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Gunfire from training exercises could be heard outside as Defense Secretary Ash Carter spoke to a room of 200 troops from Fort Campbell heading to Iraq in the coming weeks. He noted that for some in the 101st Airborne Division, this will be a return trip with a new enemy.
“I know the 101st has taken Mosul before, and you could do it again," he said. "We could deploy multiple brigades on the ground and arrive in force. But then it would likely become our fight, and our fight alone.”
Carter used Wednesday's appearance to chart out the U.S. mission. He compared the Islamic State to a cancer that needs to be cut out before it metastasizes further.
The battle plan, as Carter laid out, involves cutting off supply lines that link the ISIL strongholds of Mosul in Iraq and Rakka in Syria. He said troops would “intensify” pressure. But he said soldiers from Iraq need to be out front, even if it's more difficult.
“For defeat to be lasting, it has to be achieved and sustained by local forces that are motivated and capable," Carter said. "That’s where you come in."
Thousands of 101st Airborne soldiers are either in Iraq or on their way in the coming weeks. Carter said the defeat has to be lasting so that extremism doesn’t recur and emerge in the same places after the 101st gets home.
After his 30-minute speech, Carter wished each soldier good luck and shook hands with all 200, handing them a commemorative coin.
Copyright 2016 WPLN News
