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Summary Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki said that his government would buy 36 F-16 fighters from the United States
The announcement of the deal came as Iraq and the US governments discussed whether to keep some US troops or military trainers in the OPEC country after the planned withdrawal of the last American soldiers at the end of the year.A delegation from the Iraqi Air Force along with advisers will travel to revive the contract to include a larger number than the contract had agreed before. We will make it 36 instead of 18, Maliki told reporters.We have to provide Iraq with airplanes to safeguard its sovereignty, he said.Some of Iraqs neighbors and Kurds in the semi-autonomous north have in the past raised concerns about Baghdad purchasing sophisticated weapons systems such as F-16 jets.
