U.S. boosts Iraqi training to include Sunni fighters
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Barack Obama ordered the deployment Wednesday of up to 450 more troops to Iraq to assist local forces in an effort to reverse ISIL’s recent gains.
Under the plan, the United States will open a fifth training site in Iraq, with the goal of integrating Iraqi Security Forces and Sunni fighters. The immediate objective is to retake the city of Ramadi, seized by ISIL last month.
Obama made the decision at the request of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and based on advice from Pentagon leaders, the White House said. The U.S. troops will not be used in a combat role.
“These new advisers will work to build capacity of Iraqi forces, including local tribal fighters, to improve their ability to plan, lead and conduct operations against ISIL in eastern Anbar under the command of the prime minister,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
The extremists have seized sizable areas of Syria and Iraq.
The plan is not a change in U.S. strategy, the administration says, but addresses a need to get Sunnis more involved in the fight, a muchcited weakness in the mission.
Questions remain about the Shiite-led Iraqi government’s commitment to recruit fighters, especially among Sunni tribesmen, to oust ISIL from Ramadi and Fallujah, a nearby city the militants have held for more than a year.
Iraqi officials have chosen to deploy most U.S.-trained troops in defensive formations around Baghdad, the capital.
The new training site will be at alTaqqadum, a desert airbase that was a U.S. military hub during the 2003-2011 war.
The additional troops will include advisers, trainers, logisticians and security personnel.
There now are nearly 3,100 U.S. troops in Iraq involved in training, advising and security.
The U.S. also is flying bombing missions, aerial reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering missions against ISIL forces, while counting on Iraqi ground troops to retake lost territory.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said sending several hundred military advisers to Iraq “is a step in the right direction.” But he repeatedly criticized Obama for not having “an overarching strategy” for dealing with ISIL.
The expanded effort will include delivering U.S. equipment and arms directly to al-Taqqadum.