The war in Iraq is far from over and despite the capture of Mosul; vast tracts of Iraq still remain under the control of the ISIS. The battle has now spread to the recovery of these areas. There are about 5,000 US troops in Iraq. They are there basically in an advisory role but as the battle has progressed many of them have perforce been drawn into the battle to bolster the Iraqi Army which on its own has not been able to defeat the ISIS. The US military command has said that that on Sunday, two American soldiers were killed and five wounded while conducting combat operations in Northern Iraq.
The statement said that the causalities were not due to enemy action but did not state how the soldiers died. The commander of the US forces in Iraq Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend expressed his condolences on the deaths of the soldiers who he called heroes. The Washington Post has reported this news.
Rise of ISIS
The US army was ordered to Iraq by President Bush and in a short time it won a decisive victory and Saddam Hussein was ousted and later executed but President Obama ordered the army home and Iraq was left defenseless. The new government was completely at sea racked by an internecine Shia –Sunni conflict. This gave breathing space for Al Baghdadi to make his presence felt by forming the ISIS.
This group overran large areas of Iraq and Baghdadi proclaimed his caliphate from Mosul. The Iraqi army gave a poor exhibition of fighting the ISIS and hundreds of them were captured and summarily executed. At that stage had the US not intervened the ISIS fighters would have captured Baghdad as well.
US troops come back
President Obama had to change his decision and a few US troops along with air support was provided to the Iraqi army.
Despite this, the army made heavy weather against a determined ISIS force. The US had no choice but to commit a few troops to the front to bolster the Iraqi army. Many US soldiers were on the front facing and guiding the Iraqi army in Mosul and two of them were killed. The US Air Force and Navy provided air support and paved the way for the Iraqi army to enter Mosul.Fresh evidence presented by experts to the United Nations Security Council last week shows that ISIS is still a dangerous and capable militant organization, despite its recent heavy losses on the battlefield. This is a sobering thought as it means the US troops are in for a long haul in Iraq and more deaths of soldiers could take place due to enemy action.
