By Samuel Miller
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America and Oceania

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States of America — President Obama on Wednesday ordered up to 450 additional U.S. troops to Iraq to train and assist beleaguered Iraqi security forces in the war against Islamic State militants, escalating the U.S. involvement in the battle against the Sunni extremists. The United States is also sending weapons to local Sunni and Shia tribes, as well as the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters who are operating under Iraqi command, in order to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

It is unclear at this time how long the advisers will remain in Iraq, or whether additional advisers could be called for in the future.

The troops will be deployed to the Taqaddum military base in Anbar province. The move is aimed at enabling more Iraqis, mostly Sunni tribal volunteers, to integrate into the Iraq Army and reclaim territory from Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

In a statement Wednesday, the White House said that the U.S. advisers will not serve in a combat role. The new deployment brings the number of U.S. military personnel in Iraq to about 3,550. The troops will advise and assist Iraqi soldiers at a base in eastern Anbar province, a stronghold of Islamic extremists.

With the addition of the advisers to the Taqaddum military base, U.S. advisers will be training Iraqi troops in five locations inside the country. The U.S. so far has trained more than 9,000 Iraqi troops, with another 3,000 currently in training.

However, former Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie stated the new plans were not enough. “This is too little too late. I call for the American administration to get their act together.” he added. “They don’t have any unified strategy. We don’t understand their policy in Iraq and in Syria, in the region. They are giving conflicting signs.”

Since eruptions began in the contested regions of Syria and Iraq, the Obama Administration has come under fire for what many have considered a lack of strategy and understanding of the conflict. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey spoke on Tuesday in Jerusalem regarding the President’s recent efforts.

“President Obama has asked us to look at whether there are other locations where we might establish training sites and develop Iraqi leaders,” Dempsey said. According to Dempsey, Obama has asked military brass to “take a look at what we’ve learned over the last eight from its programs and make recommendations to him on whether there are capabilities that we may want to provide to the Iraqis to make them more capable.”

At this time, however, President Obama continues to resist demands for combat troops, and no such plans are in place to put combat troops in Iraq or Syria.

For more information, please see:

BBC News — President Obama to boost army trainers in Iraq — 10 June 2015

Bloomberg — Obama Sending 450 Military Trainers to Base in Iraq’s Anbar — 10 June 2015

CBS News — Obama to send 450 more U.S. troops to Iraq — 10 June 2015

CNN — White House authorizes up to 450 additional troops in Iraq — 10 June 2015

LA Times — White House orders up to 450 more military advisors to Iraq — 10 June 2015