Army chief of staff says U.S. may need more troops in Iraq
Source: Washington Post
By Craig Whitlock September 19 at 12:55 PM
Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff, said Friday it might be necessary to deploy more U.S. forces to Iraq beyond the 1,600 troops already there, warning that the fight against the Islamic State will intensify and could go on for years. Odierno, who served as the top U.S. military commander during the last war in Iraq, also said he would not rule out the need to send small numbers of U.S. ground troops into combat as tactical airstrike spotters or as front-line advisers embedded with Iraq forces. In a breakfast interview with the Defense Writers Group, Odierno said that 1,600 is a good start and that I dont think theres a rush, a rush to have lots of people in there now. But he predicated that as operations accelerate against jihadist fighters from the Islamic State, military commanders will revisit U.S. troop levels. Based on that assessment, well make further decisions, he said.
President Obama has authorized the deployment of the 1,600 U.S. troops in several stages since June, most recently on Sept. 10, when he sent an additional 475 personnel to Iraq. Most serve as advisers to Iraqi and Kurdish forces or as security for the U.S. Embassy and the international airport in Baghdad. While Obama has repeatedly insisted he will not send U.S. ground forces into combat in Iraq, he has not indicated whether he thinks more troops will be necessary in the coming months to carry out his strategy against the Islamic State. Any recommendations from military commanders to send more troops to Iraq would have to receive the endorsement of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel before going to the White House for final approval.
Asked if Hagel was open to the idea of deploying more troops, his spokesman, Rear Adm. John Kirby, said in an e-mail: The Secretary is and will remain open to hearing the advice and counsel of senior military leaders. He expects that advice to be candid, forthright and forward-looking.
Thousands of U.S. troops are stationed at bases in nearby Persian Gulf countries, from which they are carrying out a campaign of airstrikes and surveillance missions targeting the Islamic State, a group that has seized large parts of territory in Iraq and Syria.
In his interview, Odierno said the fight against the Islamic State will become more difficult as Iraqi and Kurdish forces, with the help of U.S. air power and advisers, go on the offensive and try to retake territory.
This is going to go on, he said. This is not a short term I think the president said three years. I agree with that three years, maybe longer. And so what we want to do is do this right. Assess it properly, see how its going, adjust as we go along, to make sure we can sustain this.
more at link
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/army-chief-of-staff-says-us-may-need-more-troops-in-iraq/2014/09/19/63917a0c-400e-11e4-b03f-de718edeb92f_story.html
DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN...and it's coming from the Army Chief
Mr.Bill
(24,288 posts)How can we be so fucking stupid?
TheNutcracker
(2,104 posts)This DU thread....
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025560895
Joe Biden name drops Packwood
By JONATHAN TOPAZ | 9/19/14 2:06 PM EDT
Vice President Joe Biden on Friday offered praise at a Democratic National Committee women event for retired Sen. Bob Packwood, who resigned amid multiple sexual harassment allegations.
Appearing at the DNCs Womens Leadership Forum in Washington, the vice president suggested that the modern Republican Party is out of touch with its principles, citing a previous generation of GOP lawmakers who worked with Democrats on issues like voting rights. Its Republicans that were involved. Guys like Mac Mathias and Packwood and so many others. It wasnt Democrats alone, he said.
In 1992, former Republican Sen. Bob Packwood of Oregon was accused of sexual harassment by 10 female ex-staffers. Three years later, after the Senate Ethics Committee unanimously voted to recommend his expulsion from the chamber, Packwood resigned.
Bidens comments at the womens event came the same day the White House announced the Its On Us campaign targeting sexual assault on college campuses.
The vice president made headlines for misspeaking earlier in the week, using the term Shylocks and the Orient while speaking at an event in Iowa.
karynnj
(59,503 posts)The OP here takes the comments of an army general and ignores that the US has civilian control over the military. You also ignore that, unlike the Iraq that this general experienced, this effort is involving many countries in the region on our side and there is a big diplomatic piece.
This post, which is completely off topic with your own op, smears Biden, who really did make a stupid comment. Here you argue that the Republicans will succeed using Benghazi against Hillary - though that has not appeared to be the case for 2 years. ( http://sync.democraticunderground.com/10025554634#post5 )
My question is do you ever give a Democrat the benefit of the doubt? In these three examples; you quote a general as proof that Obama is wrong; you take Biden listing a relatively liberal/moderate Republican who he did work with as a complete outrage - when the point is true, but using this predatory Senator was a mistake for other reasons. Had he used someone like John Heinz, his point would have been made as he was an exemplary person, Senator, father and husband. On the third you give credibility to attacks that have already been investigated repeatedly -- and while tragic, there is nothing to suggest that anything disreputable was done by Clinton.
From other posts, it is very clear you are a Democrat, which is why I am asking why you are so willing to believe that what are in some cases Republican memes.
Adam051188
(711 posts)what karl marx failed to predict was a state of perpetual warfare which he deemed implausible in a modern society due to our increased knowledge and awareness.
he never met homer simpson.
TheNutcracker
(2,104 posts)blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)us, the little people. Financially, and morally.
Brigid
(17,621 posts)Duval
(4,280 posts)strikes again! Let's get out of the Middle East and let them solve their own problems. We can go solar, wind or another alternative energy in a few years IF we put our "will" to do it, as we did after WWII. Thanks for the post TheNutcracker.
TheNutcracker
(2,104 posts)humbled_opinion
(4,423 posts)humbled_opinion
(4,423 posts)A couple army bases, airforce bases and a Navy base in Iraq too? WTF are we doing?
kardonb
(777 posts)NO MORE troops , NOTHING for Iraq , we helped them long enough ! THEY MUST help themselves , period !!!
Of corse , the Military says : more war . That is their busyness . But the people say NO MORE WAR !!!
quadrature
(2,049 posts)thousands dead
$ billions wasted
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)joshdawg
(2,648 posts)has to stop right now. The ones that are there now, need to come home by the end of this year.
I don't know about anyone else, but I'm sick and tired of our military fighting someone else's wars. We have no business being over there. Period.
If we send anyone, it should be the past administration since they were the ones who screwed up the whole thing in the first place.