More US troops going to Iraq in a couple of weeks

[jakeXT]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The next wave of American troops will begin moving into Iraq in a couple of weeks to train local forces, the top U.S. commander for the mission said Thursday while cautioning that it will take at least three years to build the capabilities of the Iraqi military.


...

The Iraqi army wants to launch a counteroffensive to retake Mosul, the largest city in northern Iraq, and the U.S. likely would help. While there have been some concerns that Iraq's military may not be ready yet for such an ambitious operation, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said last week that the U.S. is working with senior Iraqi leaders on preparations.

..

He declined to reveal when a Mosul operation might be launched. There have been fewer details and more limited media access to U.S. military operations in Iraq this time than during the eight years of war that ended in 2011. U.S. officials say it's because the military is there only to advise and assist the sovereign Iraqi government.

There are currently about 1,700 U.S. troops in Iraq, and President Barack Obama has authorized up to 3,000. More than 1,000 U.S. troops are expected to be deployed in the coming weeks to increase the effort to advise and assist Iraq units at the higher headquarters levels and also to conduct training at several sites around the country.

Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/more-us-troops-going-iraq-couple-weeks-164947020--politics.html

[hobbit709]

1. Here we go again.

[mysunderstood]

4. anytime now...

“The AUMF is now nearly 12 years old,” Obama said at National Defense University in May 2013. “Unless we discipline our thinking, our definitions, our actions, we may be drawn into more wars we don’t need to fight, or continue to grant presidents unbound powers more suited for traditional armed conflicts between nation states. So I look forward to engaging Congress and the American people in efforts to refine, and ultimately repeal, the AUMF’s mandate.”

[Maedhros]

2. Yet Obama gets credit for ending the Iraq Occupation? [n/t]

[EEO]

3. History Rhymes.

[CJCRANE]

5. IMO something was going on

behind the scenes during President Obama's first term because nearly everything he worked toward in foreign policy has been flipped on its head in his second term.

[sakabatou]

6. Mission keeps on creeping

[MisterP]

7. "he got us out of 2 wars"!

[Doctor_J]

10. The List never shrinks - only grows.

[Baclava]

8. "More than 1,000 U.S. troops are expected to be deployed in the coming weeks "

got the shirt

[DeSwiss]

9. Right.

- Well at least he's no longer calling them ''military advisers'' so I suppose that's an improvement of sorts.