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Republicans Seek Support for Iraq
1:30 pm
Jan 12, 2014
By
Julian E. Barnes
Republican lawmakers Sunday called on the Obama administration to step up the training, logistics support and arm sales being offered to the Iraqi government as it faces a rising threat from Al Qaeda militants.
While GOP senators appearing on the Sunday news shows criticized President Barack Obama’s failure to reach a deal to keep U.S. forces in Iraq after 2011, they said they oppose a return of any American combat forces to the country.
Two separate car bombings in Iraq on Sunday killed 13 people, in the latest sign of rising violence in the country. Sunni militants, left out of power by the current Iraqi government, have claimed responsibility for suicide attacks against mostly Shiite targets. And in recent days, Al Qaeda-aligned militants have seized Fallujah and much of Ramadi, the major cities in Sunni-dominated Anbar province.
Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican, laid a portion of the blame for rising violence on the Obama administration.
Mr. Obama “wanted out of Iraq, we’re out,” Mr. McCain said. “And now you’ve seen increasing Iranian influence, you’re seeing [Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki] being very–persecuting the Sunni minority, the Iraq-Syrian border is now becoming a haven for Al Qaeda, and now, of course, Fallujah.”
Mr. McCain, appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” noted that 95 soldiers and Marines died fighting in the second battle of Fallujah in November 2011, what he called the “bloodiest battle of the war.”
“Now we see Fallujah vehicles driving down the main street with Al Qaeda flags,” he said. “It’s very distressing to those veterans who fought so hard.”
The larger worry, said Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), is that ungoverned space in both Iraq and Syria could allow Al Qaeda to operate freely.
“This is all fertile territory for Al Qaeda and other radical elements to set up training camps and plot attacks against the homeland and interests around the world,” Mr. Rubio said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Mr. Rubio said he would support increased equipment and training for Iraqi forces. While he opposes a return of combat troops, Mr. McCain said the U.S. could speed up sales of Apache attack helicopters and could provide increased logistics support.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week the U.S. military is pushing a plan that would have Iraqi commandos train with U.S. special operations forces at a facility in another country, most likely neighboring Jordan.
Sen. James Inhofe (R., Okla.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was encouraging the administration to provide more “surveillance, intelligence, logistics, training” to the Iraqis.
“They’re great warriors, but you can’t just leave them and not have the intelligence and the logistics there with them,” Mr. Inhofe said on “Fox News Sunday.” Mr. Inhofe said he believed the takeover of Fallujah could be reversed “with a little bit of the type of help that I’m suggesting.”
Appearing on Fox with Mr. Inhofe, Sen. Ben Cardin (D., Md.) said the Iraqi government, not the Obama administration, bore responsibility for the violence and internal strife Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s failure to share a measure of power with the Sunni minority has contributed to the strife, Mr. Cardin said. “The Iraqis have to take responsibility for defending their own country, and the Iraqi government must respect the different ethnic communities within Iraq,” he said. “And a good deal of the problems today is internal security, and it’s a government that does not respect and try to bring together all the people of Iraq.”
Mr. Rubio also said the Iraqi government’s missteps have allowed insurgents to return, but said the failure to keep a long-term troop presence had made it difficult to head off the rise of the militants.
“Ultimately whether it is Afghanistan or Iraq, the future of those countries is in hands of their own people,” he said. “The U.S. cannot rescue them from themselves. But I do think we have a strategic interest in what happens there and it poses a real challenge.”
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1:30 pm
Jan 12, 2014
By
Julian E. Barnes
Republican lawmakers Sunday called on the Obama administration to step up the training, logistics support and arm sales being offered to the Iraqi government as it faces a rising threat from Al Qaeda militants.
While GOP senators appearing on the Sunday news shows criticized President Barack Obama’s failure to reach a deal to keep U.S. forces in Iraq after 2011, they said they oppose a return of any American combat forces to the country.
Two separate car bombings in Iraq on Sunday killed 13 people, in the latest sign of rising violence in the country. Sunni militants, left out of power by the current Iraqi government, have claimed responsibility for suicide attacks against mostly Shiite targets. And in recent days, Al Qaeda-aligned militants have seized Fallujah and much of Ramadi, the major cities in Sunni-dominated Anbar province.
Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican, laid a portion of the blame for rising violence on the Obama administration.
Mr. Obama “wanted out of Iraq, we’re out,” Mr. McCain said. “And now you’ve seen increasing Iranian influence, you’re seeing [Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki] being very–persecuting the Sunni minority, the Iraq-Syrian border is now becoming a haven for Al Qaeda, and now, of course, Fallujah.”
Mr. McCain, appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” noted that 95 soldiers and Marines died fighting in the second battle of Fallujah in November 2011, what he called the “bloodiest battle of the war.”
“Now we see Fallujah vehicles driving down the main street with Al Qaeda flags,” he said. “It’s very distressing to those veterans who fought so hard.”
The larger worry, said Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), is that ungoverned space in both Iraq and Syria could allow Al Qaeda to operate freely.
“This is all fertile territory for Al Qaeda and other radical elements to set up training camps and plot attacks against the homeland and interests around the world,” Mr. Rubio said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Mr. Rubio said he would support increased equipment and training for Iraqi forces. While he opposes a return of combat troops, Mr. McCain said the U.S. could speed up sales of Apache attack helicopters and could provide increased logistics support.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week the U.S. military is pushing a plan that would have Iraqi commandos train with U.S. special operations forces at a facility in another country, most likely neighboring Jordan.
Sen. James Inhofe (R., Okla.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was encouraging the administration to provide more “surveillance, intelligence, logistics, training” to the Iraqis.
“They’re great warriors, but you can’t just leave them and not have the intelligence and the logistics there with them,” Mr. Inhofe said on “Fox News Sunday.” Mr. Inhofe said he believed the takeover of Fallujah could be reversed “with a little bit of the type of help that I’m suggesting.”
Appearing on Fox with Mr. Inhofe, Sen. Ben Cardin (D., Md.) said the Iraqi government, not the Obama administration, bore responsibility for the violence and internal strife Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s failure to share a measure of power with the Sunni minority has contributed to the strife, Mr. Cardin said. “The Iraqis have to take responsibility for defending their own country, and the Iraqi government must respect the different ethnic communities within Iraq,” he said. “And a good deal of the problems today is internal security, and it’s a government that does not respect and try to bring together all the people of Iraq.”
Mr. Rubio also said the Iraqi government’s missteps have allowed insurgents to return, but said the failure to keep a long-term troop presence had made it difficult to head off the rise of the militants.
“Ultimately whether it is Afghanistan or Iraq, the future of those countries is in hands of their own people,” he said. “The U.S. cannot rescue them from themselves. But I do think we have a strategic interest in what happens there and it poses a real challenge.”
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