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US Blocks Heavy Weapons to Kurds From Middleastern Allies


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Con Coughlin By Con Coughlin, Defence Editor10:00PM BST 01 Jul 2015

The United States has blocked attempts by its Middle East allies to fly heavy weapons directly to the Kurds fighting Islamic State jihadists in Iraq, The Telegraph has learned.

Some of America’s closest allies say President Barack Obama and other Western leaders, including David Cameron, are failing to show strategic leadership over the world’s gravest security crisis for decades.

They now say they are willing to “go it alone” in supplying heavy weapons to the Kurds, even if means defying the Iraqi authorities and their American backers, who demand all weapons be channelled through Baghdad.

High level officials from Gulf and other states have told this newspaper that all attempts to persuade Mr Obama of the need to arm the Kurds directly as part of more vigorous plans to take on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) have failed. The Senate voted down one attempt by supporters of the Kurdish cause last month.

The officials say they are looking at new ways to take the fight to Isil without seeking US approval.

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“If the Americans and the West are not prepared to do anything serious about defeating Isil, then we will have to find new ways of dealing with the threat,” said a senior Arab government official. “With Isil making ground all the time we simply cannot afford to wait for Washington to wake up to the enormity of the threat we face.”

The Peshmerga have been successfully fighting Isil, driving them back from the gates of Erbil and, with the support of Kurds from neighbouring Syria, re-establishing control over parts of Iraq’s north-west.

But they are doing so with a makeshift armoury. Millions of pounds-worth of weapons have been bought by a number of European countries to arm the Kurds, but American commanders, who are overseeing all military operations against Isil, are blocking the arms transfers.

One of the core complaints of the Kurds is that the Iraqi army has abandoned so many weapons in the face of Isil attack, the Peshmerga are fighting modern American weaponry with out-of-date Soviet equipment.

At least one Arab state is understood to be considering arming the Peshmerga directly, despite US opposition.

The US has also infuriated its allies, particularly Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Gulf states, by what they perceive to be a lack of clear purpose and vacillation in how they conduct the bombing campaign. Other members of the coalition say they have identified clear Isil targets but then been blocked by US veto from firing at them.

“There is simply no strategic approach,” one senior Gulf official said. “There is a lack of coordination in selecting targets, and there is no overall plan for defeating Isil.”

Western leaders increasingly accept that the “war on Isil” has not gone well, from the moment last year Mr Obama called the group a “JV [junior varsity] team” of jihadists compared with al-Qaeda. At that point, Isil had seized Fallujah, which US forces took in a bloody battle in 2004. It went on to take much of western Iraq and large areas of Syria, and in May took Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province.

Britain is moving closer to expanding its role in the war. The Government on Wednesday gave its strongest indication yet that MPs will be given a new vote on whether to bomb Isil in Syria.

Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, said it was “illogical” that British planes were able to hit extremists in Iraq but not across the border.

Any decision to bomb in Syria would have to be approved by MPs. In 2013, the Prime Minister lost a vote for British military action in Syria. However, Mr Fallon said: “It is a new Parliament and I think new Members of Parliament will want to think very carefully about how we best deal with Isil, and the illogicality of Isil not respecting the borderlines.”

Mr Fallon suggested that a bombing campaign could be mounted in revenge for the terror attacks in Tunisia if a link could be proved between the killer and Isil in Libya. Britain would only take military action in Libya “where we think there is an imminent threat, a very direct to British lives or, for example, to British hostages”, he said.

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Our government doesn't want to properly arm the Kurds for 2 reason

1. The US government is still hanging on to the notion that a area called Iraq created by the British and French almost 100 years ago can still be held together. If the Kurds are well armed they have no needed for a state called Iraq.

2. The Turks and the Iranian do not want a free Kurdish state that is independent and can defend itself. There are large groups of Kurds living in both Turkey and Iran that would like to be part of a free Kurdish state. Turkey is a NATO member and the administration is trying get some treaty signed with Iran...........

