Small Wars Journal

New Details on US Strategy in Iraq and Syria

Thu, 06/01/2017 - 5:00pm

New Details on US Strategy in Iraq and Syria by Anthony H. Cordesman, Center for Strategic & International Studies

The Department of Defense has issued an unusually detailed DoD budget request for Iraq and Syria entitled the Justification for FY 2018 OVERSEAS CONTINGENCY OPERATIONS (OCO) COUNTER-ISIS TRAIN AND EQUIP FUND (CTEF). A full copy of this document is available on the CSIS web site.

The key portions of this budget request deserve careful attention. As is noted in an article by Joe Gould in Defense News, it seems to reflect key elements of the DoD strategy review of the wars in Iraq and Syria—which has not yet been released—and provides some important insights into U.S. planning for what will happen after a victory against ISIS in Mosul and Raqqa.

The request makes it clear that the United States is not cutting back on future commitments despite what is expected to be a significant level of victories in CY2017. The President’s FY2018 budget request totals $1.1769 billion, including $1.269 billion for Iraq train and equip (T&E) activities and $0.5 billion for Syria T&E activities. ( Excludes $289.5 million requested in the FY2017/2018 Iraq Train and Equip Fund (ITEF) for support to the Kurdish Peshmerga.) This compares with $1.176 billion for Iraq T&E activities and $0.430 billion for Syria T&E activities.

The document conspicuously does not propose military personnel levels for either Syria or Iraq. The OSD Comptroller did however, propose a rise in average annual troop strength to 5,765 in the FY2017 revised request versus 3,500 in the original FY2017 request in the Request for Additional FY2017 Appropriation. The actual figures for Iraq alone were 3,180 in both FY2015 and FY2016…

Read on.