Monday, February 24, 2014

Iraq signed deal to buy arms & ammunition from Iran in 2013, and the Obama administration knew it, despite its deceitful obfuscations

From Reuters:
Iran has signed a deal to sell Iraq arms and ammunition worth $195 million, according to documents seen by Reuters - a move that would break a U.N. embargo on weapons sales by Tehran... The agreement was reached at the end of November.

The Iranian government denied any knowledge of a deal to sell arms to Iraq. It would be the first official arms deal between Shi'ite Iran and Iraq's Shi'ite-led government and would highlight the growing bond between them in the two years since the departure of U.S. troops from Iraq.

The U.S. State Department said it was looking into the reports.

"If true, this would raise serious concerns," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a news briefing.

A U.N. diplomatic source close to the U.N. Security Council's Iran sanctions committee was aware of the Iran-Iraq arms deal and voiced concern about it, while declining to disclose details about those concerns. The source spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity...

One Western security official said U.S. government experts believed an Iranian-Iraqi arms deal had been in the works for some time.
Wait a minute! A UN diplomat close to the U.N. Security Council's Iran sanctions committee was aware of the deal and expressed concern about it, and U.S. government experts believed an Iranian-Iraqi arms deal had been in the works for some time, but the U.S. State Department had no knowledge of it, and said it was looking into the reports?!

More obfuscations, more lies - so typical of this administration.
The growing friendship between the two countries is discomfiting for the United States, which has accused Iran of having shipped arms to the Syrian government through Iraq...

The weapons purchases amount to a drop in the ocean for Iraq, which receives most of its arms from the United States and has also bought weapons and helicopters from Russia and other countries.

But they are politically significant as Maliki purses a third term in office.

Iraqi politicians consider Iran's blessing as a necessity for seeking power. Maliki won his second term in 2010 only after the Iranians exerted pressure on recalcitrant Shi'ite parties on his behalf.

Many Iraqis accuse Iran of funding Iraqi Shi'ite militias who have seen a resurgence in the last two years as Iraq's security has deteriorated.

Images of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei now decorate posters seen around Baghdad of Iraqi Shiite fighters slain fighting in Syria...

Mohammad Marandi, a professor at University of Tehran, told Reuters... that Iran would not be troubled by the idea [of selling arms to Iraq]: "Iranians don't accept the legitimacy of sanctions. Plus, Iran sells military equipment to many countries."
Truth be told, even if members of the Obama administration say they are troubled by the idea, President Obama himself, in all likelihood, is not the least bit troubled by it - despite the fact that Iran has armed and trained Iraqi and Afghan insurgents who've killed thousands of US troops.

Bear in mind what Obama said during a 2008 Democratic Presidential primary debate, namely, that the leaders of Iran and Syria have an important role to play in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iran and Syria are "going to have to carry some weight, in terms of stabilizing the region," he added.

Yep, that's right, Iran and Syria will help bring stability to Iraq, Afghanistan and the entire region [heh...], according to Obama.

Sadly, Iraq is steadily becoming a proxy state for Iran, under the auspices, and with the approval, of President Obama, who certainly knew about the Iraqi/Iranian arms deal back in November, and who no doubt, relishes, not only the deal, but the newfound relationship between Iran and Iraq.

Hopefully, the US, and the free world at large, will survive, and overcome, Obama's convoluted policies.