Page 22 - Combat Role News Today

Iraq and the country slides towards all out sectarian war, president obama says hes prepared to send up to 300 military advisors to work with iraqi forces. with the robust u.s. military presence in the region, hes also prepared to strike if necessary. our correspondents and analysts are standing by with the kind i have coverage that only cnn can bring you. were going to begin with be senior white house correspondent jim acosta. >> brianna, after getting the u.s. out of iraq, president obama anno...

They are conducting reconnaissance, gathering intelligence. i think we all understand that the key question is 100 military advisers on the ground, does this directly contradict the presidents statement, no ground forces in the iraq? they may not be in direct combat. they are not expected to go into direct combat. but they may find themselves in dicey situations. and as we keep saying, if you are part of special forces, you know you have to be prepared for anything. jake? >> i want to go right n...

Would be no combat troops? >> i think theyre parsing words here, don. what theyre saying, theyre not going to put combat troops, call these advisors, trainers not in a combat role. this is a good move. they can be there to control air strikes if thats going to happen. i think this is the first step in maybe some sort of air strikes, some sort of interventi intervention? >> you dont like it? >> i remain unclear theres anything that the united states can do to make this situation of this what is a...

If that is to be an option. so this would not be a big surprise. but this is a big announcement. it is essentially u.s. boots on the ground if thats what comes to pass. but the white house keeps emphasizing they would not be in a combat role. so yeah, this is a big deal, this meeting. its been going on for about a half hour now. you could say, well, if this was not going to substantially change the footing of the u.s. role in iraq at this point, why would the president be coming out at 12:30 and...

Officials, jake, is just because you send special operations forces into iraq doesnt mean theyll be in a combat role. they are sticking to this insistence that there will not be a combat role for whatever forces go into iraq. so i want to make sure that that point is made. at the same time, why the hesitation? jim sciutto was just talking about this. weve heard a number of reasons over the last week. first, the president said late last week that he wanted to see maliki impose some political refo...

Shooting at you, youre in a combat role. so these are primarily going to be army officers. these are going to be army special forces officers who are trained to do just this. theyre going to go out there and work inside these iraqi brigades. its very important that these brigades get back online. weve seen this total breakdown of the iraqi command structure. and these officers will be fully equipped to put this back in order. but its -- i think were fooling ourselves if we say were not putting b...

Question of the president in just a moment. to be crystal clear, we are talking up to 300 military adviser. the president said advising iraqi iraqis. how exactly? >> it just so happens the administration officials are holding a background conference where they are lay thing out. i can give you some brand-new information on this. these officials on this conference call are saying that at first, they are going to be sending in several small teams of adviser about a dozen each to establish what the...

Ground, president obama says hes open to all options on iraq. administration officials are hud ling now for several days. the president is arriving back at the white house this hour. a decision may be loom. lets get the latest from our senior white house correspondent jim accost ta. the president is now back in washington. >> thats right. and president obama is due to arrive back here at the white house any moment now. we understand he has not made any final decisions on iraq. but later on this ...

>> we are combat role. our role is over in afghanistan. we are going to have very few people in that kind of position on occasion, but i honestly -- i just think thats a lot of ba lonnie. >> though feinstein slammed his explanation. >> i heard john kerry this morning say dont worry about them in doha. you cant help but worry about them in doha. >> meanwhile, the commander in chief of the vfw has written a letter of the president demanding he shows more urgency to secure the release of andrew tah...

Tweet from account posted on saturday said, my daddy is sorry for what happened. please forgive him@real tracy morgan. friend confirmed the account belongs to roper the truck driver. walmart says roper does not have any involvement in social media. we do know he is expected in court to answer charges for the accident. >> we hope tracy morgan has a speedy recoverly along with the others. thank you, rick. >> reporter: sure. martha: critics say trading five top taliban commanders for sergeant bowe ...