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NZ troops in Basra, Southern Iraq, in 2004.

Deploying New Zealand troops to Iraq was decided long ago, and pretending no decision has been made "just isn't honest", Labour says.

Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee yesterday confirmed the defence force had been told it could undertake "special contingency training" for a deployment that could be announced as early as the end of the month.

The contingency training did not mean a deployment to Iraq was imminent, and did not pre-empt a Cabinet decision, Brownlee said.

But Labour defence spokesman Phil Goff said troops had been training for some time.

READ MORE: * NZ troops training for Iraq * US aid worker Kayla Mueller confirmed killed

Brownlee was questioned on troops training in December, after NZ First defence spokesman Ron Mark had reportedly been told by army sources a group earmarked for deployment had been told to prepare to leave between the end of February and the start of March.

A Defence Force spokesman said in December no instruction had been received from the Government to prepare to go to Iraq, but the Defence Force had "made its own determination to prepare troops for a possible deployment to the Middle East".

Goff said Brownlee's claim that the contingency training did not pre-empt any Cabinet decision was not credible.

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NZ Iraq deployment a fait accompli, says Labour

British militant colloquially dubbed "Jihadi John," who has appeared in a number of ISIS execution and threat videos, as seen in one released Jan. 20, 2015 CBS News

Last Updated Feb 10, 2015 9:55 PM EST

WASHINGTON -- Foreign fighters are streaming into Syria and Iraq in unprecedented numbers to join the Islamic State or Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or other extremist groups, including at least 3,400 from Western nations among 20,000 from around the world, U.S. intelligence officials say in an updated estimate of a top terrorism concern.

Intelligence agencies now believe that as many as 150 Americans have tried and some have succeeded in reaching in the Syrian war zone, officials told the House Homeland Security Committee in testimony prepared for delivery on Wednesday. Some of those Americans were arrested en route, some died in the area and a small number are still fighting with extremists.

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The fight against ISIS is stretching to Afghanistan. An American drone strike Monday killed Abdul Rauf Khadim, a former Taliban commander and Gua...

The testimony and other data were obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. A U.S. intelligence official confirmed the information to CBS News.

Nick Rasmussen, chief of the National Counterterrorism Center, said the rate of foreign fighter travel to Syria is without precedent, far exceeding the rate of foreigners who went to wage jihad in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen or Somalia at any other point in the past 20 years.

U.S. officials fear that some of the foreign fighters, who come from 90 countries, will return undetected to their homes in Europe or the U.S. to mount terrorist attacks. At least one of the men responsible for the attack on a satirical magazine in Paris had spent time with Islamic extremists in Yemen.

Meanwhile, the White House circulated a proposal Tuesday that would have Congress authorize the U.S. military to fight ISIS terrorists over the next three years. A formal request for legislation is expected on Wednesday.

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20,000 foreign fighters flock to Syria, Iraq to join terrorists

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