The deployment of 560 additional U.S. troops to help Iraq forces prepare and conduct the offensive to retake the northern Iraqi city of Mosul may signal a tipping point in the war against the Islamic State, some Pentagon officials hope.
The decision to send the American forces was triggered by a surprisingly easy victory on the battlefield on Saturday in which Iraqi forces essentially blindsided Islamic State fighters and retook a strategic airfield that will serve as a staging ground for the Mosul offensive, now seen as on track to happen this year.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter made the announcement in Baghdad Monday during a one-day visit to Iraq, during which Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi affirmed his goal of liberating Iraqi’s second-largest city from the Islamic State’s grip in 2016.
Carter, who famously castigated the Iraqi forces a year ago for showing “no will to fight” when Ramadi fell to the Islamic State, was singing their praises in remarks to the U.S. military advisers who have been helping to rebuild an Iraqi Army that was riddled with corruption and plagued by self-doubt last year.
“They again demonstrated their strong will to fight in maneuvering north up the Tigris River Valley to seize the strategically important Qayyarah West airfield,” Carter said.
Carter was referring to an operation completed Saturday, in which Iraqi armored units made a sudden run from Bayji up the the west side of the Tigris river, taking the lightly defended airfield.
The Islamic State fighters who still hold the city of Qayyarah were looking for an attack from Makmour to the east, where Iraqi forces and their U.S. advisers are gathered.
The flanking maneuver took the Islamic State by surprise, Pentagon officials say, and gave the Iraq Army a major prize: a sprawling air base and logistics node, just 50 miles from Mosul.
But perhaps more importantly, it’s a big shot-in-the-arm for an Iraqi military that’s seen as timid and overly cautious, say U.S. military officials.
“This is a huge victory for the Iraq forces, and a huge boost to their self-confidence,” said one Pentagon official who expressed cautious optimism the latest battlefield successes in Iraq could become a self-reinforcing dynamic.
“Last year we were pushing for them to retake Ramadi, and it wasn’t happening,” the official said. “Same thing with Fallujah. But when they won in Fallujah, and it was easier than expected, they began to believe, ‘Hey, we can beat these guys.’ ”
Is it a tipping point? It’s hard to tell. Tipping points are usually only clear after the fact. But Pentagon officials who just a few months ago were openly pessimistic that Mosul could be liberated this year now see more fight in the Iraqi Army.
And in his remarks in Baghdad, Carter made it clear he would not hesitate to ask for even more troops if it would speed the defeat of the Islamic State.
“At every step in this campaign, we have generated and seized additional opportunities to hasten ISIL’s lasting defeat,” Carter said. “These additional U.S. forces will bring unique capabilities to the campaign and provide critical support to Iraqi forces at a key moment in the fight.”
