Top US general in Iraq as campaign to expand. (General Martin Dempsey says he wants 'to get a sense' of how US contribution is going)

The top US military officer, General Martin Dempsey, has arrived in Baghdad on an unannounced visit to meet US commanders preparing to expand American assistance to Iraqi and Kurdish forces battling the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

It was Dempsey's first trip to Iraq since US President Barack Obama, alarmed by ISIL advances, ordered non-combatant American forces back into the country this summer, less than three years after withdrawing US troops from Iraq. The United States began carrying out air strikes in August.

"I want to get a sense from our side about how our contribution is going," Dempsey, chairman of the US military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Reuters news agency shortly before landing in Baghdad.
"I want to hear from those actually doing the lifting that they've the resources they need and the proper guidance to use those resources."
Last week, Obama authorised sending up to 1,500 more forces to Iraq, roughly doubling the planned US troop presence as the United States expands its advisory mission and starts training Iraqi and Kurdish forces.
Dempsey was due to meet US officials overseeing the effort, including Kuwait-based task force commander Lieutenant General James Terry, as well as Iraqi officials.
"This will work best if we're enabling (Iraq's) plan," Dempsey, who last visited Iraq in 2012, said........................http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/11/top-us-general-iraq-as-campaign-expand-2014111582640303729.html
15/11/14
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