Last year, the US government delayed the delivery of 36 F-16 fighter aircraft to Iraq, as ISIS threatened to take over the Balad air base where they would be located. But in the wake of Tuesday’s White House visit of Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi, it appears that the deliveries are back on track. Max Boot, writing in Commentary, expresses justifiable doubt as tp the wisdom of handing over advanced fighters to a nation under the thumb of, and infiltrated by Iran: The reality is that Abadi is far from the most powerful man in Iraq, a title that probably belongs rightfully to Gen. Qassem Suleimani, head of Iran’s Quds Force (snip) …the government of Iraq is heavily infiltrated by Iranian agents. Does it really make safe under those circumstances to deliver to Iraq three dozen high-performance fighter aircraft? I, for one, am worried that the fighters could eventually wind up in Iranian hands, buttressing an Iranian Air Force that until now has had to rely on aging...(Read Full Post)