Shiite fighters train in Iraq.
Here is the story:
The U.S. military has drawn up plans to significantly increase the number of American forces in Iraq, which now total around 1,400, as Washington seeks to bolster Iraqi forces battling the Islamic State, U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday.
Not exactly a surprise.
Back in September, when President Obama was saying no combat troops would be sent, Joint Chiefs chairman Martin Dempsey said:
“If we reach the point where I believe our advisors should accompany Iraqi troops on attacks against specific [Isis] targets, I will recommend that to the president,” Dempsey said, preferring the term “close combat advising.”
Dempsey said the air war in Iraq and Syria “won’t look like a shock and awe campaign,” but will instead be “persistent and sustainable.” He envisaged no end for it, but said Isis’ ultimate defeat will be a “generational” effort during which “moderate” Muslims abandon its ideology—raising questions about what the US military’s actual endpoint will be in pursuing the goal of “degrading and ultimately defeating” Isis, Obama’s stated goal.
And Secretary of State John Kerry
said:
Kerry reiterated that Obama has said no U.S. combat troops would be deployed to fight the Islamic State in Iraq, before adding, “Unless, obviously, something very, very dramatic changes.”
Unless has apparently happened.
12:01 PM PT: The Obama administration is prepared to almost double the American military presence in Iraq to 3,000, sources told NBC News on Friday.
The current figure is about 1,600. The sources said that an increase to 3,000 was among several options under consideration. There is no plan to include ground combat forces in the additional deployments, they said.