Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The United States has deployed combat unmanned aerial vehicles in Iraq.

The Defense Department said the U.S. military has used both manned and unmanned aircraft amid the war against Al Qaida’s Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

The Pentagon said some of the unidentified UAVs were armed to
protect U.S. special operations forces in the field.

“The reason that some of those aircraft are armed is primarily for force
protection reasons now that we have introduced into the country some
military advisers whose objective will be to operate outside the confines of
the [U.S.] embassy,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.

In a briefing on June 27, Kirby disclosed the use of combat UAVs in
Iraq. Until now, the U.S. military was said to have deployed UAVs for
reconnaissance missions in areas captured by ISIL.

At least 500 American troops have been reported in Iraq, 180 of them
special operations forces assigned to assess the Iraqi military as well as
the ISIL advance toward Baghdad. President Barack Obama has pledged to send
no more than 300 additional troops to the Arab country.

Kirby said the U.S. military was directing up to 40 unmanned and manned
aircraft missions per day in and around Baghdad. The spokesman did not rule
out that aircraft would be used for combat missions.

“But it would be irresponsible for us not to be planning, preparing and
thinking and to be ready in case he [Obama] should make that decision,”
Kirby said.

The leading U.S. combat UAV has been the Predator-B, deployed against Al
Qaida in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen. Neither Kirby nor other officials
said whether and how many Predators were sent to Iraq.

“We’re flying a great deal [of] manned and unmanned intelligence and
reconnaissance assets, and we’re building a picture so that if the decision
were made to support the Iraqi security forces as they confront [ISIL], we
could do so,” U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey said.

  Both U.S. drones and manned aircraft set for combat missions in Iraq, Gen. Martin Dempsey, ISIL, John Kirby