Jay Carney says 'obviously' there will be American 'boots on the ground' a day after Obama completely ruled out ground troops in battle against ISIS

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[h=1]Jay Carney says 'obviously' there will be American 'boots on the ground' a day after Obama completely ruled out ground troops in battle against ISIS[/h]

• Former White House press secretary seemed to be at odds with President Obama
• But Carney drew a stark contrast between Obama's Iraq war and George Bush's
• The president told servicemen and women at MacDill Air Force Base on Wednesday that American forces in Iraq 'will not have a combat mission'
• Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey said Tuesday that Obama has asked him to re-evaluate the question'on a case-by-case basis'

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Former White House press secretary Jay Carney joined a chorus of Obama naysayers on Wednesday, saying there's no question of whether the U.S. will put 'boots on the ground' in Iraq – only a question of how many.
'"No boots on the ground" is semantically problematic,' Carney told CNN anchor Jake Tapper, 'because obviously there will be American military personnel with their boots on the ground.'
'There are already,' Tapper replied.


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Jay Carney, the former White House press secretary, said Wednesday that there will 'obviously' be American 'boots on the ground' in Iraq

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The president insisted Wednesday that he won't put combat boots on the ground in Iraq to fight the ISIS terror army

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Conservative journalist Bill Kristol (right) assured Carney and host Jake Tapper (left) that 'there are already' American troops fighting ISIS



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President Obama insisted Wednesday during a speech at a Florida air base that he will not send ground troops into Iraqi combat zones to fight the ISIS terrorist army, despite his top general's statement a day earlier that Obama had asked him for recommendations 'on a case-by-case basis.'
'I want to be clear,' Obama insisted. 'The American forces that have been deployed to Iraq do not and will not have a combat mission. They will support Iraqi forces on the ground as they fight for their own country against these terrorists.'
Carney seemed at odds with his old boss 24 hours later on CNN, but he also kept a tunnel of daylight between Obama and former President George W. Bush, whose decade-long Iraq war was a gigantic military operation involving nearly 150,000 U.S. servicemen and women.

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'There is the distinction that is being drawn ... between what we did in Iraq – a war that lasted for a very long time, cost us an enormous amount of money and cost a lot of people their lives and resulted in sustained and terrible injuries for many, many more – and what we are doing now,' Carney said.
Conservative publisher Bill Kristol suggested that the White House shouldn't rule out a scenario where military commanders declare,"You know what? This thing is on the cusp. We need to send in 3,000 or 5,000 U.S. combat ground troops to win this thing".'
'That would be saying specifically only 5,000,' Carney replied, 'not 5,005.'
'No,' said Kristol: 'You would be leaving the option open, which is what a serious commander-in-chief does.'

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On Tuesday, Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey told the Senate Armed Services Committee that circumstances on the ground could drive him to push for American combat troops to be embedded with Iraqi army units.
'If we reach the point where I believe our advisers should accompany Iraqi troops on attacks against specific ISIL targets,' Dempsey said, using an alternative name for the terror group, 'I will recommend that to the president.'
Asked by New Hampshire Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte whether the president had ruled out the use of American ground forces in a combat role, Dempsey responded, 'Yes. But he has told me as well to come back to him on a case-by-case basis.'
He said that if needed, he 'would go back to the president and make a recommendation that may include the use of ground forces.'
On Wednesday Obama cited both the Iraq conflict and the emergence of a new Ebola virus epidemic in west Africa as signifying 'America's unique abilities and responsibilities to lead.'
On Monday night the White House announced a deployment of 3,000 ground troops and Army engineers to intervene in Liberia, a country that has already seen more than 2,400 diagnosed cases and 1,300 deaths from the disease.
'It is America that has the unique capability to mobilize against an organization like ISIL,' he said. 'In a world full of broader social challenges, it is America that has the unique capability and know-how to help contain and combat a threat like Ebola.'
Aside from his early roll call of the various armed services, Obama's biggest applause line was his direct threat to ISIS.
'Whether in Iraq or in Syria,' the president said, 'these terrorists will learn the same thing that leaders of al-Qaeda already know: We mean what we say.'
'Our reach is long. If you threaten America, you will find no safe haven. We will find you eventually.'


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