So far, US President Barack Obama has deployed about 1,600 military advisers to Iraq, but has stressed that the troops are not "boots on the ground" in a combat role.
However, Dempsey said Obama has ordered him to come back on a " case-by-case basis" if the use of ground forces need to be reconsidered.
"My view at this point is that this coalition is the appropriate way forward. I believe that will prove true. But if it fails to be true, and if there are threats to the United States then I, of course, would go back to the president and make a recommendation that may include the use of US military ground forces," Dempsey said during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Dempsey said one circumstance that could require the use of ground troops would be if Iraqi or Kurdish forces were poised to retake Mosul, which IS forces captured in June.
"It could very well be part of that particular mission to provide close combat advising or accompanying for that mission," Dempsey said.
- The general's remarks opened the door to increased American military involvement in Iraq at a time when liberals in Congress are increasingly anxious about President Obama's request to train rebel forces in Syria.
"Within a coalition of capable, willing regional and international partners, I believe we can destroy ISIL in Iraq, restore the Iraqi-Syrian border, and disrupt ISIL in Syria," he said. "ISIL will ultimately be defeated when their cloak of religious legitimacy is stripped away and the populations on which they have imposed themselves reject them."
According to the US Central Command, US military has conducted since Monday a number of airstrikes on IS targets southwest of Baghdad, part of the US' expanded efforts, "beyond protecting our own people and humanitarian missions to hit ISIL targets as Iraqi forces go on offense," as outlined in Obama's Sept. 10 speech.
Since August 8, US Central Command has conducted a total of 167 airstrikes across Iraq.
Sources :Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
17/9/14
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America’s top military leader told a Senate panel Tuesday that he would recommend sending American ground troops to Iraq should an expanded air campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant fail....
ReplyDelete“If we reach the point where I believe our advisers should accompany Iraqi troops on attacks against specific ISIL targets, I’ll recommend that to the president,” said Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Under a new strategy announced by President Barack Obama last week, the U.S. will lead an international coalition to carry out airstrikes against the militants throughout Iraq, and would for the first time strike them in Syria.
Dempsey said that if the coalition fails to rout the militants, “I, of course, would go back to the president and make a recommendation that may include the use of U.S. military ground forces.”
The Pentagon announced Monday the first airstrikes under the new strategy, with an attack that destroyed an ISIL fighting position southwest of Baghdad.
U.S. Central Command has carried out a total of 162 airstrikes in Iraq since Obama first gave authorization in August to carry out strikes.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel cautioned that the fight against the militants is likely to take some time.
“If left unchecked, ISIL will directly threaten our homeland and our allies,” Hagel told the panel. “This will not be an easy or a brief effort. It is complicated. We are at war with ISIL, as we are with al-Qaida. But destroying ISIL will require more than military efforts alone.”
Hagel and Dempsey testified Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee............http://www.aa.com.tr/en/headline/390321--top-us-general-says-ground-troops-possible-against-isil
16/9/14