for every 25 combat soldiers. One officer at a U.S. military seminar this week called Iraq's preparedness in this area "completely upside down."

The push to improve Iraq's logistical abilities comes as the United States prepares to further reduce its own troop presence, now around 146,000, and hand Iraq's army, police, and border forces greater security control across the country.

Walker described a direct link between reducing Iraq's reliance on U.S. logistical support and withdrawing U.S. troops.

"The ability of the Iraqi security forces to sustain themselves with less and less assistance will certainly be a contributing condition that would inform decisions," he said.

"It's a big part of that. You're not independent if you've got to turn to someone else to put gas in your car."

Up until about a year ago, officials say, that was exactly what took place.

TOOTH, NOT TAIL

When Walker arrived in Iraq in 2004, as the United States sought to rebuild a barebones security force after the fateful decision to disband the Iraqi army the year before, there were just 3,500 national guard members patrolling Baghdad. Iraqi troops had AK-47s, civilian trucks, and not much else.

Reliance on U.S. logistical support was close to absolute; U.S. vehicles transported Iraqi forces' munitions and other supplies and helped them repair vehicles.

The imperative then was helping Iraqi forces become strong enough to fight a raging insurgency. "The emphasis was on the tooth, rather than the tail," Walker said.

U.S. officials say that even today they grapple with aspects of the military culture cultivated under Saddam -- where favouritism counted much more than collaboration and where officers tended to hoard resources in order to gain power.

Today, they hail the strides Iraq's rapidly expanded military has made in fighting enemies, and point to Iraqi-led, U.S.-backed offensives against Shi'ite militias this spring.

As Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki prepared to push into Basra, where Shi'ite militants held sway, Iraqi forces took responsibility for the lion's share of logistics, positioning tanks near the southern city and flying in supplies.

In an ongoing operation against al Qaeda militants in the northeastern province of Diyala, Iraqi forces have prepared equipment and are planning ahead, U.S. officials said.

The drive to wean Iraq from U.S. support occurs as plans change quickly for the future of the U.S. presence here.

Pentagon sources said this week they are recommending the withdrawal of one combat brigade, 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers, in early 2009, a move that reflects both improving conditions in Iraq and growing needs in Afghanistan.

An emboldened Maliki, negotiating a security pact with Washington that would take effect in January, speaks of limiting U.S. troops largely to bases in urban areas by June 2009.

He insists all foreign troops must leave by the end of 2011. (Editing by Dominic Evans)

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