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US PRESIDENT BARACK Obama has approved the deployment of 450 more US military trainers to Iraq, a cautious bid to reverse gains by the Islamic State group.
The White House said the forces will join an already 3,100-strong mission to “train, advise and assist” the Iraqi army as well as Sunni tribal fighters.
The new contingent will focus on efforts to wrest back control of provincial capital Ramadi.
Islamic State seized the predominately Sunni city near Baghdad in May, punching a giant hole in Obama’s strategy to “defeat and degrade” the jihadist group.
Obama has ruled out putting combat troops on the ground, fearing it may re-entangle US forces in a war he fought hard to end.
Instead his administration has offered air support, arms and training to an amalgam of disparate Iraqi forces.
In addition to extra trainers, the White House announced there will also be “expedited delivery of essential equipment and material” for those tribal and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters — in coordination with the central government in Baghdad.
While senior Obama military and civilian aides indicate he “hasn’t ruled out any additional steps,” such as providing field advisers or personnel to call in airstrikes, they say the current strategy will remain in place.
“The president has made it clear that he will look at a range of different options,” said Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes.
Our overriding focus here is making sure that there is Iraqi capacity on the ground.
- Fight for Anbar -
The new US training contingent will be based at Taqaddum Air Base, perched between jihadist-held Ramadi and Fallujah.
That puts US non-combat troops within striking distance of Islamic State fighters, but officials say it also makes recruitment of Sunni tribal fighters easier.
“There is always a risk whenever we’re in Iraq that we could be hit with indirect fire, as we have in the past, that we could be attacked,” said senior Pentagon official Elissa Slotkin.
We felt like we could sufficiently mitigate the risk to make it worthwhile to go out there to perform this important mission.
Iraq’s Sunni Muslim community — likely to be key to victory in Anbar — has yet to join the fight against Islamic State in large numbers.
After years of sectarian tensions, there remains a simmering distrust of the Shiite-led government in Baghdad.
There may also be lingering suspicion of the United States, which in previous campaigns recruited Sunni fighters before leaving them to the mercy of Shiite sectarian rulers.
The Pentagon said a large portion of the new US troops will focus on protecting trainers and other officials, while a small group will help Iraqi forces plan helping the Iraqis plan an eventual counter-attack on Ramadi.
The deployment of 450 US troops into the middle of a contested area may also have an impact on Islamic State’s actions, said Slotkin.
Obama’s Republican political adversaries seized on his announcement.
“It’s a step in the right direction, but as the president admitted the other day, he has no strategy to win. And this is another tactical move,” said House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner.
“I support the tactical move the president is taking, but where’s the overarching strategy?”
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1) Cops only go after the easy stops
2) students need to grow a pair
@Thomas Harrington: honestly have never seen students complaining. Only people complaining about students.
Also I don’t see how it’s acceptable to say “grow a pair” when students are getting regular fines of €75 when they don’t have any income.
@Thomas Harrington: if they only go after the easy stops who is filling the jail’s with the terrorists, murderers, organised gangs ?
If those little scrotes weren’t having house parties and super spreader get togethers they would have no problems with the guards.
@Pat Casey: maybe read the article
Policing Authority trying to justify their existence again. I can understand the role of GSOC but the policing authority seems like a complete waste of time
The policing authority…… They don’t want body cams because that would be spying on the community says it all really
“People should not be afraid of their government, government should be afraid of their people”
@Diarmuid O’Braonáin: they are… thats why we have the police. You don’t think they’re there for us, do you?!
low hanging fruit is always the tastiest.
@plug: depends on who’s plums you’re tasting
@plug: True that… sure most garda never even see an actual criminal. It goes…
Order of engagement:
Drug users (non supply)
Low level drug mules/ growers
Students
Road users
Actual criminals (low level)
White collar
Government corruption
Other police (usually abusive partners… although realistically this would be much further down)
And yet no fines for people attending golfgate
@Darren Carroll: bit difficult since fines for breaching travel restrictions only came into effect in January 2021, but hey! Whataboutery, am I right?!
@OnlyHereForTheComments: well you’re certainly leaning that way…
if students behaved they wouldn’t have this issue.
@larry bird: and for you! What about read the article? I promise you won’t take that long.
I do have sympathy for students as depicted in the article and yes the pandemic has introduced a changed interface between the gardai and the public. Some gardai behave in an authoritarian manner arising out of new powers the government sanctioned , for a people who have always known policing by consent, this change in attitude is difficult to take on board, it will be good when sanctions are withdrawn and policing returns to normal, no more heavy handed rules and interrogation of people just trying to live their lives.
@Honeybee: The Gardai will always feel entitled to interrogate you at any checkpoint from this point onwards, regardless of the law. Sure, I was out walking once in the park a few years ago and they wanted to randomly search my bag, know all my details… I just asked “why?” and they responded “because we’ll arrest you if you don’t tell us”. Gardai are disgusting to deal with as a young person.
Gardaí will only target those they can pick on. Older people can break the 5km all they like and have far fewer consequences. Students (within their 5km) have been fined so many times (anecdotally). It’s the same with drugs – they’ll pick on harmless people for smoking a joint and won’t go after real drug dealing criminals.
I really don’t think Irish people fully understand the implications of all these restrictions, having the longest lockdown in the world, and having people in fear of arrest or fine just from seeing a police officer. These have long term consequences down the line. Just one example is, as mentioned in the article, if young people start seeing Gardai as the aggressor, they’re could end up not reporting crime to the Gardai.
The Garda, not all, are incorrectly perceived as being desk jockeys who turn a blind eye to common dangerous misdemeanors such as cyclists with no lights on their bikes, cyclsts breaking red lights and less dangerous but, just as annoying, dog owners not being fined for not picking up their dog’s excrement (nothing quite beats walking in dog s%it and bringing it home on your shoes).
As Alexei Sayle once said “I hate fooking students, even when I was a student I hated fooking students”
So there you have! I’m not a student and i can tell that what written in this article doesn’t surprise me at all.
Anyway, people refuse but the truth of since 2020 “End does justify the means”.
have your say