--- title: U.S. F-16s Deliveries Set to Begin As Iraq Falls Apart description: The U.S. is still scheduled to start selling F-16 Fighting Falcons to Iraq even as that country is facing a fundamentalist Sunni insurgency. canonical: https://time.com/2863542/iraq-f-16-falcon-lockheed/ author: Mark Thompson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-12T12:46:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:22:36.807Z article:section: Politics og:title: U.S. F-16s Deliveries Set to Begin As Iraq Falls Apart og:description: The U.S. is still scheduled to start selling F-16 Fighting Falcons to Iraq even as that country is facing a fundamentalist Sunni insurgency. og:url: https://time.com/2863542/iraq-f-16-falcon-lockheed/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4e896534f6b01d7/69869741d0b6f23587304d28/fp141104-0007.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3680 og:image:height: 2070 og:image:alt: Iraq F-16 Inauguration Celebration Roll Out og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: U.S. F-16s Deliveries Set to Begin As Iraq Falls Apart twitter:description: The U.S. is still scheduled to start selling F-16 Fighting Falcons to Iraq even as that country is facing a fundamentalist Sunni insurgency. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4e896534f6b01d7/69869741d0b6f23587304d28/fp141104-0007.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # As Iraq Falls Apart, U.S. F-16 Deliveries Still Set to Begin > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Mark Thompson](https://time.com/author/mark-thompson/) ## Mark Thompson Jun 12, 2014 12:46 PM UTC  Lukman Faily, Iraq's ambassador to the U.S., accepts his nation's first F-16 fighter at the Lockheed factory in Fort Worth June 5. Lukman Faily, Iraq's ambassador to the U.S., accepts his nation's first F-16 fighter at the Lockheed factory in Fort Worth June 5.Lockheed Martin photo by [Mark Thompson](https://time.com/author/mark-thompson/) ## Mark Thompson Jun 12, 2014 12:46 PM UTC Last month, as threats from Sunni insurgents in the western part of Iraq began looking increasingly serious, the Iraqi government asked Washington to consider carrying out airstrikes against the fighters’ camps. Washington has [declined](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/12/world/middleeast/iraq-asked-us-for-airstrikes-on-militants-officials-say.html?hp&%5Fr=0), according to a New York _Times_ report Thursday. Last Thursday, however, Iraq’s ambassador to the U.S. was on hand in Fort Worth, Texas, to take delivery of its first U.S.-built F-16 fighter. And Washington, Baghdad and Fort Worth couldn’t have been more delighted. The [sale](http://nation.time.com/2011/09/28/sticker-shock-iraqi-f-16s-165-million-each/) of 36 F-16s to Iraq for $3 billion is “a clear sign to the world and the region that a stable and strong Iraq, in a partnership of choice with the United States, is what we are after,” Ambassador Lukman Faily [told](http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/06/05/5876943/lockheed-martin-delivers-first.html) the Fort Worth _Star-Telegram_. “Iraq joins 27 other nations around the world who depend on the F-16 Fighting Falcon to maintain peace and security,” said Orlando Carvalho, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. “We are proud to play a role in the defense of a new democracy and look forward to strengthening our partnership with Iraq.” Iraq’s national security adviser, Falih Al-Fayyadh, said the F-16 will be “a weapon in the hands of all the people” to defend the country. Unfortunately, Prime Minister [Nouri al-Maliki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nouri%5Fal-Maliki)’s Iraqi government isn’t in the hands of “all the people.” It’s in pro-Iranian Shi’ite hands, which is helping to fuel the fundamentalist Sunni insurgency. The first pair of F-16s isn’t slated to arrive in Iraq until September, with another two slated to arrive monthly through 2015 — assuming the Iraqi government lasts that long. It’s nothing short of tragic to see Iraq falling apart as the ancient battle between Sunnis and Shi’ites continues after the U.S. spent more than $1 trillion—and 4,486 lives—to overthrow Saddam Hussein in hopes of replacing him with someone better. Fallujah, Mosul, Tikrit—cities where U.S. troops spent eight years dying to give Iraq another chance—are now in the hands of an al-Qaeda offshoot battling the U.S.-backed Iraqi government. On Tuesday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the Obama Administration has delivered “300 Hellfire missiles, millions of rounds of small arms fire, thousands of rounds of tank ammunition, helicopter-fired rockets, machine guns, grenades, flares, sniper rifles, M-16s and M-4 rifles to the Iraqi security forces.” The Bush Administration erred in thinking it could graft democracy onto a nation split by a centuries-old religious conflict. The Obama Administration is erring by believing Baghdad’s current rulers can shoot their way out of their current crisis. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2863542/iraq-f-16-falcon-lockheed/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2863542/iraq-f-16-falcon-lockheed/"},"headline":"As Iraq Falls Apart, U.S. F-16 Deliveries Still Set to Begin","datePublished":"2014-06-12T12:46:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:22:36.807Z","description":"U.S. investment in blood and treasure is in danger of being squandered","url":"https://time.com/2863542/iraq-f-16-falcon-lockheed/","keywords":["Military","Iraq","Pentagon"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4e896534f6b01d7/69869741d0b6f23587304d28/fp141104-0007.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mark Thompson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/mark-thompson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte4e896534f6b01d7/69869741d0b6f23587304d28/fp141104-0007.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Iraq F-16 Inauguration Celebration Roll Out","caption":"Iraq F-16 Inauguration Celebration Roll Out","creditText":"Lockheed Martin photo","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/military/","name":"Military"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2863542/iraq-f-16-falcon-lockheed/","name":"As Iraq Falls Apart, U.S. F-16 Deliveries Still Set to Begin"}}]}] ```