Iraq makes first payment for US F-16s

[jeepguy]

Iraq has made the first payment in a deal to buy 18 F-16 warplanes worth a total of about $3 billion from the United States, the US State Department has said.

"These aircraft are going to help provide air sovereignty for Iraq and to protect its territory," Victoria Nuland, a State Department spokeswoman, said on Tuesday.

"They also, as a significant military sale between us, are a symbol of the commitment that we've made to the Iraqi government to have a long-term strategic partnership between the United States and Iraq," Nuland said.

Ali Mussawi, a media advisor to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, confirmed the deal, though he did not give details on a potential delivery date, or how much of an initial payment Iraq had made.

Ali al-Dabbagh, a spokesman for the Iraqi government, said that $1.4 billion had already been transferred as a partial payment.

Iraq and the US had been close to reaching a deal on the fighter jets earlier this year, but Baghdad re-routed $900 million earmarked for the purchase to a welfare programme amid nationwide protests.

Maliki announced in August that Iraq was looking at the purchase of 36 jets, rather than the previously proposed 18.

Ten Iraqi pilots are already training on the fighter in the United States and their instruction could be completed before the delivery of the first planes to Baghdad, General Russ Handy, head of US air forces in Iraq, said on September 14.

'Game-changer'

The F-16s aren't expected to arrive in Iraq until next fall at the earliest, and more likely not until 2013 - meaning US troops may still be asked to patrol the country's skies and train its air force for months, if not years, to come.

US Army Lt. Gen. Michael Ferriter, however, called the F-16 deal "a game-changing capability".

"It provides the basis for their air sovereignty," Ferriter told reporters in his Baghdad office.

Iraq has said its air force is not ready to protect its air space alone, and the country's top-ranked military officer last year said US help may be needed until 2020.

Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq's foreign minister, told the Associated Press news agency in an interview on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York that the importance of the deal is "for the world to know that Iraq is an ally of the United States in the region".

Al-Dabbagh, the Iraqi government spokesman, cited a recent push to revive the F-16 deal "because the country's security is important, and the air force is the backbone for Iraq's defense".

"The air force is considered a vital factor to protect Iraq's sovereignty and security against external threats," al-Dabbagh said. "Iraq needs to build its air force and to depend on its own capabilities to defend the skies instead of asking other countries to do so - especially if we know that the US forces will leave at the end of this year."

Ferriter said it's still up to Iraq's government to decide if it wants US forces to do some of the training, or leave it all to private contractors.

Zebari, the Iraqi foreign minister, said "the idea, the policy, is to reach some training mission arrangements, agreement" with the United States. At least some of the training - including English-language classes - will be done in the United States, he said. -------------- www.aljazeria .com

[Alex38]

With no chapter 7 release... Interesting.

[OregonHopeful]

Would all these people and the world make up their friggin minds. Are they on their own or not?

[Alex38]

Would all these people and the world make up their friggin minds. Are they on their own or not?

Exactly.

[Carrello]

With no chapter 7 release... Interesting.

I do not believe they are not getting out of Chapter 7 sanctions. I think this pr today is stating what needs to be done and they will move this to the sidelines, just as the articles stated a few days ago. The issue is out in front, and now they will move out to the future. The Iraqis did need to do a better job, they need to find the remains, but it cannot hold up a country emerging into the interntional marketplace. There is too, too, too much money at stake. The big dogs will not allow it.

I really hope I am right. I don't need to be right, but I hope I am.

[Alex38]

I do not believe they are not getting out of Chapter 7 sanctions. I think this pr today is stating what needs to be done and they will move this to the sidelines, just as the articles stated a few days ago. The issue is out in front, and now they will move out to the future. The Iraqis did need to do a better job, they need to find the remains, but it cannot hold up a country emerging into the interntional marketplace. There is too, too, too much money at stake. The big dogs will not allow it.

I really hope I am right. I don't need to be right, but I hope I am.

