Rare News Desk
President Obama is taking criticism for deploying some 1,600 members of American armed forces back to Iraq, despite his promises that there would be no US boots on the ground in the rising conflict with the Islamic State (ISIS).
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Little noticed is that these won’t be the only American boots on Iraqi sand.
Stars and Stripes reported last month the US Army Contracting Command (ACC) began seeking private defense contractors to accept 12 month contracts in Iraq to perform the same duties as the new US troops in the region.
It is not yet clear how many private contractors the ACC is seeking. The new supply of contractors will be working alongside the recently deployed 1,600 US troops, as well as the over 2,000 American defense contractors who have worked for the Iraqi government since early 2014, but were previously employed by the US Defense Department itself.
The yearlong contracts themselves have also shed some light on how long the Obama administration sees America’s involvement in Iraq lasting.
Supplementing US troops with private defense contractors has been a recognizable and, perhaps, even a defining characteristic of American military operations in the Middle East for more than a decade. It is much easier to carry on with unpopular wars–or “limited engagements” as they are now being called–if the number of soldiers being put into harm’s way can be downplayed or entirely obfuscated.
And sadly, these men and women are, indeed, very likely to be put in danger.
“If we reach the point where I believe our advisers should accompany Iraqi troops on attacks against specific ISIL targets, I’ll recommend that to the president,” said General Martin Dempsey on September 16th.
Two days later, White House Press Sec. Josh Earnest stated that the President expects US troops to defend themselves if attacked:
Iraq is a very dangerous place, and U.S. military personnel will have the equipment to defend themselves,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said. “Certainly the commander in chief would expect that the American troops do what is necessary to defend themselves.
No one will argue with that–it’s a very reasonable statement. But should 1,600 of America’s brave soldiers and untold numbers of contractors be put in that position to begin with?
The answer to that question seems to have little bearing on whether or not they will. Regardless of the probability that US forces will be forced to defend themselves just by being there, many analysts agree that Obama’s plan to limit combat to airstrikes is not likely to meaningfully degrade ISIS. The mission objectives of the President’s newly deployed troops and contractors will invariably shift from training Iraqi forces and providing security services to engaging in direct military conflict with ISIS.
As long as the use of private contractors is left out of the national conversation it will be to easy for the President to obscure the true number of American “boots on the ground” and too difficult for the rest of us to have an honest debate about America’s foreign and military policy.
