Baghdad, February 01: Iraq has censured the United States over the use of surveillance drones in the country, saying Washington has to request Baghdad’s permission prior to carrying out such flights.
Ali al-Dabbagh, an Iraqi government spokesman, said on Tuesday the US embassy “needs to get the approvals from the Iraqi government for any sort of surveillance which is needed.”
On Monday, US President Barack Obama said, “The truth of the matter is we are not engaging in a bunch of drone attacks inside of Iraq. There is some surveillance to make sure that our embassy compound is protected.”
However, Iraqi officials have strongly opposed the US drone flights in the country.
Dabbagh said Washington has made “no request till now” regarding the flights.
According to a report published by the New York Times on Sunday, about 5,000 private contractors are now in Iraq to “protect the (US) embassy’s staff.”
The US drone issue in Iraq comes a few weeks after the last US military base was handed over to Iraqi officials on December 16, 2011.
The US State Department is considering to “field unarmed surveillance drones in the future” in other countries including “Indonesia and Pakistan, and in Afghanistan” after the withdrawal of US troops “in the next two years,” the New York Times said.
——Agencies