US to establish new military base in Iraq, sending ‘advisers’ to retake Ramadi
The United States is set to establish a new military base in Iraq and deploy hundreds of American advisers there in order to retake the major city of Ramadi from ISIL.
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that the 400 additional military trainers would help Iraqi forces to retake the city that fell to the terrorist group in May.
According to the report, the new military base would be in Anbar Province following months of behind-the-scenes debate.
“As the president has noted, we are considering a range of options to accelerate the training and equipping of Iraqi security forces in order to support them in taking the fight to ISIL,” Alistair Baskey, a National Security Council spokesman, said.
“Those options include sending additional trainers to Iraq.”
About 3,000 American troops are now in Iraq. President Barack Obama has authorized 3,100 troops so far.
Meanwhile, the number of trained Iraqi tribal fighters is expected to be increased from about 5,500 to as many as 10,000, the Times said.
The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, mentioned “potential enhancements” to the US mission in Iraq purportedly to train Iraqi forces.
"We’ve made some recommendations on potential enhancements to the training and equip mission," he said on Tuesday.
Recent setbacks in Iraq and Syria have raised serious doubts about Obama’s strategy, months after he announced an open-ended military air campaign to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the ISIL forces by enlisting the support of scores of allies.
The US president’s characterization of his war strategy sparked strong criticism from a number of lawmakers and officials who framed his leadership as ineffective.
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