While neither Carter or Dunford provided more details on the targeting force at the hearing, the rough outline sounded much like the special operations machine that conducted daily raids and intelligence gathering on Al Qaeda fighters and other insurgents during the Iraq War. “There is no need for foreign ground combat troops”, Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi said in a statement.
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US-led coalition spokesman Colonel Steve Warren yesterday said the new special forces deployment would number roughly 100 personnel, and that it had been discussed with Abadi. Speaking at North Atlantic Treaty Organisation headquarters in Brussels, Kerry said Washington would work with Baghdad on what types of forces deployed, where they go and what types of missions they conduct. A US soldier was killed during the operation.
Carter made the remarks testifying before the House Armed Services Committee.
A US official later told ABC News that the force is expected to number around 200. We are managing 3,500 because that’s the number of troops that the president has approved to date, but I can assure you that I don’t feel at all inhibited in making recommendations that would cause us to grow greater than 3,500.
“If we’re going to be serious about ISIS, the president needs to assign the military a clear mission and then allow the military to carry it out”, Thornberry said, using another acronym for the militant network. “Our effectiveness is inextricably linked to the quality of the intelligence that we have”, he said. Senator John McCain – who along with many other Republicans has been pushing for more special operations forces in the region for years – called the move a “belated step forward”.
“The government of Iraq was of course briefed in advance of Secretary Carter’s announcement”, Kerry told reporters at North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. It would focus on helping Iraq defend its borders and build its security forces, but also be in position to conduct unilateral operations into Syria.
U.S. Special Forces troops have already been involved in combat in Iraq: In October, U.S. and Kurdish Special Forces raided an ISIS-run prison and rescued dozens of hostages feared to be at risk of imminent execution.
“There is no need for foreign ground combat forces in Iraqi territory”, Abadi said in a statement released late on Tuesday in which he praised the performance of Iraqi special forces.
“What is true is that from the start our goal has been first to contain, and we have contained them. They don’t necessarily have to be troops (engaged in) kinetic action”, Kerry said.
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Both times, the commandos were brought in to conduct the raid and sent home when it was completed. One US troop died in the operation.
