NBC News Terrorism Analyst Col. Jack Jacobs accused the White House of “trying to play politics” over whether US boots are being put on the ground to fight ISIS during a report aired on Wednesday’s “Today.”
Jacobs stated, “Anybody in combat is boots on the ground. The White House has been trying to play politics here, and try to convince everybody that special operations forces are not boots on the ground.”
During the report, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel said, “This administration has long struggled to explain its strategy against ISIS, and it’s struggling again, with the white house insisting nothing has changed, even as the pentagon is considering an expanding role for u.s. troops in both Iraq and Syria.”
He added that Defense Secretary Ash Carter saying the US wouldn’t refrain from “direct action on the ground” sounds a lot different from what the president has repeatedly promised” before playing a clip of the president saying, “The American forces that have been deployed to Iraq do not and will not have a combat mission.”
Engel continued, “The White House seems to want it both ways, saying no regular troops will be in combat, only small numbers of special ops forces will do that.”
(h/t Washington Free Beacon)
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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