Reuters/Stringer – think IN pictures @1WORLD Community)
SitiWanMahani - 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.
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