ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Martin Dempsey, head of the US joint chiefs of staff, arrived in Baghdad on Saturday on his trip to the region since the US began air strikes against Islamic State militants in August. His visit came as US chiefs are preparing an expansion of the military effort to dislodge ISIS, which occupies large swathes of territory since its advance across northern Iraq in the summer. “I want to get a sense from our side about how our contribution is going,” Dempsey told Reuters shortly before landing in Baghdad. “I want to hear from those actually doing the lifting that they’ve the resources they need and the proper guidance to use those resources.” The general told a congressional hearing last Thursday that Iraq would need about 80,000 effective troops to regain territory from ISIS. US President Barack Obama has authorised sending up to 1,500 more forces to Iraq, roughly double the planned US presence, to advise and train Iraqi and Kurdish forces. In Baghdad, Dempsey, who last visited Iraq in 2012, was due to meet Iraqi and US officials, including Kuwait-based task force commander Lieutenant General James Terry. His visit came a day after Iraqi forces managed a significant victory against ISIS with the recapture the strategic oil refinery town of Baiji north of Baghdad. Dempsey said last week that extra US troops were unlikely to accompany Iraqi forces in any operation in Mosul or along the Syrian border “but we're certainly considering it.” "We're going to need about 80,000 competent Iraqi security forces to recapture territory lost, and eventually the city of Mosul, to restore the border,” he said. An estimated 1,200 ISIS fighters were able to topple Mosul, which was supposedly protected by 60,000 troops — although the Iraqi army was rife with corruption, absenteeism and low morale after years of mismanagement and sectarian policies under former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
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