A shocking statement was made by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in an interview this past Friday. In?that statement the outgoing Defense Secretary suggested ground troops be deployed to battle ISIS in Iraq.?He announced his resignation in November of 2014 because of political pressure.?Hagel told CNN that all options must be considered in battling ISIS. He also stressed the need for more ground troops in a non combat role.
?”I think it may require a forward deployment of some of our troops …,” he said. “I would say we’re not there yet. Whether we get there or not, I don’t know.”
General Martin Dempsey Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Of Staff made similar?statements before congress last year when he said US troops may have to expand their role on the ground in Iraq.?Deploying more troops would add to the already 4,500 service members deployed for training and advising purposes.
In the interview Hagel also touched on his disagreements with the Obama administration over the release of?Guantanamo detainees.? Hagel claimed of having a more cautious approach to releasing the detainees and said there were disagreements overt the “pace of the release”.
Lastly, I have the utmost respect for Chuck Hagel and his combat record in Vietnam. However, that respect from one veteran to another does not absolve him from the fact that his proposed strategy couldn’t be more wrong. More boots on the ground is not the answer. The way insurgencies like ISIS work is by feeding off the chaos created by ground warfare. Look what happened after the initial invasion of Iraq. The last thing we as a nation need is more escalation that will only lead to more troops needlessly put in harms way.?We should not risk the lives of our service members by using a strategy that will only plunge Iraq further in chaos and embolden our enemies.
