Dempsey: 15,000 Ground Troops Needed To Destroy ISIS

Posted by | September 27, 2014 16:16 | Filed under: Politics Top Stories War & Peace

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Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey says it will take 15,000 ground troops to do the job.

“The answer is yes. There has to be a ground component in the campaign,” Dempsey said, appearing alongside Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

“We need 12,000 to 15,000 to reclaim lost territory,” he said, referring to the huge swath ISIS carved out from Iraq and Syria.

ISIS is estimated to have amassed more than 30,000 fighters, including many recruits from Western nations.

The US-led coalition, which also includes five Arab countries joining the air campaign, plans to train Syrian rebels to do the dirty work on the ground, while also relying on Kurdish peshmerga forces and Iraqi tribal fighters.

President Obama has repeatedly insisted US troops won’t play a combat role in the campaign.

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Copyright 2014 Liberaland
By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.

  • mea_mark

    Then we better get started on training those troops, because they shouldn’t be Americans. Those troops need to come from the Middle East. It is their land, they should police and manage it. If they don’t want to fight for what is their homeland than they will suffer the consequences of the ensuing chaos.

    • This ^. I am so tired of our country fighting battles for other countries. I’m 56. I feel war weary. I grow tired of seeing young men and women jump on planes to go overseas and fight/die every few years.

      • crc3

        Korea…Vietnam…Iraq…Afghanistan…Syria…just to name a few…

        • i remember Vietnam, then it was nonstop ever since. It gets old and the warmongers are beating the war drums. They have on conscience.

      • rg9rts

        Because the armchair generals sit safe at home…its always been that way

    • juicyfruityyy

      This is what President Obama said. The ground troops will Iraqi soldiers. You have to remember that this is mid-term elections. Talking about ground troops; they are hoping to sway the voters to the Re-thugs side. Fear-mongering is all they know how to do.

    • fancypants

      bill has it all figured out on how to destroy your family tree

      http://thedailybanter.com/2014/09/bill-oreilly-proposes-a-mercenary-army-to-fight-isis/

  • mea_mark

    Then we better get started on training those troops, because they shouldn’t be Americans. Those troops need to come from the Middle East. It is their land, they should police and manage it. If they don’t want to fight for what is their homeland than they will suffer the consequences of the ensuing chaos.

    • This ^. I am so tired of our country fighting battles for other countries. I’m 56. I feel war weary. I grow tired of seeing young men and women jump on planes to go overseas and fight/die every few years.

      • crc3

        Korea…Vietnam…Iraq…Afghanistan…Syria…just to name a few…

        • i remember Vietnam, then it was nonstop ever since. It gets old and the warmongers are beating the war drums. They have on conscience.

      • rg9rts

        Because the armchair generals sit safe at home…its always been that way

        • Like Dick Cheney…

          • rg9rts

            The list is endless just in my lifetime …going back to Kennedy

    • juicyfruityyy

      This is what President Obama said. The ground troops will be Iraqi soldiers. You have to remember that this is mid-term elections. Talking about ground troops; they are hoping to sway the voters to the Re-thugs side. Fear-mongering is all they know how to do.

    • fancypants

      bill has it all figured out on how to destroy your family tree

      http://thedailybanter.com/2014/09/bill-oreilly-proposes-a-mercenary-army-to-fight-isis/

  • crc3

    It may start with 15,000 but will eventually end up much higher. We are in over our heads in war and it will never end…

    • mea_mark

      Maybe we need cheaper smaller drones, about 15,000 of them.

    • Augy

      You are right about the never ending part. We will be long dead when it finally does, if it does.

  • crc3

    It may start with 15,000 but will eventually end up much higher. We are in over our heads in war and it will never end…

    • mea_mark

      Maybe we need cheaper smaller drones, about 15,000 of them.

    • Augy

      You are right about the never ending part. We will be long dead when it finally does, if it does.

  • tiredoftea

    It may be 15,000, how many will be on yet another deployment? How many will be broken by yet another brutal assignment for a region that will not solve its own problems? How many will return, if not dead, then needing our help but cannot get it because republicans won’t fund the VA properly?

  • tiredoftea

    It may be 15,000, how many will be on yet another deployment? How many will be broken by yet another brutal assignment for a region that will not solve its own problems? How many will return, if not dead, then needing our help but cannot get it because republicans won’t fund the VA properly?

  • juicyfruityyy

    There won’t be any ground troops. The ground troops would serve no purpose because they would be dead before that get started. Dempsey knows this. Then you sent another 15.000 then they will be mangled and dead. They are going to have to accept the fact that, Bushy Administration, did wrong. There will be no one to replace their treasonous act. They WILL go down in history as war criminals. Bushy will maintain his title as the worst President ever.

  • juicyfruityyy

    There won’t be any ground troops. The ground troops would serve no purpose because they would be dead before that get started. Dempsey knows this. Then you send another 15.000 then they will be mangled and dead. They are going to have to accept the fact that, Bushy Administration, did wrong. There will be no one to replace their treasonous act. They WILL go down in history as war criminals. Bushy will maintain his title as the worst President ever.

  • As mea_mark so eloquently explained this is a perfect opportunity to teach Iraqi troops how to fish. Iraqi Kurds, UAE and Saudi Arabia can easily supply and train the 15,000 ground troops to defeat ISIS with air support via US & NATO’s 40 nation Iraq coalition.

  • As mea_mark so eloquently explained this is a perfect opportunity to teach Iraqi troops how to fish. Iraqi Kurds, UAE and Saudi Arabia can easily supply and train the 15,000 ground troops to defeat ISIS with air support of US & NATO’s 40 nation Iraq coalition.

  • Here comes the hard part. It will be very messy, many innocents will die in the cross-fire. Like Obama said, there is no other way to deal with these particular terrorists, so called Islamic State, who prefer to be dead, instead of part of a civilized society. It’s up to the Iraqis and others in the region to clean it up, do the heavy lifting as they say.

    It’s also up to us (America) to play it forward and prove our intentions are honorable as well as in our own longterm global security and economic interests. To which IS appears to be a minor threat, if what they are saying about this new “Khorasan Group” is true. In which case Obama proves once again he actually knows how to fight terrorism, at least in the Middle East.

    Now what are we going to do about it here at home, Mexico, Central America? America!

  • Here comes the hard part. It will be very messy, many innocents will die in the cross-fire. Like Obama said, there is no other way to deal with these particular terrorists, so called Islamic State, who prefer to be dead, instead of part of a civilized society. It’s up to the Iraqis and others in the region to clean it up, do the heavy lifting as they say.

    It’s also up to us (America) to play it forward and prove our intentions are honorable as well as in our own longterm global security and economic interests. To which IS appears to be a minor threat, if what they are saying about this new “Khorasan Group” is true. In which case Obama proves once again he actually knows how to fight terrorism, at least in the Middle East.

    Now what are we going to do about it here at home, Mexico, Central America? America!

  • fahvel

    what happens with the kurds and the iraqis after they are well trained and armed by the usa? Do they become friends and drinking buddies? There’s a blind side here that needs exploration.

  • fahvel

    what happens with the kurds and the iraqis after they are well trained and armed by the usa? Do they become friends and drinking buddies? There’s a blind side here that needs exploration.

  • rg9rts

    I think the Iraqis and Kurds can muster that amount.

  • rg9rts

    I think the Iraqis and Kurds can muster that amount.

  • Skydog2

    There will be no US boots on the ground …… until after the mid term elections.

  • Skydog2

    There will be no US boots on the ground …… until after the mid term elections.

  • rg9rts

    The list is endless just in my lifetime …going back to Kennedy