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 General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. military's Joint
Chiefs of Staff, said there was no intention now to place American
military advisers on the ground in direct combat. U.S. assistance is
taking other forms, including air strikes.
Still, Dempsey outlined scenarios in which he might recommend having
U.S. troops do more, potentially accompanying Iraqis during
complicated offensives, such as a battle to retake the northern city
of Mosul from Islamic State fighters.
"It could very well be part of that particular mission - to provide
close combat advising or accompanying for that mission," Dempsey
said.
Dempsey acknowledged that Obama's "stated policy is that we will not
have U.S. ground forces in direct combat."
"But he has told me as well to come back to him on a case-by-case
basis," he said.
Obama said last week he would lead an alliance to defeat Islamic
State militants in Iraq and Syria, plunging the United States into a
conflict in which nearly every country in the Middle East has a
stake.
But Obama also ruled out a combat mission, saying "we will not get
dragged into another ground war in Iraq." How exactly America's role
might evolve in the open-ended conflict remains unclear, however.
Responding to Dempsey's comments, the White House said Obama’s
military advisers had to plan for many possibilities and that
overall policy had not changed - that Obama would not deploy U.S.
troops in a combat role in Iraq or Syria.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters that Dempsey was
"referring to a hypothetical scenario in which there might be a
future situation where he might make a tactical recommendation to
the president as it relates to ground troops."
Dempsey's spokesman also issued a statement stressing that the
four-star general's exchange in the Senate was not about "employing
U.S. ground combat units in Iraq."
Dempsey was testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee,
along with U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, as the Obama
administration makes its case to Congress for broadening operations
against the Sunni militants, which would include U.S. air strikes in
Syria for the first time.
NO "SHOCK AND AWE' IN SYRIA
The U.S. military's Central Command is due to brief Obama on its
plans on Wednesday. Hagel said those plans envision striking the
militant group's safe havens in Syria to knock out infrastructure,
logistics and command capabilities.
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Dempsey said the strikes would degrade the group's capabilities as
broader efforts get under way, including training of more than 5,000
Syrian rebels.
"This won't look like a 'shock and awe' campaign because that's
simply not how (the Islamic State militants' group) is organized.
But it will be a persistent and sustainable campaign," Dempsey told
the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"Shock and awe" was a term popularly used to describe the initial
air assault on Baghdad in the U.S. campaign to oust Saddam Hussein
in 2003, and refers to use of overwhelming force to undermine an
enemy's will to fight.
Congress is expected to approve this week a request from Obama for
authorization to arm and train moderate Syrian rebels, one part of
his program.
Still, Hagel acknowledged the number of Syrian fighters that could
be trained over the course of the year would only put the opposition
on a path to roll back Islamic State fighters.
"Five thousand alone is not going to be able to turn the tide. We
recognize that," Hagel said.
The Senate hearing was repeatedly interrupted by anti-war
protesters, shouting slogans such as, "There is no military
solution." One protester was escorted out of the room while holding
a sign that read: "More war = More extremism."
Senator Angus King of Maine, expressing concern that the United
States would be drawn into interminable fights against extremist
groups around the world from Iraq to Syria to Africa, said: "This is
geopolitical Wack-a-mole."
(Additional reporting by Missy Ryan and Steve Holland; Editing by
Bill Trott, Susan Heavey, Bernadette Baum and Ken Wills)
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