(March 22) A number of planned war games have peen postponed because of fears they would help spread the coronavirus. However, the US and United Arab Emirates (UAE) carried on the biennial Native Fury to send a message to Iran.
Native Fury
The Native Fury exercise involves 4,000 US troops plus fighters from the UAE. The exercises were held on Monday at Al-Hamra base in Abu Dhabi's desert region. The thousands of troops backed by armored vehicles and helicopters "capture" a fictional model Iranian city containing mock multi-story buildings and mosques. The troops roam through narrow streets looking for enemy fighters.
US ambassador claims that the exercise was defensive
US Ambassador John Rakolta Jr. described the exercise as defensive in nature. He claimed this in spite of the fact that the exercises practiced an invasion and attack on a model Iranian city. Rakolta said that he did not think that it was provocative to tell the Iranians the US was coming. To indicate they are coming is to say they will invade and attack Iranian cities. How could that be other than provocative and a clear threat? There is nothing defensive about the exercises.
Rakota praised the UAE and when asked about Yemen where the UAE is involved said: “Partnerships are based on many aspects, many fundamentals, and this happens [to be] just one of them.Trust is a huge, huge factor. Transparency, common values all work into a partnership.” There have been international condemnation of the Saudi-led war with UAE support as involving bombing attacks that amount to war crimes.
US General also defends the exercise
Brigadier General Thomas Savage of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, the highest ranking US Commander of Native Fury said:
"Provocative? I don't know. We're about stability in the region. So if they view it as provocative, well, that's up to them. This is just a normal training exercise for us." So an exercise that threatens to invade Iran and practices doing so promotes stability? Savage does not know if this exercise creates stability even though he says that is what the US is in Iraq to create. The official reason for the US being in Iraq is to defeat ISIS. However, ISIS is more or less defeated and it seems clear that the US remains in Iraq to counter Iran's influence. It remains in Iraq even though the Iraqi parliament passed a motion that all foreign troops withdraw that passed 170 to 0 earlier this year.
The US has refused to reduce sanctions against Iran even though the sanctions negatively impact Iran's attempts to control the coronavirus
Previously published in the Digital Journal
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