WASHINGTON
(AP) -- A resurgence of violence and a renewed threat from al-Qaida have
recently revived flagging U.S. interest in Iraq, officials said Friday
as Baghdad asked for new help to fight extremists less than two years
after it forced American troops to withdraw.
Faced
with security crises across the Mideast, North Africa and Asia, the
White House largely has turned its attention away from Iraq since U.S.
forces left in 2011. But the country has been hit with deadly bombings
at a rate reminiscent of Iraq's darkest days, stoking new fears of a
civil war. More than 1,000 Iraqis were killed in terror-related attacks
in July, the deadliest month since 2008.
The
violence has spurred Baghdad to seek new U.S. aid to curb the threat,
said Iraqi Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari. He said a
U.S. assistance package could include a limited number of advisers,
intelligence analysis and surveillance assets - including lethal drones.
"There
is greater realization in the Iraq government that we should not shy
away from coming and asking for some help and assistance," Zebari told
reporters Friday in Washington.
He described
U.S. interest in Iraq after the 2011 troop withdrawal as "indifferent,
completely" but said that seemed to shift as the White House realized
al-Qaida's resurrection there.
"Recently I
noticed, and during this visit specifically, there is a renewed interest
because of the seriousness of the situation and the challenges," Zebari
said. "I think that is because of the threat of terrorism, the threat
of the renewal of al-Qaida and its affiliates has become a serious,
serious concern to the U.S."
The American
troops left Iraq in December 2011 as required under a 2008 security
agreement. Both countries tried to negotiate plans, but failed, to keep
at least several thousand U.S. forces in Iraq beyond the deadline to
maintain security. But the proposal fell through after Baghdad refused
to give the troops immunity from legal charges, as Washington demanded.
Nearly
4,500 U.S. troops were killed, and American taxpayers spent at least
$767 billion during the nearly nine years of war in Iraq.
Zebari
attributed the insurgency's comeback to its partnerships with al-Qaida
fighters in neighboring Syria and outlawed Baath Party extremists in
Iraq's south. Intelligence experts have described the terror group's
footing in Iraq and Syria as a new al-Qaida hub in the Mideast, one that
has sought for years to underscore Baghdad's inability to protect its
people.
Most of the attacks in Iraq target
government officials, security forces and Shiite pilgrims and
neighborhoods. A senior U.S. administration official this week said the
number of suicide bombings in Iraq has more than tripled over the last
months, and it's believed that most of the attackers are coming from
Syria.
"The security situation in Iraq is
deteriorating rapidly and is of significant concern," Sen. Bob Corker,
top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said this week
after meeting Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other senior
Iraqi officials during a trip to Baghdad and Irbil, the Kurdish capital
in Iraq's north.
"A United States foreign policy that does not recognize this will be very problematic," said Corker, R-Tenn.
Distracted
by a civil war in Syria, a policy pivot to Asia, growing extremism in
North Africa and Iran's nuclear ambitions, the White House put Iraq on
the back burner.
Egypt, once reliably stable,
has disintegrated over deadly street riots and attacks that killed more
than 600 people this week during protests over the ouster of Egyptian
President Mohammed Morsi. Jordan, a key U.S. ally, is threatening to
collapse under financial strain caused, in large part, by more than 1
million refugees who have crossed into the country from Syria. The U.S.
is also leading peace talks between Israel and Palestinian authorities,
and watching a growing threat from al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula in
Yemen. A threat from al-Qaida led to the closing of 19 diplomatic posts
across the region last week.
"That's a pretty
large agenda," said Jon Alterman, a Mideast expert at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "Iraq is no longer
viewed as central to everything the U.S. cares about in the Middle East.
But Iraq is still relevant to a wide range that the U.S. cares about."
In
the 20 months since the troop withdrawal, the U.S. has sought to stay
out of Iraqi affairs and engage with its government as Washington would
with any other nation. A majority of Americans agreed with that
approach, and 58 percent of U.S. adults said in a Washington Post-ABC
poll taken in March that the Iraq war had not been worth the fight.
Still,
U.S. officials say they remain actively involved in Iraq, and have
quietly stepped up diplomatic efforts since March, when U.S. Secretary
of State John Kerry visited Baghdad for the first time in his new post.
They largely have focused on ensuring Sunni Muslims are included in
Iraq's Shiite-led government, and have urged Shiite leaders to resist
retaliating to the Sunni insurgency's attacks in what State Department
spokesman Mike Lavallee described Friday as "quite intensive" diplomacy.
But
the engagement also has centered on making sure Iraq's government
remains independent from the Shiite government in Iran and staying out
of the civil war in Syria, where Sunni Muslim rebels are seeking to
overthrow Syrian President Bashar Assad, an Alawite. Alawites are an
offshoot of Shiite Islam.
Washington has
repeatedly chastised Baghdad for allowing Iranian planes to fly weapons
over Iraqi airspace to Assad's forces, a violation of U.N. sanctions.
Zebari said Friday that Baghdad has inspected at least 15 flights to
Syria since March, and did not find any fighters or weapons. He said
most of the inspected flights were from Iran or Syria, but also included
planes form North Korea and Armenia.
But Iraq is grappling with its own sectarian tensions that experts say could spawn civil war.
In
a report released this week, the Brussels-based International Crisis
Group described boiling frustrations among Iraqi Sunnis for being
politically sidelined and, in at least one deadly raid in April,
targeted by security forces.
"A new wave of
violence is engulfing Iraq," the report concluded. "Citizens and
politicians alike express fears of a return to sectarian strife."
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Follow Lara Jakes on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/larajakesAP
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