Pejuang Negara Islam Iraq dan Levant (Fighters
of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Reuters)
Srikandi גבורה - Setiausaha
Negara Amerika Syarikat John Kerry mengatakan bahawa Washington bersedia utk
menggunakan langkah-langkah radikal untuk menghentikan serangan ISIS di Iraq -
termasuk mendaftar bantuan Iran dan melancarkan serangan udara.
"Kami
terbuka utk perbincangan jika ada sesuatu yg membina yg boleh
disumbangkan oleh Iran, jika Iran bersedia untuk melakukan sesuatu yg akan
menghormati integriti dan kedaulatan Iraq," diplomat memberitahu Yahoo
News pada hari Isnin apabila disoal tentang menyertai tentera dengan Iran, yg
menikmati hubungan agama dgn kerajaan ‘embattled’ di Baghdad.
Tetapi
Kerry memberi amaran bahawa Amerika Syarikat perlu "melihat apa yang Iran
mungkin atau mungkin tidak bersedia untuk melakukan sebelum kita mula membuat
apa-apa pengumuman."
Kemudian,
Jabatan Negara dan Pentagon menjelaskan bahawa apa-apa tindakan ber-sama akan
menjadi politik dan bukan tentera.
"Sama
sekali tidak ada niat dan tidak bercadang untuk menyelaras aktiviti ketenteraan
antara Amerika Syarikat dan Iran . . . tidak ada rancangan utk mempunyai
perundingan dengan Iran mengenai aktiviti ketenteraan di Iraq," kata
jurucakap Pentagon Laksamana John Kirby.
Al-Qaeda
cabang ISIS (atau ISIL) - Negara Islam Iraq dan Levant - telah ditolak dari
kubu kuat ke atas sempadan Syria dan mengambil bandar-bandar utama Mosul dan
Tikrit sejak minggu lalu. Militia yang kini ditempatkan di pinggir Baghdad, di
mana kerajaan sedang menganjurkan serang-balas. Pada hujung minggu, ia mendakwa
telah dilaksanakan 1,700 pegawai setia.
"Ini
adalah satu cabaran kepada kestabilan rantau ini. Ia jelas satu cabaran
kewujudan ke Iraq itu sendiri. Ini adalah satu kumpulan pengganas, "kata
Kerry ISIS, sebuah per-tubuhan Sunni yang telah dieksploitasi ketegangan
sektarian sebahagiannya menghasut oleh dasar Syiah garis keras daripada
kerajaan sekarang.
Diplomat
itu dikritik Perdana Menteri Nouri Maliki, tetapi berkata Amerika Syarikat
tidak akan "mengeluarkan arahan atau perintah" untuk beliau
meletakkan jawatan atau berkongsi kuasa. Dia, bagaimanapun, menyeru "orang
Iraq untuk membentuk sebuah kerajaan yang mewakili semua kepentingan Iraq.
Tidak satu kumpulan mazhab dengan yang lain"
Walau
bagaimanapun, Kerry mengulangi kenyataan sebelum ini berkata bahawa Amerika
Syarikat akan menimbang menggunakan serangan udara - sama ada dikenda-likan atau
tanpa pemandu - untuk mengelakkan Baghdad daripada dibawa oleh pelampau.
"[pesawat] mereka bukan la jawapan, tetapi mereka juga boleh menjadi salah satu pilihan
yang penting," kata Kerry. "Saya tidak akan menolak apa-apa yang akan
mem-bina."
"Apabila
anda mempunyai orang2 yang membunuh, membunuh dalam pembunuhan massa beramai-ramai,
anda perlu hentikan ini dan anda melakukan apa yang anda lakukan jika anda
perlu cuba untuk menghentikannya dari udara atau sebaliknya," tambah Kerry.
Desperate
times: Kerry says US ready to turn
to Iran, drone strikes, to fight ISIS . . .
US
Secretary of State John Kerry says that Washington is ready to use radical
measures to halt the ISIS offensive in Iraq – including enlisting Iran’s help and
launching air strikes.
"We're
open to discussions if there is something constructive that can be contributed
by Iran, if Iran is prepared to do something that is going to respect the
integrity and sovereignty of Iraq," the diplomat told Yahoo News on Monday
when questioned about joining forces with Iran, which enjoys religious ties
with the embattled government in Baghdad.
But
Kerry warned that the US should “see what Iran might or might not be willing to
do before we start making any pronouncements."
Later,
the State Department and the Pentagon clarified that any joint action would be
political and not military.
"There
is absolutely no intention and no plan to coordinate military activity between
the United States and Iran...there are no plans to have consultations with Iran
about military activities in Iraq,” said Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John
Kirby.
The
Al-Qaeda offshoot ISIS (or ISIL) – the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant – has
pushed from its strongholds on the Syrian border and taken the major urban
centers of Mosul and Tikrit over the past week. Its militias are currently
stationed on the outskirts of Baghdad, where the government is staging a
counter-offensive. Over the weekend, it claimed to have executed 1,700 loyalist
officers.
“This
is a challenge to the stability of the region. It is obviously an existential
challenge to Iraq itself. This is a terrorist group,” Kerry said of ISIS, a
Sunni organization which has exploited the sectarian tensions partially incited
by the hardline Shia policies of the current government.
