Baghdad blocks US missile defenses after Iran strike, Pentagon chief says
 

Baghdad blocks US missile defenses after Iran strike, Pentagon chief says?
By: Joel Gehrke - Washington Examiner - 01-30-20
Re: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/p...gon-chief-says

Pentagon strategists want to deploy Patriot missile defenses to Iraq to provide extra protection against Iranian ballistic missile strikes, but the central government in Baghdad isn’t having it, America's top military leaders said today.

“We need the permission of the Iraqis, that's one issue,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters Thursday at the Pentagon.

Those comments give a political explanation for the absence of Patriot missile shields, which were developed to ward off the kinds of ballistic missile strikes that heightened tension between the United States and Iran earlier this month. Instead, Pentagon leaders were left fielding questions about brain injuries sustained by U.S. troops.

“In terms of would have-should have-could have in terms of if there was a Patriot battalion at al-Asad or Erbil or whatever, could they have shot down these [incoming ballistic missiles]?” Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said while speaking alongside Esper. “That's what they're designed to do, can't say for certain ... if that would have happened. But that is exactly what they're designed to do, is to shoot down incoming theater ballistic missiles.”

The Iraqi government’s reluctance to allow the Patriot systems into the country underscores the political tensions threatening what is supposed to be an “enduring strategic partnership” between Baghdad and Washington. Iran has developed political and military forces within Iraq in the form of political leaders aligned with Tehran and a network of militias inside the Iraqi security services that actually report to Iran. But Iraq faces pressure from Iran after the U.S. killed Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in an airstrike.

The political dispute isn’t the only hold-up, Milley said. “There’s mechanical pieces, the science of war, so to speak, of actually moving and bringing in Patriot batteries. A Patriot battalion is not a small organization, it's relatively large. So, the mechanics of it all have to be worked out, and that is, in fact, ongoing.”

Esper underscored that the fallout from the strike on Soleimani still is simmering.

“One of the things we need to do is make sure we have permission from the host government, and that's one of the matters we have to work on and work through,” the Pentagon chief said.

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Personal note: I don't know why they would reject defensive weapons. Otherwise they leave themselves open to devastating loss of lives and materials? Strange why they don't want any protective means to counter offensive strikes? What's the logic?

Boats