Senior US official: Al-Maliki to blame for events in Iraq

“The Iraqi armed forces laid down their arms in the Sunni city of Mosul because they were uncertain of Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki’s government’s unfair treatment of the people of the city,” Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey, said.

This came at a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee in the US Senate in Washington yesterday.

Dempsey continued: “The Iraqi army’s performance was bad in the north, inside and around Mosul, where ISIS gained the foothold and persuaded the Sunni leaders of this.”

The surrender of the army also came “as a result of the army leaders joining ISIS, for in the absence of leaders in a military formation, soldiers will not stay to see what happens next.”

Dempsey continued by saying that the Iraqi government asked for US air support to repel advancing forces of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), who have already seized a number of cities in northern Iraq.

He added: “We have a request from the Iraqi government to get the air force”, without giving further details.

When Dempsey was asked whether Washington will provide the support requested he replied: “It is in our national security interest to face ISIS, wherever we find them.”

He added: “ISIS have intentions to attack Western interests. There is a significant risk should ISIS seize the land stretching from Aleppo [northern Syria] to the Iraqi capital Baghdad.”

Dempsey pointed out that “Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, who heads ISIS, was a former prisoner at the Guantanamo camp, taken by the headquarters of the American forces in Basra [southern Iraq] to detain and investigate as a suspect involved in terrorism.”

In the same meeting, the US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said: “I don’t think we can assign blame to the US for this. It’s located primarily on the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), and the government, which did not succeed in forming a government of national unity.”

Hegel said: “The situation on the ground in Iraq threatens our interests and the interests of the Gulf and Iran. Everyone is threatened.”

Over the past week, several cities in northern Iraq have fallen. In the forefront are Mosul and Tikrit, which have fallen into the hands of armed Sunni groups, led by ISIS, after the withdrawal of army troops, in a move which some tribal Sunni leaders consider a “popular Sunni revolution against and oppressive sectarian government under the Shia Al-Maliki,” whilst authorities claim that these are “attacks from terrorist groups”.