US fears spread of Sunni power Kerry urges united approach to insurgency WARNING of the “existential threat” posed by Sunni militants, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday that the US was prepared to take military action even if Baghdad delayed political reforms, noting that the risks of letting the insurgency run rampant carried dangers beyond Iraq’s borders. An Iraqi Shi’ite fighter poses as Iraqis rally in Basra against jihadist militants. Picture: AFP But he stressed military action would not be in support of the present Shi’ite-led Government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Mr Kerry, on a brief visit to Baghdad, urged Iraq’s leaders to quickly set aside divisions as the only means of stopping the Sunni insurgency. “The future of Iraq depends primarily on the ability of Iraq’s leaders to come together and take a stand united against ISIL,” Mr Kerry said, using the acronym for the al-Qaeda breakaway group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, that has captured huge swathes of Iraqi territory in the north and west. “Not next week, not next month, but now,” he said. “It is essential that Iraq’s leaders form a genuinely inclusive government as rapidly as possible.” It was a dire warning to leaders of Iraq’s bitterly divided Shi’ite, Sunni and Kurdish communities that came at a time when the Middle Eastern nation was facing its worst crisis since the withdrawal of US forces in late 2011 after eight years in Iraq. The Sunni fighters have virtually erased Iraq’s western border with Syria and also taken territory facing Jordan. Noting the dangers the Sunni militants pose to Iraq and the region, Mr Kerry said the US was prepared to take military action if necessary even before a new government was formed. Mr Kerry arrived in Baghdad just a day after militants captured two key border posts, one along the frontier with Jordan and the other with Syria. Their latest victories considerably expanded territory under their control just two weeks after the group started swallowing up chunks of northern Iraq, heightening pressure on Mr al-Maliki to step aside
Posted on: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 20:58:31 +0000