What is iraqi kurdistan?
http://presstv.com/detail/238569.html (Sorry about the site, but it's the only English version available)Sami al-Askari, who is also a close aide to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said Saturday the Iraqi Constitution does not allow local governments to possess heavy weapons.
The Iraqi lawmaker demanded the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) give up its tanks and warplanes if the KRG intends to remain within a united Iraq.
Askari made the remarks at a time when Iraqi Kurdistan authorities recently approved the possession of any type of weapons by the KRG.
Iraqi Kurdistan authorities claim the Constitution has not specified the types of arms Kurds can possess.
Reports say the Iraqi Kurdistan government currently possesses a large fleet of Russian-made warplanes left over from the Saddam-era.
The latest report comes two days after Senior Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for dialog to resolve tensions between the central government in Baghdad and the KRG.
On April 26, Sadr told a press conference in the northern city of Arbil that his visit to the capital of the Kurdistan Region was aimed at easing tensions between the central and regional governments.
HSN/JR/HGH
Maliki is so full of BS. Tanks, yes, but jets? come on now.. the fools in Baghdad need to stop with their shameless lies. A couple days ago they also claimed that Kurdistan put an order for 300 tanks.
Warplanes?? Large fleet of them? Don't peshmergas according to allowance only have transport helicopters?
This report is complete BS and it's not the first time the Iraqis have lied. A while back they claimed ExxonMobil froze the contracts with Kurdistan which turned out to be a lie. As for the so called Jets, it can't be true because the Peshmerga picked up all the weapons left over by Saddams forces around Kirkuk and Mosul, and as far as I know there weren't any jets stationed there, even so, the Americans took over Kirkuks airbase and I doubt they would let anyone take any jets of any kind.
I suppose this cry out by the Iraqis suggest that maybe Barzani was successful in freezing the f18 deal at least temporarily until the disputes are sorted, that is from my experience what the Iraqis do when **** hits the fan.
At least there is no mention of the Kurds buying several submarines for their Navy.