Today's Aswat Aliraq reports that...

The Iraqi Ministry of Defense (MOD) on Sunday said that it received a fleet of advanced surveillance planes that were bought from the U.S.

“The Iraqi Air force Command received a fleet of U.S. manufactured advanced planes, in ceremonies that were attended by Abdulqadir Mohammed Jassim, Iraq’s defense minister, the Iraqi air force commander, and a number of Iraqi and U.S. officers,” the MOD said in a release that was received by Aswat al-Iraq.

“The ministry received during the last few days a fleet of the U.S. made new surveillance planes, King Air brand,” the minister said in his speech during the ceremony.

“The planes were used for the first time in a flight over Baghdad, with the participation of the Iraqi defense minister and air force commander,” the release said.

“The planes are advanced, have high specifications of accurate videotaping and can cover wide areas, and then transmitting photos to the command center to instruct land forces on the ground” the defense minister added, denying rumors that the pilots are not qualified.

“Iraq pilots were trained to use them,” he noted.

“The planes were bought by Iraqi funds,” he proceeded, responding to reports claiming that the planes were given by the U.S. air force to Iraq free of charge.

“Those planes are rare in the Middle East,” he noted.

I did some snooping around to determine what type of aircraft it is and I found this article...

KIRKUK REGIONAL AIR BASE, Iraq, June 25, 2008 – While Iraqi air force pilots continue flying sorties to aid stability in their nation, Iraqi maintainers on the ground here have achieved important benchmarks to keep their fleet in the air.

Airmen with the Iraqi air force’s 3rd Squadron took over a wide variety of maintenance duties on the unit's Cessna 208 Caravan fleet that’s used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, a task formerly performed by U.S. contractors.

"The 3rd Squadron was recently asked to transition from contracted maintenance to full Iraqi support," said Air Force Capt. Gordon Beran, 870th Expeditionary Air Advisory Squadron combat aviation advisor. "Having the ability to take over maintenance for their new fleet is very important. It brings them one step closer to a fully autonomous air force."

The all-Iraqi crews perform Level 1 maintenance tasks such as aircraft launch and recovery, pre-flight maintenance, ground handling and aircraft servicing.

This was no simple undertaking for the Iraqi maintainers, who had no experience with Western-style aircraft and whose English-speaking abilities are limited.

"While the Cessna 208 is fairly basic, these aircraft are equipped with state-of-the-art surveillance technology found on most U.S. Air Force advanced weapon platforms," Beran said. "The aircraft takes a lot of training for a pilot to operate - and takes just as much for the maintainer.”

Here's the Wiki on the Cessna Caravan 208 or rather the U-27...

In other news out of Iraq, Zebari, again, says an agreement is near on the SOFA negotiations...

...Zebari spoke to reporters Saturday at the start of talks with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Rice has also said that there has been good progress. However, she adds that certain protections are needed for U.S. forces so they can continue to make security gains in Iraq.

The agreement will authorize U.S. troops to remain in Iraq after the current U.N. mandate expires on December 31.

Iraq has said that it wants all U.S. forces withdrawn by 2011. Iraqi officials also object to U.S. demands that American troops have legal immunity for crimes committed in the country.

Any agreement must be ratified by the Iraqi parliament.

How many months now have we heard that exact same refrain...?

Roads to Iraq says...

This is the 12 time Iraq’s foreign minister Zebari says “The United States and Iraq are close to reaching a long-delayed security deal“.

In other news, a tragic tale of intolerance unfolded...

Iraqi Gay Leader Gunned Down; Militia Killings Continue

...Tatchell wrote, "This morning, I received news from Iraq that the coordinator of Iraqi LGBT in Baghdad, Bashar, aged 27, a university student, has been assassinated in a barber shop.

"Militias burst in and sprayed his body with bullets at point blank range."

Continued Tatchell’s statement, "He was the organizer of the safe houses for gays and lesbians in Baghdad. His efforts saved the lives of dozens of people."

It's proof positive of the continued growth of the intolerance that has grown exponentially since we invaded and toppled the secular(and tolerant) society the Ba'athists had fostered...

Roads to Iraq reports on a worrisome issue...

More cracks inside the Kurdish coalition

After the first crack reported here, Jordanian newspaper Al-Arab Al-Youm reported today Barzani’s KDP distributed leaflets in Baghdad published the party’s own research center accusing Talabani’s PUK ally with joining the “Iranian” coalition [refers to the Iraqi Shiite Parties] and getting the military and political support directly from Iran.

The leaflets quoted parts of Talabani’s letter to the Iranian Mohammad Ja’fari head of the Iranian Revolution Guards in which Talabani complains about the U.S. support to Barzani’s KDP because of the party’s alliance with the Shiites Supreme Council.

In other part of the letter Talabani pointed out to Barazani’s hatred to the “Islamic Republic” and his cooperation with Iraq’s former president Saddam Hussein.

Also, Talabani started the letter with about the cooperation between the Barzani - London - Washington to support the Iranian Khalq Organization against Iran.

That doesn't bode well for the powder keg that is Kirkuk...

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