Sen. John McCain calls on US to ‘choose true friends, the Kurds

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Senator John McCain on Tuesday urged the United States government to “choose the Kurds” as clashes intensified between Peshmerga, on the one hand, and Iraq forces and Iranian-backed Shia militias on the other.

In an opinion article for the New York Times, Sen. McCain, the powerful chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Washington should protect the Kurds “who are some of America’s most trusted and capable partners in the region.”

Regarding reports that Iranian-backed Shia Hashd al-Shaabi militias were using US-supplied arms to attack the Kurds, most recently in Kirkuk and other disputed territories, the Senator affirmed it was “totally unacceptable.”

“The United States offered arms and training to the government of Iraq to fight the Islamic State (IS) and secure Iraq from external threats – not to attack [the] Kurds,” McCain wrote.

The Senator pointed to “Iranian forces [who] are working to sow discord inside Iraq,” and push American influence outside of the Middle East.

“Beyond our tactical success in the fight against [IS], the United States is still dangerously lacking a comprehensive strategy toward the rest of the Middle East in all of its complexity,” he wrote in the op-ed.

“For decades, the United States’ alliance with the Kurds has protected them from attacks, both from within and outside Iraq, while furthering American national security interests,” the Senator continued, urging America to stand by “our true friends.”

Last week, McCain issued a statement strongly condemning Baghdad’s assault on Kurdish-controlled Kirkuk.

He said he was “concerned by media reports that Iranian and Iranian-backed forces [were] part of the assault,” and called on Iraqi forces to “take immediate steps to de-escalate this volatile situation by ceasing their advances.”

McCain also stressed there would be “severe consequences” if American-supplied equipment was “misused.”

As chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, he is in a position to act on that statement.

“If Baghdad cannot guarantee the Kurdish people in Iraq the security, freedom, and opportunities they desire, and if the United States is forced to choose between Iranian-backed militias and our longstanding Kurdish partners, I choose the Kurds,” McCain concluded.

Editing by Sam A.