Kerry denies blame for Iraq terror rise, Libya crisis

Kerry denies blame for Iraq terror rise, Libya crisis
Mon Jun 23, 2014 13:02:11

US Secretary of State John Kerry has denied Washington’s responsibility for either the surging terrorism in Iraq or the crisis in Libya in remarks during a surprise visit to Egypt to greet and hold talks with its new president who led the July 2013 coup against the country’s first freely-elected president Mohamed Morsi.

"The United States of America is not responsible for what happened in Libya, nor is it responsible for what is happening in Iraq today," said Kerry at a press conference in Cairo after a short visit to Egypt for talks with its newly elected President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as part of his Middle East tour.

Speaking on the fallout of the crisis in Iraq, where foreign-sponsored and well-armed ISIL terrorists are engaged in a massive insurgency bid to undermine the Iraqi government, Kerry suggested that the authorities in Baghdad were following sectarian policies, as alleged by the ISIL terrorist and their Saudi and Qatari backers.

"ISIL … it’s an ideology of violence and repression, is a threat not only to Iraq but the entire region... this is a critical moment when we must urge Iraq's leaders to rise above sectarian considerations... and speak to all people," Kerry said at a press conference.

Amid the growing terrorism threatening the Iraqi government, US President Barack Obama said Thursday that up to 300 additional American military troops will head to Iraq and assume an “advisory” role.

This is while the Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei blamed Washington for the ongoing “sedition” in Iraq in a Sunday speech and further slammed yet another US plot to intervene in domestic affairs of the Iraqis.

Kerry further claimed, "The United States shed blood and worked hard for years for the Iraqis to have their own governance... but ISIL crossed the line from Syria, began plotting internally. They have attacked communities and they are the ones marching through to disrupt the ability of Iraq to have the governance it wants."


On March 20, 2003 the United States opened a military offensive against Iraq under the pretext that the Baathist government of Saddam Hussein was harboring weapons of mass destruction - claims that were later proved to be false.

From March 2003 to mid-2011 an estimated 460,000 fatalities were caused by the violence during the US-led war in Iraq, according to a statistical research published in PLOS (Public Library of Science) Medicine journal in October 2013.


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