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Defense Secretary Ashton Carter Makes Unannounced Visit to Iraq U.S.-Trained Iraqi Troops Deployed to Help Retake Ramadi From ISIS
(about 5 hours later)
BAGHDAD — The defense secretary, Ashton B. Carter, made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Thursday morning as American and Iraqi military officials finished plans for an assault meant to retake Ramadi from the Sunni militant group known as the Islamic State. BAGHDAD — Around 3,000 newly American-trained Iraqi troops and policemen have been deployed to help in an expected government offensive to retake the Sunni stronghold of Ramadi from Islamic State militants, Pentagon officials said during a trip to Baghdad on Thursday.
Iraqi security forces, backed by American airstrikes, have in recent days begun conducting what a senior American military official called “shaping” and “isolating” operations around Ramadi, a pivotal city about 65 miles west of Baghdad. The Iraqis have several thousand troops ready to attack the city. As Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter huddled with his Iraqi counterparts to discuss the looming assault, Defense Department officials in the delegation insisted, however, that the growing force would not include any Shiite militiamen, many of whom are supported by Iran.
“When conditions are right, we will transition into an assault to seize Ramadi,” Col. Steve Warren, a Defense Department spokesman, told reporters shortly before Mr. Carter arrived in Iraq. “This is classic maneuver warfare.” “As of now, the government of Iraq has indicated that they have no intention of using the Shia militias in the liberation of Ramadi,” said Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman.
Colonel Warren said the direct assault would begin within one to eight weeks; he declined to be more specific. The Iraqi forces suffered a big public relations blow 10 weeks ago after their frenetic retreat from Ramadi, a pivotal western Iraqi city in the Sunni Arab heartland of Anbar Province. Since the Islamic State seized Ramadi in May, around 2,000 militant fighters are said to have been building up defenses, including rigging empty buildings with explosives.
Mr. Carter is making his first visit to Iraq as secretary of defense. He plans to discuss the looming assault with Iraqi officials and with Americans involved in training the Iraqi Army. But as the push to begin the Ramadi offensive has grown more urgent in recent days, the Obama administration has applied heavier pressure on the Iraqi government not to include Shiite militiamen — despite the fact that the groups have been among the most effective in fighting the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.
Retaking Ramadi is an important component of the Obama administration’s plans for defeating the Islamic State. The fall of the city to the militants was a major public relations setback for the Iraqi Army, whose forces retreated frenetically from the city in May. Since then, a force of about 2,000 Islamic State fighters has been building defenses there, including rigging empty buildings with explosives. One major concern is that the militiamen would inflame sectarian tensions in the Sunni-dominated region. Sunnis’ fears about Shiite militiamen have been a big factor in alienating them from the government and in attracting more support to ISIS forces.
Mr. Carter and other Obama administration officials want the Iraqi military to retake the city before the militants dig in even more. But a number of factors impeded the Iraqis, including searing temperatures above 110 degrees Fahrenheit and the observance of Ramadan, the holy month of daytime fasting that ended last week. Also, American officials appeared to have decided that it was crucial to show that the Iraqi military can take back a major city on its own, minus the militia help.
The assault will not include Iraqi troops trained recently by American military advisers, according to Colonel Warren. Instead, military officials said, the assault is to be led by Iraq’s counterterrorism service, with federal police and army soldiers joining in a total attacking force of about 6,000 troops. Those details are laid out in an Iraqi war plan shaped by American advisers at Al Taqqadum, an Iraqi base east of Ramadi. That distinction, however, does not seem to apply to Falluja, another Islamic State-dominated Sunni city in Anbar that the Iraqi government wants back. American officials said they expected that Shiite militias would be part of that fight. And earlier this year, the militias were central to the government’s victory in the city of Tikrit.
Once Ramadi is back in government hands, a second force of 5,000 tribal fighters along with Iraqi provincial police officers would be assigned to hold it and nearby areas of Anbar Province. To avoid inflaming sectarian tensions, Iraqi Shiite militia, which the government calls the Popular Mobilization Force, will not take part in the assault. Efforts to retake Ramadi, announced to have begun by the Iraqi government earlier this month, have been slowed by a number of things, including the Ramadan holiday this month and temperatures of more than 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
The base at Al Taqqadum, near the town of Habbaniya in eastern Anbar, is supposed to be a model for other military hubs that could be set up in the country, officials said. American military advisers at the base assist Iraqi forces and try to reach out to Sunni tribes in Anbar. One focus for the Americans is to speed the integration of Sunni fighters into the Iraqi Army, which is now dominated by Shiites. As recently as Wednesday, Pentagon officials said that the Ramadi assault force would not include Iraqi forces trained recently by American military advisers. But upon arriving in Baghdad on Thursday, coalition military officials told Mr. Carter that two American-trained Iraqi brigades — each with about 1,500 troops — joined the fight this week. Officials said the forces were focusing on taking the approaches to the city in order to cut off lines of resupply for Islamic State fighters.
American officials also announced that about 500 Sunni tribal fighters who have in recent weeks been trained by members of the American-led coalition against the Islamic State were joining the Ramadi operation.
Colonel Warren portrayed the addition of Sunni tribesman fighters to the Ramadi battlefield as a big step forward. “Participation of Sunni fighters in the battle for Ramadi is exactly what we’ve been talking about, exactly what we’ve been looking for,” he told reporters traveling with Mr. Carter.
Colonel Warren said that one of the newly trained Iraqi brigades had advanced about four miles closer to Ramadi in just the past day. “This is an important development because these personnel are well trained and much more well equipped,” he said.
An Iraqi war plan that has been shaped by American advisers sent to a Iraqi base east of Ramadi called Al Taqqadum put the number involved in the effort to retake Ramadi at about 6,000 troops. On Thursday, Defense Department officials refused to say how many troops were now on the ground around Ramadi.
The plan calls for an Iraqi follow-on force of up to 5,000 tribal fighters, along with Iraqi provincial police officers to be assigned to hold the city and nearby areas of Anbar Province if they are retaken from the Islamic State.
The base at Al Taqqadum, an Iraqi post near the town of Habbaniya in eastern Anbar, is supposed to be a model for other military hubs that may be set up in other parts of the country, American officials said. American military advisers at the base have been training Sunni tribesman to join the fight; so far some 1,800 Sunnis have gone through training, Pentagon officials said.
One focus for the Americans is to try to accelerate the integration of Sunni fighters into the Iraqi Army, which is dominated by Shiites.
In Baghdad, Mr. Carter met with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Iraqi defense and military officials, and went to see Iraqi counterterrorism troops, in their trademark all-black uniforms, maneuver and fire at silhouette targets at a firing range.
Just before leaving Baghdad, Mr. Carter explained the American strategy in Iraq to members of the United States 82nd Airborne Division stationed in the country as part of the training and assistance force.
“If all there was to this was to beat them once, you could do it,” he said, referring to the Islamic State. “To keep them beaten requires the capable motivated forces here in Iraq.”