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IPFS News Link • Iraq

Mattis: US Troops Need to Stay in Iraq for 'Years'

• AntiWar.com by Jason Ditz

With US officials still hopeful that Iraq's ongoing offensive in Mosul is the beginning of the end of ISIS' presence in that country, top Pentagon officials, including Defense Secretary James Mattis, are also eager to point out that it's not going to mean the end of the US military presence in Iraq.

In comments to Congressional committees over the course of the week, Mattis was very clear about the need to keep US troops in Iraq, calling it a "national interest" and insisting US forces need to stabilize Iraq, while downplaying the idea that this would be nation-building.

It's not going to be a short process either. While Mattis wasn't very specific on how long this post-ISIS US military presence would last, he made it clear that it would be "years," and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Joe Dunford said the same thing later.


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