Posted on Mar 19, 2022
U.S. troops will likely be in Iraq for years to come, Central Command boss says
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An Iraqi soldier zeros his rifle during marksmanship training with coalition forces. (Sgt. Joshua Wooten/Army)
About six months after the U.S. ended its longest war, the outgoing head of U.S. Central Command hinted that U.S. involvement in Iraq is probably going to go on even longer.
As the 19th anniversary of Operation Iraq Freedom approaches, there are roughly 2,500 troops still in Iraq, playing a strict advise-and-assist role at the invitation of the Iraqi government.
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel Lt Col Charlie Brown SSG Michael Noll Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Cpl Vic Burk MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. SGT (Join to see) PO2 Marco Monsalve SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth ] SSG William Jones Sgt (Join to see) 1SG Dan Capri CDR Andrew McMenamin, PhD MAJ Bob Miyagishima SrA John Monette SPC Nancy Greene SGT Mark Anderson LTC (Join to see) SGT Steve McFarland SGT James Murphy
An Iraqi soldier zeros his rifle during marksmanship training with coalition forces. (Sgt. Joshua Wooten/Army)
About six months after the U.S. ended its longest war, the outgoing head of U.S. Central Command hinted that U.S. involvement in Iraq is probably going to go on even longer.
As the 19th anniversary of Operation Iraq Freedom approaches, there are roughly 2,500 troops still in Iraq, playing a strict advise-and-assist role at the invitation of the Iraqi government.
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel Lt Col Charlie Brown SSG Michael Noll Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Cpl Vic Burk MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. SGT (Join to see) PO2 Marco Monsalve SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth ] SSG William Jones Sgt (Join to see) 1SG Dan Capri CDR Andrew McMenamin, PhD MAJ Bob Miyagishima SrA John Monette SPC Nancy Greene SGT Mark Anderson LTC (Join to see) SGT Steve McFarland SGT James Murphy
U.S. troops will likely be in Iraq for years to come, Central Command boss says
Posted from armytimes.com
Iraq
Posted 2 y ago
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SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
...“As we look into the future, any force level adjustment in Iraq is going to be made as a result of consultations with the government of Iraq,” Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie told Military Times on Friday. “And we just finished a strategic dialogue a few months ago ― we believe that will continue.”
The result of that dialogue was a formal end to the U.S. combat mission there at the end of 2021, though the thousands of troops who have been rotating into the country since 2014 as part of Operation Inherent Resolve haven’t led combat operations for years.
Going forward, McKenzie said, the role will look a lot like it does now, as the Iraqi government comes together to make another go at strengthening the defense of its sovereignty.
“So we’re watching that with great interest and wish them well, despite the many roadblocks that are being thrown up by Iranian-based proxy groups,” he said. “They’re proceeding, you know, maybe not the way we would do it. Maybe slower than the way we would do it. But nonetheless, that moving forward in the long term, we would like to have a normalized security cooperation agreement and posture with Iraq.”
That could look like continued training of local forces, advising military leadership and providing weapons to Iraq to help its security forces remain effective."...
...“As we look into the future, any force level adjustment in Iraq is going to be made as a result of consultations with the government of Iraq,” Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie told Military Times on Friday. “And we just finished a strategic dialogue a few months ago ― we believe that will continue.”
The result of that dialogue was a formal end to the U.S. combat mission there at the end of 2021, though the thousands of troops who have been rotating into the country since 2014 as part of Operation Inherent Resolve haven’t led combat operations for years.
Going forward, McKenzie said, the role will look a lot like it does now, as the Iraqi government comes together to make another go at strengthening the defense of its sovereignty.
“So we’re watching that with great interest and wish them well, despite the many roadblocks that are being thrown up by Iranian-based proxy groups,” he said. “They’re proceeding, you know, maybe not the way we would do it. Maybe slower than the way we would do it. But nonetheless, that moving forward in the long term, we would like to have a normalized security cooperation agreement and posture with Iraq.”
That could look like continued training of local forces, advising military leadership and providing weapons to Iraq to help its security forces remain effective."...
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Well, if we had left a small force to begin with, we would not have had to fight for it twice.
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