The Department of Defense is poised to dispatch 600 more U.S. troops to Iraq to help government forces oust ISIS from the city of Mosul, officials said Wednesday.
The Pentagon is expected to make the official announcement Wednesday afternoon.
The soldiers will provide logistics support for the Iraqi forces and not spearhead the attack, U.S. officials said. The troops, who will deploy in the coming weeks, will be logistics support, enablers and advisers.
The announcement comes a week after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi met privately with President Barack Obama and VIce President Joe Biden at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
“American President Barack Obama was consulted on a request from the Iraqi government for a final increase in the number of trainers and advisers under the umbrella of the international coalition in Iraq,” the Iraqi leader said in a statement Wednesday obtained by Reuters.
Currently there are 4,647 U.S. soldiers in Iraq.
In April, more than 200 troops, including additional special operations forces, were sent to Iraq to train and advise government forces readying for the Mosul assault.
The Iraqis also got Apache attack helicopters and a HIMARS rocket system. Another $415 million was sent to the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.
In April, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced the U.S. would deploy an additional 560 troops to Iraq over the course of several weeks. Those troops would offer infrastructure and logistical support at Qayara airfield south of Mosul, Carter said at the time.
“The Iraqis are still in the lead. That doesn’t change,” Carter told Nightly News anchor Lester Holt. “Americans are at risk today every single day here. As secretary of defense, I take that more seriously than anything else. I want our troops to be effective, but I want them also to be as safe as possible consistent with that.”
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/iraq-turmoil/600-more-troops-heading-iraq-n656006
“The Iraqis are still in the lead. That doesn’t change,” Carter told Nightly News anchor Lester Holt. “Americans are at risk today every single day here.”
Same is true in THIS country, commie puke!
“The troops, who will deploy in the coming weeks, will be logistics support, enablers and advisers”
V-I-E-T-N-A-M.
I thought most military logistics had been “privatized” under Rumsfeld and Cheney?