Yellow Ribbon America

600 More United States Troops to Deploy to Enable Iraqis to Retake Mosul From ISIL

By Terri Moon Cronk DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28, 2016 — About 600 American troops will be deployed to Iraq to further enable local security forces as they prepare to retake the key Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said today.

In a statement, the secretary said in anticipation of the Mosul fight, the U.S. and Iraqi governments have agreed that additional U.S. and coalition capabilities could help accelerate the campaign at this critical phase.

Carter said he and Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recommended deployment of the additional troops to President Barack Obama to further enable Iraqi forces, and that the president authorized it with the support and approval of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

Gearing Up for Mosul Offensive

The U.S. troops will work in close coordination with the Iraqi government to provide specific capabilities, such as logistics and maintenance support, and train, advise and assist teams for Iraqi security forces and Kurdish peshmerga for the upcoming Mosul operation. Expanded intelligence resources will be used to disrupt ISIL’s terrorist network in Iraq and beyond, Carter said.

“The coalition to defeat ISIL continues to achieve results on the battlefield, and I congratulate Iraqi security forces on their recent progress, including the operation to free Sharqat,” he said. “The coalition will continue to increase the pressure on ISIL in Mosul and wherever it seeks refuge in Iraq.”

Increasing Pressure on ISIL

The addition of more than 600 additional troops in the coming weeks will bring the force management level to 5,262 U.S. troops as of today, said Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, director of Pentagon press operations.

“We are continuing to increase pressure on ISIL in Mosul in particular and in anticipation of that coming fight … as we close in on Mosul,” Davis said.

While most specific locations cannot be released for security reasons, Davis said, he identified two air bases where the American troops will be sent with specific missions: Al-Asad Air Base in the Euphrates River Valley north of Baghdad, and Qayyarah Air Base near Qayyarah City.

Bringing Capabilities to Air Bases

At Al-Asad Air Base, American troops will provide logistics and maintenance, and help with airfield operations to bring the base to a level that can support a greater pace of operations as the Mosul effort progresses.

Military logisticians will work at Qayyarah Air Base similarly to help the base function as the significant throughput point for the Iraqi forces as they move farther north, he said.

“Mosul is very isolated from the major population centers in Iraq, and to have a throughput point in Qayyarah will allow for greater enabling of our operations there,” Davis said.

The press operations director clarified that the additional train, advise and assist teams and additional intelligence support come under existing authorities. “Nothing is changing in regard to the role of our mission, with the role of what our authorities are to do there,” he noted. “This does not mean any greater role for [U.S.] service members in terms of what their mission is.”

Davis added that the fight remains Iraq’s, and “everything we do there is to support and enable them. They will continue to be the primary trigger-pullers.”

Double-Edged Goal

Two things going on: the retaking of Mosul, and helping to ensure a lasting victory for the Iraqis, Davis said.

“From our perspective, this [force management level] increase has been long anticipated [and] long planned,” he added. “We’ve known there would need to be another additive of capabilities prior to the final push [to Mosul].”

The roughly 600 additional U.S. forces are the number of forces expected to enable Iraq to take on its next major objective of Mosul, Davis said. “There are no major objectives after that,” said he added. “This is it. This is the last big holdout in Iraq for ISIL.”

Francis Scott Key pens Star-Spangled Banner – “America’s National Anthem”

History.com

On this day in 1814, Francis Scott Key pens a poem which is later set to music and in 1931 becomes America’s National Anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The poem, originally titled “The Defense of Fort McHenry,” was written after Key witnessed the Maryland fort being bombarded by the British during the War of 1812. Key was inspired by the sight of a lone U.S. flag still flying over Fort McHenry at daybreak, as reflected in the now-famous words of the “Star-Spangled Banner”: “And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.”

Francis Scott Key was born on August 1, 1779, at Terra Rubra, his family’s estate in Frederick County (now Carroll County), Maryland. He became a successful lawyer in Maryland and Washington, D.C., and was later appointed U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

On June 18, 1812, America declared war on Great Britain after a series of trade disagreements. In August 1814, British troops invaded Washington, D.C., and burned the White House, Capitol Building and Library of Congress. Their next target was Baltimore.

After one of Key’s friends, Dr. William Beanes, was taken prisoner by the British, Key went to Baltimore, located the ship where Beanes was being held and negotiated his release. However, Key and Beanes weren’t allowed to leave until after the British bombardment of Fort McHenry. Key watched the bombing campaign unfold from aboard a ship located about eight miles away. After a day, the British were unable to destroy the fort and gave up. Key was relieved to see the American flag still flying over Fort McHenry and quickly penned a few lines in tribute to what he had witnessed.

The poem was printed in newspapers and eventually set to the music of a popular English drinking tune called “To Anacreon in Heaven” by composer John Stafford Smith. People began referring to the song as “The Star-Spangled Banner” and in 1916 President Woodrow Wilson announced that it should be played at all official events. It was adopted as the national anthem on March 3, 1931.

Francis Scott Key died of pleurisy on January 11, 1843. Today, the flag that flew over Fort McHenry in 1914 is housed at the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

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