U.S. will sell 11 billion dollars in weapons to Iraq, according to New York Times

Days after his last contingent of soldiers in Iraq out of the country, Washington last details of a sale of around 11 billion dollars in weapons and training to the military of the Arab country.

Said today the newspaper "The New York Times" in his digitally, the Pentagon has decided to proceed with the transaction despite concerns that Iraq, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, is trying to create a State dominated by a single party Shia, and leave the system of Government of the Alliance today.

Military aid, which had already delivered a part, includes battle M1A1 tanks and F-16 fighter aircraft, and is intended to help the Iraqi Government to protect its borders and return his army to the level before the Gulf war of 1991, when he was one of the largest in the world, said the newspaper.

"The purpose of this program is to assist the ability of Iraqis to defend their" u000a"sovereignty against foreign threats to its security," told the newspaper the spokesman for the Pentagon, John Kirby.

Coordinated through the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, the sale includes also bullet-proof vests, helmets, magazines of ammunition and vehicles, which critics of the decision warning that they can be used by the security services of the regime to help to Al-Maliki to consolidate their power.

Iraq live a political crisis following the arrest warrant issued against the former country Tareq Hashemi of the political bloc to the Iraquiya, a secular coalition formed by both Shiites and Sunnis which has eight Ministers in the Executive to.

Washington fears that the arrest warrant is part of a strategy of the Party of Al-Maliki, rule of law, to exclude the minority Sunni of the Executive, and is concerned at the prospect of Baghdad ally eventually with the Shia theocracy ruling Tehran.

Number u000apoliticians and Iraqi experts expressed fears that the sale will benefit an Iraqi military body that is more interested in marginalize what nation to the Sunni than in protecting the sovereignty of the country, which brings in their tanks the Shia flag and not the national newspaper.

"It is very risky to assemble a sectarian army." "All the sacrifices we have made, the budget we are going to spend with the support of United States, this will result in an army of militia," said the Minister of Finance of the country, the Sunni Rafe al - Essawi.

However, Barack Obama Government maintains that the sale is based on conditions that require the entry of American inspectors that will watch how to use the weapons.

"Washington holds still considerable room for manoeuvre in Iraq: may freeze or withdraw their assistance packages, serious travel warning which will directly affect the direct investment in the country, and modify relationships" u000a"diplomatic or trade agreements", was of the view Matthew Sherman, an exfuncionario of the Department of State, who spent three years in Iraq.

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