Iraqi prime minister makes pitch for more aid in terror fight

Describing terrorism as a global problem, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki made a public pitch for more aid from the U.S. and the international community to help Iraq battle al Qaeda.

Al-Maliki said Thursday that al Qaeda “found a second chance” in Iraq after it was initially defeated, thanks in part to the instability created by the conflict in Syria.

In a speech at the U.S. Institute of Peace, he warned that al Qaeda’s resurgence in Iraq could have far-reaching implications.

“Al Qaeda is a dirty wind that wants to spread worldwide,” al-Maliki said.

The Iraqi leader is in Washington this week to meet with President Obama and congressional leaders as he seeks to secure more weapons and other U.S. aid, two years after he essentially kicked U.S. troops out of Iraq.

Obama and al-Maliki are set to meet at the White House on Friday.

Since U.S. troops left at the end of 2011, violence in Iraq has risen as al Qaeda has gained strength, particularly in recent months as thousands have been killed there.

The Iraqi leader said Thursday that U.S. military aid was important for his country’s fight against al Qaeda, saying that his country needed weapons specifically for counterterrorism, in addition to Abrams tanks and F-16s.

Congress is skeptical about giving more aid to Iraq, saying that al-Maliki’s “mismanagement of Iraqi politics is contributing to the recent surge of violence.”

“If Prime Minister al-Maliki continues to marginalize the Kurds, alienate many Shia, and treat large numbers of Sunnis as terrorists, no amount of security assistance will be able to bring stability and security to Iraq,” a group of six leading senators of defense issues wrote to Obama this week.

The senators, including Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), did encourage the administration to step up counterterrorism support for Iraq.

“We know we have major challenges of our own capabilities being up to the standard. They currently are not,” Lukman Faily, Iraq’s ambassador to the United States, told The Associated Press this week. “We need to gear up, to deal with that threat more seriously. We need support and we need help.”

Obama administration officials say that al Qaeda’s Iraq affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant  has become a “transnational threat network,” as its leader is based in Syria.

Al-Maliki said Thursday that his country is not taking sides in Syria, although U.S. officials have been angered by Iraq allowing Iran to use its airspace to fly supplies into Syria.