September 28, 2016 | No Comments
Some 600 additional U.S. troops are headed to Iraq ahead of a major offensive to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced Wednesday.
The troop increase was approved by President Barack Obama, Carter said in a statement, at his and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford’s recommendation and “with the support and approval” of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
Carter said the additional troops would “further enable Iraqi forces.”
“The troops, in close coordination with the government of Iraq, will provide specific capabilities including logistics and maintenance support; train, advise and assist teams for Iraqi Security Forces and Kurdish Peshmerga for the upcoming Mosul operation; and expanded intelligence resources to help disrupt ISIL’s terrorist network in Iraq and beyond,” Carter said.
The current cap for U.S. troops in Iraq is over 4,600, meaning the new deployment will push the troop level there to well over 5,200.
On Capitol Hill, though, news of the additional troops is already running into criticism from one of the administration’s most vocal critics of its ISIL campaign, Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain.
“It’s called mission creep,” the Arizona Republican told reporters.
Carter is also likely to send a supplemental funding request to Congress during its lame-duck session after the Nov. 8 elections to cover the increasing cost of the wars, including maintaining 8,400 troops in Afghanistan through the end of the year.
While hawkish Republicans have urged the president to submit a budget addendum to cover the increased military operations in Afghanistan and the Middle East, McCain suggested even those increases in troops and funding might not be enough.
“They’re going to need more money than, maybe, they said they’d need a couple weeks ago,” said McCain, who has criticized the U.S. commitment to the fight against ISIL as too incremental. “And they may have to send more troops over and may have to ask for more money.”