Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told reporters Thursday that anyone trying to violate security at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad “will run into a buzzsaw.
Milley was participating in a news conference with Defense Secretary Mark Esper when he made the comments, according to the Military Times. Both men were responding to a Tuesday attack on the embassy by protesters who scaled the wall and entered the building while shouting “Death to America!”
U.S. Army General Mark Milley is seen as U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper speaks about airstrikes by the U.S. military in Iraq and Syria, at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., December 29, 2019. REUTERS/Tom Brenner
U.S. forces removed the militants by Wednesday.(RELATED: Liberal Pundits Are Calling US Protests In Iraq ‘Trump’s Benghazi’)
“We are very confident that the integrity of that embassy is strong and it is highly unlikely to be physically overrun by anyone. There is sufficient combat power there, the air and ground. Anyone who attempts to overrun that will run into a buzzsaw,” Milley told reporters at the Pentagon.
The Department of Defense has dispatched 100 Marines to Baghdad. They have been reinforced by 750 paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne deployed to Kuwait, per the Military Times. (RELATED: 100 Marines Sent To Baghdad To Fortify Embassy Defenses Amid Protests)
Iraqi protesters breach the outer wall of the US embassy in Baghdad during an angry demonstration on Dec. 31, 2019 to denounce weekend US air strikes that killed Iran-backed fighters in Iraq. (AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images)
Several thousand more troops are poised for deployment in the area, a defense official reportedly told the Military Times. The attackers have been identified as members of the Kataeb Hezbollah and are also believed to be responsible for rocket attacks on Iraqi bases where U.S. troops are stationed.