Hagel Clarifies: US Forces Will Be on the Ground; They Wont Be 'Combat Forces'

Thursday at the House Armed Services Committee hearing on U.S. strategy for combating ISIS, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel attempted to clarify President Barack Obama’s insistence that he is not committing U.S. troops to another war in Iraq by parsing the difference between U.S. military forces and the administrations designation of “combat forces.”

Hagel said, “[President Obama] is fully aware of and agrees that this isn’t going to be done without ground forces, but what he has made clear to the American people, is he is not going to order America combat ground forces into those areas.”

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