Major General Dana Pittard has been selected to lead the new U.S. military mission in Iraq 2806141

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Defence & Security News - United States
 
 
Saturday, June 28, 2014 09:40 AM
 
Major General Dana Pittard has been selected to lead the new U.S. military mission in Iraq.
The Pentagon has selected a two-star Army general who oversaw U.S. teams in Iraq in 2006 and 2007 to lead its new military mission there. Maj. Gen. Dana Pittard, the deputy commanding general for operations for 3rd Army and U.S. Army Central Command, will oversee operations in Iraq to assess the country’s floundering security forces.
     
The Pentagon has selected a two-star Army general who oversaw U.S. teams in Iraq in 2006 and 2007 to lead its new military mission there. Maj. Gen. Dana Pittard, the deputy commanding general for operations for 3rd Army and U.S. Army Central Command, will oversee operations in Iraq to assess the country’s floundering security forces.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Dana J.H. Pittard, 1st Armored Division and Fort Bliss commander, gives a speech during the ribbon cutting for the solar panel project at Fort Bliss, Texas housing communities, Feb. 26, 2013.
     

He’ll lead as many as 300 U.S. troops tasked with helping the Iraqis slow the advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the radical group that has taken over broad swaths of the country in recent weeks.

Pittard, an armor officer, previously commanded the U.S. Army’s 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss, Tex. He has deployed to Iraq several times in the past, including as a one-star general while leading the Iraqi Assistance Group, which oversaw the U.S. military’s teams working with Iraqi troops. He is a recipient of the Bronze Star with “V.”

As of Thursday, there were about 90 U.S. advisers on the ground, Pentagon officials said. An additional 90 personnel have set up a joint operations center in Baghdad. The majority of the U.S. troops are said to be U.S. Special Forces, elite Green Berets.