'New phase': Obama deploys more U.S. troops to Iraq to fight IS

President Barack Obama said Sunday that deploying additional troops to Iraq signals a “new phase” in the fight against the Islamic State group, as Baghdad investigated whether strikes killed the jihadists’ leader. The U.S.-led effort to defeat IS was moving to a new stage. The additional troops would roughly double the number of American military personnel in the country to about 3,100, marking a significant return of U.S. forces to Iraq by a president who has hailed his role in their 2011 departure. Obama’s 2012 withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq has been sharply criticized by some Republicans as having left the country to spin into sectarian strife and chaos.

You know, as commander in chief, I’m never going to say never.

President Barack Obama on sending more troops back to the region

Some of the US-led airstrikes targeted a gathering of IS leaders near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul late on Friday, the Pentagon said, and Iraqi authorities said the group’s chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been injured, but provided no further details. US officials said it would take days to learn if Baghadadi had been killed. The death of the elusive IS leader would be a major victory for Obama, as Washington has offered a $10 million reward for his capture, and some analysts say he is increasingly seen as more powerful than al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Because of the current potential attractiveness of this warped ideology, unless we get the political dimension of the strategy in place, then ISIS has the potential to keep regenerating and certainly regenerating its leaders.

Britain’s Chief of the Defense Staff, Nick Houghton

Middle East Obama Iraq