Baghdad ‘open to US military aid’

Baghdad: Iraq is open to greater American military cooperation as US commanders explore ways to boost security assistance to the country, a top Iraqi official said Thursday as a fresh wave of bombings claimed 16 lives.

The Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Martin Dempsey, has recommended that American commanders look for ways to help improve the military capabilities of Iraq and Lebanon, which both face the risk of spillover from the civil war in neighbouring Syria.

Dempsey said Wednesday that the assistance would not involve sending US combat troops, but could involve the US sending in training teams and accelerating sales of weapons and equipment.

The last American combat troops left Iraq in December 2011, ending a nearly nine-year war that cost more than 100,000 Iraqi lives.

About 100 military and civilian US Department of Defence personnel remain in Iraq as an arm of the American Embassy to act as liaisons with the Iraqi government and facilitate arms sales. The US has similar offices in other countries.

Ali Al Moussawi, the media adviser for Iraqi prime minister Nouri Al Maliki, said that Baghdad would welcome increased arms sales and faster weapons deliveries along with US training teams to help it confront rising regional instability and terrorist threats.

“We welcome this kind of cooperation and we consider it a part of the existing agreement between us,” Al Moussawi said when asked about Dempsey’s comments.

“Because of the high risks the region faces, I think there should be bigger cooperation and coordination between all countries threatened by terrorism.”

Iraq is struggling to contain a resurgent Al Qaida that is one of the main drivers behind the country’s worst uptick in violence in half a decade. More than 2,000 people have been killed in car bombings and other violent attacks in Iraq since the start of April.