Pentagon Says U.S. Now Has Nearly 1,000 Troops In Iraq

[Constitutional Paulicy]

The aircraft mentioned are no longer based on warships in the Gulf, but are now land based....


http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user3303/imageroot/2014/06/20140628_iraq.jpg

Pentagon Says U.S. Now Has Nearly 1,000 Troops In Iraq
Posted on Wednesday, August 13th, 2014 at 3:59 pm.


There are now almost 1,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

Another 129 troops were sent to Iraq this week. Including 100 or so troops who are assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, a total of about 964 troops are now in the country.

Pentagon officials say the soldiers are not “combat troops,” but they are armed and can take self-defense measures.

The latest troops includes 80 Marines who are assessing how the U.S. might help thousands of Yazidis stranded on Mt. Sinjar in northern Iraq. The Yazidis are members of a religious minority in Iraq who have been chased from their villages by fighters with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), an extremist Sunni Muslim group.

About 200 U.S. troops are in Erbil, the Kurdish regional capital in Iraq. The rest of the U.S. troops are in and around Baghdad.

Four V-22 Osprey are stationed at a secured airfield in Erbil, Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren said Wednesday. Some U.S. rotary-wing aircraft are also stationed in the city.

source here... http://www.conservativeinfidel.com/middle-east/pentagon-says-u-s-now-nearly-1000-troops-iraq/

[willwash]

Isn't a "non-combat" troop by definition an oxymoron? Isn't it violence or the threat thereof that makes the presence of a "troop" different from the presence of a civilian?

[Pericles]

As long as there are no "boots on the ground" they must be operating while barefoot.

[klamath]

As long as there are no "boots on the ground" they must be operating while barefoot.Oh that is going to hurt! That sand gets HOT!

[pcosmar]

Boots on the ground.. and for longer than they say.

Perhaps the Humanitarian aid was just cover story.
I was wondering why the Peshmerga would be helping the Yadizi.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/13/us-ground-troops-direct-role-evacuate-yazidis-iraq

The personnel flew in on V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft that can land vertically, joining a small number of American special forces who, the Guardian has been told, had been on the mountain for some days. That team had been assessing the military and humanitarian situation and guiding US air strikes against Islamic State (Isis) fighters encircling the mountain.

A handful of British SAS soldiers were also in the area to “gather intelligence”, a British official said. The developments were the first confirmation that international forces were on Mount Sinjar.

Fleeing Yazidis have reported seeing small teams of American soldiers high on the northern flank. “We weren’t allowed to go near them,” said a man from Sinjar who was airlifted from the former base. “They were being guarded by the Kurds.”

They weren't guarding the Yadizi,, they were guarding Special Forces.


Filtering out the bullshit takes a while,, the filters get clogged.

[JK/SEA]

just means they don't have guns......right?

[bunklocoempire]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm52xrdMoFg

[DFF]

Mission Creep.

And the stock market will crash once the number of troops increases to what it was before.

[idiom]

Combat-troops..... almost only means shock troops now.

The Stock Market is now immune to external stimuli.

[fr33]

How many deaths and injuries has each side suffered during this inning? What good is this if we don't have some statistics to fill our bloodlust?

[fr33]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvtGzbcLvCQ

[Uriel999]

The troops there from the USMC are indeed not combat troops. The Marines there are from FAST. They are Infantry Marines that only protect embassies. They actually are defensive in nature regarding US assets abroad. Then you have the support elements and most likely special operations. Most people in the military are POGs (not grunts) and the grunts require a ton of pogs for logistical support. 1000 troops is about a battalions worth, but I don't think they have one cohesive unit there. Out of the 1000 there, 80 are there to defend the base, while the other 920 are there to eat chow, enjoy wifi at the USO, and occasionally give FAST batteries and MRE's.

[Uriel999]

Regardless, we have no reason to be there anyways.