PHOTO: Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki with US Vice President Biden

On Wednesday, we noted that — even as more of his citizens were dying in bombings — Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was using The New York Times to appeal for US support:

Imagine how Americans would react if you had a terrorist organization operating on your own soil that killed dozens and maimed hundreds every week. For Iraqis, that isn’t a hypothetical question; Al Qaeda in Iraq and its affiliates are conducting a terrorist campaign against our people.

Even before his Friday meeting with Barack Obama, al-Maliki has gotten his answer from the US Administration — you say “Al Qa’eda”, we will give you aid.

The White House put out a statement on Wednesday praising “friendly” and “constructive” discussions:

Vice President [Joe] Biden reiterated the US commitment to equip Iraqis to fight Al-Qaeda, and Prime Minister Maliki made clear that he views the United States as Iraq’s security partner of choice.

A “senior administration official” briefed reporters after the two-hour breakfast meeting:

We do want to help the Iraqis develop the capability to target these networks effectively and precisely.

It is a fact now that Al-Qaeda has a presence in western Iraq, and it has a presence in terms of camps and facilities and staging areas that the Iraqi forces are unable to target effectively.

And what kind of assistance would al-Maliki get to combat the Al Qa’eda threat?

Increasing expert cooperation with the Iraqis… to help the Iraqis have a better vision of what they face so they can target it effectively….A major air defense system which allows them for the first time to take sovereign control of their air space, which right now they don’t have.

That means dozens of F-16 warplanes, on track for delivery in late 2014 after a $650 million down payment from Baghdad.

Iraq is also hoping to buy US-made Apache helicopters.

The senior official added that al-Maliki would be expected to meet the challenge with more than warplanes:

What we don’t want the Iraqis to do is to take just a security-centric approach to this. This is an asymmetrical threat and it has to be approached asymmetrically.

What that means is making sure they have information in terms of where people are located, where it’s coming from, where the funding is coming from, and that’s something that we can do pretty effectively.

The official said that the Iraqis were “keen to develop the same type of approach”.