The U.S. military is not in Iraq “to seize anybody’s oil”, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said, distancing himself from remarks by President Donald Trump at the start of a visit to Iraq on Monday.
Mr. Mattis, on his first trip to Iraq as Pentagon chief, is hoping to assess the war effort as U.S.-backed Iraqi forces launch a new push to evict Islamic State militants from their remaining stronghold in the city of Mosul.
But he is likely to face questions about Mr. Trump’s remarks and actions, including a temporary ban on travel to the U.S. and for saying America should have seized Iraq’s oil after toppling Saddam Hussein in 2003. Trump told CIA staff in January: “We should have kept the oil. But okay. Maybe you’ll have another chance.” Mr. Mattis, however, flatly ruled out any such intent. “We’re not in Iraq to seize anybody’s oil,” he told reporters travelling with him.
His remarks are the latest example of his policy differences with Mr. Trump. The President has acknowledged that Mr. Mattis did not agree with him about the usefulness of torture as an interrogation tactic but, in a sign of Mr. Mattis’s influence, said he would defer the matter to his Defense Secretary.
Mr. Mattis has also been more critical than Mr. Trump of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and distanced himself from Mr. Trump’s labelling of the media as “the enemy of the American people”.
Mosul campaign
Mr. Mattis is finalising plans at Mr. Trump’s request to accelerate the defeat of the IS and is expected to meet senior U.S. and Iraqi officials in Iraq.
His visit comes a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the start of the ground offensive on western Mosul, where IS militants are essentially under siege. The insurgents were forced out of the east of the city last month after 100 days of fighting.
The U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, has said he believes U.S.-backed forces will recapture both of the IS’smajor strongholds — Mosul and Raqqa in Syria — within the next six months.
The Defense Secretary’s strategy review could lead to additional deployment of U.S. forces, beyond the less than 6,000 American troops deployed to both Iraq and Syria today.
Experts say the Pentagon may also look at increasing the number of attack helicopters and air strikes and bringing in more artillery, as well as granting greater authority to battlefield commanders fighting the IS.
The future for U.S. forces in Iraq, and for Iraq’s fragmented society, is unclear once the IS has been expelled from Mosul.
