Additional 1300 US Troops to Iraq

Local Editor

An additional 1,300 troops will be sent by the United States to Iraq beginning in late January, the Pentagon said Friday.

Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters at a news briefing that the troops will be in addition to the 1,500 troops that were authorized by US President Barack Obama in November.

Kirby said that the troops have counterintelligence, logistics and communication skills and that "their mission will be to train, advise and assist Iraqi security forces."

Approximately 1,000 paratroopers from the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg in North Carolina will deploy to Iraq, and according to a spokeswoman for the 82nd Airborne said that they will are preparing for a nine-month deployment.

Kirby cautioned that it will take at least three years to re-build the Iraqi military.
Army Lt. Gen. James Terry, who is leading campaign against the "ISIL" militants in Syria and Iraq, said that while there has been progress in stopping the advances of "ISIL" in Iraq, they need to be trained. "I think what we must do, especially inside of Iraq, is continue to build those (Iraqi) capabilities. I think you're at least talking a minimum of three years," he said.

The Iraqi army wants to launch an operation to retake Mosul, the largest city in northern Iraq and currently under "ISIL" control.

Lieutenant General James Terry, the commander of the Combined Joint Task Force, Operation Inherent Resolve, said Iraqi security forces were steadily improving but remained months away from staging large-scale offensives.

"While they still have a long to go I think they're becoming more capable every day," he said.

The training will focus on 12 Iraqi brigades - nine Iraqi army and three Peshmerga brigades, the Pentagon said.

The training sites will be located in northern, western, and southern Iraq and "coalition partners will join US personnel at these locations to help build Iraqi capacity and capability," it added.

A pentagon spokesman told reporters that the estimated cost of American airstrikes against "ISIL" in both Iraq and Syria has topped $1 billion.

"As of Dec. 11, 2014, the total cost of operations related to ISIL since kinetic operations started on August 8, 2014 is $1.02 billion and the average daily cost is $8.1 million," said Commander Bill Urban.

US-led coalition forces have carried out 1,371 airstrikes, with 799 in Iraq and 572 in Syria. American aircraft have carried out the majority of strikes, at 82 percent.
"F-22 fighter jets of the type that took part in allied bombings of "ISIL" in Syria".

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team