AUSTIN, Texas—Over the coming days Iraq is expected to receive a new batch of Mi-28 “Night Hunter” attack helicopters from Russia and other advanced weapons purchased from the United States.
This has worried Iraq’s autonomous Kurds in the north, who fear that Iraqi weapons could be used against them in the future.
“The Kurds have no guarantee that those weapons will not be used against them,” independent Kurdish MP in the Iraqi parliament Mahmoud Othamn told Rudaw. “I haven’t heard any country say, ‘I sell these weapons to this side but they will not be used against you.’”
Iraq has signed several arms deals with the US in the past few years. They include air defense and communications systems, 681 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles with 40 truck-mounted launchers, Hawk anti-aircraft batteries with 216 missiles, 19 mobile radio systems, 10 microwave radio systems, 12 Bell 412 EP transport helicopters and 50 Stryker armored vehicles equipped for nuclear, radiological, biological and chemical warfare that are worth more than $5 billion in total.
In a separate contract in 2011, Iraq also bought 36 Lockheed Martin F-16IQ fighter jets worth $4.3 billion, which have yet to be delivered.
The arms sales are, supposedly, aimed at strengthening Iraq’s defense capabilities, counter terrorism abilities, improving internal security and for border protection.
As Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is expected to visit Washington on November 1, it is imperative that the US administration and Congress ensure that these weapons will not be used against the Iraqi people.
Iraqi minorities, including the Kurds, Sunnis, Christians and others are concerned about the Iraqi Shiite government amassing such heavy weapons, fearing Baghdad would use them to settle political differences.
Iraq’s arms deals, be they with Russia or the US, have always especially unsettled the Kurds, whose memory of genocide and persecution under previous Iraqi regimes is still fresh.
Iraqi leaders have tried to placate Kurdish leaders with assurances that Iraq’s is a national army with thousands of Kurds in its ranks already.
But the Kurdistan Region’s Minister of Peshmarga Sheikh Jafar Mustafa told local media last year that Kurds make up less than 4 percent of the Iraqi army and security forces, while according to their population the Kurdish participation in federal security institutions should be no less than 17 percent.
Arguments by Iraqi leaders that new weapons are needed to combat terrorism in the country should be tested against the security situation in the Kurdistan Region: Without advanced weapons or technology Erbil has provided commendable stability and a secure safe haven for local Kurds as well as Iraqi Christians and Syrian refugees.
The other risk of arming Iraq is its strong ties with Syria and Baghdad’s alleged support for the regime of Bashar al-Assad. The Iraqi prime minister has firmly stood with Assad by America’s own admission; Iraq has served as a transit point for Iranian military support for the Syrian regime.
Most recently Ali al-Moussawi, media advisor to the Iraqi premier, said that Baghdad would not allow its territory and airspace to be used against Syria, referring to America’s possible strike against the Damascus regime last month.
Also, Wathik Al-Battat, head of the al-Moukhtar Army that is allegedly backed by Iran, said recently that his militia group has 23,000 suicide bombers ready to attack US interests in the region, should the US strike Syria.
Last year, Iraq became the fourth-biggest recipient of US aid, receiving $1.683 billion from Washington.
The United States Department of State may believe that it could work to keep Iraq in America’s orbit. But the religious, cultural and historical ties between Iraq and Iran are too strong to be swayed.
Therefore, it seems that to counter Iran’s influence in the region one good strategy might be for Washington to work with the Iraqi Kurds. It was the Kurds who in 2003 threw their weight behind the US invasion of Iraq and regime change in the country.
The Kurdistan Region is also providing great investment opportunities for US oil and other companies such as Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Hunt Oil and Marathon; the US may have to take this into account while dealing with Iraq’s arms shopping spree.
