General John Allen: U.S. Should Consider No-Fly Zone

‘The costs, frankly, in terms of the resources, additional resources of a no-fly zone, or a safe zone are not insignificant’

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LABOTT: “Today, Kurdish forces are retaking Sinjar with —“
ALLEN: “Right.”
LABOTT: “— U.S. air strike assistance. Tell us about that.”
ALLEN: “Well, this, again, is another one of those moments a year later that’s really important to take stock of what’s happened. You’ll recall, about this time last year, we were all facing the horror of what was happening in the vicinity of Sinjar and to the Yazidi people. A year later, Kurdish forces, some number of thousands of them, have launched into the attack to push Daish out of that area, to cut Route 47 which is the principal east-west running line of communication between Mosul and Raqqah. And that’s a very important development. And it continues to indicate how, with the coalition air power, American advice, coalition advice, partners like the Peshmerga and other elements within those four nations are able to make real ground.” 
LABOTT: “But it seems as if the Peshmerga, right now, are your most reliable partners right now. Why are we not arming them directly?”
ALLEN: “Well, they’re — they are being armed.”
LABOTT: “Not directly by the U.S.”
ALLEN: “Well, they’re being — they’re — they have been armed. Fourteen nations have been providing support to them. And one of the reasons we came to Iraq, one of the reasons we committed ourselves, was to restore the territorial integrity of Iraq and the sovereignty of the Iraqi government over all of Iraq. And so, while we may not be directly providing them assistance, the idea that the assistance flows through Baghdad where it goes through a very quick customs check and moves very quickly to the KRG is something that has both provided for the support to the Kurds but also has reinforced the sovereignty of the Iraqi government. That’s inherently the reason that we’re operating this way.”
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BLITZER: “Elise, what it did he tell you about a no-fly zone? Because there have been conflicting views. So far, the president, President Obama, has opposed a U.S.-led no-fly zone even over parts of Syria. The Democratic presidential frontrunner, his former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, supports a no-fly zone. How does General Allen feel about that?”
LABOTT: “Well, and all — and all — really, a lot of the Republicans candidates as well. So, we did talk about that. And it’s clear that they have been looking into it, the administration. But it doesn’t seem that it’s in the cards right now. Take a listen to General Allen. “
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ALLEN: “We should consider all the measures that are at our —“
LABOTT: “Including [indecipherable]?”
ALLEN: “Well, we should consider them. Now, whether we would ultimately adopt them or not — and it’s not just a no-fly zone, you know, place or a no-fly zone in — whether it’s on the air or on the ground, it’s also a matter of timing as well. And — but I have to tell you, because we have looked at this, that the intricacies and the complexities and the cost, frankly, in terms of resources, additional resources of a no-fly zone or a safe zone, are not insignificant. And the question then becomes, what do we want to accomplish with them? And if the conditionings are not suitable right now for what we might want to accomplish, then now is not the time to seriously consider it. “
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