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morningfog

(18,115 posts)
Thu Sep 18, 2014, 06:35 AM Sep 2014

White House: U.S. advisers may take forward positions in Iraq fighting

Some U.S. military advisers could end up in front-line positions in the fight against Islamic State militants, the White House said on Wednesday, although President Barack Obama vowed that America would not fight another ground war in Iraq.

* * *

His spokesman Josh Earnest said some U.S. military advisers could be deployed to forward positions to help direct Iraqi security forces and call in air strikes, but said they would "not be personally or directly engaging the enemy."

The possibility of U.S. soldiers operating in forward positions with local forces raised concerns that Washington, which withdrew its forces from Baghdad in 2011 after eight years of conflict, could once again be drawn into a bigger engagement.

On Tuesday General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, had raised the possibility of such eventual forward deployments during a committee hearing.

"If General Dempsey determined that it may be necessary to forward deploy some of the American advisers, then he will bring that option to the president, and the president said that he would consider it on a case by case basis," Earnest told reporters traveling with Obama on Air Force One.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/17/us-iraq-crisis-usa-idUSKBN0HC1US20140917

This was one of the two routes to US ground combat that Dempsey raised.
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White House: U.S. advisers may take forward positions in Iraq fighting (Original Post) morningfog Sep 2014 OP
Lots of "may" and "if" there.... dixiegrrrrl Sep 2014 #1
What does "let's wait" even mean in this context? morningfog Sep 2014 #2
Unfortunately it may just take sadoldgirl Sep 2014 #3
Once you get ensnared in another country's civil war Aerows Sep 2014 #4
 

morningfog

(18,115 posts)
2. What does "let's wait" even mean in this context?
Thu Sep 18, 2014, 11:52 AM
Sep 2014

Wait to discuss this real (likely) possibility? Wait to debate the likelihood of this possibility? Wait to voice opposition to this possible development?

It is important to pay attention to what the generals, the WH and the President are saying. That is the only way we can voice opposition to our representatives before actions are taken.

sadoldgirl

(3,431 posts)
3. Unfortunately it may just take
Thu Sep 18, 2014, 11:58 AM
Sep 2014

one downed US plane to get our boots on the ground. I detest the whole idea with Syria. Let's help the kurds and leave it at that. However, I am not the "decider".

 

Aerows

(39,961 posts)
4. Once you get ensnared in another country's civil war
Thu Sep 18, 2014, 12:11 PM
Sep 2014

it is very difficult to extract yourself. That's why I detest the Syria idea, too.

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