| The surprise being that they took this long to say it aloud. |
[ALMASDARNEWS] Iraq’s former prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, told a local TV station on Sunday that the administration of ex-US President Barack ObamaHow much damage could he do in four years?... Eight, then...
had played a crucial role in the creation of ISIS by allowing the terrorist group to occupy Iraqi territories, PressTV reported.
Maliki, who served as prime minister between 2006 and 2014, reportedly said that the United States had provided Iraq with intelligence and aerial images, locating with great precision positions of ISIS terrorists, who had lined up behind Iraqi borders in Syria.
According to him, large groups of fighters were waiting to cross into neighbouring Iraq after what they believed was going to be the impending downfall of Syrian
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
The Scourge of Hama...
Maliki elaborated that back then Iraq had shortage of fighter jets capable of attacking ISIS positions, while combat helicopters did not have the range to bomb them.
Therefore, Baghdad turned to Washington for assistance and asked the B.O. regime to deliver "one or two" fighter jets to the Iraqi Air Force under the 2008 security agreement between the two countries.
The United States, however, turned down the request and suggested that the Maliki government ask Jordan for help, the report claims. Given that there was not a military cooperation deal between Baghdad and Amman at the time, it was not an option for the Iraqi authorities.
Nonetheless, the Iraqi Army’s 7th Division was sent to root out the hard boyz without air support and managed to make some progress before finding itself in the midst of a deadly siege that killed its commander and nearly wiped out the whole division.