WASHINGTON – The U.S. Defense Department announced this week that another 130 troops have been sent to Iraq, for what it says is a “temporary” mission.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said that the troops are not there for combat, but to “assess” the humanitarian effort for tens of thousands of displaced Iraqi civilians who are fleeing the ISIS warriors who are allegedly committing atrocities throughout Northern Iraq and Syria.
“We are not going back into Iraq in any of the combat mission dimensions that we once were in in Iraq,” Hagel said. “This is not a combat boots on the ground mission.
According to the Department of Defense, the additional service members have arrived in Erbil, Iraq. They will “assess the scope of the humanitarian mission and develop additional humanitarian assistance options beyond the current airdrop effort in support of displaced Iraqi civilians trapped on Sinjar Mountain by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,” a defense official said in a written statement following Hagel’s talk to the Marines and sailors.
The official said the troops are primarily Marines and special operations forces from within U.S. Central Command, and that they will be in Erbil temporarily.
Weeks ago, President Barack Obama said there were about 750 US troops in Iraq, after the Pentagon announced 200 more troops were sent there in late June. At the time, he said he authorized this augmentation as a prudent measure to protect U.S. citizens and property. Some troops were also sent forward to Baghdad to provide security and logistics support.
[poll random]
…let’s see…we just got ourselves out of Iraq…we are trying to get ourselves out of Afghanistan…the final year we were leaving Vietnam isn’t that far back…and still we are saying…”we are just going to send a few troops “back” to Iraq…our leaders just don’t get it do they???