[9/9/16] Another 446 U.S. troops have arrived in Iraq within the past week, all part of the troop increase announced by the Obama administration in July.
Their arrival suggests that the battle to retake Mosul will happen soon, and reporters pressed for a timeline at Thursday’s Pentagon briefing.
The spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, Air Force Col. John Dorrian, told reporters there were 4,000 U.S. troops in Iraq last week and now the number is 4,460. The maximum number authorized by President Obama is 4640, Dorrian said.
“I can tell you that there’s a tremendous amount of work going on for training,” Dorrian said. “There’s a tremendous amount of work going on to set conditions, including the logistics detail that would be required, in order to go after Mosul. And then we continue to hammer the enemy with strikes, including both artillery and air strikes.”
Dorrian said the battle to retake Mosul “is an Iraqi-driven process” that involves not only the liberation of the city but the ability to hold it once it is liberated. He said 6,500 Iraqi troops “are in the training pipeline right now,” in preparation to liberate Mosul…CONTINUE READING