Ashton Carter: U.S. to Begin 'Direct Action on the
Ground' in Iraq, Syria
By Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube
October 28, 2015 "Information
Clearing House" - "NBCNews"
- Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Tuesday that the U.S.
will begin "direct action on the ground" against ISIS forces in Iraq
and Syria, aiming to intensify pressure on the militants as progress
against them remains elusive.
"We won't hold back from supporting capable partners in
opportunistic attacks against ISIL, or conducting such missions
directly whether by strikes from the air or direct action on the
ground," Carter said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services
committee, using an alternative name for the militant group.
Carter pointed to last week's rescue operation with Kurdish
forces in northern Iraq to free hostages held by ISIS.
Carter and Pentagon officials initially refused to characterize
the rescue operation as U.S. boots on the ground. However, Carter
said last week that the military expects "more raids of this kind"
and that the rescue mission "represents a continuation of our advise
and assist mission."
This may mean some American soldiers "will be in
harm's way, no question about it," Carter said last week.
After months of denying that U.S. troops would be
in any combat role in Iraq, Carter late last week in a response to a
question posed by NBC News, also acknowledged that the situation
U.S. soldiers found themselves in during the raid in Hawija was
combat.
"This is combat and things are complicated,"
Carter said.
During Tuesday's Senate hearing, Carter said
Wheeler "was killed in combat."
White House deputy press secretary Eric Schultz on
Tuesday said the administration has "no intention of long term
ground combat". He added that U.S. forces will continue to robustly
train, advise and assist.
A feisty Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina,
said on Tuesday in the Senate Armed Services committee hearing that
the U.S. effort in Syria is a "half-assed strategy at best," and
said that the U.S. is not doing a "damn thing" to bring down Syrian
President Bashar Assad's regime.
Carter on Tuesday pushed back against that notion.
Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, acknowledged that the "balance of forces" has tilted in
Assad's favor.
See also
US ground ops in Syria ‘illegal’, may lead to
‘unpredictable’ consequences
: Commenting on the potential involvement of US ground troops
against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, Kosachev once again highlighted
that, when it comes to Syria, the US-led anti-ISIS campaign is
already violating international law. Potential troops on the ground,
Kosachev believes, will further violate international regulations