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| Iraq |
| Urgency grows for Iraq to fight without US help |
| 2009-04-17 |
| BAGHDAD - Iraq’s 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 cheaper—and faster—than 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 |
| #3 The Iraqis would be nuts not to prepare for an Obama bugout. Nor should they expect help if fighting reignites. |
| Posted by: ed 2009-04-17 09:42 |
| #2 Even after the 'truce' in Korea, the South Koreans were still conducting anti-guerrilla ops in parts of the country for years afterward. Not that real history has any value for the factually-challenged media. How'd that all turn out. /rhetorical question. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-04-17 08:58 |
| #1 I figured this'd be the NY Slimes, still trying for an Iraq failure, so they could plan to sell more papers. Now it just looks like a slam on the New Administration. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2009-04-17 06:18 |