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Getbig Main Boards => Politics and Political Issues Board => Topic started by: Bindare_Dundat on December 29, 2011, 10:38:07 PM
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Weapons Sales to Iraq Move Ahead Despite U.S. Worries
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and ERIC SCHMITT
Published: December 28, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/29/wo...-concerns.html
BAGHDAD — The Obama administration is moving ahead with the sale of nearly $11 billion worth of arms and training for the Iraqi military despite concerns that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is seeking to consolidate authority, create a one-party Shiite-dominated state and abandon the American-backed power-sharing government.
The military aid, including advanced fighter jets and battle tanks, is meant to help the Iraqi government protect its borders and rebuild a military that before the 1991 Persian Gulf war was one of the largest in the world; it was disbanded in 2003 after the United States invasion.
But the sales of the weapons — some of which have already been delivered — are moving ahead even though Mr. Maliki has failed to carry out an agreement that would have limited his ability to marginalize the Sunnis and turn the military into a sectarian force. While the United States is eager to beef up Iraq’s military, at least in part as a hedge against Iranian influence, there are also fears that the move could backfire if the Baghdad government ultimately aligns more closely with the Shiite theocracy in Tehran than with Washington.
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Weapons Sales to Iraq Move Ahead Despite U.S. Worries
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and ERIC SCHMITT
Published: December 28, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/29/wo...-concerns.html
BAGHDAD — The Obama administration is moving ahead with the sale of nearly $11 billion worth of arms and training for the Iraqi military despite concerns that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is seeking to consolidate authority, create a one-party Shiite-dominated state and abandon the American-backed power-sharing government.
The military aid, including advanced fighter jets and battle tanks, is meant to help the Iraqi government protect its borders and rebuild a military that before the 1991 Persian Gulf war was one of the largest in the world; it was disbanded in 2003 after the United States invasion.
But the sales of the weapons — some of which have already been delivered — are moving ahead even though Mr. Maliki has failed to carry out an agreement that would have limited his ability to marginalize the Sunnis and turn the military into a sectarian force. While the United States is eager to beef up Iraq’s military, at least in part as a hedge against Iranian influence, there are also fears that the move could backfire if the Baghdad government ultimately aligns more closely with the Shiite theocracy in Tehran than with Washington.
... I have a feeling this can only end badly.
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Fast and Furious Iraq edition?
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Seems like we could have saved ourselves all the trouble by keeping Saddam in power in the first place. At least then we would've had a Sunni-dominated single party state bordering Iran.
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Fast and Furious Iraq edition?
eh, if chinese weapons manufacturers were swooping in and making the profits from it, you'd be bitching about loss of US revenue, right?