The following interview with Iraq's ambassador to the United States, Lukman Fally, was conducted June 26 by Andrew Parasiliti, editor in chief of AI-Monitor.
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Al-Monitor: The New York Times reports today that Iran is
flying drones in Iraq and supplying military equipment to Iraq. Does the Iraqi
government expect further military support from Iran? What is the nature of the
Iraqi request for assistance to Iran?
Faily: As you know, we have a major challenge facing our
military capabilities to deal with the ongoing offensive from ISIS, which does
mean that we need to revamp our military capabilities, and in that aspect of
it, Iraq is relying on the US to provide that capability. If that capability is
unable to be fulfilled in dealing with the urgency we have on the ground,
unfortunately that means that 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.
Al-Monitor: Do you expect Iran to provide more support?
Would they provide troops at any point?
Faily: We know that the Iranians are anxious; they are
worried themselves, because ISIS were for a while on their borders in the
Diyala province, so to them that is an immediate threat to their national
security. We also appreciate that the common fight against terrorism has to be
a regional and a global one. The United States and Iraq can work together, we
welcome that, we would like to work with all three in our combat against
terrorism.
Al-Monitor: Nickolay Mladenov, the (UN) secretary-general’s
special representative in Iraq, yesterday called for a military complement to a
political solution in Iraq. Al-Monitor broke the news Wednesday that Iraq has
submitted a letter to the UN secretary-general requesting military equipment
and logistical assistance. Could you please explain in more detail the nature
of your request, and your expectations for support from the international
community?
Faily: The threat we face is a regional threat. It will
destabilize the region if not the globe in relation to geopolitics and in
relation to, for example, the supply of petrol for the world economy. That is
because of the richness of Iraq and the geographical position of Iraq. In a way
we feel like it has to be an international response; we have provided the
letter, highlighting that we are under an aggression from ISIS and that we seek
international support. The US and other have asked us to approach the UN as
part of their better understanding of the scale and for Iraq to say that we are
seeking international support. Not to make the support only bilateral, but to
make it a multilateral situation. And this is more or less the core of it.
The UN understands the urgency of the situation they have
their representative on the ground, so he has a good understanding of that and
we are more or less providing an opportunity for the international community to
support Iraq.
Al-Monitor: Syrian planes attacked ISIS positions in or
around the Iraqi border town of Al Qaim this week. Does Iraq welcome this
action as assistance from Syria against ISIS? Does Iraq consider itself allies
with Syria against ISIS?
Faily: The situation as you know is crucial and any air
supremacy support provided to Iraq will surely have a significant effect. That
to us is a key game changer. That is why we have been asking the US for over a
year now for Apache helicopters to provide us with air supremacy.
Unfortunately, at that time, if we had that capability, ISIS would not have
provided a threat. They had camps, they were in deserts, they were outside
residential areas and there would not have been any collateral damage and so
on. Because that was not provided, unfortunately now we are in the position
where we are saying that anybody’s support would be welcome here with the
immediate threat to our survival.
We have had offers from the Syrians before and we declined
them. But it seems that the support that we sought from the US is not coming in
a timely manner to deal with our urgency, which is more or less putting us in
an uncomfortable position in seeking support from whoever is available on the
ground.
Al-Monitor: In these strikes, did Syria offer or did you
request its assistance?
Faily: Whatever offer we get in dealing with ISIS we will
certainly look at it in a favorable way.
Al-Monitor: You mentioned that this war is a regional
security challenge. Would Iraq support a regional security arrangement, among
neighbors of Syria and Iraq? How would that fit with President Obama’s call for
ramping up counterterrorism cooperation?
Faily: Terrorism is a theme in the region now. Sectarianism
is becoming a theme in the region and they are complementing each other. ISIS
are not Sunnis but they are wearing the clothes of the Sunnis, projecting to
the world that they represent Sunnis but we know for a fact that they don't. In
addition to that, the geopolitical importance of the Middle East in Syria and
Iraq and elsewhere is too important to be dealt with internally in itself and
it is too crucial, for example, (that) the Europeans, who are just on the other
side of the shore, for them to be a standby for NATO or for the US and even the
UN, so this is why we see that it is a regional problem, as much as Syria has
been a regional problem for the last three years which hasn’t been addressed.
Iraq is becoming that problem as well, unfortunately.
To the Americans, every day they are looking at both as one
theater because of that urgency. We have an immediate challenge ourselves and
we think that regional powers have to discuss the threat because of more or
less the zero-sum theme in the region that is not helping anybody. We expect to
have more cooperation in this. Regional powers could provide a win-win approach
to the situation. So we don’t see why shouldn’t the Iranians and the Turks and
the Saudis and the Iraqis and the Jordanians and others, and the Lebanese and
others have a serious discussion as to how we can carve off this tumor in our
body. That is what we are talking about. It can engulf the whole region, nobody
is immune — all countries in the region are fragile to this situation. I would
say even European countries are fragile from jihadists going back to their
homeland or going back to the United States. That’s why we are saying this is a
regional issue.
