Fears of collapse of Iraqi state reignites debate over sacrifices made by Britain to topple Saddam Hussein

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In London David Cameron warned that Isis militants in Iraq and Syria were the "biggest threat to national security that exists today", as Britain announced plans to reopen its Tehran embassy, closed since an attack in 2011. William Hague, the foreign secretary, said the UK and Iranshared an interest in stability in the region. He also described talk of joint military action in Iraq as "far too ambitious and unrealistic".



The UK-Iranian rapprochement has been in the making for months following last year's Iranian election, President Hassan Rouhani's more conciliatory approach, and an interim agreement on Iran's civil nuclear programme. But it was given an urgent push by the need to try to involve Iran in stabilising Iraq.

 

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[h=1]US is now flying F-18 FIGHTER jets on 'surveillance' missions over Iraq after prime minister asked for air strikes[/h]

• US is describing the sorties as surveillance flights
• The aircraft are heavily armed fighter jets, however
• Iraq's prime minister has asked President Obama for air strikes to combat ISIS

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The United States began flying surveillance missions over Iraq in F-18 Super Hornet fighter jets on Wednesday, it emerged late in the afternoon.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has asked President Obama for air strikes against the Islamist offshoots of al-Qaeda who have been carving a wide swath through his country.
So far the White House has been unwilling to agree, but the surveillance missions mark the first declared U.S. flyovers since American troops left Iraq at the end of 2011.


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Surveillance plane? F-18 Super Hornets are attack aircraft, but the Pentagon is using them to fly 'surveillance' flights over Iraq

Reports first surfaced on Twitter from ABC, NBC and Fox News about the sorties, which are taking off and landing on the USS George H.W. Bush, an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf.
The Obama administration had already authorized 'manned and unmanned' surveillance flights, Fox News reported. But F-18s are not surveillance aircraft.

They are attack planes.
A U.S. official hinted to Fox that part of the strategy is to project strength by rolling out the big guns even on routine video and photo missions.
'It's not so much about looking as it is being seen,' the official said.
The White House told reporters on Wednesday afternoon that the president is still undecided about whether to commit military force to the country that once hosted 143,000 American servicemen and women.


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[ScottL]

Don't particularly like or dislike him. But he was spot on, and quite prescient in the article he authored about the enormous failure the surge was, and how a certain segment would try to blame Obama for that failed Policy years later.

He's a conspiracy theorist Jerkoff, so yeah I dislike him.

 

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Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has told the BBC that he hopes jets from Russia and Belarus will turn the tide against rebels in the coming days.
"God willing within one week this force will be effective and will destroy the terrorists' dens," he said.
He said that the process of buying US jets had been "long-winded" and that the militants' advance could have been avoided if air cover had been in place.

 

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Mr Maliki was speaking to the BBC's Arabic service in his first interview for an international broadcaster since Isis - the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant - began its major offensive.
"I'll be frank and say that we were deluded when we signed the contract [with the US]," Mr Maliki said.
"We should have sought to buy other jet fighters like British, French and Russian to secure the air cover for our forces; if we had air cover we would have averted what had happened," he went on.
He said Iraq was acquiring second-hand jet fighters from Russia and Belarus "that should arrive in Iraq in two or three days".



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Mr Maliki says Iraq has ordered Sukhoi fighter jets from Russia, possibly similar to the one pictured

 

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Analysis: Jim Muir, BBC News, Irbil, northern Iraq



So far, the Iraqi army has been unable to launch a strategic counter-offensive to drive the rebels back.
The addition of three Iranian-backed Shia militias to its forces in the field has added to the perception that this is a Shia army fighting to impose Shia rule on Sunni areas.
Its chances of re-conquering the lost ground appear very slight. And if it did, it would be crushing and further displacing Sunni populations to plant the state flag on the smoking ruins.
It's now taken for granted by most Iraqi politicians that the Sunnis have carved out their own area, and that things will never be the same.