Published time: June 22, 2014 20:16
Edited time: June 22, 2014 22:01
Edited time: June 22, 2014 22:01
US Secretary of State John Kerry attends a joint press
conference with Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Hassan Shoukry (unseen) on June
22, 2014 in Cairo. (AFP Photo / Brendan Smialowski)
US Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington is
“not responsible” for either the crisis in Libya, or violence in Iraq, where
militants of the Al-Qaeda offshoot group ISIS are capturing cities one by one.
"The United States of America is not responsible
for what happened in Libya, nor is it responsible for what is happening in Iraq
today," said Kerry
at a press conference in Cairo after a short visit to Egypt for talks with its
newly elected President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as part of his Middle East tour.
Speaking on the fallout of the crisis in Iraq, where
radical Sunni militants – an Al-Qaeda splinter group the Islamic State in Iraq
and the Levant (ISIS, also known as ISIL) – are capturing Iraqi cities one by
one and pushing away government forces from strategic posts, Kerry urged the
republic’s authorities to overcome sectarian considerations and restrain the
extremists.
"ISIL … it’s an ideology of violence and
repression, is a threat not only to Iraq but the entire region... this is a
critical moment when we must urge Iraq's leaders to rise above sectarian
considerations... and speak to all people," Kerry said at a media conference.
A Shiite cleric visits members of Iraqi security
forces and volunteers, who have joined the Iraqi security forces to fight
against the predominantly Sunni militants from the radical Islamic State of
Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) who have taken over Mosul and other northern
provinces, on the outskirts of Diyala province June 16, 2014. (Reuters)
Amid the growing insurgency threatening the Iraqi
government, President Barack Obama said Thursday that up to 300 additional
American military personnel will head to Iraq and assume an
advisory role.
In turn, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
accused Washington on Sunday of exploiting the violence to regain control of
Iraq putting the republic “under its hegemony” and rule of “its
stooges,” he was quoted as saying by IRNA news agency.
Kerry rejected these claims saying that the "US
is not engaged in picking or choosing any one individual... it's up to the
people of Iraq to choose their own leadership."
"The United States shed blood and worked hard
for years for the Iraqis to have their own governance... but ISIL crossed the
line from Syria, began plotting internally. They have attacked communities and
they are the ones marching through to disrupt the ability of Iraq to have the
governance it wants."
An image grab taken from a video uploaded on Youtube
on June 17, 2014, allegedly shows militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and
the Levant (ISIL) parading with their weapons in the northern city of Baiji in
the in Salaheddin province. (AFP Photo)
ISIS is focused on achieving total dominance in Iraq
by the ongoing rampage aimed at seizing the capital Baghdad. The radical Sunni
militants which proclaimed themselves ISIS in April last year have been kept
under control by the Arab republic’s government between the initial sectarian
strife that broke out following the US-led invasion in 2003 and the American
military withdrawal in 2011.
On March 20, 2003 the United States opened a military
offensive against Iraq under the pretext that the Baathist government of Saddam
Hussein was harboring weapons of mass destruction - claims later found to be
false.
From March 2003 to mid-2011 an estimated 460,000 deaths were caused by violence during the war and
occupation by the US and allied forced, statistical research published in PLOS
(Public Library of Science) Medicine journal published in October 2013
revealed.
A vehicle belonging to Kurdish security forces fires a
multiple rocket launcher during clashes with Sunni militant group Islamic State
of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on the outskirts of Diyala June 14, 2014.
(Reuters / Yahya Ahmad)
Following the withdrawal of US troops, Iraq has been
plunging deeper and deeper into sectarian strife mainly between the country’s
majority Shiite community and the Sunni minority.
The war in bordering Syria that began in 2011 prompted
even more violence in the region with radical militants receiving a wave of
fresh members and growing funding.
2013 became the bloodiest year in Iraq since 2008 with over 7,000 civilian
victims.
The UK’s former Prime Minister Tony Blair who joined
the US in its diplomatic offensive and offered support in the form of British
troops in 2003, now puts the blame for the destabilization of the region and
the rising of ISIS on Iraqi authorities.
“We have to liberate ourselves from the notion that
‘we’ have caused this. We haven't. We can argue as to whether our policies at
points have helped or not; and whether action or inaction is the best policy
and there is a lot to be said on both sides. But the fundamental cause of the
crisis lies within the region not outside it,” he wrote in his essay entitled 'Iraq, Syria and the
Middle East' in June.
US troops from the 82nd Airborne division take
position during a search for a weapons cache in Fallujah, 50 kms (30 miles)
west of Baghdad, 07 November 2003. (AFP photo / Patrick Baz)
“Though the challenge of terrorism was and is very
real, the sectarianism of the current [Prime Minister Nouri] Maliki government
snuffed out what was a genuine opportunity to build a cohesive Iraq.”
“Islamist extremism in all its different
manifestations as a group rebuilt, refinanced and rearmed mainly as a result of
its ability to grow and gain experience through the war in Syria,” Blair explained.
“And there will be debate about whether the withdrawal
of US forces happened too soon.”
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