Al-Monitor: You were in Baghdad this week when Secretary of
State John Kerry met with Prime Minister Maliki and other Iraqi leaders. Are
you pleased with the extent of US political and military support for Iraq at
this stage? What messages are you carrying in your meetings with US policy
makers?
Faily: Iraq is a democratic country. We recently had a
democratic, fair election. The US is our strategic partner of choice. We have a
strategic framework agreement with the US. Our current situation is an
important acid test to the strength of that relationship between the two
countries. Serious questions are being asked back home as to how much support
will the US provide to a democratic government who is under an aggression from
an international terrorist organization. That question is still pending. Sec.
Kerry and other officials have highlighted and have specifically said that they
will provide help and support. However the serious questions are related to the
sense of urgency in providing us support. We understand that there are
processes in the US that have to be followed. We welcome that but we also know
that the situation on the ground may not allow for a long protracted
methodological process of decision making in the US because of the urgency on
the ground.
That is the key question. A lot of people in different
positions in government in addition to the people of Iraq are asking us, would
the US support a democratically elected government in this war of aggression by
an international terrorist organization? That is a serious question for the US
to answer.
Al-Monitor: What is Iraq’s position on Turkey’s role in the
current crisis? Has it done enough to close its borders to ISIS infiltration?
Faily: We think that as I said before, no one is immune from
the tumor of terrorism in that region. We have suffered from it before, Turkey
has suffered from it. We hope that they feel the need for strong collaboration
in addressing that common threat. At this moment, we think that there is an
opportunity for Turkey to work closely with us, as much as there is an
opportunity for Saudi Arabia to work closely with us. To repel, to put an end
to this sense of injustice in Iraq that we feel that our neighbors do not
appreciate that situation. We are not under normal circumstances. We certainly
need to be supported in an unusual way, rather than in just a normal way of
saying well this is an internal Iraqi situation, this is not an internal Iraqi
situation, this is a regional threat.
Al-Monitor: You mentioned Saudi Arabia. Prime Minister
Maliki last week lashed out at Saudi Arabia saying the kingdom was “responsible
for supporting these groups financially and morally, and for the outcome of
that which includes crimes that may qualify as genocide.” This was a very
strong statement. Based on what you said, is this being modified a bit to
encourage cooperation?
Faily: What we are saying is that we thought for a length of
time that we should approach the UN. We have asked that [because of] the
terrorist attacks on Iraq. This recent one and for the last few years should be
considered as genocide, because of the viciousness of 30-60 car bombs a month
in populated areas. So that is what we are talking about when we talk about
genocide.
That is one area which we think regional players, both who
have borders and can secure their side of the border, can significantly help
us. So we know for a fact that there are jihadists from all walks of life from
different countries in Iraq, so we know that there hasn’t been enough done from
our neighbors to try to help us in our fight against terrorism. And let me
repeat that no one is immune from it. If our neighbors think that this can be
contained in Iraq, then unfortunately they need to relook at the history and
relook at the core ideology of these terrorist organizations; they are transnational.
And they will not be confined within Iraq.
Al-Monitor: In his meeting with Secretary Kerry this week,
Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani referred to “new realities” in Iraq.
Those new realities include the Kurdistan region exporting oil via Turkey,
which is opposed by the Iraqi government, and seizing Kirkuk this month after
ISIS moved into Iraq. What is the state of the negotiations and politics
between Baghdad and Erbil at this point? How do you expect these issues to be
resolved?
Faily: At this moment there is a pause in the negotiations
because of the immediate threat on the ground. So we have a common enemy and we
are trying to work together to address that common enemy. Other issues such as
oil, or others, are put on the side for now. These issues will be addressed as
part of the negotiation for the government formation and following that. So we
will look at those issues at that time as to the oil and other issues.
The Kirkuk situation is part of the constitution, so that
has to be addressed. What we say in central government is that the KRG and
others are under an important juncture in their relationship with the central
government. We, all Iraqis, have voted for a constitution which talks about
Iraq as one. The constitution, we think, should be applied for all; until that
constitution is changed, everybody, including the KRG, should play their part
based on the constitution which they have signed. That is the current status.
Al-Monitor: When you say the current crisis now is focused on
the terrorist threat and there topics are differed, is Baghdad pleased with the
extent of Kurdish cooperation at this point?
Faily: We think that there are areas for further
cooperation. There is certainly a sense of urgency; we highlight that no one is
immune from it and we have also said that we need to work together to repel
this tumor in our body. For example, areas where sensitive minorities live —
such as in Ninevah valley — these are Christians and other type of minorities
who are immediately, and to be honest, they are already being adversely
impacted by this aggression such as by ethnic cleansing and other
displacements; abuses to minorities are taking place by ISIS. And we think that
the KRG government should work closely with our central government in trying to
minimize the impact and to bring some normality to the lives of those
minorities, because they do feel that they are under immediate threat of
survival and not just to their identity.
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Andrew Parasiliti, Iraq's ambassador to US: War with ISIS 'acid test' of US-Iraq ties, AI -Monitor, June 26, 2014.
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