Speaking in an interview on Iraqi state TV, President Jalal Talabani says that many of his nation’s military commanders are still hoping for the US to maintain a military presence in the nation.
The US announced its intention to withdraw all troops from the nation weeks ago, after talks on a deal fell through over US demands for full immunity from prosecution while operating inside Iraq. Talabani says the commanders still want the US training mission to continue, though no deal appears to be in the offing.
As an alternative to the thousands of US trainers operating with impunity, there is now a plan in place to bring in 740 trainers from the US, but almost exclusively civilian contractors, with only a handful of military overseers.
Since materially all of Iraq’s military equipment was purchased from the United States, many were key to parlay this into keeping the US trainers with the hardware. Since many of the US warplanes haven’t even been delivered yet, the training mission would likely last many years.
The Iraqi Army is unbeknownst to most people a very Pro-American institution.The Kurds are a very Pro-American faction in Iraq as well,so the Kurdish President consulting with the Iraqi military commanders for a longer us presence is something that shouldn't surprise us.
What will the Arabs think of this however?Will they finally give the "occupiers" immunity using the Armed Force's recommendations as an excuse?Have the Iraqis blinked on the immunity issue?
No, Iraqi military commanders don't want a US presence- they want the presence of US dollars and free equipment.
Everywhere we have a military installation, you can bet there's a faction of locals who are benefitting immensely from our presence.
Most Iraqis think of the people who worked for the US as collaborators. All those tanks and other weapons are the ploy/plot to keep trainers there for years. Give them the training manuels in Arabic and teach them to read. They'll figure it out.