Americas...:Dempsey: War in Iraq ’Different’ This Time, Iraq...

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Dempsey: War in Iraq ’Different’ This Time, Iraq First but Not Only

Local Editor

US top officer General Martin Dempsey considered that the United States' military action in Iraq has a "better chance of success" than the 2003 war there because American troops are playing a "supporting role" to local forces from the start.

Dempsey: War in Iraq "Different" This Time, Iraq First but Not Only

"We have a strategy," he said. "But here's what I can tell you about that strategy: It's going to change. It's going to change often."

For now, he said, "The military strategy is Iraq first - but not Iraq only."

Asked at a Washington conference why Americans should expect the latest US intervention in Iraq to go better this time, Dempsey said, "We think we're taking a different approach."

Additionally, he spoke both about the training of Iraqi national fighters and about the lack of adequate forces in Syria.

Indeed, there are not enough troops on the ground in Syria to fight so-called "Daesh" ["ISIL"], Dempsey said.

The additional needed troops will not come from the US military, but rather from the pool of so-called "moderate" militants that US military forces have committed to training.

For this reason and others, Syria is "far more complicated" than Iraq, Dempsey said.

That training "mission", for starters, is fraught with challenges, including determining what, precisely, it means to be a so-called "moderate" militant and then vetting them.

It will not happen quickly, either, Pentagon officials have warned. It will take a year to vet and train roughly 5,000 Syrian militants - a figure that analysts predict will still not be enough to defeat "Daesh".

Currently, there are also some 1,500 US troops "advising Iraqi security forces", with another 1,600 who are on the way of being deployed as well.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team