Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Will The Deployment Of U.S. Troops To Iraq Be A Tipping Point In the War Against The Islamic State?

US troops have been stationed in Iraq since 2014 [File:Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters]

Washington Examiner: More U.S. troops to Iraq seen as tipping point, Pentagon sources say

The deployment of 560 additional U.S. troops to help Iraq forces prepare and conduct the offensive to retake the northern Iraqi city of Mosul may signal a tipping point in the war against the Islamic State, some Pentagon officials hope.

The decision to send the American forces was triggered by a surprisingly easy victory on the battlefield on Saturday in which Iraqi forces essentially blindsided Islamic State fighters and retook a strategic airfield that will serve as a staging ground for the Mosul offensive, now seen as on track to happen this year.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter made the announcement in Baghdad Monday during a one-day visit to Iraq, during which Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi affirmed his goal of liberating Iraqi's second-largest city from the Islamic State's grip in 2016.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: I fail to see how a few hundred U.S. soldiers can be viewed as a tipping point, when over 100,00 U.S. soldiers a few years ago could not stop this sectarian bloodshed. Bottom line .... this is a sectarian war where many of the players in the Middle East are now involved, and it has to run its course. 500 U.S. troops .... or 50,000 U.S. troops .... it will not make a difference in the end.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

The tipping point was Putin.