U.S. General Backs Limited Ground Operations Against Islamic State if Needed
c.2014 New York Times News Service
WASHINGTON – Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Congress on Tuesday that he would recommend deploying U.S. combat forces against Islamic extremists in specific operations if the current strategy of airstrikes was not successful, offering a more expansive view of the U.S. role in the ground war than that of President Barack Obama.
In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, he said that although he was confident in the ability of the coalition of U.S., European and Middle Eastern governments to stop the Islamic State, he could not completely close the door to eventually asking Obama to commit ground troops to fight the group.
“My view at this point is that this coalition is the appropriate way forward. I believe that will prove true,” he said. “But if it fails to be true, and if there are threats to the United States, then I, of course, would go back to the president and make a recommendation that may include the use of U.S. military ground forces.”
Any future commitment of U.S. personnel on the ground could put Obama in a difficult position, as he has repeatedly insisted that no U.S. ground troops would engage in the battlefield, and Dempsey sought to explain the apparent contradiction.
“His stated policy is that we will not have U.S. forces in ground combat,” Dempsey said, adding, “He has told me as well to come back to him on a case-by-case basis.”
In his speech last week announcing the expanded campaign against Islamic State, Obama said the military advisers he was sending to Iraq would help Iraqi and Kurdish forces with training, intelligence and equipment. But he emphatically ruled out front-line fighting.
“These American forces will not have a combat mission – we will not get dragged into another ground war in Iraq,” he said.
But as Dempsey made it clear, the reality of the battle might make such a hands-off approach insufficient.
Dempsey and the secretary of defense, Chuck Hagel, were on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to provide up-to-date information on the administration’s plan for confronting the militant group. They said the plan would include the training and equipping of 5,000 Syrian fighters, the involvement of more than 40 coalition nations, including 30 that have pledged military support, and 1,600 U.S. military personnel who will assist.