European nations moved on Wednesday to intensify their involvement in Iraq, announcing further humanitarian aid and, for the first time, pledging to supply arms to the embattled Kurdish forces fighting the Sunni militants who have overrun much of northern Iraq. The shift is an important one for Europe, where the legacy of the first Iraq war remains divisive, but several factors in the current conflict are steadily tilting nations here toward deeper engagement now that President Obama has begun sending military advisers for the first time since American troops left in 2011. Analysts said that the images of dusty families sleeping in the open on a barren, rocky mountain had put pressure on officials to take action, despite what for many here remains the toxic legacy of the American-led invasion of 2003. For Europeans, the specter of a humanitarian calamity — particularly involving what is being portrayed here as a Christian minority — has resonated. Continue reading the main story RELATED COVERAGE Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki in Baghdad in July.Maliki’s Bid to Keep Power in Iraq Seems to CollapseAUG. 12, 2014 The United States has sent military advisers to northern Iraq to help plan the evacuation of thousands of displaced people forced out of their homes by Sunni militants.In Increase, U.S. to Send 130 Advisers to Aid Iraqis A helicopter, flown by pesh merga forces, delivered aid to members of the Yazidi ethnic minority fleeing Sunni extremists in northern Iraq. After dropping off supplies and picking up refugees, the helicopter crashed, wounding several people, including Times journalist Alissa Rubin and killing the pilot. Persecuted Yazidis Again Caught in Larger StruggleAUG. 11, 2014 It has also combined with growing security concerns over what are estimated to be thousands of Europeans who have gone as “jihadist tourists” to join the ranks of the Islamist insurgency that now straddles Syria and Iraq. A look at who the pesh merga are, their history as Iraq’s most formidable force, and why President Obama has now authorized airstrikes against ISIS to support them. Video Credit By Quynhanh Do and Emily B. Hager on Publish Date August 8, 2014. Image CreditSafin Hamed/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Even France, which refused to have anything to do with the 2003 invasion of Iraq, announced Wednesday that it would send arms to help alleviate a “catastrophic situation” in the north, where the militants of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria had been threatening Christians and encircling members of the Yazidi religious minority on remote Mount Sinjar. In Britain, too, where the legacy of involvement in Iraq has been contentious, there is mounting pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron to take a more assertive stance. Mr. Cameron, who is keenly aware of the taint that the first Iraq war left on a predecessor, Tony Blair, was initially cool to joining the recent American effort. But on Wednesday, he cut short a holiday in Portugal to address the crisis amid growing calls for military intervention on humanitarian grounds. The government in London continued to insist that it was focused on humanitarian relief efforts, notably to get water and other supplies to the Yazidis who were trapped on the mountain until late Wednesday, rather than on offering direct military involvement. But Mr. Cameron and other officials said Wednesday that British planes would now be transporting munitions from eastern Europe to the Kurdish forces. Britain has also sent three Tornado warplanes on surveillance missions to support airdrops by C-130 military cargo planes. nytimes/2014/08/14/world/middleeast/iraq-humanitarian-aid.html?_r=0
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 01:51:50 +0000