NATION/WORLD
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Defense Secretary Mattis:
U.S. will stay in Iraq a while
By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press
BAGHDAD — U.S.
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis
said Monday he believes U.S.
forces will be in Iraq and in
the fight against Islamic State
militants for a while, despite
some rocky times between
the two nations.
Speaking at the end of a
day of meetings in Baghdad
with military commanders
and Iraqi political leaders,
Mattis said he is open to any
request from his military
commanders to aid the battle
to retake Mosul and launch
a major battle to oust IS
from the base of its so-called
caliphate in Raqqa, Syria. He
would not provide details.
Despite President Donald
Trump’s past threats to take
Iraq’s oil and his attempt
to impose a travel ban that
includes Iraqi citizens, Mattis
said his meetings with Iraqi
leaders underscored the
partnership the U.S. has with
the Iraqis.
He said there’s no doubt
that “the Iraqi people, the
Iraqi military and the Iraqi
political leadership recognize
what they’re up against and
the value of the coalition and
the partnership, in particular
with the United States.”
His optimistic words
come on the heels of his
earlier declaration that the
U.S. does not intend to seize
Iraqi oil, distancing himself
from comments made by
President Donald Trump that
has rattled Iraq’s leaders.
Trump’s oil threat and
his inclusion of Iraq in the
administration’s travel ban
have roiled the nation and
spurred local lawmakers to
pressure al-Abadi to reduce
cooperation with Wash-
ington.
“I think all of us here in
this room, all of us in America
have generally paid for our
gas and oil all along, and I’m
sure that we will continue to
do that in the future,” Mattis
told reporters traveling with
him. “We’re not in Iraq to
seize anybody’s oil.”
Trump
brought
up
the prospect during the
campaign, and he mentioned
it again late last month during
a visit to the CIA. He told the
gathering there that, “To the
victor belong the spoils,” and
added, “maybe you’ll have
another chance” to take the
oil.
Despite those tensions,
Mattis and Lt. Gen. Stephen
Townsend, the top U.S.
commander in Iraq, described
an enduring partnership
AP Photo/Lolita Baldor
U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, center, is greeted by U.S. Ambassador Doug-
las Silliman as he arrives at Baghdad International Airport on an unannounced trip
Monday. Mattis said Monday the United States does not intend to seize Iraqi oil,
shifting away from an idea proposed by President Donald Trump that has rattled
Iraq’s leaders.
AP Photo/Bram Janssen
Iraqi police forces fire shots at Islamic State militant
positions from a hillside outside the town of Abu Saif,
Monday.
between the U.S. and Iraq.
“I imagine we’ll be in this
fight for a while and we’ll
stand by each other,” Mattis
said.
Townsend, who was
standing by Mattis, declined
to say how long the U.S. will
stay in Iraq. But, he said, “I
don’t anticipate that we’ll be
asked to leave by the govern-
ment of Iraq immediately
after Mosul.” He added, “I
think that the government
of Iraq realizes their very
complex fight, and they’re
going to need the assistance
of the coalition even beyond
Mosul.”
Townsend also acknowl-
edged that U.S. forces are
now operating closer and
deeper into the fight with Iraq
units as the battle to retake
western Mosul entered its
second day.
He said the change began
in recent months during the
successful fight to take back
eastern Mosul, and is now
happening more often. U.S.
special operations forces
have been working with the
Iraqis, offering advice and
assistance but initially they
were only at the headquar-
ters’ level.
More recently they have
been moving closer to the
battlefront, working with
brigade, battalion and some-
times smaller units. But they
are generally with command
and control units, not in
combat on the front lines.
“We embedded advisers
a bit further down into the
formation,” Townsend said.
Mattis’
unannounced
one-day stop in Iraq was his
first as Pentagon chief and
the first visit to the warzone
by a senior member of the
Trump administration. It
comes as Mattis and his
military leaders are nearing
the end of a 30-day review
of the Islamic State fight. He
must send Trump a strategy
to accelerate the battle in the
next seven days.
Senior U.S. military
officers said Monday that
the fight in the more urban,
heavily populated areas of
western Mosul will require
more precision airstrikes and
probably smaller bombs that
can take out a building or
group of militants and leave
surroundings intact.
Lt. Gen. Jeff Harrigian,
the top Air Force commander
in the Middle East, said
troops responsible for calling
in airstrikes are closer to the
fight and can move forward
with Iraqi units. They also
have greater authority now to
speak directly to pilots in the
aircraft overhead, allowing
them to launch strikes more
quickly, he said.
Military leaders, said
Harrigian, realized they
could be more responsive
now because the troops have
built up trust with their Iraqi
partners.
While
Mattis
and
Townsend wouldn’t talk
about any future changes or
accelerants in the war fight,
various military options have
been discussed in recent
months. Among them: putting
more troops in Iraq and Syria
and boosting military aid to
Kurdish fighters backed by
the U.S.-led coalition.
More specifically, officials
have talked about expanding
efforts to train, advise and
enable local Iraqi and Syrian
forces, increasing intelli-
gence and surveillance, and
allowing U.S. troops to move
forward more frequently with
Iraqi soldiers nearer the front
lines.
East Oregonian
Page 7A
Trump taps military
strategist as national
security adviser
PALM BEACH, Fla.
The White House said
(AP) — President Donald Monday McMaster plans
Trump has tapped Army to remain on active military
Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, duty.
a prominent military strat-
He will take on the chal-
egist known as a creative lenge of leading a National
thinker, as his
Security Council
new
national
that has not
security adviser,
adjusted smoothly
replacing
the
to Trump’s lead-
ousted Michael
ership. The pres-
Flynn.
ident suggested
T r u m p
he does not
announced
the
trust holdovers
pick Monday at
from the Obama
his Palm Beach,
administration
Florida, club and McMaster
and complained
said McMaster is
about leaks to
“a man of tremen-
reporters.
His
dous talent and tremendous decision to put his top polit-
experience.”
ical adviser on the senior
Sitting next to Trump committee of the National
for the announcement, Security Council drew
McMaster said he was sharp criticism. On Friday,
honored to take on the role the head of the council’s
and added that he looks Western Hemisphere divi-
forward to “doing every- sion was fired after he crit-
thing that I can to advance icized Trump’s policies and
and protect the interests of his inner circle of advisers.
the American people.”
Trump said Monday
The president’s choice that retired Army Lt. Gen.
further elevates the influ- Keith Kellogg, who had
ence of military officers been his acting adviser, will
in the new administration. now serve as the National
Trump, who has no military Security Council chief of
or foreign policy experience, staff. He also said he would
has shown a strong prefer- be asking John Bolton, a
ence for putting generals in former U.S. ambassador to
top roles. In this case, he the United Nations, to work
tapped an active-duty officer with them in a “somewhat
for a post that’s sometimes different capacity.”
used as a counterweight to
McMaster is viewed as
the Pentagon. McMaster, soldier-scholar and creative
who wore his uniform thinker. He has a doctoral
for the announcement, degree in history from
joins Defense Secretary the University of North
Jim Mattis and Homeland Carolina and has been
Security Secretary John heavily involved in the
Kelly, both retired generals, Army’s efforts to shape its
in Trump’s inner circle of future force and its way of
national security advisers.
preparing for war.
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