Outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Friday the United States might eventually need to send non-combat ground troops to Iraq to help neutralize the danger of ISIS, according to Reuters. Hagel told CNN all options must be considered in Iraq, including the deployment of ground troops for non-combat roles, such as gathering intelligence and locating Islamic State positions. "I think it may require a forward deployment of some of our troops," Hagel said, "Not doing the fighting. Not doing the combat work that we did at one time for six years in Iraq and we did for many, many years in Afghanistan. But to help airstrike precision, locate. Those are things we could continue support." Calls for the deployment of ground troops in Iraq to help turn back Islamic State forces have been on the rise, as U.S. Senator and former presidential candidate, John McCain, urged on January 19 the deployment of American ground troops in Syria and Iraq to fight the IS, during his tour in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Israel. Such a deployment would be an addition to the 2,100 American troops already stationed in Iraq to train Iraqi, Kurdish, and Syrian rebel forces, as part of the U.S. long term plan to form a moderate opposition against ISIS. In December 2014, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that any congressional authorisation of military action against IS should not allow the deployment of ground troops, or limit the battles in Iraq and Syria, according to RT. Despite the airstrikes carried out by the U.S. led coalition to stop the group's advances, ISIS has managed to overrun large swathes of territory in Syria and western Iraq.
