Carter’s visit ….Iraq A double prisoner
In an unannounced visit on Monday, US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter arrived to Bagdad and met with Iraqi Prime Minister , Haider al-Abadi and Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi. He also met the President of the international coalition forces led by the United States, the Lit.General Sean MacFarland . The secret visit comes in the context of the international war against al Daash terrorist, and in preparation for the battle of Mosul. And the US Secretary of Defense telephoned the president of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, Massoud Barzani, in a move to emphasize that his country does not lay its eggs in the government basket alone, especially that of the Peshmerga forces have proven high capability in the face of Daash while the army and security forces are still in Baghdad depend heavily on the militia of ruling parties to resolve the situation on the ground in the face of Daash. The United States pledged to support the Kurdish Peshmerga in battling against Daash in Mosul of an aid amounting to $ 415 million.
It is worth to noted that a high-ranking US official and confidential visit of secretary of Defense Ashton Carter to Baghdad does not come unless there is a qualitative shift on the battlefield against al Daash terrorist and Perhaps this shift that precipitated the visit was that it came after two days of the restoration of Iraqi forces to control the Qayyarah air base south of the city of Mosul of the strategic importance, so the United States wanted to employ these restoration to serve its interests at the current stage and to foresee any dangerous Iranian step in the presence of militias of the “crowd” or “Revolutionary Guards” in the strategic command base. In this context, US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced in Baghdad that his country would send an additional 560 soldiers to Iraq to help in the fight against al Daash and get ready for the battle of Mosul. Which means, that Washington may share a limited number of troops in view of the difficult condition of it on condition not pushing the militias of “popular crowd” in it because of its practices and abuses in Iraq, especially in the aftermath of the battle of Fallujah. This is what was told to Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi by Ashton Carter, but he feared the occurrence of the Iraqi prime minister under Iranian pressure may cause to change the equation, with the insistence of private militias to participate on the grounds claiming that they would not enter Mosul and stay outside. With this new number of US troops deployed in Iraq, the number will rise to more than 4,600 element and most of them offer advice and are training Iraqi forces.
The visit comes to achieve several objectives, including persuading or forcing Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi, that allow advisers of his country who are in Iraq to get benefit from Qayyarah base,the most of the strategically location in the Battle of the restoration of Mosul . It is not unlikely that this situational demand turns into a standing order, especially in light of the continued flow of American advisers to Iraq, suggesting that the target is beyond the task of defeating Daash terrorist to a desire to the United States in the redeployment to Iraq and search for strategic locations to facilitate the work of the American military in the future. And it does not hide its fears from the Iranian military and intelligence presence in Iraq, especially as it has been welcomed by the National Alliance, which controls the central government in Baghdad.
The purpose of US from this visit to prevent Iran from the deployment its military “advisers” in strategically important locations, especially in Qayrrah which is the area of “cut” between geographical stretches coming from Iran up to the north-west in Iraq, where it contacts with Syria and Hezbollah forces there. And ignoring the Iranian intelligence stretch between Iraq and Syria to create a future problem for the Americans who are rushing now to return to Iraq under the cover of the war on Daash to prevent the full Iranian exclusivity of it.
The United States needs an advanced and intermediate base among its allies . Qayyarah provides an ideal place in the intersections of allied forces from the Kurds and the tribes in the national crowd (Sunni) and the Iraqi army. And Qayyarah base is away enough from the zones of traditional popular crowd Unlike Fallujah, where the likelihood of friction between the incoming US forces and Iranian-backed militia .Experts said that the selection of Qayyarah is also important because it is relatively free of the population, making the movement to and from is distant from the threats of the organizations that are nearby of Daash .
And it is consistent with this analysis what was announced by Asturn Carter when he told reporters ahead of his visit to Baghdad that the US forces would help Iraq in establishing a logistics center at the airport, which restored on Saturday by Iraqi forces out of the hands of militants of Islamic state regulation . Carter added that the center will be used to advance toward Mosul, the stronghold for militants of the Daash . Carter told reporters that “the goal is to establish a logistics center there, and there would be US logistical support .” The airport – according to what was said by Carter – “one of the centers that Iraqi forces , supported by us, consultation whenever it needed it, completing the encirclement of the South of Mosul fully. “it is understood from these statements that the United States will convert the Qayyarah base into a permanent US base in Iraq after Daash in the framework of conflict of influence on it.
The Qayyarah 58 kilometers south of Mosul is the largest base of strategic military bases. Al- Qayyarah base is a strategic place in the war on Daash in northern Salahuddin province down to the city of Mosul areas because of its strategic location and the nature of the role that it plays . Qayyarah base ( Air Force Saddam Base earlier) 16 km west of Qayyarah in Nineveh province and a 60 km south of Mosul, 330 km north of Baghdad, and near the road between Mosul and Baghdad.
Al – Qayyarah base has played an important role during the Iran – Iraq war , where it was home to squadron of Mirages and MiG-23 and MiG -25 (which are the latest Iraqi air force aircrafts at the time). and Qayyarah base was built late of seventies by the Yugoslavian companies within the project of giant bases to take advantage of the Arab wars with Israel , the lessons of 1967 and 1973, and was considered at the time the largest base in the Middle East.
the base comprises of the two runways of 3505 length m and 3596 m and approximately 33 fortified aircraft hangars spread in the base and there is a fence surrounded the base with a diameter of 20 km and with fence there is a green belt of trees surrounding the base to obscure the vision and confidentiality and security, as well as a residential area for workers in the base . the base was subject to intense bombardment during the 1991 Gulf War and after the invasion of 2003 , the US forces used the Base as a camp for it after the rebuilding of the runway and control tower and in 2010 handed over to Iraqi forces, and was one of the main air bases in Iraq, and remained used until 2010 when handed over to Iraqi forces, as it has become a base for the flight of the Iraqi army and and as a camp for it.
the base – west of Qayyarah , However was fallen to the hands of Daash in June 2014 after the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from it without a fight.
and the organization Daash took Qayyarah base a camp and a military base for it , as well as a prison, as it had been exposed during the control of Daash to intensive air raids by the Iraqi aviation and international coalition, and since just 2015 the organization started to sabotage the air base by the demolition of buildings and the sale of its ruins as materials of construction, as one of the merchants from Syria bought it from the organization and the transfer of construction materials and furniture to Syria . The retrieval of it can be taken as the basic military foothold south of Mosul for use in the operations of liberation of the city from the control of Daash.
The second objective of the visit of US Secretary of Defense for Iraq Ashton Carter comes to emphasize the desire of US President Barack Obama to end the battle of Mosul as soon as possible, in order to provide a great achievement for the potential president of the United States for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton, here she can start it with a convenient term as president in a sensitive file, such as Iraq. As it comes to strengthen Haider al-Abadi position after the decline in popularity following the bombing of Karrada and the terrorist suicide bombing that targeted Mohammed Hadi shrine in the district of Balad of Salahuddin province, and the willingness of the Sadrist movement and civil power to organize a demonstration, next Friday, against the government.
Iraq today gives us a picture just like what it was the case of the Arab poet Abu Ala Marri who was called by the description : A double prisoner( the hostage of two prisons) “blind and House”, thus Iraq is a double prisoner ( a hostage of two prisons ) ” the Iranian and American competition and conflict,” on it, which is in dire need since 2003 to the Arab role to save it from these two prisons. Before it’s too late.
Rawabet Research and Strategic Studies Center
