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U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel speaks to the media after meeting with Iraqi officials, in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014. Hagel, who flew to Baghdad to get a first-hand report on progress against the Islamic State militants, held a series of meetings with top Iraqi government officials and conferred with American military commanders. Al-Abadi told Hagel on Tuesday that his army is taking the offensive against the Islamic State group but needs more air power and heavy weaponry to prevail. (AP Photo/Mark Wilson, Pool)(The Associated Press)

U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel speaks to troops stationed at Baghdad International Airport, in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014. Hagel, who flew to Baghdad to get a first-hand report on progress against the Islamic State militants, held a series of meetings with top Iraqi government officials and conferred with American military commanders. Al-Abadi told Hagel on Tuesday that his army is taking the offensive against the Islamic State group but needs more air power and heavy weaponry to prevail. (AP Photo/Mark Wilson, Pool)(The Associated Press)

BAGHDAD As the first American defense secretary to visit Iraq since the U.S. officially ended its long war three years ago, Chuck Hagel's message to Iraqi leaders was plain: U.S. military power didn't solve Iraq's problems last time, nor will it now.

"As Iraqi leaders and the people of Iraq know, only they can bring lasting peace to their country if they are resolved to do this," Hagel told reporters Tuesday after meeting Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and other top Iraqi officials.

Hagel offered assurances that Washington is committed to helping Iraq regain the territory it lost to Islamic State fighters this year, and he emphasized the importance of building a durable international coalition to combat the extremist group. But equally important was his insistence that no amount of outside assistance can substitute for Iraqi will.

He acknowledged that al-Abadi had asked him for more American air power and more U.S. heavy weaponry. "We need that," the prime minister could be heard telling Hagel as they began their meeting in al-Abadi's office. Asked by reporters later how he had responded, Hagel pointedly declined to say whether he agreed with al-Abadi.

U.S. warplanes have been attacking Islamic State targets across much of northern and western Iraq since August. In the months ahead, the Pentagon hopes to increasingly use air power in conjunction with Iraqi ground counteroffensives to retake territory. But Hagel's remarks seemed intended to encourage the idea that the Iraqis' main focus should be on strengthening their own forces rather than appealing to Washington for a silver-bullet solution through U.S. firepower.

Hagel, who resigned under pressure barely two weeks ago, stuck to the Obama administration's insistence that Iraq's problems ultimately are rooted in political weakness that created the conditions for the Iraqi army's collapse last June, when Islamic State fighters swept across northern Iraq, captured the city of Mosul and stirred fear in Baghdad. In recent weeks the Iraqi security forces have staged a modest rebound, essentially halting further IS advances.

"For these gains to be sustainable, the Iraqi government must continue to build an inclusive government that represents all its people a government that all of the Iraqi people can have confidence in and trust," Hagel said.

While it encourages the Iraqi government to pull together, the U.S. is working to build an international coalition that would help rebuild the Iraqi army. Four sites for the retraining of Iraqi forces are to be set up, with trainers from the U.S. and other countries.

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Hagel: US military power will not solve Iraq's problems

BAGHDAD The Iraqi government appealed to U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Tuesday for additional air power and heavy weapons as Iraq struggles to expel the well-armed Islamic State militants who are dug in across a vast area of the country.

Hagel, paying an hours-long visit to Iraq as he prepares to step down from his Pentagon position, underscored the significant expansion in U.S. military assistance since the Islamic State group swept into northern Iraq from Syria in the summer. But he also delivered the tough-love message of President Obamas White House: The fight is ultimately Iraqis own to win or lose.

As Iraqi leaders and the people of Iraq know, only they can bring lasting peace to their country, Hagel told reporters after meetings with senior Iraqi officials. I believe the Iraqi people are resolved to do this.

Hagel said he was encouraged by the progress that Iraq was making six months after the fall of Mosul, the countrys second- largest city, as Iraqi forces claim some successes in dislodging the militant group from areas such as the Mosul Dam or around the critical Baiji oil refinery.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who U.S. officials are hoping will end the sectarianism that provided a foothold for the Islamic State, said the extremist group was now on the descent despite its extensive arsenal and the ability of its fighters to move between Iraq and Syria.

