Retired general: Election delayed Obama Iraq plan

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert Scales alleged Tuesday in an op-ed that the Obama administration waited until after the midterm elections to announce the deployment of 1,500 more troops to Iraq.

The delay has allowed the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria more time to entrench itself, argued Scales, former Army War College commandant and a frequent critic of the Obama administration, in The Washington Post.

{mosads}On Friday, the Pentagon announced the president had authorized sending 1,500 more trainers to Iraq, but Scales said that plan was based on military assessments that were concluded “late summer.”

Scales said the Joint Chiefs of Staff determined the Iraqi Defense Forces had nine brigades of 2,500 forces each that could go on the offensive, and they needed to send nine teams of trainers and advisers.

“That’s where President Obama got the number that he announced last week: nine adviser teams, each with up to about 150 trainers, plus communicators, security personnel and others, for a total of 1,500 troops,” Scales wrote.

The Obama administration sent advisers to Iraq in June to assess the security situation and the state of Iraqi forces, but that results of that assessment were never publicly released.

Administration officials have denied the plan for an additional 1,500 advisers was delayed until after the elections.

“There was no political angle to the timing here,” said Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby on Friday.

“It was really driven by a request from the government of Iraq and Gen. Austin’s assessment about having — this being the right thing to do,” said Kirby, referring to U.S. Central Command chief Gen. Lloyd Austin.

The administration has also proposed the training of three peshmerga brigades, which would bring the total trained brigades to 12, but officials also said there would be about 700 additional non-U.S. coalition trainers.

Scales said, due to the delay, “these American teams will be arriving late to the fight,” and that the training should have started in September.

Although the administration has authorized the 1,500 troops, the plan would not begin immediately. Officials say it will take several months to prepare the training sites, and an additional six or seven months to complete training of the forces.

Officials also say that the 1,500 troops will not deploy until Congress approves $5.6 billion dollars in defense spending, which includes money to pay for their training mission.

Congress is expected to consider the funding as part of a defense appropriations bill that will pass alone or as part of a package of spending bills before it recesses on Dec. 12.