After spending most of Thursday lashing the media for reporting that the Trump Administration is considering sending as many as 14,000 more troops to the Middle East to target Iran, the Pentagon is now admitting that they actually are in the process of such consideration.



Addressing the matter, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy John Rood said that there was active consideration of sending more troops, but that they hadn’t settled on exactly 14,000. He went on to say that sending more troops is always under consideration.



Congress was pressing Defense Secretary Mark Esper for clarification, though he did anything but on Friday, saying there is “right now” no consideration of a 14,000 troop deployment.



“Right now” could change at any moment, of course. Esper saying that he believes the US has enough capability for now also rings hollow when Rood confirmed just a day prior that the Esper told him a change in force levels was coming.



This, and other comments from Pentagon officials, indicate that another escalation is coming, despite Pentagon officials not wanting to publicly admit it until a final decision is made.





Author: Jason Ditz Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com. View all posts by Jason Ditz