The Pentagon announced on Sunday that more American troops will be deployed to Iraq, following an Islamic State rocket attack on a Marine position in which Staff Sgt. Louis F. Cardin of California became the second U.S. soldier killed by the Islamic State.
“The undisclosed number of troops will be a detachment from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit and will support Iraqi forces and international ground operations,”Fox News reports, noting that this would seem to be difficult to square with President Obama’s “no boots on the ground in Iraq” promises.
“The 26th MEU is deployed to maintain regional security in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea and parts of the Indian Ocean,” stated the Pentagon, according to Fox News. “Members of the unit are aboard three U.S. Navy amphibious assault ships: the USS Kearsarge, the amphibious transport dock ship USS Arlington and the dock-landing ship USS Oak Hill.”
CNN quotes Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook saying Staff Sgt. Cardin was “providing force protection fire support at a recently established coalition fire base near Makhmur in northern Iraq.”
The base had only been operational for a few days before ISIS attacked, and its existence had not yet been disclosed to the American public, which does not know hundreds of Marines are setting up firebases and artillery positions along the ISIS front lines. They have been told the increased troop commitment to fight the Islamic State consists mostly of special operators flying around in helicopters, and trainers helping the Iraqi Army get into shape for the big push against the ISIS stronghold of Mosul.
CNN cites a U.S. official speculating that ISIS was drawn to the site by the Marines test-firing their howitzers and an Iraqi general who says his own forces come under daily rocket fire from the Islamic State in the area.
“The undisclosed number of troops will be a detachment from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit and will support Iraqi forces and international ground operations,”Fox News reports, noting that this would seem to be difficult to square with President Obama’s “no boots on the ground in Iraq” promises.
“The 26th MEU is deployed to maintain regional security in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea and parts of the Indian Ocean,” stated the Pentagon, according to Fox News. “Members of the unit are aboard three U.S. Navy amphibious assault ships: the USS Kearsarge, the amphibious transport dock ship USS Arlington and the dock-landing ship USS Oak Hill.”
CNN quotes Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook saying Staff Sgt. Cardin was “providing force protection fire support at a recently established coalition fire base near Makhmur in northern Iraq.”
The base had only been operational for a few days before ISIS attacked, and its existence had not yet been disclosed to the American public, which does not know hundreds of Marines are setting up firebases and artillery positions along the ISIS front lines. They have been told the increased troop commitment to fight the Islamic State consists mostly of special operators flying around in helicopters, and trainers helping the Iraqi Army get into shape for the big push against the ISIS stronghold of Mosul.
CNN cites a U.S. official speculating that ISIS was drawn to the site by the Marines test-firing their howitzers and an Iraqi general who says his own forces come under daily rocket fire from the Islamic State in the area.
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