Obama: the use of our aircraft in Iraq is very limited
On: Wed, 01/02/2012 11:42


Baghdad / term
Played down President Barack Obama would use U.S. aircraft drone in Iraq, stressing that the program is very limited and focuses mainly on the protection of the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, as pointed out official U.S. grain of this solid that talks are under way to obtain permission for the current operations of drones in Iraq.

According to the agency Alsumaria News, Obama was speaking at a meeting to answer questions from users of YouTube and Google place on the Internet, "The truth is that we do not wage a range of drone attacks in Iraq, but we use some of the monitoring work to ensure the protection of compound our embassy."

The U.S. embassy in Baghdad, the largest embassies in the world and is home to about 16 thousand people between the diplomat and agent after the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

Obama said, "I think that there is a belief that we are we a bunch of strikes automatically, but it is important for everyone to realize that this is happening in a very limited scale."

The police sources have reported this weekend that the U.S. helicopter landed in an emergency landing in Haifa Street in central Baghdad because of technical malfunction, without monitoring of casualties or material damage, adding that the strength of a joint U.S. and Iraqi cordoned off the scene, while the delayed military aircraft, a second U.S. aircraft stalled. In turn, said a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Victoria Nuland said in a statement that "the Bureau of Diplomatic Security has a program for the use of small aircraft known vehicles unmanned aerial (U. Er. In) to take pictures of plants and American workers abroad," adding that "these vehicles to be used by external program is not armed and non-arm."

Noland declined to be drawn on the issue for the U.S. government on Iraq prior permission to send unmanned aircraft, saying only that "Washington has always consult closely with foreign governments on steps to protect U.S. diplomats."

In the context of the same newspaper reported, "New York Times", that "the U.S. State Department began to run some drones in Iraq last year on a trial basis and intensified their use after the completion of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq in December 2011," adding that it "infuriating senior Iraqi officials."

It quoted a senior U.S. official who asked not to be named, said that "discussions are under way to obtain permission for the current operations of drones in Iraq."

The newspaper said that "three senior Iraqi officials are an adviser to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Ali al-Musawi, and advisor to the Iraqi security Faleh Al-Fayad, and Deputy Interior Minister Adnan al-Asadi said in interviews that the Americans did not Esicirōhm," pointing out that al-Asadi said his opposition to the program and said, "our sky, our No king of the United States."

In addition to fly over facilities such as embassies, the UAV can be used to monitor the roads and the movement of U.S. diplomats while traveling within a country.

The newspaper added that "the operations of UAVs is another example of attempts by the U.S. State Department take over the tasks that the military operation in Iraq, where the 5 thousand members of the security companies to protect workers at the U.S. Embassy's 11 thousand and walking around in armored cars, and when Embassy staff moved across Iraq, flying drones over their cars in order to provide support in the event of an attack on them."

It is noted that when the U.S. military in Iraq was not to provide balloons surveillance sensors and flew over many cities, which had given the Americans the ability to control is greater than the capacity of aircraft is armed operate without a pilot and that the army was used, but they disappeared after the withdrawal of troops U.S. last year. In preparation for that, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work on its own operations, which include drones.

https://www.almadapaper.net/news.php?action=view&id=58889