US General: Iraq Doesn’t Want Russia’s Help

Iraq Said It Would Very Much Like Russian Help

by Jason Ditz,

Fresh off his visit to Iraq, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford declared that Iraq doesn’t want Russian help in fighting ISIS, and that the US is their “main ally” and all they need in the ongoing war, while accusing Russia of making the Syrian war “worse” by their recent participation.

Gen. Dunford claimed to have been told this in meetings with Iraqi PM Hayder Abadi, even though Abadi has publicly insisted, repeatedly, that he “would welcome” Russian airstrikes against ISIS and indeed would welcome help from any country willing in the battle.

Dunford’s comments mostly didn’t read like this was a conclusive position of the Iraqi government at any rate, but more wishful thinking and politicking by the Pentagon, centering on how great an ally the US is to Iraq and how Iraq would be risking that if they dared accept help from Russia.

So far, Abadi hasn’t made any new comments one way or another, though the nation has already accepted some help from Russia on the intelligence-sharing end of things, and the US dramatically scaled back their own such program with Iraq to “punish” them, suggesting Iraq may be leaning more heavily toward Russia.

http://news.antiwar.com/2015/10/20/israeli-checkpoints-block-palestinian-access-to-hospitals-in-east-jerusalem/