Page 13 - Combat Role News Today

Sergeant joshua wheeler was killed in this raid, but the pentagon, weirdly, is denying it was a combat mission. watch this. >> it doesnt represent assuming a combat role. it represents a continuation of our advise and assist mission. >> here with reaction, host of war stories, lieutenant colonel oliver north. why would they deny this was a combat role when we have the video showing that this is combat? >> its hard to explain much of what goes on in this administration. the american people need t...

Syria. >> we wont hold back from supporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against isil or conducting such missions directly. whether by strikes from the air or direct action on the ground. >> after months of denying that the united states that the troops would be in any sort of combat role, the u.s. just admitted that joshua wheeler was killed during combat. new video showing the emotional aftermath from the 70 hostages here who were freed all thanks to that raid from an isis-control...

Were hearing. >> what do you milwaukee of it? what theyre saying is the guy died, theyre saying it wasnt a combat situation per se, even though he is the first american casualty in some four years in that region, then what did he die? what happened to him? he is dead. how did he die? >> well, with the film we have seen, the video, theres no doubt in my mind this is combat. when youre getting shot at and shooting back to save other peoples lives, theres nothing else you can call it but combat. so...

Number one -- people are asking about whether u.s. forces should be engaged in this -- the special operations guys from delta force are sitting around with kurds at the operating base before they execute the raid. and the kurds are saying, were going to go try to protect 70 people and to prevent them from being killed tomorrow morning. are you with us or not? what do you say in that situation, erin? if youre partnered with the kurds, you say no? secondly, you get to the raid, and the mission for...

Scene have to decide when to decide. when the action has to take place to overcomminie implications that might be on the ground. thats what they did in this case. when you talk about the number of people observed in the camp near that area and you see the number of captives that were there, im sure the u.s. special operations forces says the pesh murg a can do it, but it will be complicated. they need american intelligence and backup and they -- >> they needed all those things. thank you lieuten...

After-action reviews after the mission is complete so they can say, how do we do it better next time? how do we improve our action and improve coordination between soldiers? >> one of the conversations that is prevalent right now is the u.s. involvement here. on friday, ash carter said the u.s. could participate in raids such as this but we will not have a combat role. a lot of people are wondering how is that different? >> when you take a look what was happening in this mission and breakdown of...

Ate with come under fire, you are under an obligation. i guarantee those men saw them come under fire and there was no way they were not going to come to their assistance, which tends to happen in a trained advise and assist role. if we say something is noncombat, you got to be careful with that, because if youre going to be in the assist role, you could be very close to these fire fights and have to make the same determination. >> those delta force operators made that determination. you said th...

Maybe hes having trouble with nick pat on walshs signal. nick, thank you. the raid has raised new questions about whether the united states has returned to a combat role in iraq. but those who have been down this road before, they know the consequences all too well. in a new interview with fareed zakaria, former prime minister tony blair says hes sorry for some of the things that happened and helped isis come to power. >> given that saddam hussein did not prove to have weapons mass destruction...

It doesnt represent assuming a combat role. it represents a continuation of our advise and assist mission. >> the u.s. has said it doesnt want to send troops back into combat, but when you look at this how do you decipher what is assistance and what is mission creep. >> i would never use that word mission creep unless i had real indicators of this and this certainly isnt it. we have mentioned this before about the difference between conventional operations and counterterrorism operations. this m...

The lives the people being held in this community. >> quite separately, theres a political issue which is the american people were told theyre not in a combat role in iraq. journalists jumped on this calling this mission creep. if the government is saying one thing about what the men and women in uniform are doing but giving them something much more dangerous on the ground. >> dont believe that. it is not mission creep. this is a special operations unit that has -- i saw that when we were there....