Hundreds of New US Troops to Iraq a "Possibility"
Hundreds of New US Troops to Iraq a "Possibility" by Barbara Starr, CNN
The Obama administration is "not ruling out the possibility" of sending hundreds of additional troops to Iraq this fall to help train, advise and assist Iraqi forces as they get ready for a potential assault on Mosul, according to a senior U.S. official.
And while officials won't publicly confirm it, there have been several meetings to begin to determine if more troops are needed for the upcoming battle for Iraq's second-largest city and what those troops might do to affect the battle.
The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, by all accounts has not yet asked for more troops, several U.S. officials told CNN.
"He engaged with dialogue up through his chain of command where he thinks there might be an area where we might require an increase in capability, and I use that word 'capability' because it can be a rash of forms," said British Army Maj. Gen. Doug Chalmers, deputy commander for strategy in the U.S.-led coalition, in a news briefing for Pentagon reporters.
Chalmers noted additional troops, if sent, could deal with air support, reconnaissance and surveillance as well as training, advising and assisting Iraqi forces. The issue of troop levels is one that is constantly being reviewed by the military, but these latest discussions center on what, if anything, is needed to support an Iraqi assault on Mosul…
Get Ready for Another Iraq War
Get Ready for Another Iraq War by Seth Moulton, Washington Post
Losing a friend in war is always hard. Losing a friend to a battle we already fought and won is worse.
That’s how my close friend Lt. Col. Ehab Hashem Moshen was killed recently by the Islamic State near Fallujah — refighting a battle in Iraq that the Marine Corps fought a decade ago. The Marines won that fight. The problem is that the Obama administration didn’t follow through on a political plan to maintain the peace.
In April, I visited some of the almost 5,000 troops that President Obama has put back in Iraq, and I witnessed a recurring theme: We have a military plan to defeat the Islamic State — and, as initial gains in Fallujah this week demonstrate, it’s going well in many respects — but we have yet to articulate a political plan to ensure Iraq’s long-term stability.
Sometimes it’s impossible to tell whether it’s 2007 or 2016. The battle plans I hear from our commanders in Iraq today are the same ones I heard at the beginning of the surge, down to the same cities and tribal alliances. My question is: How will this time be different? The silence is deafening.
Carl von Clausewitz taught us nearly 200 years ago that “War is a mere continuation of politics by other means.” We have to have a political endgame, or the sacrifices our troops continue to make will be in vain. It’s not the military’s job to develop that political plan — that’s where the administration comes in — but it’s painfully clear there isn’t one…