Washington must obtain Baghdad's permission to use drones to watch over US facilities in Iraq, the Iraqi government spokesman said on Tuesday, adding he does not believe such a request has yet been made. US President Barack Obama spoke about surveillance drones in Iraq during an online event on Monday, indicating that they may already be in use.
"The embassy needs to get the approvals from the Iraqi government for any sort of surveillance which is needed," Ali al-Dabbagh told AFP in a telephone interview, when asked about America's use of surveillance drones.
"We could understand how important such surveillance (is) for the embassy and the security of the people working in the embassy, but at the same time we would insist that the permission needs (to come) from the Iraqi government," he said. Dabbagh said that, to his knowledge, such permission has not yet been requested by the United States. "As far as I know, there is no request till now, but hopefully... they will apply and the Iraqi government would look on this issue."