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Urgency grows for Iraq to fight without US help
BAGHDAD - Iraqs urgent need for weaponry to tackle an expected increase in insurgent attacks when U.S. forces withdraw means it may have to shift away from buying U.S. arms, Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said.Zebari told Reuters the need to prepare to fight insurgents without U.S. help coincided with a depleted budget due to low oil prices, prompting Iraq to look to arms vendors it sees as cheaperand fasterthan U.S. suppliers. Zebari mentioned Russia, China and France as countries from which Iraq has bought weapons in the past. Iraq recently said it wants F-16 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin Corp, is buying M1A1 Abrams tanks from General Dynamics Corp and may buy helicopters from Textron Inc and Boeing Co., but it has also raised the prospect of procuring helicopters from France for instance. There are some imminent security challenges and we have seen the tip of that, Zebari said on Wednesday, referring to a recent spate of bombings that have alarmed Iraqis as they ponder whether dramatic security gains in the past year will hold. We need to do some preventative actions, not to allow that to be a phenomenon. And in order to do that we need more resources. We need to be ready, you need to have the right weapons, the right forces, the right commitment. Posted by: Steve White 2009-04-17 |
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