Carter: Enhanced U.S. Military Support Is Not U.S. Assuming Combat Role

Carter: Enhanced US Military Support is Not US Assuming Combat Role (The Washington Free Beacon)

Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Friday that the United States would continue to participate in military missions similar to one earlier this week in which an American soldier was killed, but refused to call the ramped up support “ground combat.”

“Earlier this week, we were reminded that there will be risks to our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines, that they face in Iraq, there and across the world,” Carter said of the hostage rescue mission, which he called a “unique event.”

“This is an example of a case where we could do something that we alone had the capability to do,” he said.

Sgt. Joshua Wheeler was killed during the rescue of 70 hostages in Iraq whose “mass execution was imminent,” Carter said.