Iraq’s ambassador to US: war with ISIS 'acid test' of US-Iraq ties
Lukman Faily, Iraq’s ambassador to the United States, says that in light of the urgency of the Iraq crisis, “we will not be in a position to choose our partners and whoever is available to help us in our survival war, then we will take that.”
Iraq’s ambassador to the United States said June 26 that his country’s preference is to rely on US military assistance to battle the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS).
Asked about reports of Iranian drone flights and provisions of military equipment to Iraq, as well as Syrian airstrikes on ISIS forces inside Iraq, Ambassador Lukman Faily, who met with Al-Monitor at his office in Washington, said that if US military aid is not forthcoming, “we will not be in a position to choose our partners and whoever is available to help us in our survival war, then we will take that.”
Faily, who was in Baghdad for US Secretary of State John Kerry’s meetings with Iraqi leaders this past week, said many Iraqis are asking if the United States will “support a democratically elected government in this war of aggression by an international terrorist organization.”
Iraq’s ambassador, who was born in Baghdad and completed the April 2014 Boston marathon, said that Baghdad is desperate for air support in its battle with ISIS.
