Reuters/Stringer – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)
JohnnyAdam – Ketika
Iraq risiko jatuh lebih jauh ke dalam keganasan mazhab, Amerika Syarikat sedang
mempertimbangkan latihan beberapa pasukan elit negara tentera di jiran Jordan,
menurut laporan oleh Reuters.
Sejak
pejuang dari Negara Islam Al-Qaeda-gabungan Iraq dan Levant menawan bandar
barat Fallujah, Amerika Syarikat telah mencari jalan alternatif untuk membantu
tentera Iraq menstabilkan negara tanpa meletakkan tentera sendiri di atas
tanah.
Menurut
seorang pegawai pertahanan Amerika yang tidak mahu namanya, latihan keten-teraan
bagi tentera Iraq di Jordan adalah satu kemungkinan tersebut.
“Terdapat
perbincangan tentang perkara ini, dan Jordan adalah termasuk di dalam
perbincangan,” kata pegawai itu kepada Reuters, walaupun ia tidak jelas siapa
yang akan menjalankan operasi latihan.
Sudah,
Setiausaha Negara John Kerry telah menolak kemungkinan anggota tentera Amerika
Syarikat ‘reappearing’ di tanah Iraq.
“Ini
adalah perjuangan yang dimiliki oleh rakyat Iraq,” kata Kerry baru-baru ini. “Kami
tidak, jelas, menimbang kembali. Kami tidak menimbang meletakkan but di atas
tanah. Ini adalah perjuangan mereka, tetapi kita akan membantu mereka dalam
perjuangan mereka.”
US considers training Iraqi elite military
forces in Jordan
As Iraq
risks falling even further into sectarian violence, the United States is
considering training some of the country’s elite military forces in neighboring
Jordan, according to a report by Reuters.
Since
fighters from the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
captured the western city of Fallujah, the US has been seeking alternative ways
to help Iraqi forces stabilize the country without putting its own troops on
the ground.
According
to an American defense official who wished to remain anonymous, military
training for Iraqi forces in Jordan is one such possibility.
"There
is discussion about this, and Jordan is included in the discussions," the
official told Reuters, though it’s unclear exactly who would run the training
operations.
Already,
Secretary of State John Kerry has ruled out the possibility of US military
personnel reappearing on Iraqi soil.
“This is
a fight that belongs to the Iraqis,” Kerry said recently. “We are not,
obviously, contemplating returning. We are not contemplating putting boots on
the ground. This is their fight, but we’re going to help them in their fight.”
Tentera Iraq memeriksa pangkal kenderaan di sebuah
tempat pemeriksaan di barat Baghdad, Januari 8, 2014 (Reuters/Ahmed Saad – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)
Sebaliknya,
awal minggu ini Amerika Syarikat memutuskan untuk mempercepatkan
peng-hantarannya peluru berpandu Hellfire dan pesawat pengawasan ke Iraq, dengan
harapan untuk meningkatkan kuasa ketenteraan dengan kehadiran udara yang
sedikit dan keupa-yaan pengawasan terhad. Sebagai RT melaporkan pada bulan
Disember, Amerika Syarikat telah membekalkan Iraq dengan pakej 75 peluru
berpandu Hellfire dan 10 pesawat peninjauan ScanEagle.
Di
tempat lain, bagaimanapun, ahli parlimen telah menolak keras. Walaupun
permintaan untuk helikopter Apache oleh Perdana Menteri Iraq Nuri al-Maliki,
Kongres telah ditangguhkan jualan itu seperti yang beberapa ahli parlimen
menyatakan kebimbangan senjata akan digunakan bukan sahaja untuk melawan
pemberontak, tetapi juga untuk menghukum dan mundur memukul pesaing politik dan
mazhab.
Maliki,
yang Syiah yang dikuasai kerajaan telah diberi milik minoriti Sunni Iraq, telah
menghantar surat kepada Kongres mengisytiharkan hasratnya untuk menggunakan
helikopter hanya semasa operasi kaunter-keganasan, tetapi kandungannya masih
dalam kajian.
Instead,
earlier this week the US decided to accelerate its shipments of Hellfire
missiles and surveillance drones to Iraq, hoping to bolster a military force
with little air presence and limited surveillance capability. As RT reported in
December, the US has already supplied Iraq with a package of 75 Hellfire
missiles and 10 ScanEagle reconnaissance drones.
Elsewhere,
however, lawmakers have balked. Despite requests for Apache helicopters by
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Congress has delayed the sale as several
lawmakers express concern the weapons would be used not only to fight off
insurgents, but also to punish and beat back political and sectarian rivals.
Maliki,
whose Shiite-dominated government has alienated Iraq’s Sunni minority, has sent
a letter to Congress declaring his intention to use the helicopters only during
counter-terror operations, but its contents are still under review.
Perdana Menteri Iraq Nuri al-Maliki (Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (Reuters/Yuri
Gripas – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)
“Mereka
telah diadakan oleh kami sehingga kami mendapat penilaian yang lebih menyeluruh
tentang bagaimana dia bergerak ke hadapan dan bagaimana dia akan melibatkan
diri minoriti Sunni,” kata Pengerusi Senat Jawatankuasa Hubungan Luar Bob
Menendez (D-NJ). “Oleh itu, kita sedang mengkaji semula surat itu dan yang
dengan baik boleh menjadi proses di mana kita akan mempertimbangkan beberapa
orang-orang jualan.”
Makan di
luar sentimen anti-Syiah, Negara Islam Iraq dan Levant telah dapat merekrut
penyokong di rantau barat negara dan mewujudkan kehadiran di seluruh wilayah
Anbar. Berikutan pertempuran yang mengakibatkan lebih 100 mati minggu lepas,
pemberontak menawan bandar Fallujah dan mengumumkan penubuhan sebuah negara
Islam.
Sebagai
tindak balas, tentera Iraq telah menggunakan kereta kebal dan artileri untuk
Anbar kerana ia bersedia untuk melancarkan serang-balas dengan harapan retaking
bandar. Pada hari Rabu, Maliki menggesa lawannya melepaskan kawalan Fallujah,
merayu mereka yang “terjebak untuk menjadi sebahagian daripada mesin keganasan
yang diketuai oleh Al-Qaeda untuk kembali kepada sebab.” Beliau berjanji untuk “membuka
halaman baru” bagi menyelesaikan rasa tidak puas hati perlu bercanggah akhir
tanpa sebarang pertarungan.
Menurut
Persatuan Bulan Sabit Merah Iraq, lebih daripada 13,000 keluarga telah
meninggalkan bandar menjelang apa yang boleh menjadi pertempuran berdarah.
“Those
have been held by us until we got a more comprehensive assessment of how he’s
moving forward and how he’s going to engage the Sunni minority,” said Senate
Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D-NJ). “So we are reviewing
that letter and that may very well be the process by which we will consider
some of those sales.”
Feeding
off anti-Shia sentiment, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has been able
to recruit supporters in the country's western region and establish a presence
throughout Anbar province. Following a battle that left more than 100 dead last
week, insurgents captured the city of Fallujah and announced the creation of an
Islamic state.
In
response, the Iraqi army has deployed tanks and artillery to Anbar as it
prepares to mount a counter-offensive in the hopes of retaking the city. On
Wednesday, Maliki urged his opponents to relinquish control of Fallujah,
imploring those who were “lured to be part of the terrorism machine led by Al-Qaeda
to return to reason.” He promised to “open a new page” in order to settle
grievances should conflict end without a fight.
According
to the Iraqi Red Crescent, more than 13,000 families have already left the city
ahead of what could be a bloody battle.
READ MORE: http://on.rt.com/vhmcq8
