Two hundred more U.S. troops will join their fellow servicemen in Iraq amid a rapidly deteriorating security situation in the country, President Barack Obama said in a letter to Congress on Monday, adding that they would be deployed to protect U.S. citizens and property and also be equipped for combat.
The latest deployment adds to the nearly 170 American troops that Mr. Obama ordered into Baghdad to defend the American embassy in June and and a further 100 kept in reserve outside of Iraq. It also comes in addition to 300 Special Forces personnel were sent in to aid Iraqi security forces.
The total number of troops that Mr. Obama has authorised to deploy in Iraq has thus soared from zero to nearly 800.
The President’s statement appeared to sit uncomfortably with his June 18 remarks regarding his administration’s refusal to put American boots back on the ground in the troubled country, which is facing an armed insurrection by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a Sunni extremist group.
Two weeks ago, Mr. Obama said that he would be sending 300 “military advisers” to Baghdad to take “targeted,” “precise,” military actions in the future, but added, “American combat troops will not be fighting in Iraq again.”
Yet in his letter this week he informed leaders in both Houses of Congress that 200 additional Armed Forces personnel would arrive in Iraq “to reinforce security at the U.S. Embassy, its support facilities, and the Baghdad International Airport,” and they would comprise additional security forces, rotary-wing aircraft, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance support.
