Deploying ground combat forces hostile act: Iraq PM

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Iraq does not need foreign ground troops to defeat the Islamic State group, after Washington announced it would deploy special forces to fight the jihadists.

Iraq “will consider any country sending ground combat forces a hostile act and will deal with it on this basis”, Abadi said in a statement yesterday.

The United States has yet to agree with Baghdad on crucial details governing the role of a new American special forces unit aimed at hunting Islamic State militants in Iraq, U.S. officials said, underlining the difficulties Washington faces dealing with Iraq’s weakened leader. The official said Turkey has now sealed off its two main entry points from the terrorist group but said smuggling routes remain, and the U.S.is continuing to press Turkey to do more.

Special Ops forces will be directly involved in combat as “trigger pullers” in the new deployment but the general thrust of President Barack Obama’s prohibition against “boots on the ground” combat will be maintained, said Army Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-operation Inherent Resolve. Their military has been fighting in Iraq for 12 years.

USA officials believe this is the handiwork of Iran whose allies in Baghdad appear to be the ones leading the campaign to erode American influence in Iraq. “I can assure you that as the plans are developed, it will be in full consultation and with the full consent of the Iraqi government”, he said. “These special operators will over time be able to conduct raids, free hostages, gather intelligence, and capture (IS) leaders”, Carter said. “To send ground forces to Iraq”, he said. Janelle Zalkovsky, provides security while other USA soldiers survey a newly constructed road in Ibriam Jaffes, Iraq in this handout photo released on December 7, 2005. “So we will not be doing anything in Iraq unilaterally”.

By barricading themselves with civilians the terror group has inhibited USA airpower in the key Iraqi city of Ramadi, tilting the fight more toward being a “street by street” battle.

The force will have about 200 members and be based in Erbil, the Iraqi Kurdish capital. Along with increasing airstrikes, now with the assistance of French and British aircraft, Obama says the added special-operations forces are part of an intensification of his strategy. “If Abadi makes a unilateral decision to approve the deployment of American Special Forces, we will question him in parliament”.

First, senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham came to Baghdad, called for the number of USA troops in the country to be roughly tripled and said Abadi wanted increased American involvement.

“If they stopped giving these statements and they do it with the government, they could send not just 100 – maybe 500 without anyone rejecting”, said Sami Askari, a senior lawmaker from Abadi’s State of Law coalition. The cornered White House official had said earlier that ground troops would go as far as the front lines and not beyond that.

The Obama administration hopes that its expressed willingness to consult with Abadi on the deployment could help keep Shia hardliners at bay, the official said.