Wanted to follow up on the report from yesterday
US Deploys Patriot System to Iraq
"One of the Patriot batteries was deployed to the Ain al-Asad base last week and was being assembled, according to a US defence official and an Iraqi military source, AFP reported.
Another battery was deployed to a base in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), an autonomous region in Iraq.
Washington and Baghdad have been negotiating the placement of the defence system for months"
Erbil and Al Asad Base 2 locations thus far for Patriots
US coalition officials have said the ultimate aim is to continue the US's support for Iraqi forces battling extremist groups like the Islamic State (IS) group, but "from fewer bases and with fewer people".
The alliance is also temporarily withdrawing hundreds of trainers, as Iraq's military has halted all training since early March to minimise the risk of the novel coronavirus pandemic spreading among its forces.
These missile moves were made with Turkey and Iran in their sights. As a deterrent. That's how I'm seeing this as of now.Stars and Stripes
A resident of Irbil, the capital of northern Iraq’s Kurdistan region, told Stars and Stripes he spotted a missile battery at the base there this week. One has also been sent to al Asad Air Base in Anbar province, unnamed U.S. and Iraqi security officials told Agence-France Presse, and two more were expected to deploy from Kuwait.
"The US objective for the Patriots is to protect its troops that are now at a smaller number of bases," a western diplomat in Baghdad told AFP
The US-led coalition is required to get approval from the Iraqi government to fly any surveillance drones and planes, but those permissions expired in early January and have yet to be renewed.
The US had kept the drones in the air anyway, a senior American defence official told reporters,
In other words the US does in Iraq what the US wants
Two more batteries are still in Kuwait but will be moved to Iraq.
Good interview posted earlier today: