Senior Pentagon Official Failed In Explaining Pentagon Troop Deployments To The Middle East

To be clear, the reporting is wrong. The U.S. is not considering sending 14,000 additional troops to the Middle East.

— Alyssa Farah (@PentagonPresSec) December 5, 2019

Politico: Pentagon officials struggle to explain plans for Middle East deployments

Defense Secretary Mark Esper is considering sending additional military forces to the Middle East to deter Iranian attacks, the Pentagon’s policy chief acknowledged Thursday after initially trying to knock down a news report that said as many as 14,000 troops could go.

“The secretary of Defense is consistently, and continues to evaluate, with the advice of others, what the appropriate number of forces to be deployed to the Middle East is,” Undersecretary of Defense for Policy John Rood told the Senate Armed Services Committee. He later added that “as necessary, the secretary of Defense has told me he intends to make changes to our force posture there.”

Rood wouldn’t say how large of a force the Pentagon is considering, or what types of units might go. But he said that of an initial 14,000 troops sent to the Middle East since the spring, about half have been aboard warships, and the other half included ground and air units that have reestablished a major air base in Saudi Arabia. The Pentagon sent those troops in increments after Iranian attacks on commercial shipping, a U.S. surveillance drone and Saudi oil facilities.

The Pentagon is looking at sending more troops now because of new intelligence about possible Iranian attacks in the region, Rood explained.

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WNU Editor: US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy John Rood was definitely not clear in explaining Pentagon troop deployments to the Middle East, and it showed.