President Obama doubled down on his commitment not to send U.S. troops to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria after comments from one of his top military advisers appeared to leave the door open to that possibility one day before.
While visiting MacDill Air Force Base, U.S. Central Command headquarters, Obama on Wednesday said he would not commit U.S. troops to fighting another ground war in Iraq.
U.S. forces “do not and will not have a combat mission,” he told troops gathered to hear him speak, explaining that the U.S. military will support Iraqi forces on the ground as Iraqis and possibly others fight the Islamic State.
“After a decade of massive ground deployments, it is more effective to use our unique capabilities in support of partners on the ground so they can secure their own countries’ futures,” he said. “And that’s the only solution that will succeed over the long term.”
The statement didn’t win any applause from the crowd, full of special operators, at MacDill. Although the servicemen clicked smartphone photos of Obama and lined up to shake his hand afterward, they clapped and cheered only once during the speech, when he said that the Islamic State would learn what al Qaeda leaders have learned, that they will have “no safe haven — we will find you eventually.”
Over the course of the summer, when Obama began to focus on the ISIS’ rapid advance across Iraq, he repeatedly promised not to commit troops.
That policy seemed rock-solid until Tuesday, when Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he could still recommend the deployment of U.S. ground forces if and when the current air campaign isn’t successful in destroying the Islamic State.
“If we reach the point where I believe our advisers should accompany Iraqi troops on attacks against specific [Islamic State] targets, I will recommend that to the president,” Dempsey testified.
Dempsey’s office later Tuesday tried to walk back those remarks, clarifying that the worst-case scenario to which Dempsey was referring was only a hypothetical, and stressing that he believes Obama’s current strategy to counter the Islamic State is “appropriate.”
