President Obama is sending 130 Military advisers to Northern Iraq.
The troops will work with State Department officials and USAID to develop plans to help the Yazidi people, a religious minority displaced on Sinjar Mountain.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced the deployment in remarks to Marines at Camp Pendleton, California.
“This is not a combat boots on the ground kind of operation,” Hagel said.
The deployment comes as Defense officials openly voice doubts about the impact airstrikes alone can have, and as Kurdish forces struggle with the rescue mission.
When President Obama authorized military force last week, it was for the dual purpose of protecting American personnel and helping Kurdish forces as they try to aid members of the Yazidi minority trapped in the Sinjar mountain range. They were driven there by militants with the Islamic State (IS), and have been relying largely on international aid drops for food and water.
Officials say any relocation effort likely would involve international partners.
The planning, though, is complicated by the administration’s directive not to send ground troops. Absent that, the U.S. would have to pursue an airlift mission.
One official said that even the most “Herculean effort” to lift the refugees off the mountains would take hundreds of flights and 10 days or more of constant missions.
An airlift of this sort would also come with considerable risk.
To date, the U.S. has not encountered any anti-aircraft fire, but that could change given the heavy weaponry the Islamic State has at its disposal.
Earlier yesterday, one Iraqi helicopter crashed shortly after picking up refugees.
The consideration of such a mission comes after several days of airstrikes on the IS militants. The Pentagon currently has 250 military advisers in Iraq.
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Pentagon officials announced on Tuesday that it has sent 130 advisers to assist Kurdish and Iraqi national forces engaged in combat with forces of the Islamic State (IS, formally ISIS) in northern Iraq, deepening US military involvement following several days of airstrikes and humanitarian air drops. The advisory mission is so far limited to assisting in efforts to evacuate civilians trapped on Sinjar Mountain, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey told USA Todayon Tuesday that the US commitment will remain limited but could last for several months. “The crisis has been abated but not solved,” Dempsey said, adding that IS had the Pentagon’s full attention as it could, if not confronted, eventually attack Israel and even the US homeland. “This is a group with a long-term vision,” Dempsey said. “And the long term vision is completely antithetical to any of our values.” Read More
