US general says cannot rule out larger ground role in Iraq

US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (L) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey testify during the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the US policy toward Iraq and Syria and the threat posed by the Islamic State on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept 16, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

WASHINGTON - The most senior US military officer raised the possibility on Tuesday that American troops might need to take on a larger role in Iraq's ground war against Islamic State militants, but the White House stressed they would not deploy on a combat mission.

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said there was no intention now to place American military advisers on the ground in direct combat. US assistance is taking other forms, including air strikes.

Still, Dempsey outlined scenarios in which he might recommend having US troops do more, potentially accompanying Iraqis during complicated offensives, such as a battle to retake the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State fighters.

"It could very well be part of that particular mission - to provide close combat advising or accompanying for that mission," Dempsey said.

Dempsey acknowledged that Obama's "stated policy is that we will not have US ground forces in direct combat."

"But he has told me as well to come back to him on a case-by-case basis," he said.

Obama said last week he would lead an alliance to defeat Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, plunging the United States into a conflict in which nearly every country in the Middle East has a stake.

But Obama also ruled out a combat mission, saying "we will not get dragged into another ground war in Iraq." How exactly America's role might evolve in the open-ended conflict remains unclear, however.

Responding to Dempsey's comments, the White House said Obama's military advisers had to plan for many possibilities and that overall policy had not changed - that Obama would not deploy US troops in a combat role in Iraq or Syria.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters that Dempsey was "referring to a hypothetical scenario in which there might be a future situation where he might make a tactical recommendation to the president as it relates to ground troops."

Dempsey's spokesman also issued a statement stressing that the four-star general's exchange in the Senate was not about "employing US ground combat units in Iraq."

Dempsey was testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, along with US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, as the Obama administration makes its case to Congress for broadening operations against the Sunni militants, which would include US air strikes in Syria for the first time.

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