Iraqi Defense Minister Khalid Obeidi was harshly critical of the Pentagon today, saying they should not have revealed the timing for a planned Iraqi attack on the ISIS city of Mosul.
Obeidi says any comments on the planned attack were for Iraq to make, not the US, and that Centcom commanders had no business unveiling so many details.
The attack is expected to come in April or May, with about 25,000 Iraqi troops being supported by both US warplanes and an unspecified number of US ground troops. It will be the first major offensive of the US ground forces in the current war.
Some Congressional officials are also highly critical of the Centcom comments, saying the US is “revealing its playbook” to ISIS months before the attack is scheduled to take place.
The White House tried to downplay the revelations, saying they won’t confirm if the publicly announced plans are the real plans or not. It’s hard to imagine that it isn’t, though many doubt Iraq’s ability to actually retake Mosul.
