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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIraqi officials issue desperate plea to the U.S. for ground troops
Iraqi officials issued a desperate plea Saturday night for America to provide ground troops, as heavily armed ISIS jihadists came within striking distance of Baghdad.
Amid reports that Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham forces have advanced as far as Abu Ghraib, a town that is effectively a suburb of Baghdad, a senior local governor claimed that up to 10,000 fighters from the movement were now poised to assault the capital.
The warning came from Sabah Al-Karhout, the president of the provisional council of Anbar Province, the vast desert region to the west of Baghdad that has now largely fallen under ISIS control.
The provinces two main cities, Fallujah and Ramadi, were once known as the graveyard of the Americans, and the idea of returning there will not be welcomed by the Pentagon.
But were the province to fall completely into militant hands, it would give ISIS a perfect springboard from which to mount an all-out assault on Baghdad, where a team of about 1,500 U.S. troops is already acting as mentors to the beleaguered Iraqi army.
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http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/10/12/iraq-urges-u-s-to-send-ground-troops-as-isis-jihadists-close-in-on-baghdad/
msongs
(67,405 posts)underthematrix
(5,811 posts)I'm sure they'd love to go themselves or send their kids and grand kids who probably have a gun and a bible.
Javaman
(62,530 posts)first we said we would never go back.
then we said we would never put boots on the ground
what will we say next?
that we won't try and rebuild a nation and squander another 19 billion (in untraceable dollars) to the winds?