U. S. TURNS SCREWS ON ISLAMIC STATE
Pentagon lets Americans take bigger part in battlefield ops
Riding on a string of successes against the Islamic State in Iraq, the Pentagon upped the stakes Monday by loosening restrictions on what U. S. troops can do there and sending more than 200 addi- tional servicemembers to support Iraqi forces as they try to recapture Mosul.
The Pentagon will provide $ 415 million in aid for Kurdish fighters, called peshmerga, who will play a key role in the effort to retake Iraq’s second- largest city. It offered to assist Iraqi security forces with U. S. Apache attack helicopters.
The moves came after President Oba- ma said last week that the Islamic State is on the defensive. The Pentagon touted the recent killings of three of the Islamic State’s top commanders in Iraq and Syria as part of a bigger airstrike campaign that won back more than 40% of the group’s territory in Iraq.
Monday’s measures will allow the U. S.
military to assist Iraq’s security forces as they enter a critical phase in the fight against the Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS, while adhering to White House demands against sending conventional forces to directly fight the militants.
“It does not change the basic elements of the strategy, which is that this has to be a fight that is led by local forces with the support and assistance of the United States and our coalition partners,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
Under the loosened rules, U. S. advisers could get closer to the battlefield by being embedded with the Iraqi battalion headquarters.
Before, they were limited to remain at higher brigade or division headquarters.
American advisers could remain with Iraqi units as they advance north and move farther from established bases. Their role as advisers will not change.
“They’re not engaged in direct, on- theground combat,” Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said Monday.
Sen. John McCain, R- Ariz., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the troop increase too small.
“This is yet another example of the kind of grudging incrementalism that rarely wins wars but could certainly lose one,” he said in a statement.
The additional 217 troops announced Monday will raise the authorized level to 4,087 from 3,870, though the Pentagon acknowledged the number could go higher when servicemembers are deployed on temporary assignments.
Retaking Mosul is perhaps the biggest challenge Iraq’s military has faced since much of its armed forces collapsed when the Islamic State advanced into Iraqi territory two years ago.
The money for the Kurdish peshmerga signals the U. S. confidence in the fighters, who continue to battle the Islamic State as Iraq has struggled to rebuild its military. The money will be disbursed in monthly increments, Davis said.