US Joint Chiefs Chairman: NATO Should Handle Training Iraqi Military

NATO Chief Rules Out Combat Operations Against ISIS

by Jason Ditz,

US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joe Dunford is planning to push a major proposal at next week’s NATO summit, looking to get the alliance as a whole involved in post-ISIS Iraq, saying that they should oversee training of Iraq’s military.

The US is already planning to keep its troops in Iraq more or less forever, and while seemingly training would be the only thing they’d be doing post-ISIS, Dunford’s comments show that they clearly have designs on bringing the rest of NATO into the process.

Since NATO was never involved in the initial US invasion of Iraq, it’s not clear how interested they would be in jumping on board now. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg was, however, clear that there are some lines NATO won’t be crossing in Iraq.

Offering his own statement ahead of the summit, Stoltenberg declared it “absolutely out of the question” that NATO would in any way get involved in ISIS combat operations. As of yet, however, he is not addressing the training idea.

http://news.antiwar.com/2017/05/18/us-joint-chiefs-chairmannato-should-handle-training-iraqi-military/