Top defense officials are looking at several options to change the military strategy against the Islamic State, including increasing U.S. forces’ involvement on the ground, according to a media report late Monday.
Military leaders have forwarded their recommendations to the Defense Department over the last “several weeks,” according to the report, as the administration seeks to increase its campaign against the terrorist group.
If the administration takes the recommendations from military commanders, it comes closer to breaking the promise President Obama made to not put U.S. ground forces in a “combat role” in Iraq.
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One of the options for an increased U.S. involvement would embed U.S. troops with Iraqi security forces, allowing them to call in airstrikes, The Hill reported. A second option would embed U.S. service members with Iraqis at the brigade or battalion level.
U.S. troops currently advise Iraqis at the division level stationed at headquarters, not on the front lines.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford will testify Tuesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee about the U.S. strategy in the Middle East.
The U.S. role in the fight against the Islamic State recently came into question when U.S. special operations troops participated in a raid last week to free about 70 Iraqi hostages who were about to be executed by the Islamic State. One U.S. operator died in a firefight during the operation, raising questions about how U.S. forces were being shot if they were not in combat.
Carter said last week that Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler had run toward the sound of gun fire, despite the fact that the mission was supposed to keep U.S. advisers in the waiting transport helicopters. Carter also said there would be more raids like last week’s in the future.
“When we find opportunities to do things that will effectively prosecute the campaign, we’re going to do that. And this is an example of a case where we could do something we alone had the capability to do, and I’m absolutely prepared to do that,” Carter said on Friday.
