Apaches to Iraq

The Washington Times reports that the Pentagon is sending armed Apache helicopters to Iraq to help protect the growing number of troops that are pouring into that country;

The Obama administration plans on having a U.S. presence in Iraq of roughly 1,000 troops and advisers to protect its embassy in Baghdad, but deployed personnel won’t lack firepower — Apache helicopters will be at their disposal.

Rear Adm. John Kirby, Pentagon press secretary, announced Tuesday that in addition to the Apaches, unarmed surveillance drones will help U.S. personnel and Iraqis gather intelligence on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Agence France Presse reported.

I remember back in the olden there were less than 300 troops going to Iraq, now it’s 1000. But, Stars & Stripes reports that the Pentagon denies that there is “mission creep” going on;

“There’s no mission creep. The missions haven’t changed,” Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said Tuesday in response to a reporter’s question at a press conference. “Some of the numbers have been added in the security-assistance realm … It’s very fluid, and the commander-in-chief and the military leadership here in the building, I think, expect and should have a certain measure of flexibility here in how we … manage the resources available.”

In another Washington Times article, Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser to the president explains that, yeah, US troops could end up in military operations against ISIS or ISIL, or the Islamic Nation, or whatever they want to be called this week;

“I think the threats that we would look to, for instance, would include an evaluation of whether ISIL is posing a threat to U.S. interests that would necessitate our taking action against them, as we have against terrorist organizations in other parts of the region,” Mr. Rhodes said. “I think the security and safety of our personnel would certainly be of profound interest to the United States.”

In addition to those two possibilities for military action, Mr. Rhodes told foreign journalists Tuesday that the Obama administration would consider engaging ISIL forces if the U.S. believes it can make “a positive difference.”

“We have left that door open if we believe it can make a difference, a positive difference, or if we believe that it is in our core interest to do so because we face a counterterrorism threat or a threat to our personnel,” Mr. Rhodes said. “And I’d add keeping that Embassy open and keeping our operations running in Iraq is what facilitates our ability to cooperate with the Iraqi Government and provide them with security assistance and political support.”

So the troops aren’t there to participate in combat, unless the goobers in the White House decide that the president’s poll numbers would get a boost from it.

Category: Terror War