photo:mail.com
Newly appointed Secretary of State, John Kerry, is poised to request that Iraq exercise better scrutiny of the flights that carry arms to the Assad regime from Iran.
So far, Iraq has declined to honor requests from the US government to inspect or even halt flights that are suspected to furnish the Assad regime with new weapons since the beginning of the civil war.
Kerry, in order to bring Iraq's attention to the plight of the Syrian opposition is putting pressure on Iraq by pointing to the US support of the Iraqi people through financial and strategic help, which could be cut if they continue to support Iran's initiative to bolster the Assad regime.
While Iraq's Maliki insists that the flights over and through its territory are for humanitarian reason, US intelligence points to the unusual frequency of flights, which are now almost daily, that would inevitably lead to the belief that they are in fact re-armament flights.
Kerry also tried to highlight the role Iraq would have in a post-Assad future, if it monitors and curbs the flights from Iran.
Kerry is also trying to convince Al Maliki to work with the Sunni and Kurdish minorities and to share power with them.
The Iraq invasion has inverted the role of Muslim sects in power in the government when Hussein's Sunni Baath party was ousted completely in favor of majority representation by the new Shia government.
Iraq is in the middle of a wave of sectarian violence, and its internecine fighting has all but erased the gains, and influence once enjoyed by the US administration.
In fact, the controversial Baghdad US Embassy, a behemoth that has cost a vast amount of money, has gone from a staff of 16,000 to a reduced staff of 5,000, of which only 1,000 are from the Diplomatic Corps while the rest serve as security staff.
Source: washpost 3.24.13
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