By Jay Solomon
WASHINGTON--Iraq is requesting the accelerated delivery of
pledged U.S. military support, particularly Apache helicopters,
F-16 fighters and surveillance equipment, to help Prime Minister
Nouri Maliki's government push back radical Islamist fighters who
have claimed large sections of western Iraq in recent days.
Iraq's ambassador to the U.S., Lukman Faily, said in an
interview Wednesday his government is concerned Washington and
other Western governments aren't fully aware of the imminent threat
posed by the Islamist militia, called the Islamic State of Iraq and
al-Sham, to global security.
"What we are saying is that there needs to be a sense of
urgency," Mr. Faily said in Washington. "We now expect the U.S. to
appreciate this sense of urgency."
Iraq's government has contracted with U.S. defense contractors
for the delivery of 36 F-16 jets made by Lockheed Martin Corp. and
dozens of Boeing Co.'s Apache helicopters. But their delivery to
Iraq is still seen as months away, and it could take much longer
for the Iraqi military to begin using them.
U.S. lawmakers for a time blocked the Apache sales over concerns
that Mr. Maliki's government wasn't doing enough to stanch the flow
of Iranian arms into Syria. But that block has since been
lifted.
"What we need, we should have had yesterday," Mr. Lukman
said.
The State Department said this week that its point man on Iraq,
Brett McGurk, is currently in Baghdad discussing with government
officials what additional military support the U.S. can provide. In
recent months, Washington has shipped ammunition, Hellfire missiles
and surveillance equipment to the Iraqi military on what officials
call an "expedited" basis.
"You can expect that we will provide additional assistance to
the Iraqi government to combat the threat from [ISIS], State
Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Wednesday. "But I'm not in a
position to outline that further at this point."
Mr. Lukman said anything short of assisting Iraq in developing
air power might not be enough to stem the tide of ISIS's advances
in western Iraq. "Ammunition, Hellfire missiles, surveillance
equipment...these are not game-changers," he said. "We need
game-changers."
Write to Jay Solomon at jay.solomon@wsj.com
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