John Kerry: US troop deployment to Iraq is not intervention--Calls on Kurds to Stand With Baghdad

Last edited Wed Jun 25, 2014, 03:59 PM - Edit history (1)

John Kerry: US troop deployment to Iraq is not intervention
US secretary of state calls on Kurds to stand with Baghdad as battle with Isis for Baiji oil refinery continues
Spencer Ackerman, Guardian

Kerry said after the Baghdad meetings that all the leaders agreed to start the process of forming a new government by 1 July, which will advance a constitutionally required timetable for distributing power among Iraq's political blocs, divided by sect and ethnicity. Barzani's support is key to solving the crisis. Kurds represent about 20% of Iraq's population and usually vote as a unified bloc.

Kerry, in a series of Tuesday interviews, did not indicate any imminent airstrikes. His primary focus is to urge Iraqi leaders to form a government with sufficient Sunni support that can capitalize on any military setbacks dealt to Isis, something Kerry said was "happening very rapidly right now."

While the initial wave of 130 advisers out of up to 300 expected may not engage in direct combat, their impending arrival in Iraq kicks off a deeper US involvement in Iraq's crisis. They are a vanguard, involved not only in designing and aiding a defense of Baghdad against Isis currently led by Iran, but gathering situational intelligence to supplement the aerial surveillance of Sunni Iraqi territory seized by the jihadist army, and potentially spotting for US air strikes.

The Pentagon has been tight-lipped about what equipment the "advisory" teams will bring, but Kirby has said they will be armed and possess the right to defend themselves. Iraq has granted them diplomatic assurances about their legal protections from local courts, Kirby said, clearing their entry into Baghdad. A lack of such assurances prompted the 2011 US troop withdrawal.

Kirby described the special operators' mission as "limited" and "short-term," obviating the need for a formal legal arrangement. "It's not meant to be a long-term permanent mission," he said.

While consistently declaring that the US will neither choose a new Iraqi leader nor oust Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whom US officials consider a failure despite the US helping install him in 2006, Kerry suggested that the air strikes Iraq desires will not occur before a new government takes power.

"If the President were to just make some decision to strike here or there, there's no backup, there's no 'there' there in the Iraqi government, it could be completely wasted. It's not a pathway to victory. So what you need to do first is get the government formation done here in Iraq," he told CBS' Margaret Brennan.

Continued at...

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/24/john-kerry-urges-kurdish-leaders-to-back-iraqi-government