Iraq Deja Vu

Iraq Deja Vu » CounterPunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

In early June 2014, 300 advisors were sent to Iraq to assess the condition of the Iraqi army. On August 12, 2014, U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced that 130 additional advisors were being sent to Iraq’s Kurdish region. The purpose was to halt the advance of Islamic State militants. According to the report, many of the advisors are marines but they are not combat marines, just advising marines. They joined 90 advisors already in Baghdad and 160 advisors working with Iraqi security forces in Erbil and Baghdad. In early September President Obama ordered another 475 troops to be sent to Iraq. By the end of September there were approximately 1500 U.S. military advisors in Iraq.