Arab News Blog

“As the United States withdraws the last of its 50,000 troops after a nearly nine-year military occupation of Iraq, visiting Iraqi President Nuri al-Maliki had one final request: billions of dollars worth of US weapons for his rag-tag armed forces.  A longstanding Soviet and later Russian ally, Iraq under former president Saddam Hussein never had an ongoing military relationship with the United States.  Now, Iraq is gradually abandoning its huge arsenal of primarily Russian and French equipment in favor of US arms.   At a White House meeting on Monday, Maliki was assured a second batch of 18 sophisticated F-16 fighter planes to help“. (thanks Krim)