Defense Secretary Mark Esper says that the US is pressing the Iraqi government for permission to deploy Patriot missile defense systems inside Iraqi territory, which he says is needed to protect US forces from Iran.
The Pentagon has some Patriot systems in the Middle East, but none in Iraq, and they are citing a substantial number of brain injuries at Ayn al-Asad during the January 8 missile attack as proof that they need defenses.
Getting such permission would likely have been easy a month or two ago, but after the US assassination of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Iraq’s parliament is very clear they want the US out of Iraq, and adding more defense systems would give the appearance of going in the opposite direction.
Iraq may also believe they can use this as leverage to at least reduce the US presence further, either suggesting that they leave if they don’t feel safe, or conditioning the approval on further limits to general US operations.
US troops in Iraq are a massive liability to the US. Missile defenses won’t keep them safe, they should be an ocean of water away.
Ineffective Patriots (developed in the early 70’s) were already there during Iran’s retaliation but that didn’t help much. All their missiles went through and the number of officially recognized casualties is now getting closer to Iran’s and their Iraqi allies, which was 80 in al Assad base only.
It wouldn’t surprise me if TBI, traumatic brain injury, in this case is an euphemism for KIA or dead.
But the request is ridiculous and the answer is going to be NO since Iraq voted the occupiers out.
The US is asking for permission to further arm themselves with missiles after already being told to vacate the premises? That’s like a burglar asking the homeowner for permission to draw his gun while he continues to burgle the house. It makes no sense. Esper is either delusional or just plain crazy.
He knows that the MSM will continue to spout this nonsense and claim that US troops are there to fight ISIS when everyone knows that ISIS is CIA, as was al-CIAda. Trump was at least truthful enough to say that we’re in Iraq and Syria to grab the oil. Esper doesn’t seem to have gotten that message and is still eating his own dog food.
“Defenses”? Talk about perversion of language!
Seeking permission is a formality. If Iraq says no we’ll do it anyway.
Meaning that US did not dream of anybody ever attaching US troops in Iraq. Least of all — Iranians.
What was the point of escalation if the outcome is a compliant and meek de escalation. I certainly welcome it — but I do not think it was a game plan. And now as an afterthought— let us defend ourselves just in case it gets serious?
Basically, are our leaders hoping we will just inadvertently step into a war, so the snowflake country will cry crocodile tears of being so wronged? And defend our innocence?
Nothing adds up.
I feel that some are itching for hitting Iran to show who is the boss. Others do not know what the red line is — how do you hit Iran creditably and not cause Russia and China step in to defend Caspian gateway into the heart of Eurasia? US cannot go back to the time of Shah, and control Iran. Iran is serious about defense as it had plenty of time to understand US intentions. Any comparison to Saddam’s time is delusional. Saddam was our asset, fighting Iran and exhausting his country’s economy and fueling majority Shia rage.
Iraq has been due to our actions transformed from a chaotic place protesting government incompetence, to a place protesting US presence and the government complicity. And then we further act delusional that Sunni of Falujja love us. Or Kurds. We ditched Syrian Kurds after helping them draft constitution, elect a female president — and guard their capital, Kobane. Now in Syrian hands. We ditched Iraqi Kurds by rejecting their referendum, and back in the nineties we bankrolled Kurds secessionism in Iran. Took Iran 8 years to crush it, it was Soleimani’s command responsibility.
As for Sunnis, we snd Saudis raised their hopes by having their Caliphate, just to have them squashed when Iraq and Syria threatened to end it. Anybody left there to lie to?
https://journal-neo.org/2020/01/28/the-nasty-secret-behind-aramco-isis-and-trump-in-syria/
Aramco-ISIS-Trump in Syria