Director of operations Mayville: use of ground troops in Iraq too "speculative"

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http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/08/11/iraq-air-forward-observers/13891549/

"There are no plans to expand the air campaign," said Lt. Gen. William Mayville, the director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "We are gripped by the immediacy of the crisis, and our focus right now is to provide immediate relief to those who are suffering," he said.

Those airstrikes could last indefinitely, according to a senior officer who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the operation.

However, blunting the momentum of the Islamic State's fighters, the officer said, would require special operators on the ground, a significant escalation that some members of Congress are already warning against.

The humanitarian mission and airstrikes to protect refugees and Irbil are sustainable for weeks or longer, the officer said. Dealing a significant blow to the Islamic State would require U.S. special operators on the ground, because these troops can call in airstrikes in close proximity to ground forces, such as the Kurdish peshmerga forces, while keeping them safe.

Ground forces could then secure the gains and keep Islamic State fighters at bay.
During a news conference Monday, Mayville said any thought of using U.S. ground troops is "a little too speculative for me." There are no current plans to use U.S. ground troops, he said.

[morningfog]

1. Talk of ground forces is important.

[morningfog]

2. More on when ground troops will be needed:

Mayville declined to say whether Pentagon planners are considering sending more U.S. ground troops into Iraq. Obama has signaled a strong reluctance to send “combat troops,” but experts say ground-level forces, such as forward air controllers, advisers for the Kurdish Peshmerga forces or added intelligence units, would be helpful.

“There are no plans to expand the current air campaign beyond the current self-defense activities,” Mayville said.

Any talk of more boots on the ground is “a little bit too speculative ... for where we are right now,” he said.

“We are right now gripped by the immediacy of the crisis,” he said.

Obama on Saturday warned that the new Iraq mission will take months and that it would be “big mistake for us to think that we can, on the cheap, simply go in, tamp everything down again.”

Obama said resolving the humanitarian crisis may require a safe-passage corridor to bring thousands of Yazidis safely through ISIL-controlled territory. Many experts say that will require ground forces and, potentially, major combat. Mayville declined to comment on any planning that may be underway to provide security for a safe-passage corridor.

The ISIL forces surrounding the Yazidis trapped on Mount Sinjar reportedly fired at helicopters that were part of a civilian-led humanitarian relief effort. Mayville said that reflects the force and firepower of the ISIL units holding the siege. “It does not surprise me that there will be small arms fired during the ingress or the egress of those aircraft just because of the way ISIL has formed formations on the ground” he said.

Finding ISIS targets is becoming more difficult as time passes, Mayville said.

“Where they have been in the open, they are now starting to dissipate and to hide amongst the people so the targeting of this those forces that are trying to effect a siege around the mountain, this targeting is going to become more difficult,” Mayville said.

http://www.militarytimes.com/article/20140811/NEWS08/308110042/Pentagon-Effectiveness-U-S-airstrikes-Iraq-remain-limited