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2015-10-25 Iraq
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US to tighten noose around Daesh after Iraq captives freed
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US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said on Friday he expected more raids targeting the Daesh group similar to the mission that freed dozens of captives but left an American commando dead in Iraq.
Carter's comments came as President Barack Obama tapped veteran Iraq expert Brett McGurk to coordinate the troubled US-led campaign against the self-proclaimed Daesh group, replacing General John Allen, who served in the post for a year.
On Thursday, US Special Operations Forces and Kurdish forces stormed an Daesh-run prison near Hawijah in northern Iraq, freeing some 70 captives who were facing imminent execution. Of those prisoners, more than 20 were members of the Iraqi security forces. Five Daesh militants were also captured and several others killed, the Pentagon said.
The raid marked an apparent break with the stated role of US forces, who are in Iraq to support government forces but do not directly engage in combat in line with Obama's "no boots on the ground" policy. But Carter said it was likely not a one-off, noting that a "significant cache" of intelligence had been retrieved.
"I expect we'll do more of this kind of thing," Carter said.
"One of the reasons for that is that you learn a great deal because you collect the documentation, you collect various electronic equipment and so forth... So the sum of all this will be some valuable intelligence."
Carter said some of the captives rescued confirmed they had expected to be executed that day, with their graves already dug.
"Not only did our support help prevent another mass killing, we enabled those partners of ours to deliver Daesh a clear defeat," he said.
The operation near Hawijah was part of a broader United States-led campaign that began in June last year targeting Daesh, which has sought to carve a state out of large parts of Iraq and Syria.
The disparate international coalition has sometimes struggled, with the White House reluctant to dramatically gear up US involvement and key members of the grouping holding divergent aims and differing degrees of commitment.
The task has only become more complex since Russia and Iran intervened to prop up the Syrian government and deepen ties with Baghdad.
McGurk had most recently been Allen's deputy, focusing largely on efforts to work with Sunni tribal leaders and the Iraqi government to take back Ramadi. 
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Posted by Steve White 2015-10-25 00:00||
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Posted by Frank G 2015-10-25 10:28||
2015-10-25 10:28||
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