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I think it's damn near criminal to betray the Kurds, who have been as close to an ally as we have in the region, to appease Iran. And that goes for both the current and former administrations.

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Kurds are the only group i halfway trust. That is just half.

They're not Muslim only. They're not fanatical in that regard

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Not sure about Iraq and the Kurds. I never deployed there. But I remember there was a problem with the Afghan military "losing" hundreds of weapons. M16s, 240 B's, etc.

With that said, I'd hate to give the Kurds heavy weapons just for the crooks to sell them off to terrorist groups.

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Obama won't give the Kurds weapons with which to kill Moslems. That ain't how he rolls. He'd rather give ISIS weapons to kill Kurds.

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Obama won't give the Kurds weapons with which to kill Moslems. That ain't how he rolls. He'd rather give ISIS weapons to kill Kurds.

Kurds. Are. Muslim.

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Can someone tell me what these 'heavy weapons' are? Nothing like an ambiguous news story to get everyone up in arms.

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Obama won't give the Kurds weapons with which to kill Moslems. That ain't how he rolls. He'd rather give ISIS weapons to kill Kurds.

i think there are about 2000(if reports are legit) humvees in the hands of isis that may be the reason the administration is reluctant to give heavy arms to any ally in that region. It's like the reason jailers don't carry guns.
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Obama won't give the Kurds weapons with which to kill Moslems. That ain't how he rolls. He'd rather give ISIS weapons to kill Kurds.

Kurds. Are. Muslim.

And a few Christians.

Although historically there have been various accounts of Kurdish Christians, most often these were in the form of individuals, and not as communities. However, in the 19th and 20th century various travel logs tell of Kurdish Christian tribes, as well as Kurdish Muslim tribes who had substantial Christian populations living amongst them. A significant number of these were allegedly originally Armenian or Assyrian,[216] and it has been recorded that a small number of Christian traditions have been preserved. Several Christian prayers in Kurdish have been found from earlier centuries.[217]

However, most contemporary Kurdish Christians are recent converts. Both among Turkish and Iraqi Kurds there have been an increasing number of Kurds converting to Christianity. Some communities of the Iraqi converts have formed their own evangelical churches. Prominent historical Kurdish Christians include Theophobos[218][219] and the brothers Zakare and Ivane.[220][221][222]

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Obama won't give the Kurds weapons with which to kill Moslems. That ain't how he rolls. He'd rather give ISIS weapons to kill Kurds.

stick with scholarship counting
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Obama won't give the Kurds weapons with which to kill Moslems. That ain't how he rolls. He'd rather give ISIS weapons to kill Kurds.

i think there are about 2000(if reports are legit) humvees in the hands of isis that may be the reason the administration is reluctant to give heavy arms to any ally in that region. It's like the reason jailers don't carry guns.

No Alex! Stop! It's because Obama is a dirty Kenyan that wants to see the Kurds die en masse!

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Obama won't give the Kurds weapons with which to kill Moslems. That ain't how he rolls. He'd rather give ISIS weapons to kill Kurds.

i think there are about 2000(if reports are legit) humvees in the hands of isis that may be the reason the administration is reluctant to give heavy arms to any ally in that region. It's like the reason jailers don't carry guns.

That is exactly the point I made earlier.
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I think indiscriminately dumping weapons into the region is a brilliant idea. We should listen to Mikey and Saudis. It's the perfect plan. It incorporates the "barry sux" element along with the Saudi desire to have someone fight for them.

There is no better strategy than one built upon the internal politics of the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. Can't miss!

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Can someone tell me what these 'heavy weapons' are? Nothing like an ambiguous news story to get everyone up in arms.

I got it from the military times so I can't tell....

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While we can get hung up on who we give weapon to, I think this is the bigger point of the story.

The US has also infuriated its allies, particularly Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Gulf states, by what they perceive to be a lack of clear purpose and vacillation in how they conduct the bombing campaign. Other members of the coalition say they have identified clear Isil targets but then been blocked by US veto from firing at them.
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While we can get hung up on who we give weapon to, I think this is the bigger point of the story.

