US lawmakers blast Obama's mission creep in Daesh war
A bipartisan pair of US lawmakers have voiced concern that President Barack Obama’s decision to deploy additional troops to Iraq is mission creep.
Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced Monday in Baghdad that the US is going to deploy 217 more troops and a number of Apache helicopters to Iraq as part of effort to expand military operations against the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group.
“Yesterday’s announcement that the US will deploy more than 200 additional troops to Iraq to assist in the fight against ISIL is textbook mission creep,” Rep. Barbara Lee, Democrat of California, said on Tuesday.
The announcement would bring the authorized force level in Iraq to 4,087 troops, up from the previous 3,870.
The Pentagon has acknowledged that the force level in Iraq has already exceeded the authorized number. Officials have quietly said that the actual number is closer to 5,000 when accounting for troops considered to be on “temporary” deployment.
“We cannot continue to underwrite an ill-defined and dangerous mission against ISIL with little to no debate or authorization from Congress,” Lee said.
“The American people deserve a serious discussion about the costs and consequences of endless war,” she added.
Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, criticized the new deployment, though for a different reason.
“While the deployment of an additional 217 U.S. troops to fight ISIL is welcome, this is yet another example of the kind of grudging incrementalism that rarely wins wars, but could certainly lose one,” he said.
McCain has demanded answers about the strategy against Daesh in a recent letter to Carter.
Military officials say they would like to see American troops closer to the battlefield in Mosul for the anticipated assault on Iraq’s second largest city. Apache helicopter gunships, which are already in Iraq to protect US personnel, will also take part in military operations in the city.
The Obama administration is also considering deploying dozens of Special Operations forces inside Syria, on top of about 50 who are already on the ground there advising and training US-backed militants, Pentagon and military officials said.
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