"Knowledge is FREE!"

[RyNo_23]

This is exactly what we get for being a pussy nation. From the get go we should of told Maliki "Look Dick we put you in power and if you want to survive/prosper while in power then you will play by our rules". Pretty freaking simple, but no we merely make suggestions and as a so called super power to me that is pathetic.

http://www.stripes.com/news/us/kerry-warns-maliki-but-iraq-won-t-stop-iran-overflights-1.213205

Kerry warns Maliki but Iraq won’t stop Iran ‘overflights’

BAGHDAD — U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry pressed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki on Sunday to stop Iran from flying arms across Iraqi territory to the beleaguered Syrian regime, but found him unwilling to give ground.

In a visit to Baghdad that was not announced in advance, Kerry told Maliki that the almost daily flights have become a lifeline for Syrian President Bashar Assad that is undermining the efforts of the United States and allies to negotiate the departure of Assad and an end to the 2-year-old Syrian civil war. And Kerry warned that many in the United States are wondering how, after Americans “have tried so hard to be helpful” in rebuilding post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, the country could stand in its way.

“The overflights from Iran are, in fact, helping to sustain Assad,” Kerry said after the meeting, which he described as “spirited.”

But Maliki repeated Iraq’s view that there is no proof that the cargo is arms, rather than humanitarian aid as the Iranians contend. Kerry was left to say that he will gather more information to prove his point.

The overflights have become an increasingly important issue for the Obama administration, which believes they have reinforced Assad’s desire to stand and fight even as his military fortunes crumble.

Vice President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other U.S. officials have unsuccessfully pressed Iraq to halt the flights, or at least begin ground inspections of the Iranian cargo.

“The number of flights shows that they can’t possibly be humanitarian flights,” said a senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing diplomatic sensitivity.

The Shiite-dominated Iraqi government, which worries that it could be targeted next if Sunni rebel fighters sweep Assad from power, has conducted only two inspections since last year in response to U.S. pressure. Both of them revealed only humanitarian aid, it says.

Some in Congress are outraged. At a House hearing last week, lawmakers told the U.S. ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, that the United States should slap Iraq with unspecified “consequences” for acting as an arms conduit for the Iranians.

U.S. officials say they have no plans to penalize the Iraqis. Instead, they are offering them the incentive of a “seat at the table” in future international negotiations over the fate of Syria if Iraq cooperates in halting the arms traffic. U.S. officials say this will give Iraq far more influence over the future of its neighbor to the west.

They warn that the war is already spilling across the border in ways that threaten Iraq. The senior official said al-Qaida militants recently attacked a column of Syrian soldiers who had drifted across the border into Iraq. And there are reports of collaboration between al-Qaeda and al-Nusra Front, a militant Islamist opposition group in Syria.

“That kind of thing easily gets out of hand and can threaten ... Maliki and the Shiites in Iraq,” the official said.

The Obama administration has a list of worries about the direction of the Iraqi government but lacks the leverage it had when thousands of troops and billions of dollars in U.S aid flowed into the country.

Though Kerry praised the progress the country has made toward stability and prosperity, he also warned Iraqi leaders that they must overcome the differences that still divide its Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.

He pushed Maliki to reconsider a decision to delay upcoming April elections in the two Sunni-dominated provinces of Anbar and Nineveh. Maliki said Sunni demonstrations made it unsafe for election workers.

But in U.S. officials’ view, the delay would only further alienate Iraq’s Sunnis, who already feel they have too little control over the government, which they dominated in the days of Hussein. The delay of the election “is a serious blow to enfranchisement,” said the senior administration official.

Kerry said after the meeting with Maliki that the Iraqi Cabinet would reconsider the decision.

Kerry also met with parliamentary Speaker Usama Nujaifi and spoke by telephone with Massoud Barzani, president of the semiautonomous Kurdistan regional government.