The Briefing Room
General Category => Military/Defense News => Topic started by: mystery-ak on August 12, 2014, 11:34:11 pm
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http://thehill.com/policy/defense/214996-us-sending-more-advisers-to-northern-iraq (http://thehill.com/policy/defense/214996-us-sending-more-advisers-to-northern-iraq)
Obama orders more than 100 advisers to Iraq
By Kristina Wong - 08/12/14 06:45 PM EDT
President Obama has ordered 130 more troops to northern Iraq, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced Tuesday.
"The president has authorized for me to go ahead and authorize about 130 new assessment team members," said Hagel.
He said the advisers arrived in Erbil Tuesday morning to look at humanitarian relief options for tens of thousands of people from the Yazidi religious sect. The refugees have been trapped on mountains amid fighting between Kurdish forces and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
The additional troops are comprised of Marines and special operations forces from the U.S. Central Command region, according to a defense official.
"These forces will not be engaged in a combat role," the official said.
The forces will work closely with the State Department and USAID to coordinate efforts with international partners and non-government organizations to help the Yazidis, the official added.
The official said the U.S. would continue looking for ways to help Iraqis disrupted by the fighting and prevent a possible genocide by ISIS.
The president on Friday ordered airstrikes and humanitarian airdrops of food and water to help the Yazidis.
The U.S. currently has several dozen troops in northern Iraq manning a joint operations center in Erbil to coordinate and share intelligence with Iraqi forces.
The new advisers bring the total number of U.S. troops in the country to about 1,000.
About 100 troops are part of the U.S. embassy presence in Baghdad, and another 375 or so are providing security to the embassy and other U.S. facilities.
There are currently about 250 U.S. troops in Baghdad and Erbil who are assessing the security situation, mostly in Baghdad.
This story was updated at 7:05 p.m.
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I could have swore I heard Obama say no boots on the ground...must be my bad....../s
....and so it begins... **nononono*
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They're going to call them ANYTHING but "boots on the ground".
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They're going to call them ANYTHING but "boots on the ground".
Yeah..they've been calling them *advisors* since Korea....probably before that too!
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They're going to call them ANYTHING but "boots on the ground".
And that is exactly what they are. The Left is going batshit over this....more so than usual. I have to wonder if a lot of the rage in St. Louis isn't partially due to outrage and letdown over what Obammy promised his base and never produced. Those Obamaphones are all old news....
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"Marines" and "humanitarian relief" really shouldn't appear in the same sentence. The USMC is a fighting corps, not the freakin' Red Cross.
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"Marines" and "humanitarian relief" really shouldn't appear in the same sentence. The USMC is a fighting corps, not the freakin' Red Cross.
yep...not supposed to be Meals on Wheels.....
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yep...not supposed to be Meals on Wheels.....
Yet they'll do it, and do it well. :patriot: