Iraq Prime Minister Maliki calls for 3rd World War against terrorism

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, pleaded on Thursday for a major international effort to combat Al-Qaeda and terror networks, likening the fight to a third World War.

Visiting Washington for a series of meetings hoping to drum up more support for Iraq, Maliki said that “With the US help, his country had defeated Al-Qaeda.”

He added “But now with the vacuum created by the toppling of long-standing regimes during the Arab Spring, the terrorists found a second chance.”

“We want an international war against terrorism,” Maliki said in a speech to the United States Institute of Peace, calling Al-Qaeda and its ilk “a virus” which was trying to spread “a dirty wind” around the region.

“If we have had two World Wars, we want a third world war against those who are killing people, killing populations, who are calling for bloodshed, for ignorance and do not want logic to govern our daily lives,” he added.

Maliki also called for the convening of an international conference on counter-terrorism to be hosted in Iraq.

He assured that all are targeted, whether the Sunni or Shiite Muslims or Kurds all are goals for terrorism.

He blamed the unrest for setting back Iraq’s struggles to emerge from the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and the bloodshed of the US invasion to rebuild its institutions, schools and homes.