Iraq wants to join the NATO!

"The senior advisor in the Iraqi defense ministry Mohammed al-Askari told the press today that the ministry is looking forward to seeing Iraq become a member of the NATO and that the minister Sa'doun al-Dulaimi, the chief of staff and the higher commanders are planning to propose this plan to the new government once it's seated.
Al-Askari told al-Hurra TV tonight that the chief commanders in the ministry had been discussing this subject with great interest for a long time and that:

If al-Dulaimi gets a second term he will be working hard to convince the parliament about the necessity of joining the NATO as this falls in Iraq's strategic interests….the recent changes in the Middle East region and Iran's intentions to pursue nuclear weapons is encouraging us to move in this direction.

And added:

We have got to think of a suitable deterring capability to protect Iraq from aggressions and we think being part of the NATO will provide Iraq with the best protection it can get because the NATO represents the base for peace and security in the world.

When asked about a statement given by the minister some time ago about Iraq's plans to equip the new army with Russian weaponry al-Askari responded:

We had no choice but to depend on Russian weapons for the time being because our army personnel are familiar with those weapons and cannot switch to western and American weapons overnight. We have suffered from the disadvantages of Russian weapons and that's why we have plans to switch to American weapons on the mid and long term.

Thank God we still have leaders in Iraq who have a logical vision for the future and a rational understanding for the changes in our world.

What a difference between someone who wants to stand by Iran and someone who dreams of joining the NATO!
I hope we can get more of the latter and get rid of the former…"
ITM

I bet Turkey would vote against Iraq ever joining. And I can hear the crazies yelling "colonization" from here. But if they're really interested in some permanent freedoms and democracy, and a concrete guarantee of security, maybe over the next 25 years they might consider joining the Union, our Union. I mean if they are really serious about NATO, you know that the complaints of "puppet" and "client" are going to be deafening, so they might as well go for the gold, and become equal partners. Of course that would require scraping that useless rag, the Iraqi constitution, and writing something that is "republican in nature", which I believe should be a requirement for any new member of NATO anyway. I mean just look at Turkey, sure they were convenient during the cold war, but what did that convenience bring to the Turkish people? 50 years latter and thier still not a functioning democracy. I think we should tighten up the rules a bit to give some incentives to anyone looking to apply for membership.