CNN :Iraqi President Fuad Masum appealed for international support to fight ISIS in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Thursday.”If there is cooperation and coordination between Iraq and the United States, and the neighboring countries, I believe that that organization can be quickly wiped out.”NATO has not received any request for support from Iraq, Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Thursday, but any application would be “considered seriously.”Amanpour put that to President Masum.”From here, and through this interview with you, I request … support for Iraq, to fight those terrorists, because Iraq now is in a fragile situation, very vulnerable situation.””And when that organization defeats Iraq, it can proceed to other countries.”The Iraqi President confirmed that his country had not appealed to NATO, but has asked for help from individual NATO countries, such as the United States.”We need several things: we need expertise, we need know-how, we need some types of weapons that can be only obtained through agreements. But individuals, or boots on the ground – maybe we don’t need that.”Iraq has its own military, he said, albeit one that may need “rehabilitation.”US President Barack Obama has authorized airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq to protect American interests, but is under pressure to do more in the wake of the brutal ISIS executions of two American journalists.President Masum said that those airstrikes have been a “very decisive factor.”Amanpour asked whether it was indeed a historic combination of US airstrikes, combined with Iraqi fighters and Iranian militiamen, that helped liberate the town of Amerli; President Masum confirmed that it was.
