WASHINGTON, DC-- The US Senate voted down a bipartisan amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act on Tuesday that would have authorized the president to directly arm Kurdish fighters without the supervision of Baghdad. The amendment proposed by Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif) faced fierce opposition from the administration of President Barack Obama which claimed that bypassing Baghdad would undermine the US strategy to defeat the Islamic State and promote division among Iraq’s Sunni, Shiite and Kurds. The amendment needed 60-votes to be included in the defense policy bill, but senators voted 54-45 for the amendment, lacking six votes. Last week, the US Secretaries of Defense and State personally wrote letters to the Senate urging against the provision. If passed, the amendment would have given the president the option of sending US military equipment, including anti-tank weaponry, body armor and communications directly to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for three years. In a statement released after the vote, Ernst said she remained committed to supporting Iraqi Kurds who she described as key partners in defeating ISIS. “The United States simply cannot afford any delays in arming our Kurdish partner on the ground at such a critical moment,” the statement read. In his letter to the Senate, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter reasoned that arming the Kurds would trigger the revenge of the Shiite militias to unleash attacks on the US personnel and interests in Iraq. Secretary of State John Kerry argued that Iraq’s fragile territorial and political unity would be in jeopardy if the amendment passed. Kurdish officials have repeatedly said Baghdad hinders weapons deliveries to Kurdish forces and have been lobbying Washington to change its position on the matter. The KRG claim the delays have cost lives of thousands of Kurds fighting ISIS. According to KRG statistics, nearly 1,200 Kurdish troops have been killed since the war with ISIS began last year and another 7,000 have been wounded.
