US Boosts Iraq Surveillance Flights -- Voice of America/Reuters
The United States has boosted the number of surveillance flights over Iraq to nearly 50 a day from one a month as it faces Sunni Islamist militants who control swaths of Iraqi territory, a top State Department official said on Wednesday.
Washington has not yet authorized unmanned drone strikes, however, as requested by Baghdad, on the forces now known as Islamic State, Brett McGurk, deputy assistant secretary for Iraq and Iran, testified at a House of Representatives hearing.
"The formal request from the Iraqis for direct U.S. air support did not come in a formal way until May," McGurk said, which was too late to keep the Islamic State militants from overrunning Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city.
Read more ....
Update #1: US making 50 intel flights a day in Iraq, but GOP lawmakers want to know why no drone strikes -- AP
Update #2: Iraq Must Do Its Heavy Lifting, Pentagon Official Says -- US Department of Defense
My Comment: U.S. lawmakers may be demanding answers, but the Iraqi government is clearly fed up with the Americans .... they are now even looking for new allies .... Iraq defence minister heads to Moscow with wish list -- AFP
2 comments:
Everyone should be looking for allies other than the U.S.
Since 1976 it is 50/50 whether the U.S. will support you.
Reading the linked story and I see that McGurk is a smart guy. He is also very political. If too many smart people cannot say what needs to be said, what is the point of being smart?
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