In Berlin, Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi pleads for help

[unhappycamper]

http://www.dw.de/in-berlin-iraqi-pm-haider-al-abadi-pleads-for-help/a-18241657

Iraq's prime minister says the "Islamic State" can be defeated this year - but only with the international community’s help. And, Haider al-Abadi adds, "Iraq is open for business." DW's Naomi Conrad reports from Berlin.

In Berlin, Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi pleads for help
Naomi Conrad, Berlin
06.02.2015

Iraq's prime minister says the "Islamic State" can be defeated this year - but only with the international community’s help. And, Haider al-Abadi adds, "Iraq is open for business." DW's Naomi Conrad reports from Berlin.
Haider al-Abadi and Angela Merkel walking in front of troops (Foto: Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)

Standing under the glittering chandeliers of one of Berlin's luxury hotels, a few steps from a trestle table loaded with books and pamphlets on Germans fighting with extremist groups in the Middle East, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told a room full of diplomats, politicians and journalists on Friday evening that his country could defeat the self-proclaimed "Islamic State," also known as IS or ISIL, within the year. "We won't rest until we retake the whole of the country."

But, he said as a cameraman inched closer, Iraq desperately needed the international community's support. "On our own, we cannot sustain the fight for victory," said al-Abadi, who returned from exile in Britain in 2003 and took over as prime minister last September.

Plea for high-tech equipment

His country, he said, needed high-tech equipment to be able to gather intelligence inside the IS-controlled areas and track fighters, as well as training on how to deal with improvised explosive devices, often referred to as IEDs. "Daesh," he said, using the Arabic acronym for IS, often placed IEDs on roads, and Iraqi soldiers "are almost using their hands" to neutralize them.