U.S. Fight Against Islamic State Is Accelerating, Mattis Says Defense secretary says recent changes allow faster decisions on battle tactics By Paul Sonne
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-fight-against-islamic-state-is-accelerating-mattis-says-1495234679?mod=nwsrl_politics_and_policy
WASHINGTON—Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said changes in the fight against Islamic State that were approved by President Donald Trump have given the U.S. the ability to move more quickly and forcefully on the battlefield, though the overall strategy remains largely unchanged from the Obama era.
Mr. Mattis said the president had given U.S. military commanders more leeway to make battlefield decisions and approved a tactical shift that directs U.S.-backed troops to focus on annihilating Islamic State rather than waging a war of attrition.
“No longer will we have slowed decision cycles because Washington, D.C., has to authorize tactical movements on the ground,” Mr. Mattis said at a Pentagon news conference, where he appeared alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joe Dunford and the State Department’s special envoy to the anti-Islamic State coalition, Brett McGurk.
Mr. Mattis said U.S.-backed troops previously were surrounding Islamic State positions and allowing enemy fighters to escape through a designated exit route, because the goal was to oust them from occupied cities as quickly as possible and allow residents to return.
But the effect, the defense secretary said, was essentially to move Islamic State fighters around the area.
“We carry out the annihilation campaign so we don’t simply transplant this problem from one location to another,” Mr. Mattis said.
Mr. McGurk cited the recent capture of the Tabqa dam in Syria by a U.S.-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters as an example of the new battlefield leeway leading to quicker execution.
“Military people on the ground saw an opportunity to surprise ISIS,” he said. “That happened very fast.”
Apart from the modifications described by Mr. Mattis, the strategy to dislodge Islamic State from Iraq and Syria largely appears to be the same as under the Obama administration, despite Mr. Trump’s criticism of the approach during last year’s presidential campaign.
Gen. Dunford and Mr. McGurk, who both held their positions during the Obama administration, helped execute the original strategy.
All three of the top U.S. officials emphasized the progress of the campaign since it began in mid-2014. Mr. McGurk said some 55,00 square kilometers (21,000 square miles) had been liberated and 4.1 million people freed from Islamic State control. CONTINUE AT SITE
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