Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/451112
ByQassimAbdul-Zahra and Vivian Salama The Associated Press BAGHDAD Iraqicommand- ers heavily dependent on outside support to defeat the Islamic State group are increasingly voicing frus- tration over the U.S.-led co- alition's efforts, complain- ing of miscommunication, failed deliveries of weap- ons, inadequate training and differences in strategy. Speaking to The Associ- ated Press this week, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al- Abadi said, "We want to see an acceleration of the train- ing, acceleration of the de- livery of arms" from foreign allies. Al-Abadi complained that Iraq is "left almost alone to get these arms and munitions for the army, for our fighters, and we expect much more." At the same time, he reit- erated that his government does not want any foreign boots on the ground, and he acknowledged that co- alition airstrikes had been "very, very effective." Leaders of the coalition stressed its successes at a London meeting Thurs- day, with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry saying that nearly 2,000 airstrikes had helped ground forces retake 270 square miles of territory, kill 50 percent of Islamic State commanders and choked off some of the group's oil revenue. But three Iraqi gener- als who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity be- cause they are not autho- rized to discuss ongoing op- erations said the U.S. has on several occasions ignored guidance from Iraqi com- manders and has failed to provide ample training and weapons to Iraq's belea- guered forces. "Whenever we complain about the poor training they provided us, they remind us that it was Iraq who forced them to leave" in 2011, one of the generals said. The generals noted, by contrast, Iran's willingness to quickly accommodate their urgent needs for weap- ons and training, while the coalition makes them wait. The U.S. spent billions of dollars training and equip- ping Iraq's army during its eight-year intervention, only to see security forces crumble last summer when the Islamic State group swept across northern Iraq and captured the second- largest city of Mosul. Many Iraqis blame the military's weakness on the government of former Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki, saying it did little to target mounting mili- tary corruption and had replaced seasoned com- manders with less-experi- enced loyalists. A senior U.S. military of- ficial told the AP that as of June 2014, the Iraqi mili- tary stood at 125,000 men at best, down from 205,000 in January 2014. That left it relying heavily on unruly Shiite militias for reinforce- ments. In November, Presi- dent Barack Obama au- thorized the deployment of up to 1,500 more Amer- ican troops to bolster Iraqi forces, which could more than double the total num- ber of U.S. forces to 3,100. None has a combat role. The Pentagon has re- quested $1.6 billion from Congress to train and arm Iraqi and Kurdish forces. That includes an estimated $89.3 million in weapons and other equipment to each of the nine Iraqi army brigades, according to a Pentagon document pre- pared in November. At the meeting in Lon- don, where officials from 21 countries met to present a united front in the fight against the extremists in Syria and Iraq, Kerry said the coalition "can do bet- ter." British Foreign Secre- tary Philip Hammond said Iraqi forces were in a "state of disarray" and "it will be months yet before they are ready to start significant combat operations" against the extremists. "The trajectory of this fight ... will be neither short, nor easy. That has been a consistent statement," Kerry said at a news con- ference with al-Abadi and Hammond. "I don't think there's any undertaking in its early months where you can't do better and you can't find things you can't improve on." After the meeting, al- Abadi said, "I have asked people for more support and I think my call didn't go unnoticed." WEAPONS, STRATEGY Ir aq c oa li ti on t en si on s em er ge i n Is la mi c St at e fig ht HADIMIZBAN—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, right, stands with Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al- Jaafari at the Prime Minister's Office in Baghdad, Iraq, on Wednesday. By Mari Yamaguchi and Elaine Kurtenbach The Associated Press TOKYO Lacking clout and diplomatic reach in the Middle East, Japan scram- bled Thursday for ways to secure the release of two hostages held by the Islamic State group, as two people with contacts there offered to try to negotiate. The militants threat- ened in a video message to kill the hostages within 72 hours unless they re- ceive $200 million. Based on the video's release time, that deadline would expire sometime Friday. Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said Thurs- day that Japan was try- ing all possible channels to reach those holding the hostages — 47-year-old free- lance journalist Kenji Goto, and 42-year-old Haruna Yu- kawa, the founder of a pri- vate security company. Japan had not received any message from IS since the release of the video, he said. The crisis is a test of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to expand Ja- pan's role in international affairs and raise the profile of its military. Tokyo lacks strong diplomatic connec- tions in the Middle East, and Japanese diplomats left Syria as the civil war there escalated, adding to the difficulty of contacting the group holding the hostages. So far, the only initiative made public was an offer by Ko Nakata, an expert on Is- lamic law and former pro- fessor at Kyoto's Doshisha University, along with jour- nalist Kousuke Tsuneoka. Both are converts to Islam. Appearing at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Ja- pan, Nakata, who is also a former Islamic specialist at the