The White House can’t get its message straight.
After General Martin Dempsey told the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday that he would be open to using ground forces “if circumstances evolve” in Iraq vs. ISIS, the White House immediately attempted to roll the comments back as merely “hypothetical.”
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said during a Tuesday afternoon press gaggle en route to Atlanta that Gen. Dempsey was “referring to a hypothetical scenario” and repeated that “the President does not believe that it would be in the best interest of our national security to deploy American ground troops in a combat role in Iraq and Syria. That policy has not changed.”
But Wednesday, Earnest told CNN that Gen. Dempsey’s remarks were “entirely consistent” with the president’s policy toward ISIS.
“The general statement made by Chairman Dempsey is entirely consistent with the strategy that the president has laid out and is consistent with the private conversations that the president has had with Chairman Dempsey and other members of the national security team,” said the White House spokesman.
Obama spoke Tuesday afternoon at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fl., reiterating his pledge to not put boots on the ground.
“As your commander in chief, I will not commit you and the rest of our armed forces to fighting another ground war in Iraq,” Obama told troops at MacDill Air Force Base yesterday. “After a decade of massive ground deployments, it is more effective to use our unique capabilities in support of partners on the ground so they can secure their own countries’ futures. And that’s the only solution that will succeed over the long term.”
Obama has not publicly commented on Gen. Dempsey’s remarks.