Gates talks security, arms sales in Iraq

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TALLIL AIR BASE, July 28 (Reuters): US Defence Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Iraq Tuesday to discuss security issues and arms sales as the two nations look toward the gradual withdrawal of all US forces by the end of 2011.
Gates also will try to help bridge a deep divide between Iraq's ethnic Kurds and majority Arabs that many fear may undermine security gains, a senior US defense official said.
Gates is to hold talks with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Defense Minister Abdel Qader Jassim.
One of the topics the officials are expected to discuss is Baghdad's interest in acquiring Lockheed Martin Corp's F-16 multirole fighter jets to counter possible threats from neighbouring nations after US forces leave.
The Pentagon chief will also visit the largely autonomous northern Kurdish region, where officials appear to be drifting farther from the Arab-led government in Baghdad in an impasse over oil and disputed land.
Kurds vow to pursue their claims of areas like oil-producing Kirkuk as they assert greater control of hydrocarbon reserves.
The United States wants to prevent any clashes that might play into the hands of diehard Sunni insurgents who would style themselves a bulwark against Kurdish encroachment.
Gates will hold talks with Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdistan region, which has signed oil deals with foreign firms that Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani deems illegal.
"We're very much positioned now as kind of an honest broker," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
He said US forces in northern Iraq were playing an important "confidence-building" role in disputes involving Kurdish security forces stationed outside Kurdistan.
"The Arab-Kurd dimension is probably the most pressing one at the moment in terms of the issues that really need to get dealt with to consolidate our security gains," he said.