As Oil Prices Plunge, Iraq Seeks Arms on Credit

PM: Price Cut 'Disastrous for Us'

Having lost almost an entire army’s worth of expensive weaponry to ISIS in the fall of Mosul, Iraq has been pushing for a massive import of new arms from the US to try the military buildup thing again.

The problem is that the price of oil has cratered in the last several months, and with Iraq getting some 85% of its government revenue from oil exports, they’re suddenly pretty broke.

“This has been disastrous for us,” insisted Iraqi PM Hayder Abadi, who is pushing the US and other nations to agree to a “deferred payment plan” that would give Iraq the weapons on credit.

Abadi says the nations have been receptive to this idea, which is surprising since Iraq’s credit-worthiness must surely be in doubt between losing half the country to ISIS and losing billions in oil revenue to the price plunge.

Despite being in a desperate position, Abadi was still complaining about the US military aid already provided, saying “we are in this almost on our own.”

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.