Obama mulls sending more advisers to Iraq
June 10, 2015
On the anniversary of the fall of Mosul to IS, the US eyes a change in strategy but plenty of obstacles remain
Hundreds more US training personnel may be sent to Iraq, as US President Barack Obama looks to step up the pressure on the Islamic State group, a year after it first seized large swaths of Iraq in a lightning assault.
According to US officials, Obama is considering authorising an increase of some 400 to 500 military personnel to boost the capacity of the Iraqi army and Sunni tribal fighters.
"We are considering a range of options to accelerate the training and equipping of Iraqi security forces," National Security Council spokesman Alistair Baskey told AFP.
"Those options include sending additional trainers to Iraq."
Alistair Baskey, a National Security Council spokesman, also told The New York Times that the Obama administration was looking to accelerate the training and equipping of Iraqi security forces, and that “those options include sending additional trainers” to bolster the 3,000 trainers, advisors and support troops that the US already has on the ground.
- See more at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/obama-looks-set-send-more-advisers-iraq-1297391847#sthash.CLCVkcP1.dpuf
= new reply since forum marked as read
