DefenceTalkViolence in Iraq could delay the delivery of American F-16 fighter jets to the Baghdad government after contractors had to be evacuated from a key air base, the Pentagon said Monday. Although the United States is moving to expedite the delivery of weapons and ammunition to the Iraqi government as it battles Sunni extremists, volatile […]https://www.defencetalk.com/unrest-in-iraq-could-delay-delivery-of-us-f-16s-60000/

DefenceTalkPresident Barack Obama said Monday he had sent up to 200 US extra troops equipped for combat, with surveillance gear and helicopters, to protect the US Embassy in Baghdad. Together with a 275-strong embassy protection force already sent and another 300 US special forces charged with advising the Iraqi army, the deployment will mean nearly […]https://www.defencetalk.com/obama-to-deploy-200-extra-troops-to-iraq-59994/

DefenceTalkThe top manager in Iraq of the notorious private security firm Blackwater threatened to kill a US State Department investigator for probing the company’s performance, The New York Times reported Monday. The Times, citing an internal State Department memorandum, said the threat came just weeks before Blackwater guards shot and killed 17 civilians on September […]https://www.defencetalk.com/blackwater-threatened-to-kill-us-official-in-iraq-report-59990/

DefenceTalkThe US military has started flying armed drones over Baghdad to defend American troops and diplomats as Iraqi forces took their fight against Sunni insurgents to the strategic militant-held city of Tikrit. Iraq’s top Shiite cleric urged the country’s leaders to unite, after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki conceded political measures are needed to defeat the […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-drones-over-baghdad-as-iraq-battles-for-tikrit-59987/

DefenceTalkThe last of Syria’s declared chemical agents have been shipped from the war-torn country after months of delays and are en route for destruction at sea, the world’s chemical watchdog said on Monday. “As we speak, the ship (carrying the last chemicals) has just left the port (of Latakia),” Ahmet Uzumcu, head of the Organization […]https://www.defencetalk.com/last-dangerous-chemicals-shipped-from-syria-watchdog-59977/

DefenceTalkMilitants fighting in Syria’s war put to use for the first time on Sunday American-made Humvees that they seized during a lightning offensive in Iraq this month, a monitor said. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, used the armoured vehicles to capture the villages of Eksar and Maalal in Aleppo province, […]https://www.defencetalk.com/syria-militants-now-using-humvees-seized-in-iraq-59961/

DefenceTalkBaghdad asked Washington Wednesday to carry out air strikes on militants who attacked Iraq’s main oil refinery and seized more territory in the north, amid warnings the country’s future was at stake. The appeal for strikes — which the White House said US President Barack Obama has not ruled out — came as fighters, led […]https://www.defencetalk.com/iraq-appeals-for-us-air-strikes-on-advancing-militants-59947/

DefenceTalkIslamist militants have rolled over the Iraqi army because the Shiite-led government has pursued a sectarian agenda that alienated Sunnis, the top-ranking US military officer said Wednesday. General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed that Baghdad had requested US “air power” to fend off the onslaught of Sunni extremists. But he […]https://www.defencetalk.com/iraqi-leaders-sectarianism-fueled-militant-advance-us-59949/

DefenceTalkBarack Obama returned to Washington on Monday after a brief family break in California to find himself confronted once again by the nightmare from which America thought it had escaped: Iraq. Obama ran for the White House as a young leader who opposed the 2003 US invasion, and then won re-election as the steady hand […]https://www.defencetalk.com/break-over-obama-returns-to-iraq-nightmare-59932/

DefenceTalkWashington said Monday it might use a critical fifth round of nuclear talks between Iran and world powers to discuss with Tehran possible cooperation on tackling the crisis raging in Iraq. The United States and Iran, which have been bitter foes for more than 30 years, are both deeply concerned by a major insurgency by […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-iran-may-use-nuclear-talks-to-discuss-iraq-59929/