Military Spokesman: 'We Don't Set Up Bases Anywhere'; We 'Get Invited by the Iraqis'
(CNSNews.com) - Army Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for the U.S. military effort in Iraq and Syria, on Thursday refused to say if or when the Pentagon will set up additional U.S. Marine outposts in Iraq to provide force protection and ground fire for the Iraqis as they begin their advance on Mosul.
"You know, we're going to be very deliberate about not talking about future operations. I think the most important thing to point out, though, is that we don't set up bases anywhere. All we do is get invited by the Iraqis and then set up on Iraqi, you know, facilities. So that's an important note," Warren told reporters.
He was responding to a reporter who asked Warren about the Marine detachment at "Fire Base Bell." The outpost was established last month to provide force protection and offensive fire power for the American-advised Iraqis currently massing near Makhmour for the battle to retake Mosul.
Warren made it clear he doesn't want reporters calling it Fire Base Bell:
"First off, it's K-S -- wait -- K-S-C-C, right? Kara Sour Counter Fire Complex -- K-S-C-C, you can go with. So that's the name of that area fight there.
"So as far as the timing goes, you know, the Marines are there just temporarily. We don't have an end-date for them yet. And we wouldn't really announce it anyway, but it's a temporary stay until we either come up with a more enduring solution or they're no longer needed anymore. So that's kind of where the Marines are."
Warren said the military chain of command has made it clear that "as we find techniques and methods that work, we'll do more of those methods.
"So for example, we set up...kind of a forward advise-and-assist location in Taqaddum, you know, months ago -- six, seven, eight months ago. And that was specifically set up to support operations in Ramadi. And it was successful. It was advisers. There was HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) that got placed in there. Paladins (cannon artillery) got put in there. And all those things worked in concert with the Iraqi offensive to liberate Ramadi. So that's an example of success.
"And because we're as good as our word, we said, 'Well, hey, that was successful; let's do more of it.' And so when the Iraqis stood up Kara Sour, we repeated that in Kara Sour. You know, we saw success -- advisers, plus some guns, equal acceleration. So that's what we did in Kara Sour. We sent in some advisers and we sent in some guns. And together, those advisers and those guns are providing support to the Iraqi army as they execute Operation Valley Wolf.
"So, just to repeat that, as we find methods and techniques that are successful, we'll repeat them. But we're certainly never going to let anybody know what we're about to do before we do it."
A key objective in defeating Islamic State terrorists is to retake Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, which serves as part of ISIS' self-declared caliphate. But it's not expected to happen any time soon.
Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on February 9 that Mosul will be a "complex" operation.
"I'm not as optimistic that we'll be able to turn that in the near-term, in my view, certainly not this year. We may be able to begin the campaign, do some isolation operations around Mosul. But securing or taking Mosul is an extensive operation and not something I see in the next year or so."
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