DOD LEADERSHIP MULLS OVER IRAQ RESPONSE

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

Possible Iraq Action Requires Clearer Picture, DOD Leaders Say

By Nick Simeone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 18, 2014 – The Iraqi government has requested U.S. airstrikes to help it put down a fast-moving rebellion by Sunni insurgents, but the Defense Department’s top civilian and military leaders told senators today that a clearer picture of the situation on the ground -- as well as clear objectives -- are necessary for airstrikes or other military intervention to be effective.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, answered questions at a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee.

Five days after President Barack Obama said he had asked his national security team for a range of options for helping the Iraqi government thwart the rapid Sunni insurgent sweep through much of the country’s north and west, posing the threat of reprisals from Shiites, Dempsey said that while he shares alarm over the situation, he could recommend military force only “once I’m assured we can use it responsibility and effectively.”

Various indistinguishable forces are on the ground in northern Iraq, he said, from the insurgents who threaten Baghdad -- known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, and also as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL -- as well as former Baathists and other disenfranchised groups.

“Until we can actually clarify this intelligence picture, the options will continue to be built and developed and refined and the intelligence picture made more accurate, and then the president can make a decision,” Dempsey said. “It’s not as easy as looking at an iPhone video of a convoy and then immediately striking.”
A number of lawmakers, as well as former military officials have called for airstrikes against the Sunni insurgents, who have taken over Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, and other towns on their rapid push southward toward Baghdad. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called on his Shiite supporters to rise to the country’s defense, threatening a return of the full-blown sectarian conflict experienced in 2006 to 2008.

Hagel told lawmakers the Pentagon is providing the president with different options, but that any U.S. military intervention in Iraq, including airstrikes, would require clear objectives.

“There has to be a reason for those,” he said. “There has to be an objective. Where do you go with those? What does it do to move the effort down the road for a political solution?”

As long as Maliki continues to lead a Shiite-based sectarian government to the exclusion of other groups, “the entire enterprise is at risk,” Dempsey said. Obama has conditioned any U.S. military assistance to Baghdad on a fresh effort to resolve differences among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds that he, along with Hagel and Dempsey, have said laid the foundation for the current crisis.

Last week, two divisions of the Iraqi army and one national police organization collapsed as the Syria-based insurgents quickly routed towns along the route to the Iraqi capital.

“They did that because they had simply lost faith that the central government in Iraq was dealing with the entire population in a fair, equitable way that provided hope for all of them,” said Dempsey, who led the U.S effort to train Iraqi security forces from 2005 to 2007.

READOUT: NSA ADVISOR'S CALL WITH IRAQI NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR AL-FAYYAD

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 
January 05, 2014
Readout of Deputy National Security Advisor Blinken's Call with Iraqi National Security Advisor Faleh al-Fayyad

Deputy National Security Advisor Blinken spoke with Iraqi National Security Advisor Faleh al-Fayyad today.  Blinken expressed the United States' support for ongoing operations by the Iraqi Security Forces in coordination with local and tribal movements in Anbar province to combat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Fayyad affirmed the Iraqi government's commitment to work cooperatively with local leaders and communities in Anbar province, as well as national leaders from all political blocs, to isolate ISIL from the population and respond to the urgent needs of the Iraqi people in areas affected by terrorism. Both confirmed the strong U.S.-Iraq security partnership under the Strategic Framework Agreement, and the need for greater cooperation among Iraq’s neighboring countries to combat the regional terrorist threat. Senior officials from the White House, the State Department, and the United States Embassy in Baghdad remain in regular communication with a wide range of Iraqi officials to support ongoing efforts against ISIL, and to encourage coordination between Iraqi Security Forces and the people they serve.

U.S. CONDEMNS ATTACKS IN IRAQ

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 
U.S. Condemns Attacks and Pledges to Support Iraq in the Fight Against ISIL
Press Statement
Jen Psaki
Department Spokesperson
Washington, DC
December 22, 2013

The United States condemns the recent attacks by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) against Iraqi soldiers, elected officials, civilians, and military commanders. ISIL, a branch of al-Qa'ida, is a common enemy of the United States and the Republic of Iraq, and a threat to the greater Middle East region.

The Strategic Framework Agreement between our two countries provides the basis for long-term security cooperation, and we remain committed to helping strengthen Iraqi forces in their ongoing fight against ISIL. We also note the unanimous condemnation of the attacks yesterday by Iraqi officials, including the Prime Minister and the Speaker of the Council of Representatives, as well as the detention in recent days of al-Qa'ida affiliated militants in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.

We will continue to work with all Iraqi leaders to promote political progress and isolate violent extremist networks. We further call on regional leaders to take active measures to police the funding and recruitment for these groups, including ISIL and the al-Nusrah front, and deter the flow of foreign fighters into Syria, many of whom later conduct suicide bombings against innocent civilians in Iraq.

The United States mourns the loss of life in recent days, and we wish a speedy recovery to the wounded. We also stand with the Iraqi Security Forces, civilian leaders, tribes, and local councils, in their fight against terrorists who are seeking to gain control of territory inside the borders of Iraq. By working together, we will ensure these terrorists cannot succeed.