FILE IMAGE: Kurdish Peshmerga
After a year long agreement came to an end, a militaryforce of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is no longer paid by the Pentagon.
Back in July 2016 the Obama administration had agreed to pay salaries to 36,000 Kurdish fighters battling ISIS in Iraq. The agreement was expected to be renewed over the summer, yet US and Kurdish officials say that talks stalled since the KRG pursued a divisive independence referendum and the ISIS presence in the region began to collapse.
Peshmerga accuses the Donald Trump administration of withholding support because of opposition to the September referendum. The US has taken Baghdad’s side in the dispute and refused to recognize the results, which were overwhelmingly in favor of Kurdish independence.
Even before the previous agreement expired, Pentagon had already stopped supplying weapons to Kurdish fighters,Peshmerga sources say.
According to US Department of Defense spokesman Eric Pahon, the Pentagon had no plans of renewing the agreement for months prior to the contentious Kurdish independence vote.
In May the Pentagon released a budget request for fiscal year 2018 that assumed that the agreement would be renewed this past summer. The request for the fiscal year that started October 1 calls for $270 million for Peshmerga stipends and $95 million for “sustainment,” 26% more than the $289.5 million requested for fiscal 2017 during Obama’s last year in office. In addition to providing stipends the budget request includes provision of weapons, ammunition, food, fuel, mobility assets, and sustainment support to the peshmerga.
Pahon said the budget is “not a static entity” and is expected to go through “tweaks and changes to match current operating conditions.” However Pahon claims the Pentagon did not stop supporting the Peshmerga with training and equipment.
Congress has also weighed in on the issue. A provision in the House of Representatives’ annual defense bill released in June threatened to cut funding for the peshmerga if the KRG decides to split from Baghdad, a clear signal to Erbil ahead of the referendum.
Separately, the Trump administration authorized a military sale in April worth nearly $300 million to equip two Peshmerga brigades and arm them with 36 howitzers and small arms. Sources in Erbil say those weapons have yet to arrive.
The Kurdistan independence referendum took place on September 25. Iraqi Kurds overwhelmingly voted for independence, defying the central government in Baghdad as well as neighboring Turkey and Iran.
The United States does not recognize the independence referendum as legitimate.
So…….The Pentagon No Longer Pays Salaries To Peshmerga Forces Due To Iraqi Kurdistan Referendum Backlash………………no they don’t, THEY PAY THE ISRAELIS INSTEAD ,WHO IN TURN PAY THE PESHMERGA…………….. Its that old sleight of hand magic trick that the spawn of satan so often loves to use in order to look good.
Exactly what I thought when I have read the headline. The US tax payer has to pay. Over which channel is equal.
…………Besides Wahid, when have you EVER heard of the Israelis pay for anything ? If they cannot gain thro’ theft, usury or extortion, then the Joo must be doing something against its true nature.
Good point!
U R RIGHT SALARIES ARE GOING TROUGH ISRAELI AGENT.
These strolling around kurdish land grabbers want to have an own state on foreign soil. But in fact they are poor and lazy receiver of welfare. Dream your wet dream kurdish girlie (male and female).
KRG didn’t pay it’s militia. as well as it’s civil servants?
Where did the stolen oil’s money go then?
And about “overwhelming” vote, the following videos are getting repeatedly deleted from youtube whenever they’re uploaded. They need to be verified though:
http://iswnews.com/4192/%D8%AA%D9%82%D9%84%D8%A8-%DA%AF%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%AF%D9%87-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D9%87%D9%85%D9%87%E2%80%8C%D9%BE%D8%B1%D8%B3%DB%8C-%D8%A7%D9%82%D9%84%DB%8C%D9%85-%DA%A9%D8%B1%D8%AF%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%86/
Another one: http://www.aparat.com/v/Aau9m/%D8%AA%D9%82%D9%84%D8%A8_%DA%AF%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%AF%D9%87_%D8%AF%D8%B1_%D9%87%D9%85%D9%87_%D9%BE%D8%B1%D8%B3%DB%8C_%D8%A7%D9%82%D9%84%DB%8C%D9%85_%DA%A9%D8%B1%D8%AF%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%86_%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%82_%282%29
Why were they asking if he needed some more to fill out. This was the same video that SyrianGirl had released and she also released a video on a survivor from an assassination attempt on him and the assassination of a Deacon by Kurdish Peshmerga militants.
That’s the same video which resulted in the ban of her youtube account, on the ground of “hate speech”. The ones I provided are uploaded on an Iranian server. Safe for now.
Kurds R Gone
Now Waiting for inevitable press release by Putin saying Russia is going to pay the Peshmerga in 10,9,8,7,6,5…… Once again US politicians show they don’t understand complex middle east issues…..
Turk puppet Barzani went off the reservation with the referendum, but Iraq was inevitably going to fracture anyway once Iran took over the government.
Whipping the Kurds won’t fix Iraq.
American and UK economy toss. In America and UK Students cannot afford education. Who gonna pay $10,000 per annum in America or £9,000 in UK. Its ridiculous. 30% private colleges in America and UK shut down because of poor number of students’ enrolment.
Governments have instruct institutions to increase fees further because there is no fund for employees. American and UK governments have stopped funding education sector. This bad economy will also put pressure on primary schools education in America and UK.
Therefore, I have said before that if you destroy other nations in the world then your nation will also be destroyed. In Scotland tuition fees for their own students are £1800 per annum but for rest of UK £9000 and that is why they know that UK economy is at the verge of collapse. Therefore, Scotland wants independence from rest of UK.
