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Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

Welcome to the Neno's Place!

Neno's Place Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality


Neno

I can be reached by phone or text 8am-7pm cst 972-768-9772 or, once joining the board I can be reached by a (PM) Private Message.

Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

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    The New York Times talks about the militias, the assassination of al-Wazzani, and Lockheed Martin's

    Rocky
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    The New York Times talks about the militias, the assassination of al-Wazzani, and Lockheed Martin's Empty The New York Times talks about the militias, the assassination of al-Wazzani, and Lockheed Martin's

    Post by Rocky Fri 14 May 2021, 6:54 am

    [size=30]The New York Times talks about the militias, the assassination of al-Wazzani, and Lockheed Martin's condition for returning to Iraq
    [ltr]2021.05.14 - 14:20[/ltr]    [/size]
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    Baghdad - People   
    The "New York Times" newspaper published a statement by an Iraqi official, which it described as prominent, on the issue of the withdrawal of "Lockheed Martin" from Balad Air Force Base, in connection with the recent missile attack, in the context of a report indicating that the withdrawal would lead to the disruption of the Iraqi F-16 aircraft.  
      
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    The report translated by "People" (May 14, 2021) pointed to the circumstances that preceded the decision of the American company and the assassinations of the activist Ihab Al-Wazni that sparked a new wave of protests, and revealed the condition of the American company to return to Iraq.  
      
    Following is the text of the report.   
    Lockheed Martin said on Monday that it is withdrawing its maintenance teams for Iraqi F-16 fighter jets for security reasons, as the Iraqi government struggles to end missile attacks by militias suspected of supporting it from Iran.  
    The departure of the US arms manufacturer from Balad Air Force Base, 40 miles north of Baghdad, highlights the Iraqi government's inability to rein in the militias, which are believed to be behind the attacks on US interests. This comes a year after Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi came to power, pledging to curb Iranian influence in the country.  
    "In coordination with the US government, and because employee safety is our top priority, Lockheed Martin is relocating the F-16 team that is based in Iraq," Joseph Lamarca Junior, Vice President of Communications, said in a statement.  
    La Marca declined to say how many employees were being withdrawn, and another company spokesman said Lockheed Martin would not disclose any other information.  
    The Iraqi Ministry of Defense did not comment on this, but an Iraqi security official, who refused to reveal his identity because he was not authorized to speak publicly, said that Lockheed Martin has 70 employees in the country. He added that 50 will be transferred to the United States, while about 20 will be transferred to Erbil in the Iraqi Kurdistan Autonomous Region.  
    A senior ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Martin Lockheed would withdraw the team due to the repeated missile attacks on the base. He said efforts to persuade the company to stay had failed.  
    "We asked them to postpone the decision. They told us: We will leave for two or three months, and when you provide protection, we will return to Iraq," the official said.  
    "Unfortunately, the departure will affect the work of the F-16," he added.  
    Iraqi officials say they are continuing talks with Iranian-backed militias in an attempt to persuade them to stop attacks on the country and other US targets in central Iraq and the Kurdistan region. Some of the attacks are believed to have been carried out by proxies of the main groups, who have denied responsibility.  
    The F-16 was purchased in 2011, after the withdrawal of US combat forces from the country. At that time, the multibillion-dollar agreement was announced as opening a new era of security cooperation between the United States and Iraq and Iraqi security self-sufficiency.  
    Lockheed Martin pulled its personnel out of the country temporarily last year after escalating tensions with Iran following a US drone strike in Baghdad that killed a prominent Iranian commander, General Qassem Soleimani, and a senior Iraqi security official at Baghdad International Airport.  
    These tensions threatened to flare up again last week after a detailed report by Yahoo News about the drone strike, which he said that American agents carried out with the help of Israeli intelligence and the participation of Kurdish counterterrorism forces, while the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq denied the participation of its forces.  
    Iran-backed militias are also believed to be responsible for the ongoing assassinations of Iraqi human rights activists, many of them in oil-rich southern Iraq. Protesters set fire to trailers and tires near the Iranian consulate in Karbala on Sunday after Ihab Al-Wazni, a protest leader and anti-corruption activist, was shot in the head. Except for a few people, no criminal charges have been brought against the assassinations.  
    In an interview recorded on Saturday with several Iraqi TV channels, the Iraqi Prime Minister said that Iraq is trying to convince the remaining American companies that their employees will be safe, admitting that the F-16 program was a problem.  
    "The lack of experts to maintain the aircraft, according to the agreement signed with American companies when purchasing them, is a problem," he said. And some of these companies withdrew from Iraq due to illogical actions and the missile attack on the Balad air base. "  
    It was not clear if Kazemi was referring to the recent missile attack, which occurred on 3 May, targeting the Balad base where the company "Salibort" was. No casualties were reported in this attack, but local employees of some Iraqi contractors were killed and injured.  
    Iraq was forced to halt most F-16 operations last year due to poor maintenance caused in part by a previous withdrawal of Lockheed Martin crews.  
    A previous investigation concluded that the Iraqi pilots were unable to conduct adequate operations due to maintenance problems. It also reported widespread corruption at the Iraqi-run base, including misappropriation of aviation fuel and suspicions of sub-standard spare parts used to repair F-16s.  
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