I hope you are too!

[jeepguy]

Would all these people and the world make up their friggin minds. Are they on their own or not?

own thier own --------------- wait not ------------------- wait wait on their own ------------------- dang -- not i give up you think they are free and clear the way they dumped million or so on f 16`s

[tim5400]

isnt this like giving guns to the mexican drug cartels...JMO ..but hey the US has made some mistakes in the past,,,hope this isnt one of them

[Shick]

Would all these people and the world make up their friggin minds. Are they on their own or not?

PUTS US ON EDGE DOESN'T IT, BUT WE MUST STAY VIGILANT, FOCUSING ON THE PRIZE AND IT WILL COME MY FRIEND. WE'VE COME A LONG WAY AND THE WAY IS MARKING TIME. GO RV!

[quadkidd1]

How are these paid for IQD or USD or is or was there some back door deal for OIL ???

Quad

[IchDien]

Ch7 is done, clearly, just waiting for the official press release.

[westy33567]

isnt this like giving guns to the mexican drug cartels...JMO ..but hey the US has made some mistakes in the past,,,hope this isnt one of them

Not really f-16 are like so yesterday as far as aircraft. With the f-22 f-18, etc, believe me if we need to, we could take them out of the skies quickly.

[bryce08]

Ch7 is done, clearly, just waiting for the official press release.

how so?

[cbs71]

how so?

You beat me to it...cause I was going to ask him the same thing..

Can't wait for this!!!

[DiveDeepSix]

Dang it, we need the RV so I can make my down payment on an F-16!

[unirod]

Hertz Rent-A-Jet is offering a 2012 special on F-16's. So Iraq can patrol It's own skies before they get the factory new orders....

[Jaxinjersey]

isnt this like giving guns to the mexican drug cartels...JMO ..but hey the US has made some mistakes in the past,,,hope this isnt one of them

They still need the "keys"... the pilot training... the technician training... the spare parts.... the weapons....

[Blu Collar Guru]

THEY NEED TO RV SO I CAN MAKE MY FIRST & ONLY PAYMENT ON MY NEW F-150

[thatoneguy]

Ch7 is done, clearly, just waiting for the official press release.

I agree Ich. I think that there is more "done" that we haven't been told about. Too many gov officials, ours and theirs, repeating "sovereign". So again, where there is smoke there is fire.

[cooked]

I hope they take one of those new jets and do a nasty fly by over kuwait. Those people suck. I know they got screwed bu hussein. He is dead, long ago. Give it up Kuwait. I'm starting to hate those people.

[despain]

If memory serves me correctly, and F-16 is a very versatile fighter. It is fast, but can also carry a fairly large payload. An F-18 is more a VERY fast strike fighter. An F-22 is more of a pretty fast tank in disguise which is able to carry various pay-loads. So, it might be a good buy to purchase F-16's.

Again, I may have this all wrong. However, it does no good to have a really fast roller coaster ride without weapons to sustain it's firepower. I think we are close to the release of Chapter 7.

Now, wouldn't it just suck if they release them without having an increase in the rate? Everyone, including myself, has believed that their is NO WAY they will come out at 1170. Well, what FACTUAL information do we have that backs that up? I don't have anything. I know that the IMF a while back suggested a rate of 1.17. Having said that, does anyone on this site have anything that makes it necessary to move into Chapter 8 and revalue? I'm just looking for some proof, and after 26 months in this investment...I can't find anything.

[wavggg]

"These aircraft are going to help provide air sovereignty for Iraq and to protect its territory," Victoria Nuland, a State Department spokeswoman, said on Tuesday.

What kind of idiots do we have in the State Department... there is no such thing as "Air Sovereignty"... Let's se what Black's Law 4th Edition says about A Sovereign/Sovereignty:

SOVEREIGN. A person, body, or state in which independent and supreme authority is vested; a chief ruler with supreme power; a king or other ruler with limited power. In English law. A gold coin of Great Britain, of the value of a pound sterling.

SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY OF STATE FROM LIABILITY. Exists when the state is engaged in a governmental function. Manion v. State, 303 Mich. 1, 5 N.W.2d 527,528.

SOVEREIGN PEOPLE. The political body, consisting of the entire number of citizens and qualified electors, who, in their collective capacity, possess the powers of sovereignty and exercise them through their chosen representatives. See Scott v. Sandford, 19 How. 404, 15 L.Ed. 691.

SOVEREIGN POWER or SOVEREIGN PREROGATIVE. That power in a state to which none other is superior or equal, and which includes all the specific powers necessary to accomplish the legitimate ends and purposes of government. See Boggs v. Merced Min. Co., 14 Cal. 309; Donnelly v. Decker, 58 Wis. 461, 17 N.W. 389, 46 Am.Rep. 637; Com. v. Alger, 7 Cush., Mass., 81; lEtna Casualty & Surety Co. v. Bramwell; D.C.Or., 12 F.2d 307, 309.

SOVEREIGN RIGHT. A right which the state alone, or some of its governmental agencies, can possess, and which it possesses in the character of a sovereign, for the common benefit, and to enable it to carry out its proper functions; distinguished from such "proprietary" rights as a state, like any private person, may have in property

or demands which it owns. See St. Paul v. Chicago, etc., R. Co., 45 Minn. 387, 48 N.W. 17.

SOVEREIGN STATES. States whose subjects or citizens are in the habit of obedience to them, and which are not themselves subject to any other (or paramount) state in any respect. The state is said to be semi-sovereign only, and not sovereign, when in any respect or respects it is liable to be controlled {like certain of the states in

India) by a paramount government, (e. g., by the British empire.) Brown. In the intercourse of nations, certain states have a position of entire independence of others·, and can perform all those acts which it is possible for any state to perform in this particular sphere. These same states have also entire power of self-government; that is, of independence upon all other states as far as their own territory and citizens not living abroad are concerned. ·No foreign power or law can have control except by convention. This power of independent action in external and internal relations constitutes complete sovereignty. Wools. Pol. Science, I. 204.

SOVEREIGNTY. The supreme, absolute, and uncontrollable power by which any independent state is governed; supreme political authority; paramount control of the constitution and frame of government and its administration; the self sufficient source of political power, from which all specific political powers are derived; the international

independence of a state, combined with the right and power of regulating its internal affairs without foreign dictation; also a political society, or state, which is sovereign and independent. Chisholm v. Georgia, 2 Dall. 455, 1 L.Ed. 440; Union Bank v. Hill, 3 Cold., Tenn., 325; Moore v. Shaw, 17 Cal. 218, 79 Am.Dec. 123; State v. Dixon, 66 Mont. 76,213 P. 227.

The power to do everything in a state without accountability,-to make laws, to execute and to apply them, to impose and collect taxes and levy contributions, to make war or peace, to form treaties of alliance or of commerce with foreign nations, and the like. Story, Const. § 207.

"Sovereignty" in government is that public authority which directs or orders what is to be done by each member

associated in relation to the end of the association. It is the supreme power by which any citizen is governed and

is the person or body of persons in the state to whom there Is politically no superior. The necessary existence of the state and that right and power which necessarily follow is "sovereignty." By "sovereignty" in its largest sense is meant supreme, absolute, uncontrollable power, the absolute right to govern. The word which by itself comes

nearest to being the definition of "sovereignty" is will or volition as applied to political affairs. City of Bisbee v.

Cochise County, 52 Ariz. 1, 78 P.2d 982, 986.

These clueless bureaucrats better get back to the TV else they'll miss their latest episode of "Dancing with the Stars" or reruns of "Kojack"!

Leave the world politics to the 'PROFESSIONALS" here on DINAR VETS!!!