Speaking today on his plan to double the number of US ground troops in Iraq, President Barack Obama said the deployment signals a “new phase” in the ongoing war against ISIS.
“Phase one was getting an Iraqi government that was inclusive and credible – and we now have done that,” Obama insisted, saying it was now time to go on the offensive against ISIS.
Despite this, and despite Pentagon officials saying the new ground troops would be deployed to the front lines in Iraq’s Anbar Province, Obama maintained that the troops still won’t be going into combat.
Despite the pretense, the deployment of ground troops into Anbar all but ensures that they will be in the line of fire of ISIS forces, and will as such be directly involved in combat against them.
It seems the administration is trying to tell two distinct stories about the new war, sticking to his pledges of not having ground combat in public statements, while trying to assure the incoming Congressional hawks that major escalation of the war is indeed in the offing.
Where this leaves those troops remains to be seen, but it is hard to imagine that the 3,000 ground troops that will be in Iraq at the end of the current round of escalation are anything close to the endgame, and that more, perhaps dramatically more, are coming.
Ah, now it's a new 'phase.'
I guess 'surge' is sooooo last decade.
Keeping an Iraq dictator in power that enslaves two thirds of the population, what could possibly be the Obama motivation?
Obama isn't sending the troops into combat, he's just putting them in the path of the combat coming to them. More weasel speak from the chief weasel.
Look, these types of ground forces are the ones that stand about two to three miles away from the enemy positions and point a laser at them until the missiles from a drone or piloted aircraft hit them. They wouldn't be there if the enemy could actually do the same. Trust me. You don't see them trying this on Russia do you?