The
diplomat heavily criticized Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, but said the US will
not be “issuing instructions or orders” for him to resign or share power. He
did, however, call on the “Iraqi people to form a government that represents
all of the interests of Iraq — not one sectarian group over another."
Nonetheless,
Kerry reiterated previous statements saying that the US would consider using
air strikes – whether manned or unmanned – to prevent Baghdad from being taken
by extremists.
"They
[drones] are not the whole answer, but they may well be one of the options that
are important," said Kerry. "I wouldn't rule out anything that would
be constructive."
“When
you have people murdering, assassinating in these mass massacres, you have to stop
that and you do what you need to do if you need to try to stop it from the air
or otherwise," Kerry added.
Setiausaha Negara Amerika Syarikat John
Kerry (U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (Reuters/Gary Cameron)
Diplomat
itu berkata bahawa Presiden Barack Obama sedang menjalankan "satu tapi-san
sangat teliti setiap pilihan yang ada."
Obama
sebelum ini berkata Amerika Syarikat akan mengelakkan campur tangan ketenteraan
secara langsung di negara ini ia menyerang pd tahun 2003 & mening-galkan
hanya 3 tahun yang lalu.
Kerry
bergema kebimbangan oleh ahli-ahli politik Amerika Syarikat yang lain yang
kekuatan yang semakin ISIS meningkat - yang merampas US $ 425 juta daripada
bilik kebal kerajaan di Mosul minggu lepas dan menikmati pembiayaan murah hati
dari Wahhabisme di Semenanjung Arab - membahayakan keselamatan negara Amerika.
ISIS
"jelas tertumpu bukan sahaja di sana, tetapi mereka memberi tumpuan kpd untuk cuba membahayakan ke Eropah, ke Amerika dan orang lain, dan sebab itu
kami percaya ia begitu penting untuk kita untuk terlibat."
Kerry
berkata pertubuhan itu dikira pejuang dari Amerika Syarikat, Australia,
Britain, Kanada, Perancis, Jerman, dan Belanda pada pangkat - dan bahawa mereka
kemudian dapat kembali ke negara asal mereka untuk mengadakan bertindak
pengganas.
Iran
+ US = pelan dibuat-buat ?
The
diplomat said that President Barack Obama is conducting "a very thorough
vetting of every option that is available."
Obama
previously said the US would avoid a direct military intervention in the
country it invaded in 2003 and left only three years ago.
Kerry
echoed concerns by other US politicians that the growing might of ISIS – which
plundered US$425 million from a government vault in Mosul last week and enjoys
generous funding from Wahhabis in the Arabian peninsula – is endangering
American national security.
ISIS
“clearly are focused not just there, but they’re focused on trying to do harm
to Europe, to America and other people, and that’s why we believe it is so
important for us to be engaged."
Kerry
said the organization counted fighters from the US, Australia, Britain, Canada,
France, Germany, and the Netherlands in its ranks – and that those could later
return to their home countries to stage terrorist acts.
Iran
+ US = a far-fetched plan ?
Presiden Iran Hassan Rouhani (Iranian
President Hassan Rouhani (AFP Photo/Atta Kenare)
Walaupun
idea bahawa Washington dan Tehran boleh bekerja bersama antara satu sama lain
adalah satu bukti kepada pencairan hubungan antara musuh baru-baru ini, ia kini
seolah-olah tidak mungkin bahawa inisiatif itu akan menghasilkan buah.
Kedua-dua
negara berkongsi kepentingan strategik tulen dalam menjaga kerajaan Maliki
bertahan (walaupun motif mereka untuk berbuat demikian adalah berbeza) dan media
Barat telah melaporkan bahawa Republik Islam telah dihantar elit Pengawal
Revolusi tentera untuk penampan kerajaan Iraq, memetik Iraq dan pegawai-pegawai
Amerika.
Tetapi
Iran telah menafikan sebarang penglibatan tentera bercanggah jirannya itu,
sebagai ketua Majlis Keselamatan Negara Tertinggi di negara ini, Ali Shamkhani,
seca-ra umum rebuffed tawaran Amerika Syarikat, memanggil "tidak
realistik."
Kedua-dua
negara juga dikunci dalam rundingan lewat peringkat tegang atas program nuklear
dan sekatan potensi bantuan Iran. Pada Isnin, Jabatan Negara mengeluarkan
kenyataan mengatakan bahawa semasa ia akan membincangkan Iraq dengan
pegawai-pegawai Iran di rundingan akan datang di Vienna, ia enggan untuk
menghubungkan 2 isu bersama-sama.
While
the idea that Washington and Tehran may work alongside each other is a
testament to the thawing of relations between recent adversaries, it currently
seems unlikely that the initiative will bear fruit.
The
two countries share a genuine strategic interest in keeping the Maliki government
afloat (though their motives for doing so are fundamentally different) and
Western media outlets have reported that the Islamic Republic has already
dispatched elite Revolutionary Guards troops to buffer the Iraqi government,
citing Iraqi and American officials.
But
Iran has denied any military involvement in its neighbor’s conflict, as the
head of the country’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani,
publicly rebuffed the US offer, calling it “unrealistic.”
The
two countries are also locked in tense late-stage negotiations over Iran’s
nuclear program and potential sanctions relief. On Monday, the State Department
released a statement saying that while it will discuss Iraq with Iranian
officials at upcoming talks in Vienna, it is reluctant to link the two issues
together.
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