Page 5 - Combat Force News Today

His troop withdrawal strategy, called for about 5,600 troops by 2015 and an exit for combat force by the end of 2016. but there are currently 8,400 u.s. troops stationed there alongside several thousand international forces. 2,388 u.s. service members have been killed in afghanistan since 2001, and as for civilian casualties, just the first half of this year have seen 5,243. okay. as promised, still with me are medly hassan and retired general mccaffrey. medly, let me start with you. very strang...

Patronage. in the first shot 40,000 men and all of their equipment ran and it was captured by isis. now what we see is the nucleus of a combat force that has real inspirational leaders, guys who they want to follow in to combat and people who are really willing to fight isis. >> lets just understand what ma ra ramadi, where strategically it is so significant, very close to baghdad. sits between baghdad and mosul really. why is it so strategically significant? >> if you look at it just to the wes...

Isis. >> lets step back and to a little history here. this is one of the things i think is absent in the united states. we have a bad case of amnesia. we invaded iraq in 2003. we had a combat force. a massive combat force of 125,000 men, which cut through all resistance within three weeks like a sythe, all right. now, i fought every war in the middle east and let me tell you something, that was an overwhelming piece of force. however, we occupied that country for eight years. we took 4,686 dead ...

Chairman, it is hard to say because it -- that depends much on the progress of the iraqi security forces which i described in building themselves in to a more capable combat force. with respect to ramadi -- >> raqqah. >> oh. raqqah. well, raqqah, there, the -- you noted this yourself, mr. chairman -- the syrian kurds to the north have done an excellent job of clearing their territory. were in with the syrian-arabs -- >> were not going to go into raqqah, and you and i know that. >> oh, theyre not...

>> with respect to mosul, mr. chairman, it is hard to say because that depends much on the progress of the iraqi security forces which i described in building themselves into a more capable combat force. with respect to ramadi -- >> raqqah, raqqah. >> oh, raqqah. well, raqqah, there the -- and you noted this yourself, mr. chairman -- the syrian kurds to the north have done an excellent job of clearing their territory. >> were not going to go into raqqah, and you and i know that. >> theyre not go...

Major developments out of the pentagon today on the u.s. fight against isis. defense secretary ash carter announcing a new u.s. combat force to head to iraq. >> in full coordination with the government of iraq we are deploying a specialized expeditionary targeting force to assist iraqi and kurdish peshmerga forces and put even more pressure on isil. these special operators will over time be able to conduct raids, free hostages, gather intelligence, and capture isil leaders. this force will also ...

Them get am nation and facilitating air strikes. thats all a big deal. theyre not going to fight themselves, but theyll help them. theyll be defensive in a sense that if somebody fires at them, theyll respond. but theyre not part of a direct combat force. the president put himself in a box a long time ago when he said no boots on the ground. when the intent was right from the beginning to provide trainers and advisers, who of course would be on the ground. but not in a combat role. thats the wor...

Syria, american boots on the ground would not only be good for america but also would be good for syria. >> i will not put american boots on the ground if syria. i will not pursue an open ended action like iraq or afghanistan. >> the resolution resubmitted today does not call for the deployment of u.s. ground combat forces to iraq or syria. now, combat force, thats the important phrase, the white house press secretary saying some of these conversations were about the fight against assad, not the...

Of what is happening. we arent talking unifor parts landing somewhere. we are talking about what the mission is of these individuals who will go there. i think there is an attempt to portray people who are in combat on the ground. when you have large forces there, thats a combat force. they conduct operations. they go after the enemy. in this case, special operators are advisers. they are helping knit together a very strange patchwork of not only sunni-arab coalition but also kurdish fighters. s...

Of defense cuts. our navy at pre-world war 1 levels. and our air force with the smallest and oldest combat force in its history. >> that was marco rubio yesterday with a critical look at the state of the military under president obama. squoib joining us now anne gearan and joseph nye jr., author of the book is the american century over? good to have you both on board. >> great to have you with us. im certainly not picking on marco rubio because i say this about people in both parties. but when y...