Japanese Embassy in Saudi Arabia, read a mes- sage in Japanese and Arabic. "Seventy-two hours is just too short. Please wait just a bit longer, and do not try to take action immedi- ately," he said, addressing the militants. "If there is room to talk, I'm ready to go and negotiate." Nakata urged the Is- lamic State to "explain the group's plan to the Japa- nese government, and wait for a counter proposal from our side." He also proposed offering $200 million in hu- manitarian aid to refugees and residents of areas con- trolled by the Islamic State. "The Red Crescent Soci- ety is operating under the Islamic State's control. Why don't we seek Turkey's me- diation and give the money for the people affected by the conflicts in Iraq and Syria? I believe this could be a rational, acceptable option," he said. A freelance journalist, Tsuneoka was released af- ter being held hostage in Af- ghanistan in 2010. Tsuneoka and Nakata vis- ited Syria in September in an unsuccessful attempt to gain Yukawa's release. Goto was seized sometime after late October when he entered the area, reportedly while trying to help Yukawa. In his last communica- tion with the Islamic State group several months ago, Tsuneoka said they had promised not to kill Yukawa or demand ransom. "It's a desperate situ- ation," Tsuneoka said. "I don't recall a hostage who survived after appearing on the video. So the situa- tion is rather hopeless. And a thin thread of hope that is left now is a direct dialogue with the Islamic State, and we are the only people who have connections." DEATH THREAT Japan agonizes over ways to free hostages held by militants By Edith M. Lederer The Associated Press UNITED NATIONS French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy challenged the world at the first-ever U.N. Gen- eral Assembly meeting de- voted to anti-Semitism to counter the rising hatred of Jews, which he denounced as "radical inhumanity." In a keynote address on Thursday, Levy decried that "faulting the Jews is once again becoming the rally- ing cry of a new order of assassins." The United Nations was established on the ashes of the Holocaust after World War II, and one reason was to fight the "plague" of anti- Semitism, Levy noted. The assembly was held in response to the global in- crease in violence against Jews and was scheduled before the killing of four French Jews at a kosher market during three days of terror in Paris earlier this month. Paris was just the latest attack to raise fears among European Jews, fol- lowing killings at a Belgian Jewish Museum and a Jew- ish school in southwestern France. A surprise speaker was Saudi Arabia's Ambassa- dor Abdallah Al-Moualimi, who told the meeting that Islamic countries condemn all words and acts that lead "to hatred, anti-Semitism, Islamaphobia." Levy called for new ar- guments to counter those who say "Jews are detest- able" because they support the "illegitimate state" of Israel, because they deny the Holocaust, and because they want their victims to overshadow other people's martyrs including the Pal- estinians. "It is up to you who are the faces of the world to be the architects of a house in which the mother of all hates would see its place reduced," said Levy, who is Jewish. "May you in a year's time, and in years after that and every other year, recon- vene to observe that the mo- bilization of today was not in vain." U.S. Ambassador Saman- tha Power urged the world to stand up against anti- Semitism and take action to end "this monstrous global problem" She noted that even in the United States, nearly two-thirds of reli- gion-driven hate crimes in 2012 targeted Jews, accord- ing to an FBI report German Minister of State for Europe Michael Roth warned that "anti-Semi- tism is gaining ground in a loud and aggressive man- ner" and posed a threat to society as a whole. Because of Germany's role in the Holocaust, he said, his country will al- ways be in the forefront of fighting anti-Semitism and pursuing "a zero-tolerance policy." 'PLAGUE' UN meeting challenges world to stand up to anti-Semitism RICHARD DREW — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Germany's Foreign Minister Michael Roth addresses the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday. By Seth Borenstein The Associated Press WASHINGTON The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists says Earth is now closer to hu- man-caused doomsday than it has been in more than 30 years because of global warming and nuclear weap- onry. But other experts say that's way too gloomy. The advocacy group founded by the creators of the atomic bomb moved their famed "Doomsday Clock" ahead two minutes on Thursday. It said the world is three minutes from a catastrophic midnight, in- stead of five minutes. "This is about doomsday; this is about the end of civ- ilization as we know it," bulletin executive director Kennette Benedict said at a news conference. She called both climate change and modernization of nuclear weaponry equal but undeniable threats to humanity's continued ex- istence that triggered the 20 scientists on the board to decide to move the clock closer to midnight. "The probability of global catastrophe is very high, and the actions needed to reduce the risks of disaster must be taken very soon," Benedict said. ADVOCACY GROUP 'D oomsday Clock' set two minutes ahead Please help sponsor a classroom subscription Call Kathy at (530) 737-5047 to find out how. ThroughtheNewspapersinEducation program, area classrooms receive the Red Bluff Daily News every day thanks to the generosity of these local businesses & individuals. •DR.ASATO&DR.MARTIN • FIDELITY NATIONAL TITLE CO. • WI N G S OLA R & W OO D EN ERGY • DOLLING INSURANCE • GUMM'S OPTICAL SHOPPE • OLIVE CITY QUICK LUBE • WA LM AR T • TEHAMA CO. DEPT. 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