After Marine death, House criticizes 'artificial' cap on US troops in Iraq
http://www.stripes.com/news/after-marine-death-house-criticizes-artificial-cap-on-us-troops-in-iraq-1.400556 Rick Vasquez/Stars and Stripes
By Travis J. Tritten
Stars and Stripes
Published: March 22, 2016
Staff Sgt. Louis F. Cardin, an artilleryman with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, was killed and several other Marines were injured in the attack at the newly-established Fire Base Bell, where the American military has placed four 155mm Howitzer cannons alongside infantrymen in a “defensive” role, a Pentagon spokesman said.
[A U.S. Marine, center, demonstrates how to conduct UHF radio operations for Iraqi Soldiers with the 7th Iraqi Army Division at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, March 2, 2016. Communication training is just one of the skills taught at Al Asad as part of the building partner capacity mission, which increases the military capabilities of Iraqi Security Forces to fight the Islamic State. Joshua E. Powell/U.S. Army]
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[U.S. Soldier assigned to 10th Mountain, feeds ammunition into an M240B during a live-fire exercise near Erbil, Iraq, Feb. 24, 2016. This is part of a train-the-trainer course, which enables partner forces to better instruct Peshmerga soldiers on coalition-provided weapons. Jessica Hurst/U.S. Army photo]
US military has a lot more people in Iraq than it has been saying
The U.S. military has around 5,000 service members in Iraq, officials said on Monday, far more than previously reported, as the Obama administration quietly expands ground operations against the Islamic State.
[MV-22B Ospreys with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 162, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) prepare to take-off aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge March 4, 2016. Joshua Brown/U.S. Marine Corps]
Marine killed in rocket attack identified; Detachment sent to Iraq
The Marine killed in a rocket attack in Iraq Saturday was assigned to the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which has deployed a detachment to Iraq, defense officials said Sunday.
WASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said the Obama administration’s “artificial” cap on the number of troops in Iraq might be increasing danger for U.S. forces there.
Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said the military is sidestepping the publicly announced cap by rotating in temporary troops who are less experienced in the fight against the Islamic State group.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who testified to the House on Tuesday, denied the military is cutting any corners and said all troops in Iraq are properly trained.
The Pentagon refused Monday to release the total number of servicemembers deployed to Iraq following the death during the weekend of Marine Staff Sgt. Louis F. Cardin at a newly created U.S. artillery base near Mosul. The number of troops in Iraq is limited to 3,870 unless President Barack Obama authorizes an increase, though troops rotated in for short periods are not counted in that total.
“The argument is that if you are rotating people in every 30 days or whatever it is to keep below the troop caps then the people who are rotating in are not going to have time to get acclimated to the environment and may be at increased risk,” Thornberry said.
As the U.S. ramps up operations in Iraq, the administration’s caps also might be limiting the number of troops dedicated to protecting servicemembers who are deployed, Thornberry said.
“To me, it makes no sense to put artificial troop caps in any place,” he said. “The question is, what does it take to do the mission?”
Obama had touted an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but the rise of the Islamic State and resurgent violence has scuttled those plans. Still, the president has hewn to strict caps on the number of servicemembers deployed – at least publicly – to avoid a slide back into the large-scale military operations of the last decade.
Cardin, 27, was killed and several fellow Marines were injured Saturday when a squad-sized Islamic State force waged a mortar attack on their artillery base. The Marines were manning four 155mm Howitzer cannons that have been set up in what the military called a defensive role to protect U.S. advisers and Iraqi forces as they prepare to retake the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul.
“Everybody that is in Iraq is properly trained for the mission, including the Marines there. Force protection, that was in fact their mission,” Carter said. “What they were doing was helping to protect the staging area near Makhmour where we are and our coalition partners are helping the Iraqi security forces.”
Iraqi army brigades staging there will play the lead role in retaking Mosul, which fell dramatically to the Islamic State forces that poured over the Syria border in 2014 and remains the biggest challenge for the U.S.-led war effort.
Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, indicated during his House testimony Tuesday that the president’s military advisers believe more troops are needed in the fight.
“We are in the process right now of bringing forward recommendations for increased capability as a result of operations in Mosul, Raqqa and elsewhere so we can maintain and accelerate the campaign,” Dunford said.
The general said he has been consulting with Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, commander of Operation Inherent Resolve, and his commanders on the ground regularly about what is needed.
During the past several months, the president has not denied any requests, Dunford said.
“To your question of have we compromised force protection or other critical capabilities as a result of the force cap? I can tell you we haven’t done that,” he said.
