US Gen. Martin Dempsey, sounds unconvinced that Iraq has found its path to lasting victory over the Islamic State militant group.
“If we were to take control of this campaign, I mean literally seize control of the campaign, then there’s no doubt in my mind we would probably defeat IS on, let’s say, a faster timeline, but at some considerable cost to our young men and women in uniform,” he told US troops in an aircraft hangar in Naples, Italy, on one of his last overseas trips before finishing his four-year tenure as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, AP reported.
But the top military adviser to President Barack Obama did not admit the threats to Iraq justify sending American ground troops back into combat.
“Maybe IS goes away, maybe they’re defeated militarily, and two years from now another group with another name and another ideology ... will just be back.
“So this campaign is built on the premise that it has to be won by our coalition partners and by the Iraqis themselves. That’s a baseline assumption. If that assumption changes I’ll go to work on Plan B.”
The White House announced last week the US would send up to 450 troops to a new base in Anbar Province, mainly to advise the Iraqis on planning and executing a counteroffensive to retake Ramadi, the provincial capital.
