Obama escalates U.S. involvement in Islamic State fight

Posted 2015-06-10 20:12 by Grunt Report with 0 comments

The U.S. announced on Wednesday a boost in its assistance to the Iraqis, sending troops to recruit Sunni tribes to join training programs and directly arming trainees and Peshmerga fighters in the north as the groups take on the Islamic State.

The Obama administration upped its participation based on a request from Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi, the White House announced Wednesday afternoon.

The U.S. troops will work out of al-Taqaddum Air Base just south of Habbaniyah, where Iraqi forces regrouped after their defeat at Ramadi last month.

The base is in the heart of Anbar province, a Sunni-dominated region, and the location will allow the U.S. to reach out to Sunnis who have been largely kept from the U.S. training program due to reluctance by the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government. The administration sees the mobilization of the Sunni tribes, who have been largely disenfranchised by the Iraqi government, as crucial to turning the tide against the Islamic State.

Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren clarified Wednesday after the White House announcement that U.S. forces would not train Sunnis at Taqaddum, but would use that central location to reach out to the tribes, get them connected to the government of Iraq, and ultimately get them inserted into the training and equipping programs going on at the other U.S. and coalition locations in Iraq.

The U.S. troops will go outside the wire, depending on the security situation around the base, Warren said.

“Prime Minister Abadi specifically asked for this mission” after the defeat at Ramadi last month, an administration official said on a call with reporters.

As first reported by the Washington Examiner, the White House also emphasized that the U.S. would distribute weapons to the new trainees, which officials characterized Wednesday as “expediting” the process.

Previously, arms were sent to and distributed by the government of Iraq in Baghdad, which led to months of further division and complaints that the 30,000 M-16 rifles, mortar rounds and other equipment had gone to Shiite militias instead of the newly trained troops or Sunni tribal fighters.

As part of Wednesday’s announcement, the Pentagon said it is also sending two brigades’ worth of new small arms, body armor and equipment to the 8th Iraqi Army Division, which regrouped at Taqaddum after its defeat at Ramadi.

Asked whether the division had the U.S.-provided equipment prior to the battle at Ramadi, Warren said “they had some,” and that the new shipment is to assist them by getting those Iraqi forces freshly equipped.

The U.S. will also distribute arms directly to Peshmerga fighters in the north.

“We want to make sure they have the equipment they need,” an administration official said.

In reality, the process change means that U.S. forces will distribute the weapons directly to fighters in training, as the 3rd Sustainment Brigade did last week.

“In previous equipment issuance, the equipment was delivered to the [government of Iraq] at a hub or [building partner capacity site.] The [government of Iraq] then decided which unit would receive equipment, and the [Iraqi Security Forces] would come and have officers sign for everything,” said a spokesperson for Combined Joint Task Force — Operation Inherent Resolve.

“That process was slow and laborious and was subsequently reviewed for maximum efficiency. It was decided the process needed to be streamlined for faster delivery and efficiency. This is what occurred with the equipment issue by Task Force Taji,” where the 3rd Sustainment Brigade directly delivered the equipment to new Iraqi Army recruits.

In a call Wednesday with reporters, Ben Rhodes, President Obama’s deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, said “the president is also focused, in his announcement today, on expediting the delivery of equipment and materiel to Iraqi forces.”

“This is being done in full coordination with the Iraqi government and will enable us to better supply both the Peshmerga forces in the North and the [Sunni] Tribal fighters operating under Iraqi command as well in al-Anbar province,” Rhodes said.

The president’s new plan for Iraq does not address another key element — allowing U.S. joint terminal air controllers on the ground to direct U.S. airstrikes. The officials on the call said that getting U.S. eyes on the ground at Taqaddum should still improve the effectiveness of the airstrikes as they are able to build relationships in the region and accomplish additional improvements to the airstrikes without sending U.S. controllers onto the battlefield.

The administration officials stressed that the U.S. forces will serve only in “non-combat” roles. However, Anbar has seen escalating, sophisticated attacks by the Islamic State involving massive car bombs and other means, which suggests the U.S. troops will likely remain within the interiors of the base.

Warren said Wednesday the proper force protection measures would be put into place to ensure the safety of the U.S. soldiers. Warren said the additional forces would move into Taqaddum in the next six to eight weeks.

The administration continues to believe there are 20,000 to 30,000 Islamic State fighters in Iraq despite a continuous surge of foreign fighters to the organization, and despite 10 months of U.S. and coalition airstrikes that the U.S. estimates has killed about 10,000 Islamic State forces.

As of June 9, there were 3,060 U.S. troops serving at five training posts throughout Iraq, at Al Asad Air Base, Taji, Erbil, Baghdad and Besmaya. The U.S. forces assigned to the posts are running thousands of new Iraqi recruits through six-week basic training camps to rebuild the Iraqi Army, which collapsed last summer when it fled from the Islamic State in Mosul.

The Iraqi government’s reluctance to allow Sunnis to participate and receive training and arms from the U.S. and coalition partners and a recent slow-down in the number of recruits at the sites led to criticism by U.S. officials, who questioned Iraq’s willingness to commit to what they characterize as a multi-year fight.

The fact that none of the 8,000 graduates to date has participated in the major combat campaigns at Tikrit, Ramadi or Beiji has also raised questions.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey and Obama’s national security team unanimously supported the decision, the White House said in a statement.