Iraqi army wants continuing relationship with US

Washington Times:

A senior Iraqi military official says the Iraqi army wants to continue a long-term training relationship with the United States beyond the 2011 deadline for a U.S. troop withdrawal.

Gen. Nasier Abadi, vice chairman of Iraq's army, told The Washington Times that Iraqi commanders would welcome continued training by U.S. forces despite the withdrawal deadline set late last year.

Gen. Abadi said the relationship would depend on next year's Iraqi elections. "Depending on what the new elected government next year views, how it considers America, how it considers Iran, does it still want good relations with America or not, this will decide on whether they ask us what we need," he said.

But if the decision belonged to the Iraqi military leadership alone, he said, "the answer is yes, yes and yes."

U.S. military sales to Iraq and U.S. training are generally not topics of public discourse here. Iraqi officials have celebrated the transition from U.S. to Iraqi control as a victory for the nation's sovereignty.

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However, there are signs that even the Shi'ite political parties, which were the least comfortable with an American presence, may accede to any military request for a continued U.S. training relationship. Ammar al-Hakim, the leader of the powerful Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, told The Times in an interview that the U.S. Embassy had not formally raised the subject since the signing of the status-of-forces agreement and that such a decision was best left to military specialists.

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It sounds like they would like a relationship similar to that the US has with Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. It is one that makes sense to the both sides since Iraq is next door to one of the wackier governments in the world in Iran. It is like living next door to a paranoid schizophrenic. You never quite know when they are going off their meds and their rocker at the same time.