Since the Iraqi Army as it is presently constituted is very much a US creation, it’s unsurprising that they are heavily armed with US-made equipment. Their new war with the Kurds, however, has US-made vehicles participating in attacks on long-time allies in Iraqi Kurdistan.
When Iraqi troops invaded the Kurdish town of Altun Kupri on Friday, when, it was an invasion led by US vehicles. And within the course of a three-hour battle, a number of US vehicles were destroyed.
The Kurdish Peshmerga commander confirmed “more than 10 Humvees and one M1 Abrams tank have been destroyed” in the fighting. It’s unclear what losses the Kurdish forces sustained, by they’re similarly armed by the US.
The US has been pushing to try to get both sides to stop fighting, and has threatened to stop training the Iraqi military if the offensive continues. For a massive arms exporter like the US, having a civil war between two US-armed factions would likely be an embarrassment.
Embarrassed? They got paid by both sides and the American taxpayer and Russian arms are shut of the market. Ka-ching!
I suspect that on both sides the equipment was purchased via foreign military sales (FMS) , which means the US taxpayers foot the bill.