Posted on 04/12/2015 6:43:43 AM PDT by Citizen Zed
Iraq's prime minister will seek President Barack Obama's help to acquire billions of dollars in drones and other U.S. arms to fight Islamic State during a U.S. visit next week, a senior Iraqi official said.
Facing a cash crunch due to a plunge in oil prices and a budget deficit of roughly $21 billion this year, Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi wants to defer payment for the purchases, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Abadi is grappling with an insurgency by militants from Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot that emerged from the chaos in Iraq and neighboring Syria and seized much of northern and central Iraq last year.
Visiting Washington for the first time as prime minister, he hopes to convince a war-weary United States Iraq deserves more U.S. manpower and arms three years after U.S. troops withdrew from the country in December 2011, as his fledgling army confronts Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL.
"ISIS is everybody’s problem now," said the Iraqi official. "You can’t run away from the problem if it comes to Canada or goes to France," he said in reference to attacks by people influenced by Islamic State or al Qaeda in those countries.
The official hinted Baghdad could turn to Tehran if it did not get the aid it wants from Washington.
(Excerpt) Read more at mobile.reuters.com ...
Yeah, but they probably want their money up front.
deferred = not paid for
Right. In other words:
deferred = it's a gift
deferred = the loan will be forgiven
We’ve given more than enough to Iraq IMO. They need to start paying for things on their own. At some point generosity creates dependency.
Denying the Iraqis what they need to retake Mosul would force them into the arms of the Iranians - it is their only other choice in a life and death struggle.
The Iranians are taking control of parts of Iraq as part payment for their support (Diyala Province), and are shaping the situation for wider takeover later.
The US condition for military aid should be strategic distance from Iran and specific steps to remove Iranian influence - which would threaten the Prime Minister’s very life, because they are playing hardball.
There is just no telling which way this administration will go with this request, because they are capricious, are on both sides of the fence in these struggles, and all the bids are not yet in on who will offer what kinds of bribes.
Perhaps Biden’s plans are right except 100 yrs too late. The accord after WW1 should have divided them on Sunni, shia kurd border lines.
They going to drop these arms and run at the first sign of trouble?
Open up the oil spigots and pay for your own damn weapons
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.