The Pentagon has ordered that a force of Iraqi exiles be deployed to Baghdad and other Iraqi towns to help restore law and order, and prevent the widespread looting that has taken place since the fall of the Baathist regime, the Washington Post reported on 13 April. The lightly-armed Free Iraqi Forces (FIF), linked to Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress, will carry out policing work alongside US forces. About 600 fighters were flown to a base outside Nasiriya last week where they underwent basic training. While the capital is in desperate need of policing, and locals have criticised the Americans' failure to do more to maintain order, the deployment of forces linked to Chalabi is likely to be controversial, as many see it as the beginning of an attempt to create an embryonic political administration, sidelining other opposition groups. The FIF is composed of volunteer Iraqi exiles, who will be deployed largely to their home towns and cities.