Dam Murphy, CSM: US Army chief: Futile to send '150,000 soldiers' to defend unreformed Iraq
Gen. Ray Odierno said in an interview aired today that a massive US military effort in Iraq would defeat the Islamic State – and leave them hanging unless Iraqi politicians changed course.
It's not every day that an American officer goes on television to emphasize a global crisis can't be fixed by the US military. But that's exactly what Gen. Ray Odierno just did on CBS This Morning.
The US Army chief of staff, who spent over six years in Iraq, including as the head of all foreign forces from 2008-2010, went to great lengths to emphasize that US military efforts can't be decisive in the war against the so-called Islamic state under current conditions.
Yesterday, President Obama said 450 more US soldiers will be deployed under an expanded training mission in Iraq, with a focus on arming and training Sunni Arabs, who feel excluded and oppressed under a Shiite-dominated government. But Gen. Orierno said that even sending 150,000 US troops to the country - roughly the number of soldiers during the 2007-08 "surge" that helped tamp down mass killings – would be wasted without a major reorientation by Iraq's Shiite leaders.
WNU Editor: The general is 100% correct .... and his assessment is a sobering analysis on how difficult the Middle East is. I just wish this was the mindset before the 2003 invasion.
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