WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama’s military campaign against Islamic State group extremists has already crept beyond the narrow parameters he first outlined three months ago.
But military experts both inside and outside of the administration argue that even more may be needed for the mission to succeed, including embedding U.S. ground troops with Iraqi security forces who are on the front line of the fight against the violent militants. Taking that step could put Obama dangerously close to violating his pledges to keep Americans out of combat in Iraq.
For Obama, re-engaging in combat in Iraq would not only mark a reversal of his promises with regard to the current mission, but also undercut one of the broader causes of his presidency, which has been to end lengthy American wars and avoid new ones. But if his military commanders ask for ground troops and he rejects the request, he could be accused of putting his legacy ahead of the mission’s success.
Already Obama has shown a willingness to expand the size and scope of the fight against the Islamic State extremist group. After first announcing a limited airstrike campaign, the U.S. is now going after militant targets across Iraq and is expected to extend the attacks into Syria. About 1,600 U.S. troops have also been deployed to Iraq to train local security forces and help safeguard U.S. personnel in the country. And the Pentagon will soon start training and equipping Syrian rebels to fight the militants.
The president has insisted that Iraqi security forces, the Kurdish Peshmerga and the Syrian opposition fighters will be the ones engaged in a ground battle with the Islamic State group. But some of Obama’s current and former military advisers have raised the prospect that unless American troops are also engaged in that effort, it will be difficult to degrade and defeat the militants that have moved freely across the blurred border between Iraq and Syria.