Iraq to Receive Russian Military Helicopters

On June 18, an Iraqi military source confirmed that the air force command will receive “Alligator” combat helicopters from Russia in the coming period.

In a statement to Al-Monitor, the source, a senior Iraqi army officer, said that "the aircraft will be of the Ka-52 and Mi-28NE models from the French Le Bourget Air Show.”
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, explained, “The Iraqi air force command will get a new source of strength with the acquisition of this model of helicopter.”
The source continued, saying, “The new Russian aircraft, especially the Ka-52, are distinguished by their ability to lead a squadron of helicopters and play the role of the command post, which defines and assigns the goals of the squadron’s helicopters.”

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/06/iraq-army-helicopters-russia-military.html#ixzz2Wxsn6lfF

Iraqi official: 48 Syrians killed in attack in western Iraq

Baghdad (CNN) -- Some 48 Syrians, most of them soldiers, and nine Iraqi soldiers were killed Monday in an attack near the western Iraqi town of Ar Rutbah, an official said, raising concerns that Syria's civil war could spill over into Iraq.

The Syrian soldiers' convoy was ambushed by gunmen using roadside bombs and machine guns.

"From the beginning, we have warned that some militant groups want to move the conflict in Syria to Iraq," said Ali al-Mussawi, adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

"Militant groups are very active on the border areas between Iraq and Syria. Some of these groups affiliate with al Qaeda in Iraq," he added.

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Iraq PM Calls On U.S. To Speed Up Arms Deliveries

BAGHDAD— Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Oct. 18 called for Washington to speed up its delivery of weapons for Baghdad’s forces, barely a week after Iraq signed $4.2 billion in arms deals with Moscow.
Maliki’s remarks, published in a statement released by his office, came as he met U.S. Deputy Defence Secretary Ashton Carter in Baghdad and spoke of the “need for the Iraqi army to develop its defensive abilities to protect Iraq’s security and national sovereignty.”
He urged the United States to “speed up the arming of the Iraqi army with what they need in terms of defensive weapons that can protect the sovereignty of Iraq and its independence, and provide a deterrent towards any assault,” his office said.

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Iraq to Buy Czech Military Planes for $1 Billion

AP

Iraq has agreed to buy 28 Czech-made military airplanes in a deal worth $1 billion (€775 million), part of a broader effort by Baghdad to rebuild military capabilities destroyed during the U.S.-led invasion of the country, officials said Friday.
Iraq only has a few planes and is unable to defend its air space. The government has bought billions of dollars in tanks, fighter jets, ships and other weapons from the U.S. in recent years, but is now looking to forge military ties with other allies and nations, including Russia.

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Iraq buys $4.2 billion in Russian weapons: document

GORKI, Russia | Tue Oct 9, 2012 7:27am EDT

(Reuters) - Iraq has signed contracts to buy weapons from Russia worth more than $4.2 billion recently, according to a Russian government document issued on Tuesday at a meeting between Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
Russian President Vladimir Putin vocally opposed the U.S-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 but Moscow has since sought energy and arms deals with Baghdad and the contracts mean Iraq is now one of Russia's biggest weapons buyers.
The contracts were signed during visits to Russia by Iraq's acting defense chief in April, July and August, the document showed. It gave no further details.

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About That Red Team Report…

Michael Gordon's attempt to represent the August 2005 Red Team report as a missed opportunity to shorten the war is wishful thinking and not supported by the realities we were wrestling with in Iraq at that time. 

 The report was one of many Red Team reports chartered by me, and by the U.S. ambassadors and me, to provide us alternative views and to cause the U.S. civilian and military leadership in Iraq to come to grips with the difficult issues confronting the mission. These reports were one of many inputs the ambassador and I used to build our understanding of the environment and to shape our guidance to the U.S. Mission and Multinational Force. We used this particular report to help us shape a December 2005 joint statement of our mission for 2006, and to prepare a joint campaign plan that we issued in April 2006. We also used it as the impetus to implement a joint planning and assessment process that significantly improved our ability to integrate our efforts in 2006 and beyond. The idea that it was "ignored by generals" is not true. I didn't agree with all of it, but I did not ignore it. 

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More Attacked In Iraq

Iraqi Cities Struck By Wave Of Attacks

 

Enlarge Marwan Ibrahim/AFP/Getty Images

  Iraqis inspect the site of a blast near the state-owned North Oil Company, about nine miles from the northern city of Kirkuk Sunday.

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September 9, 2012

Insurgents killed at least 44 people in a wave of attacks against Iraqi security forces on Sunday, gunning down soldiers at an army post and bombing police recruits waiting in line to apply for jobs, officials said.
The violence, which struck at least 11 cities and also wounded nearly 240 people, highlighted militant attempts to sow havoc in the country and undermine the government.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks but security forces are a frequent target of al-Qaida's Iraq branch, which has vowed to reassert itself and take back areas it was forced from before U.S. troops withdrew from the country last year.

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131 Killed In Iraq During Ramadan

Al-Qaeda claims 131 attacks in Iraq during Ramadan

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  Citizens and security forces inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in Kirkuk, 290 kilometers north of Baghdad, Iraq, on Sept 7, 2012. (AP)
  

 

 BAGHDAD: Al-Qaeda’s front group, the Islamic State of Iraq, said it carried out 131 attacks in the holy month of Ramadan, a statement on the Honein jihadist forum said.
The ISI said the attacks in Diyala province and south of Baghdad were mainly against security forces and anti-Al-Qaeda militiamen, according to the statement posted on Friday.
Ramadan, which continued from July 21 through August 18, was an especially deadly time for Iraq, with more than 400 people killed in attacks country-wide, according to an AFP tally based on security and medical sources.

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Helping Hand - Iran-Syria Relation

Iran Supplying Syrian Military via Iraqi Airspace

 

Doug Mills/The New York Times

President Obama with Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq at a news conference at the White House last December.

WASHINGTON — Iran has resumed shipping military equipment to Syria over Iraqi airspace in a new effort to bolster the embattled government of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, according to senior American officials.  

The Obama administration pressed Iraq to shut down the air corridor that Iran had been using earlier this year, raising the issue with Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq. But as Syrian rebels gained ground and Mr. Assad’s government was rocked by a bombing that killed several high officials, Iran doubled down in supporting the Syrian leader. The flights started up again in July and, to the frustration of American officials, have continued ever since. 

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No End To Iraq Conflict

Eight dead in north Iraq attacks

Violence in Iraq is down dramatically from its peaks in 2006 and 2008, but attacks remain common -- 278 people were killed in August. (Reuters)

 

Bombings and shootings in northern Iraq, mostly targeting security forces, left eight people dead on Tuesday, including six soldiers and a police general, security and medical officials said.

In the deadliest attack, two near-simultaneous roadside bombs detonated as a military convoy was passing along the road between the town of Tuz Khurmatu, 175 kilometers (110 miles) north of Baghdad, and nearby Al-Adhaim.

The blasts killed six soldiers and wounded two others, according to a military intelligence officer and Dr. Mehdi Abdullah al-Bayati of Tuz Khurmatu hospital.

In the ethnically-mixed northern city of Kirkuk, gunmen killed a police adviser to the provincial council and wounded two of his bodyguards while they were in a shop, a police official and Sadiq Omar Rasul, head of the provincial health department, said.

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