U.S. to Put More 'Boots on the Ground' in Iraq

U.S. to Put More 'Boots on the Ground' in Iraq

Defense Secretary Carter announces plans to deploy 101st Airborne Division in latest escalation of war.

In an op-ed in Politico and in an appearance at Davos World Economic Forum Friday morning, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced the U.S. will deploy "boots on the ground" in Iraq to help local forces fight the so-called Islamic State. The policy shift is a turnaround from the Obama's White House's previous stance of not deploying combat troops in Iraq and one sure to shape the foreign policy debate in the 2016 election.

Though the U.S. military presence in Iraq has been steadily growing over the past year-and-a-half this marks the first time an express acknowledgment of ground troops has been made by a senior official. The first of such deployments will, according to Sec. Carter, be the 101st Airborne Division

"Soldiers in the storied 101st Airborne Division will soon deploy to Iraq to join the fight against ISIL," Carter wrote in Politico. "They will head there with the support of the American people and armed with a clear campaign plan to deliver the barbaric organization a lasting defeat, which I personally shared with them last week at Fort Campbell."

The U.S. withdrew troops from Iraq in 2011, despite efforts to keep a "residual force" of 3,000 by then-Sectary of Defense Leon Panetta. The current war in Iraq began on August 7th, 2014 when Obamaannounced "limited," "humanitarian" airstrikes to protect an ethnic minority from ISIL fighters in Sinjar Mountain in Iraqi Kurdistan. In an interview at the time, Obama said he did not intervene to stop ISIL earlier "because that would have taken the pressure off of [Prime Minister Nuri Kamal] al-Maliki.” Prime Minister al-Maliki has since stepped down.

It remains unclear if the Obama administration plans on deploying any more troops. Sec. Carter's predecessor, Panetta, claimed that the fight against ISIL would be a "thirty-year war".

"We're looking for opportunities to do more, and there will be boots on the ground — I want to be clear about that — but it's a strategic question," Carter said. "Whether you are enabling local forces to take and hold, rather than trying to substitute for them".

Adam Johnson is an associate editor at AlterNet. Follow him on Twitter at @adamjohnsonnyc.

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Mr. Ordinary Person, The Words of this US of A Doesn`t appear to Hold Much Credence AT All....The Words " More Boots on the Ground'' Hit A Chord with Me, As well... It wasn`t much longer than a Breath away' that Obama Said'' No more American soldiers` Boots on the Ground !! " Did he . by any Chance.. Mean '' UNDER Or Over "?" This WAR Monger Carter.. Is A Lover of Bloodshed ( It doesn`t matter Whose .) But Then, These War Creatures Will not Be around Long enough to reap any Kind of Proceeds from This Continuing Shedding of Our Militaries``` blood. . This Regime spawned These Groups, Trains Them..Pays them Quite WELL >>With OUR Taxes<<. Then..Turns them loose in These Middle Eastern Countries..AND Tells THEM TO ""Go For IT !!' THEN..when Their cruelties become Too noticeable to the rest of the world...A Big pretense is begun to ''Look LIKE They are being Reined IN !!! After THE Fact. No one But Putin Is in A position TO Stop THESE Mercenaries In their Tracks. Thank GOD for Putin. He Will Not Quit until They are All DEAD. SO Much for The BIG Plan..OWO !! IT will Never Happen. Looks like That Old Dream I Had..Many years Ago..Of The Chinese Marching, in droves.. Across The Continent...thru Canada And Alaska.. into This America..Is Getting Closer TO Reality ! Iran Will Join forces with China... Then Russia...And Any other Country That Has Been Threatened By This Great Big Imperialistic Country Of THE WEST....and TAKE OVER this Debt-ridden Nation That has Run Roughshod over The Universe for way too long...Will be Put to Heel.. unless There be a Great Change Made Very Soon. This is A Tragic Event ..Too Tragic to Contemplate..For All Mankind.

“We cannot have peace if we are only concerned with peace. War is not an accident. It is the logical outcome of a certain way of life. If we want to attack war, we have to attack that way of life.” “The problem after a war is with the victor. He thinks he has just proved that war and violence pay. Who will now teach him a lesson?” “No Big Power in all history ever thought of itself as an aggressor. That is still true today.” There is no way to peace; peace is the way.