WH: Iraqi Government Making 'Operational Decisions' That Affect Welfare of U.S. Troops
(CNSNews.com) - The Obama White House is letting the Iraqi government make "operational decisions" that could put U.S. troops -- and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians -- in mortal danger, a White House spokesman indicated on Tuesday.
"Fallujah is obviously a huge test for the Iraqi military," a reporter told White House spokesman Josh Earnest. "To what extent would the administration have preferred to hold off on Fallujah and instead keep concentrating on preparations for (retaking) Mosul?"
"Well, what we have said all along...is that these kinds of operational decisions will be made by the Iraqi government and Iraqi forces," Earnest replied.
"After all, the focus of the president's strategy is to build up the capacity of local forces and local authorities to provide for the security situation in their own country -- and that includes taking the fight to ISIL in their own country.
"So, the United States and the rest of the international community is supporting the Iraqi Central government and certainly looking for ways to offer our support and assistance to those forces that are operating under the command and control of the Iraqi central government. That's what we're doing in this instance.
"And we certainly do believe that this offensive against Fallujah is something that will allow us to make important progress against ISIL, but we also acknowledge that this is something that's going to be -- this is going to be a tough fight, this is going to take some time.
"And it will be a test of the determination and tenacity of Iraqi forces. They've shown that determination, and tenacity and resilience on the battlefield in making progress against ISIL in places like Anbar Province and Ramadi.
"But that -- they'll certainly be challenged to display those qualities in the long fight to retake Fallujah."
Earnest also talked about the "extraordinary sacrifices" and "extraordinary risks" American troops are taking in Iraq as they support decisions made by the Iraqi central government:
"Our men and women who are serving in Iraq right now are doing so at great danger to themselves. Serving in Iraq, serving in Syria is dangerous. And these are men and women who are putting themselves in harm's way on the orders of the commander in chief to benefit our national security. And we certainly owe them a debt of gratitude.
"We also should be candid about what they -- what mission they are given and what their responsibilities are and what risks they will assume, and what mission they have not been given. And that's what the president has tried to describe in a variety of settings.
"And you know, obviously our military pilots, for example, who are carrying out airstrikes against ISIL targets in Iraq and in Syria, that's a dangerous situation. That's also a combat situation. But those are military pilots.
"On the ground, the goal of our forces on the ground has been to support local forces that are taking the fight to ISIL in their own country. That means it is chiefly the responsibility of Iraqi security forces in Iraq, for example, to seek out and engage ISIL fighters and to drive them out of territory and to occupy it.
"U.S. forces have been in a situation where they have provided training in advance of those Iraqi forces that are prepared to undertake that kind of mission. They also occasionally will operate in -- in a role that allows them to provide some advice and assistance, even in a dangerous situation, to enhance their (Iraqis') ability to operate on the -- on the battlefield.
"And that has put U.S. forces in a dangerous situation in some circumstances. That's why those forces when they are deployed to Iraq are -- have been trained in combat and are armed for combat so that they can defend themselves accordingly."
A reporter asked Earnest if the mission is getting more dangerous for U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Syria: "You've said a number of times that ISIS will get more desperate as they start to lose territory, and things like that. So, as we're talking about offensives coming up and ISIS possibly continuing to lose territory, won't even an advise and assist mission become more dangerous over time?"
"Well, again, I guess I would -- I would leave it to my colleagues at the Department of Defense to offer up that kind of operational assessment," Earnest responded. "I think the assessment from here is the work that has been done by our servicemembers in Iraq and in Syria has been dangerous from the beginning. And it's why we owe them a debt of gratitude in terms of the personal sacrifices that they are prepared to make for our national security.
"But what is also true is that the mission that they are carrying out on the orders of President Obama is a mission designed to bolster the capacity of Iraqi forces to take the fight to ISIL in their own country. And that is different than the mission that more than 100,000 U.S. service members were given by President Bush to invade Iraq, to seek out the enemy in the occupied territory.
"The differences here are significant, both in terms of the number of U.S. forces involved, but also in the responsibility that's being assumed by those individual forces. What's probably not different is that for both forces in 2003 and forces operating in Iraq in 2016 is a dangerous situation and those forces need to be prepared to defend themselves.
"And that's why the men and women that President Obama sends into Iraq now are individuals who are armed for combat, these are individuals who have been trained for combat, and unfortunately, we've seen situations where American service members have been killed in combat because of the situation that they found themselves in."
Earnest also warned against allowing the situation in Iraq to "devolve into a sectarian conflict," pitting mostly Shi'ite troops against Fallujah's majority-Sunni population.
That would only play into the hands of ISIL, he said:
"Our approach will be to offer support and assistance to those forces that are operating under the command and control of the Iraqi central government. Our insistence will be that those Iraqi forces operate consistent with basic humanitarian obligations and that they do so respectful of the population that they're seeking to liberate.
And we have made that case, not just because of our commitment to those values and a high standard that we have set when it comes to these kinds of moral questions, but also because of the basic understanding of what ISIL is seeking to do.
"ISIL is seeking to sow sectarian conflict that will create the kind of chaos that allows them to grow and thrive. So, you know, we're certainly mindful of that risk, but I think -- I think other countries with an interest in defeating ISIL (Iran) also recognize that risk."
More than 50,000 civilians are believed to be trapped inside Fallujah, which is located about 40 miles west of Baghdad.
Fallujah was the first large city in Iraq to fall to IS and it is the last major urban area controlled by the extremist group in western Iraq. The Sunni-led terrorists still control the country's second-largest city, Mosul, in the north, as well as smaller towns and patches of territory in the country's west and north.
The fight for Fallujah is expected to be difficult because the Islamic State group has had more than two years to dig in. Hidden bombs are believed to be strewn throughout the city, and the presence of trapped civilians will limit the use of supporting airstrikes.
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