BAGHDAD — Iraq's new prime minister said Wednesday that foreign ground troops are neither necessary nor wanted in his country's fight against the Islamic State group, flatly rejecting the idea a day after the top U.S. general recommended that American forces may be needed if current efforts to combat the extremists fail.
In his first interview with foreign media since taking office on Sept. 8, Haider al-Abadi said that U.S. airstrikes have been helpful in the country's efforts to roll back the Sunni militant group, but stressed that putting foreign boots on the ground "is out of the question."
"Not only is it not necessary," he said, "We don't want them. We won't allow them. Full stop."
Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that American ground troops may be needed to battle Islamic State forces in the Middle East if President Barack Obama's current strategy fails, as Congress plunged into an election-year debate of Obama's plan to expand airstrikes and train Syrian rebels.
Al-Abadi also urged the international community to expand its campaign against the extremists to neighboring Syria.
Read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