We are very thankful for the support thats been given to us, Abadi told Hagel at the start of a meeting in Baghdads fortified Green Zone. Since the summer, Obama has sent 1,650 U.S. troops to Iraq. As part of a plan to retrain portions of the Iraqi army, that force could grow to about 3,000 in the short term.

Abadi stressed the urgency of defeating the Islamic State. Our forces are very much advancing on the ground. But they need more air power and more ... heavy weaponry. We need that, he said.

Speaking to reporters later, Hagel declined to say whether the United States would increase the tempo of airstrikes that its warplanes, along with those from allied nations, have been conducting on militant targets in Iraq since August. U.S. military leaders say that American-led airstrikes in Iraq and Syria have stalled the militant groups expansion in Iraq and damaged its ability to fund operations in both countries.

But U.S. officials have linked the frequency and location of their airstrikes to the movements of Iraqi forces, which have had limited success against the militants. Iraqi troops, along with Kurdish peshmerga forces and volunteer fighters, have yet to try the recapture of some of the most significant areas under Islamic State control, including Mosul. U.S. officials say strikes will be expanded only to match or assist the advances of Iraqi troops.

The Obama administration has been working to expedite delivery of military equipment, including Hellfire missiles and mine-resistant vehicles. But Iraqi officials have expressed dismay about the pace of the weapons transfers, which must pass through the U.S. bureaucracy. The plodding delivery also may have encouraged greater Iraqi military reliance on Iran, a U.S. adversary.

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Iraq presses Hagel for greater U.S. military support against Islamic State

Published December 09, 2014

WASHINGTON Iraq's central government in Baghdad must give up much of its authority to local power centers and potentially permit the creation of an autonomous Sunni Muslim region if the nation is to survive the fight against Islamic State militants, a senior Iraqi Kurdish official said Tuesday.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, Kurdistan regional Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani said giving Sunnis broad political control within their own population may be the one way to keep them from joining the Islamic State.

Both Baghdad and the United States have resisted partitioning Iraq along ethnic or sectarian lines, although Vice President Joe Biden advocated for doing so as a senator in 2006.

Talabani acknowledged that partitioning Iraq now would require "a major culture shift" and was unsure himself if it would ever happen. But the idea has been pushed by Sunnis since U.S. combat troops left Iraq in 2011, and has recently picked up support among military and diplomatic experts.

"It seems counterintuitive, but the only way you're going to keep Iraq together is to give up power from Baghdad," Talabani said during the interview at the Kurdish diplomatic mission in Washington.

Asked if he envisioned some sort of autonomous regional government for Sunnis, he said: "Yes, absolutely."

Time and again, Talabani said, Iraq's central government has proven itself unable to relinquish authority to regions and provinces across the country even though it was required to do so under its own constitution. As a result, Baghdad has starved much of the country of power and oil revenues, giving rise to widespread frustration among minority Sunnis and Kurds, and even some Shiites who make up about 60 percent of Iraq's population.

Most of the anger grew during the government of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite who held power for eight years before stepping down under pressure in August. He was replaced by another Shiite premier, Haider al-Abadi, whom Talabani on Tuesday described as "pragmatic and practical" enough to perhaps agree to diluting Baghdad's power to regions.

Al-Maliki's heavy-handed government fueled support for the Sunni-dominated Islamic State group that has swept across much of Iraq and Syria, drawing more than 1,000 airstrikes since August by the U.S. and allies.

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Senior Kurdish official says Iraq will survive as a nation only if Baghdad releases authority

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Syria hit ISIS in Iraq with AIR strikes Nouri Maliki BREAKING NEWS 26 JUNE 2014 - Video

Italian Special Forces in Iraq
GIS , Carabinieri Paracadutisti "Tuscania" , 185 Reggimento RAO.

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Italian Special Forces in Iraq - Video