By David Martosko, U.s. Political Editor and James Nye and Associated Press
16 June 2014
President Obama announced on Monday evening that US ground troops ‘equipped for combat’ are being sent to Iraq – just days after claiming that no American soldiers would be deployed to the war-torn country.
In a letter to Congress, the president said American troops will be returning to Iraq only three years after they left and their deployment began on Sunday.
Obama said that their only purpose will be to protect U.S. personnel and the embassy in Baghdad – and not to join in the fierce fighting raging outside the Iraqi capital.
The president did tell Congress, however, that American military personnel in Baghdad will be ‘equipped for combat.’
