Tuesday, May 19, 2015

White House: No U.S. Ground Troops To Assist Iraq In Retaking Ramadi



CNN: U.S. special forces will not aid Iraqis fighting ISIS in Ramadi

Washington (CNN)The White House says it is now actively looking at how to support an "Iraqi-led operation to retake Ramadi," including "accelerating the training and equipping of local tribes."

President Barack Obama met with the National Security Council Tuesday after ISIS, also known as ISIL, seized the key Iraqi city this weekend.

However, National Security Council spokesman Alistair Baskey said that "there is no formal strategy review" underway, rather that the U.S. is continuing its policy to "degrade, and ultimately destroy, ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy."

And U.S. military commanders do not plan to ask Obama for authority to deploy special forces on the ground in or near Ramadi to help Iraqi forces locate ISIS targets, a Pentagon official told CNN on Tuesday.

Although there is always a possibility that decision could change, the official said top military commanders "don't feel it's necessary."

WNU Editor:
In response to the fall of Ramadi the U.S. will expedite weapons shipments .... Barack Obama Set to Speed Up Arms Shipments, Training for Iraq Tribes After Ramadi Rout (Reuters) .... but Iraq is already awash with weapons, what it lacks is a functioning army. The above video of White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest trying to spin the fall of Ramadi is priceless .... he even throws in the Bush administration.

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