The Phases of Obama's Iraq War
US President Barack Obama speaks at the APEC CEO Summit, as part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit at the China National Convention Centre (CNCC) on November 10, 2014 in Beijing, China.
Photo by Wang Zhao-Pool/Getty ImagesPresident Barack Obama says the U.S.-led coalition assembled to counter the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq has entered a “new phase,” raising the question of what that phase actually looks like.
A review of Obama's comments and reports from on the ground in Iraq show that there hasn't been any kind of dramatic shift in how the U.S. and its allies are operating in the region. But Obama's comments do underscore the evolution of a mission that started with strict parameters on how the U.S. would conduct air strikes and has evolved into a mission driven by more than 3,000 U.S. troops and a significant push to train, equip and provide intelligence capability for Iraqi security forces that all but dissolved in the face of IS advances this summer.