The US has also infuriated its allies, particularly Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Gulf states, by what they perceive to be a lack of clear purpose and vacillation in how they conduct the bombing campaign. Other members of the coalition say they have identified clear Isil targets but then been blocked by US veto from firing at them.

we can pull out and let them have at would suit me.
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Obama won't give the Kurds weapons with which to kill Moslems. That ain't how he rolls. He'd rather give ISIS weapons to kill Kurds.

stick with scholarship counting

I was/am under the impression that a significant number of Kurds are Christians, or otherwise not Moslems. Blame National Geographic, that's where I got the idea.

Also, giving weapons to enemies of ISIS hardly constitutes "indiscriminate dumping".

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Obama won't give the Kurds weapons with which to kill Moslems. That ain't how he rolls. He'd rather give ISIS weapons to kill Kurds.

stick with scholarship counting

I was/am under the impression that a significant number of Kurds are Christians, or otherwise not Moslems. Blame National Geographic, that's where I got the idea.

Also, giving weapons to enemies of ISIS hardly constitutes "indiscriminate dumping".

No, don't blame National Geographic or, "your Cuban friends" in Miami. You aren't well informed but, you do not mind making up for it by, just making things up.

If you had any real idea who the "enemies of ISIS" are, you would realize how stupid that statement is.

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Obama won't give the Kurds weapons with which to kill Moslems. That ain't how he rolls. He'd rather give ISIS weapons to kill Kurds.

stick with scholarship counting

I was/am under the impression that a significant number of Kurds are Christians, or otherwise not Moslems. Blame National Geographic, that's where I got the idea.

Also, giving weapons to enemies of ISIS hardly constitutes "indiscriminate dumping".

No, don't blame National Geographic or, "your Cuban friends" in Miami. You aren't well informed but, you do not mind making up for it by, just making things up.

If you had any real idea who the "enemies of ISIS" are, you would realize how stupid that statement is.

There is nothing in this world that confirms that I am on the right track more than to have you call me stupid.

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Obama won't give the Kurds weapons with which to kill Moslems. That ain't how he rolls. He'd rather give ISIS weapons to kill Kurds.

stick with scholarship counting

I was/am under the impression that a significant number of Kurds are Christians, or otherwise not Moslems. Blame National Geographic, that's where I got the idea.

Also, giving weapons to enemies of ISIS hardly constitutes "indiscriminate dumping".

No, don't blame National Geographic or, "your Cuban friends" in Miami. You aren't well informed but, you do not mind making up for it by, just making things up.

If you had any real idea who the "enemies of ISIS" are, you would realize how stupid that statement is.

There is nothing in this world that confirms that I am on the right track more than to have you call me stupid.

Not what he did. The statement is stupid, though.

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Obama won't give the Kurds weapons with which to kill Moslems. That ain't how he rolls. He'd rather give ISIS weapons to kill Kurds.

stick with scholarship counting

I was/am under the impression that a significant number of Kurds are Christians, or otherwise not Moslems. Blame National Geographic, that's where I got the idea.

Also, giving weapons to enemies of ISIS hardly constitutes "indiscriminate dumping".

No, don't blame National Geographic or, "your Cuban friends" in Miami. You aren't well informed but, you do not mind making up for it by, just making things up.

If you had any real idea who the "enemies of ISIS" are, you would realize how stupid that statement is.

There is nothing in this world that confirms that I am on the right track more than to have you call me stupid.

Not what he did. The statement is stupid, though.

They can't quite get that distinction.

Presumably, that's why they keep posting stupid stuff? :dunno:

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Obama won't give the Kurds weapons with which to kill Moslems. That ain't how he rolls. He'd rather give ISIS weapons to kill Kurds.

Kurds. Are. Muslim.

They are mostly Sunni Moslems, but more importantly to all involved they are not Arabs. The Kurds are ethnically closer to Iranians.

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