Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi responded coolly Tuesday to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s announcement that the USA would send more special forces troops to Iraq.
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“When I said no boots on the ground, I think the American people understood generally that we’re not going to do an Iraq-style invasion of Iraq or Syria with battalions that are moving across the desert”, said Obama.
The top US military officer, Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, said the new force would greatly accelerate the collection of intelligence, which “will make our operations much more effective”.
In October, the U.S. announced it would send up to 50 special forces soldiers to northern Syria as military advisers to Kurdish and rebel forces. Those forces are still preparing to begin operations, but USA officials said the time was right to take the next step. “Over the past several weeks, because of improved intelligence and understanding of ISIS’s financial operations, we’ve intensified the air campaign against ISIS’s war-sustaining oil enterprise, a critical pillar of ISIS’s financial infrastructure”, he said.
After Wheeler’s death, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said, “This is someone who saw the team that he was advising and assisting coming under attack”. A USA official, speaking on condition of anonymity, had told Reuters on Tuesday that the total number might be around 200. They are expected to be based in Irbil, Iraq. 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”.
“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. “This force will also be in a position to conduct unilateral operations into Syria”.
Abadi did not directly reject the deployment, but did insist that any operations must be coordinated with the Iraqi government. Among members of the group are citizens of 80 countries, including France, Great Britain, Germany, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, US, Canada, as well as Russian Federation and other CIS countries.
“While we welcome this support, we emphasize any such support and special operations anywhere in Iraq can only be deployed subject to the approval of the Iraqi Government and in coordination with the Iraqi forces and with full respect to Iraqi sovereignty”.
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There are also concerns inside the Pentagon that Iranian backed militias inside Iraq and Syria could see the us forces as intrusive and could start targeting them, the officials say.
