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Pentagon spokesman: Our troops in Iraq are combat role as well as providing consulting
10/31/15
After months of debate over whether the US troops fighting in Iraq or not, Steve Warren, spokesman for the Pentagon Wednesday said: "Of course it's the combat role".
When asked about the joint raid, US and Kurdish forces that saved a number of hostages in Hawija replied, "It's a combat operation in a war zone, and that the American pilots carry out combat air patrols months ago. Corporal Joshua Wheeler was killed in Hawija process and is the first American to die while fighting in Iraq since the four months.
So far, administration officials describe the US ground operations in Iraq as a mission to provide "advice, training and assistance." In February, President Obama said that the project, which lift it to Congress "does not call for the deployment of ground combat troops in Iraq and Syria."
Obama's statement echoes earlier comments in September 2014 that "American troops sent to Iraq does not and will not combat missions." American public hates the word "combat" because it involves the possibility of American casualties, it is also politically sensitive, because Obama came to power on the back of his promise to put an end to the participation of US troops in fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Warren said Wednesday that the Pentagon's duty is to provide advice and help, and sometimes accompanied by Iraqi forces in their fight against extremists Daash. But he denied that there is a change in approach, saying "will not you would see what we saw in 2006,".
For his part, Secretary of Defense Carter last Tuesday that the United States will direct combat action on the ground in its fight against Daash, but the day after he was apparently dispel fears of the word "combat" where he said "It is a strategy and not a word of the language."
Says Michel Oohalon of the Brookings Institution, "there are still American politicians say they do not want to deploy ground forces in Iraq and Syria, but we have 3,500 Americans on the ground in Iraq are involved in the war effort."
The recent raid in Hawija, referring to the possibility of an escalation task, Oohalon says, "I believe that Obama understands that the current strategy is suitable for the duty and hopes to be reconsidered."
He adds Oohalon "Since August 2014 the United States and its partners have carried out in the Alliance 7712 air strike in Iraq and Syria in an attempt to weaken and then destroy Daash, but after 14 months we came to a dead end - where still militants Daash control the number of cities in Iraq and Syria - and not only , but the battlefield has become more ambiguous with the presence of the Russians and the Iranians trained in Syria, it is possible that there will be a geographical division of the battlefield lines, at least initially. "
But he warned of the risk of ambiguity those lines, saying "you may end up unintended confrontations, so I do not doubt that the situation will be more serious than it was."
an: Voice of America
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