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| Iraq |
| 'Secret,' locally well-known CIA station expansion suggesting closer U.S.-Kurd ties |
| 2014-07-18 |
| A supposedly secret but locally well-known CIA station on the outskirts of Irbil's airport is undergoing rapid expansion as the United States considers its options in Iraq, where Sunni militants have seized control in many regions. Western contractors hired to expand the facility and a local intelligence official confirmed the construction project, visible from the main highway linking Erbil to Mosul, the city whose fall June 10 triggered the Islamic State's sweep through northern and central Iraq. Residents around the airport say they can hear daily what they suspect are U.S. drones taking off and landing at the facility. Expansion of the facility comes as it seems all but certain that the autonomous Kurdish regional government and the central government in Baghdad, never easy partners, are headed for an irrevocable split — complicating any U.S. military hopes of coordinating the two entities' efforts against the Islamic State. The local Kurdish intelligence official described what was taking place as a "long-term relationship with the Americans." The Kurdish official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: "It's no secret that the American special forces and CIA have a close relationship with the peshmerga." He added that the facility had operated even "after the Americans were forced out of Iraq by al-Maliki," a reference to the 2011 U.S. troop withdrawal after the Obama administration and the Iraqi government couldn't agree on a framework for U.S. forces to remain in the country. The official refused to directly identify the location of the facility but when he was shown the blurred-out location on an online satellite-mapping service he joked: "The peshmerga do not have the influence to make Google blur an area on these maps. I will leave the rest to your conclusions." |
| Posted by:Pappy |
| #6 "The peshmerga do not have the influence to make Google blur an area on these maps. I will leave the rest to your conclusions." Enuf said. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-07-18 15:04 |
| #5 i trust Kurds over our sunni/shiite friends! |
| Posted by: Eohippus Grinese9025 2014-07-18 15:00 |
| #4 crap. didn't notice the "your an idiot" editorial (obviously by an idiot) in the definition from Urban Dictionary. Wudn't me. Sorry. |
| Posted by: Boss Shans4455 2014-07-18 12:59 |
| #3 SITYS Chairs? sity an old english term for chair, used often in common language of upper class citizens, if you did not know this word your an idiot. i was sitting on my sity when sean pushed me off. toby was selling his sity for crack |
| Posted by: Boss Shans4455 2014-07-18 12:56 |
| #2 Until mid-2013 the base outside Irbil seemed an alternative to the US drone base at Incirlik. Now that Turkey has its own drone capability -- and for other obvious reasons -- the Kurdistan base assumes ever greater responsibility. While the US can hardly depend on Turkey, it has a longstanding ally in Kurdistan. Parenthetically, Exxon-Mobil reduced its interests in Iraq's south and is now drilling in Kurdistan. |
| Posted by: Omomock Speaking for Boskone4589 2014-07-18 11:05 |
| #1 Shhh. SITYS |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2014-07-18 10:09 |