It turns out that Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and one of the more outspoken Democratic hawks in Congress (especially on Iran and Syria), has for many months blocked the sale and lease of Apache attack helicopters to Iraq against the wishes of the Obama administration.
According to the Times, Senator Menendez demanded, “assurances that Iraq would not use them to attack civilians and that the government in Baghdad would take steps to stop Iran from using Iraqi airspace to ship arms to Syria’s military.”
The criticism of Menendez blocking
the arms sale from the White House and hawks in Congress is entwined in the recent
domestic political skirmishing over Obama’s policy toward Iraq that began last
week after al-Qaeda aligned militants seized control of Fallujah and parts of
Ramadi, the two largest cities in the western Iraqi province of Anbar. Obama has
come under intense criticism from hawks such as Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and
Lindsay Graham (R-SC) for his decision to withdraw all U.S. forces from Iraq in
2011. Hawks have been quick to point out that senior White House officials had justified
Obama’s decision to withdrawal by claiming that Iraq was more stable than ever
and al-Qaeda was essentially defeated (which may or may not have been true at
the time depending on who you ask).
Nevertheless given the recent events in Iraq, the hawks suddenly look vindicated and the administration looks stupid. In response, the Obama administration quickly announced it was expediting arms shipments to Iraq and providing other forms of political and indirect military support to help Iraqi security forces regain control of the cities.
Nevertheless given the recent events in Iraq, the hawks suddenly look vindicated and the administration looks stupid. In response, the Obama administration quickly announced it was expediting arms shipments to Iraq and providing other forms of political and indirect military support to help Iraqi security forces regain control of the cities.
Menendez’s months-old objections
to the Apache helicopter deal thus turned into an opportunity for the Obama
administration to disrupt some of the hawks’ criticism that the recent developments
in Iraq were its fault. The administration has countered that it had been
trying to send attack helicopters to bolster the Iraqi military for months but that
Menendez was responsible for holding it up.
For his part, Menendez was probably caught off-guard at the sudden political salience that U.S. policy towards Iraq gained over the last week. He did not adjust his policy position in time to avoid getting stung. In an ironic twist, he has found himself on the dovish side of the issue against the Obama administration. Menendez had originally blocked the Apache helicopter sale in an effort to push the Obama administration towards a more hawkish approach on Syria and Iran vis-à-vis Iraq. Now he appears to be backing down so he is not seen as a dove blocking the Obama administration from sending advanced military hardware to an ally fighting bad guys. Odd, I know.
For his part, Menendez was probably caught off-guard at the sudden political salience that U.S. policy towards Iraq gained over the last week. He did not adjust his policy position in time to avoid getting stung. In an ironic twist, he has found himself on the dovish side of the issue against the Obama administration. Menendez had originally blocked the Apache helicopter sale in an effort to push the Obama administration towards a more hawkish approach on Syria and Iran vis-à-vis Iraq. Now he appears to be backing down so he is not seen as a dove blocking the Obama administration from sending advanced military hardware to an ally fighting bad guys. Odd, I know.
On a final note, all of this politicking is beside the point
that the Apache helicopters (or more U.S. weapons in general) would not have
prevented the militants from taking Fallujah and Ramadi or really been of much practical
military help to the Iraqi government. The Iraqi military lacks trained helicopter
pilots and would probably prove quite deficient at effectively employing and
maintaining such complex military hardware anyway.
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