Pentagon requests 500 more U.S. troops ahead of Mosul battle
There are an estimated 4,500 Islamic State militants in Mosul.
By Andrew V. Pestano Follow @AVPLive9 Contact the Author | Sept. 22, 2016 at 1:37 PM
The U.S. Department of Defense has asked the White House for 500 additional U.S. troops in Iraq ahead of Iraqi security force's battle to retake Mosul from Islamic State control. In this image, members of the 332nd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron are pictured preparing to depart on a C-130 Hercules from Qayyarah Airfield West in Iraq on November 13, 2009. Photo by Senior Airman Christopher Hubenthal/U.S. Air Force
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Defense is asking President Barack Obama to send 500 additional U.S. troops to Iraq ahead of the ground offensive by Iraqi security forces to take Mosul back from the Islamic State.
If approved by the White House, the official deployment of U.S. personnel to Iraq would increase from 4,400 to 4,900. The Pentagon does not include up to 1,500 U.S. personnel in the official deployment number because they are considered to be on temporary assignments or at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
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