Similarly economy in America is also at the point of collapse.
how many times will you out here? do not spam!
‘…the Trump administration authorized a military sale in April worth nearly $300 million to equip two Peshmerga brigades and arm them with 36 howitzers and small arms…’ Presumably, the terms of that ‘sale’ would look something like – a US public-taxpayer subsidized loan to KRG with which they then in turn buy private US military hardware.
OMG…!!??? argghh..
Disgrace kurd beside become israel’s slave, they also become usa’s slave..
I believe many kurdish that kiss trump and setanyahu’s butt…
period.
Lets get real here. The Kurds have been denied a real homeland since the reorganisation of the arab lands back in the year dot. At one time their land stretched from the Med to the Caspian. Thro’ their own fault…………or not, they have lived the lives of nomads for 100 years or more…………… Do they deserve a home, sure they do, and more so than the spawn of satan. But a pact with the devil is not the way to get it. Barzani is stupid, if he thinks that the Israelis are going to come to his rescue when the SHTF……………because they aren’t, they are going to stand by while the bodies pile up, because the fewer Kurds there are, the greater the grasp of the spawn of satan is going to be, and if Barzani thinks Trumps offer of 300 Million in Military aid is going to hold the Turks back, then he is even more stupid than I thought.
The only way the Kurds are going to get a Homeland is thro’ negotiation with Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Russia at the helm. But Barzani needs to get rid of the spawn of satan and its Yankee bitch.
Barzani’s clan is part of a transnational criminal cabal and has been robbing the Kurdish people as well as Iraq and Syria from collaboration with the enemies of the state in transport and sale of stolen gas & oil. The list is long but nothing changes for the long time collaborators of the Zionist plans of ethnic cleansing, pillage and plunder.
“The Kurds have been denied”, this is part and parcel of being long time useful idiots in wanting to capitalize in its participation with different Empires (several gambles) during the time line you listed. It is what it is, nothing will change until its citizens become productive citizens in a unified nation state in which they reside.
George, to get to the stage of being a nation state…………………what’s your take on the road ahead. Mine was ” The only way the Kurds are going to get a Homeland is thro’ negotiation with Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Russia at the helm. But Barzani needs to get rid of the spawn of satan and its Yankee bitch.” I presume they must rid themselves of the Barzani element first ????
I agree, nothing moves for the Kurds until Barzani clan is not only gone but ill gotten gains recovered by both the nation and the Kurdish population. This could include charges of treason as well as theft in the billions of dollars.
In fact the Kurds have a nation that they reside in and should build it and respect it as it is their nation state. Anything other than that is an impossibility due to history and facts in the region, peace should be sued for by all parties.
Mmmm, interesting, I recollect that somewhere in the texts of the old testament, the real Jews ( not this zionist khazar filth that has infiltrated and now controls their destiny ) were banned by God from having a land of their own until they learned to live and work with the peoples/societies in which they found themselves. SOMETHING THEY NEVER SEEMED TO HAVE MASTERED……GOD must be VERY disappointed with them. The Kurds may stand a chance although they are not a semitic people, and as so it will remain a source of friction between them and the arabs and turks. But as you so correctly point out, Barzani must go, although the money he stole will I suspect remain in the grips of the Rothschilds. Thank you for your insights.
For any people that do not have a nation state, the road to a nation state must start with themselves. They need to make it manifest that they ARE a nation, by being organised and having recognisable institutions of a nation. Statehood then will be the outer achievement of all the work. Having said that, this is not a good time to be creating nation states as much of the international institutions are in the hands of criminals and they confuse every issue at hand, and are happy to recognise land grabs and other criminal organisations as “states”. The Kurds are still in the latter category and they should make a huge effort to move towards the first category if they want to create a valid state.
After the Kurds are betrayed by the US, and realize that all of their victories far far away in Syria are for nothing, they will soon be heading home to defend their real homeland. And along the way, they will be singing that old anti-war song by Country Joe McDonald from the 1960’s.
Lets sing it …. all together now Kurds ….
“well it’s a one, two, three, … what are we fighting for …. don’t ask me, I don’t give a dam, … next stop is Kurdistan”
Just look at this map below. There are absolutely no Kurds living in Deir Ez Zor province in Syria.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/37e1b0e83facf21ce7940fab8f098fe3ecac4b30e26bd88f2dd8f076647d9de7.jpg
…
Yeah Dave, but who drew the map in the first place………….. would you hold it up in court as evidence ???????
Here is a CIA map. Is that good enough? Notice there are no Kurds along the Euphrates river in Syria. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/daf0d4bbc4765ec7967105d1abc2198f0e78c177d16d895d440ff6f964a351f0.jpg …
Nice one ! And that is where the spawn of satan want to extend “Eretz Israel”. Oi Vey, Well those mo’fckers have a long way to go.
They even lied about the voting that was done their was no monitoring of the vote hence forth it’s illegal, they don’t like it they can take it up with Barzani who called the illegal referendum. This is how they run referendums for the crooks wouldn’t be surprised they had online illegal voters casting votes in it.
Hmm. Maybe that’s why their Euphrates campaign has run out of steam
Kurds and Israelis deserve a state because they are brave and have fought hard for it. Only thing Iraqis know is how to retreat. Kurds and the USA should be thanked for protecting Iraq from Islamic State otherwise you will be their bches