Nori Kamal al-Maliki’s Request to America: A Human Rights’ Decision for Obama

Nori al-Maliki (left) & President Obama (right), AP Photo

Yesterday, October 30^th, Iraqi Prime Minister Nori al-Maliki wrote an Op-ed piece in the New York Times asking for military support from the U.S. to combat terrorism within Iraq and provide better border security, especially where Iraq borders Syria. But al-Maliki isn’t asking for troops, he wants advanced weaponry.

This “Plea to Americans” comes just two days before al-Maliki is to meet with Obama on issues of international security.

President Obama and his advisers have stated in the past that well-armed allies are the next best thing to “boots on the ground” when it comes to advancing America’s global security interests. With this being said, I believe that if Nori al-Maliki is to convince the White House to supply him with arms and air force, he must use the argument that it is in the best interest of U.S. security.

I don’t want to discuss what is in it for America, I want to discuss the decision the President needs to make in the best interest of Iraqi civilians and U.S. citizens. To me providing fire power would be an economically favorable move to make for the U.S., but the President cannot forget al-Maliki’s history and current network of supporters.

From other news articles, few Iraqis trust that he has the power to keep them safe from rebel terrorists, and there is unease due to his Shi’ite dominant political party. Iraq is a historically combative country between the Sunni and Shiite branches of Islam, and currently the country is seeing increasing unrest, similar to their bloody civil war of 2006-07. The Sunni insurgency is disrupting the government and Shiite militias are said to have the support of al-Maliki’s government, including government badges and weaponry.

Who’s to say that these weapons requested by al-Maliki won’t be used to fight the Sunni insurgency instead of al-Qaeda forces and border security along Syria? Is that a human rights’ risk Obama is willing to take? Students are taught at a young age that history repeats itself, and almost every time an economically superior country/empire has given weapons to smaller countries to fight common foes, those weapons have returned against them.

President Obama has a very difficult decision to make. Does he trust al-Maliki and supply him with advanced weaponry to fight terrorism? Does he supply small arms? He could say no altogether, or he could come up with an alternative plan to calm violence in Iraq. I think he also must decide if Iraq’s military problems come from rising al-Qaeda forces, or Sunni insurgencies attempting to overthrow an increasingly partisan prime minister.