Obama authorizes sending additional troops to Iraq

WASHINGTON — The White House authorized up to 1,500 additional troops to be sent to Iraq, the Pentagon announced Friday, doubling the size of the U.S presence there.
The troops will work to expand the existing mission to advise Iraqi security forces and establish training facilities, said Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary. U.S. advisers will not accompany Iraqi units into the field, Kirby added.
The additional forces — which will serve in a "non-combat" role and be dispersed throughout the country — reflect the challenges the U.S. faces in preparing Iraq's military to retake ground that has been lost to the Islamic State, which has taken large chunks of Iraq and Syria.
The decision to authorize additional troops was based on a request from the Iraqi government for additional assistance and a U.S. assessment of Iraq's armed forces, the Pentagon said.
President Obama pledged not to get the United States involved in another ground war in the Middle East, but his top military advisers have maintained they would request additional troops if needed to accomplish the mission.
"If I think that we need to do more things, or we need more or better capability, I won't hesitate to make that recommendation to my boss," Gen. Lloyd Austin, commander of U.S. Central Command, said this week.
The additional troops will allow the Pentagon to establish centers outside of Baghdad and Irbil — the capital of the Kurdish region — to advise and assist Iraqi forces, the Pentagon said in a statement. Currently advisers are largely restricted to those two cities.
The U.S. military will also establish several sites around Iraq to accommodate the training of 12 Iraqi brigades, including three Kurdish brigades. One site will be in Anbar province, a Sunni region west of Baghdad where the Islamic State has established strongholds.
It will take two to three months to get the additional troops into Iraq and six months to complete training of the brigades, Kirby said.
U.S. advisers will also participate in efforts to train Sunni tribes, some of whom have been fighting against the Islamic State in Anbar, Kirby said.
The Sunni tribes were instrumental in turning the tide against al-Qaeda in 2006 and 2007, but at the time they enjoyed extensive American support. Since then, tribal leaders have complained of not getting support from Iraq's Shiite-dominated central government.
The White House requested an additional $5 billion to pay for operations against the Islamic State, including $1.6 billion to train and support Iraq's armed forces.
Until Friday, the White House had authorized 1,600 U.S. troops in Iraq. About 1,400 are currently on the ground, according to U.S. Central Command.
Despite billions of dollars of U.S. funds, a large portion of Iraq's military collapsed in June when Islamic State forces attacked Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, as well as other locations.
The Pentagon has blamed the poor performance of Iraq's military on neglect by its government after the U.S. left the country in 2011. Kirby said the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki "squandered" the opportunities provided by years of American training and support.
Iraq's new prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, has pledged to form a more inclusive government and reach out to alienated Sunnis.
Kirby said there have been signs of a stiffening resolve among Iraq's military, which has taken on Islamic State fighters in recent clashes. But military officials have said Iraq's military is not yet capable of mounting the large scale offensive required to push the militants out of the country.