The Pentagon's plans to potentially send American forces into the battle for Ramadi would pose far more risks to those individual troops than the combat support missions that have become routine in northern Iraq, a defense official said.

The Iraqi city comprises vastly different battlefield terrain than the towns and villages in the northern area of the country, where U.S. commanders have begun temporarily deploying small teams of American troops to support local Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

In northern Iraq, American troops typically stay away from frontline combat and remain in safe positions close to the fight, providing tactical advice to Iraqi officers, offering medevac support for wounded Iraqi fighters or gathering key intelligence to improve the effectiveness of U.S. airstrikes.

In the area around Ramadi, American commanders so far have opted against providing similar support for the Iraqi forces, partly because it is far more dangerous terrain, Army Col. Steve Warren, a Defense Department spokesman in Baghdad, told reporters Wednesday.

"Up north, we have a very clear front line between the [Kurdish] peshmerga and ISIL. It's a very clean-cut front line of troops, and if you're on one side of that line, you're in 'good guy' country. On the other side of that line, you're in 'bad guy' territory," Warren said.

"And if you're on the good-guy side of that line, you know it's safe. There's not a threat of IEDs. There's not a threat of ambush. There are no snipers. It's safe," he said.

"Not the case here [in Ramadi], just because of the way ISIL kind of occupied it. You have to think of it as a series of ink splats on that map. ... The roads aren't really safe. The Iraqi security forces take a lot of risk every time they move, because the enemy, although largely fighting as a conventional army, let me be perfectly clear, they continue to employ insurgent tactics when it suits them," Warren said.

"So, frankly, for force protection reasons ... we've decided to keep U.S. forces here in Anbar and other areas around here, and inside the bases," he said.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Wednesday reiterated his potential interest in sending some U.S. attack helicopters or combat advisers into the Battle of Ramadi to help expedite a victory over the Islamic State militants by American-trained Iraqi forces.

"We'll assist in whatever ways would hasten it and bring it about faster," Carter told reporters at the Pentagon, adding that the Iraqis' progress in Ramadi so far has been "disappointingly slow."

Carter first floated the idea of sending helicopters and advisers to Ramadi while testifying on Capitiol Hill Tuesday.

At least 70 American service members died during the initial clash dubbed the "Battle of Ramadi" in the summer of 2006. And hundreds of others died in Ramadi and the surrounding areas during the eight-year U.S. mission that ended in 2011. In all, more than 1,000 Americans died while fighting in Anbar province.

This week, Iraqi forces have surrounded Ramadi and have launched an assault on the city center and the estimated 600 to 1,000 Islamic State militants who have been holding the city since May.

The U.S. will deploy attack helicopters and combat advisers only in response to a request from the Iraqi government. So far, no such request has come, Warren said.

Carter's suggestion that U.S. forces and helicopters might support Iraqis closer to the front lines is the latest sign that the Pentagon and White House are intensifying military efforts to defeat the Islamic State group.

Last week, Carter revealed plans to send an "expeditionary targeting force" to Iraq that will include up to 100 U.S. special operations troops to focus on raids on Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria.

The U.S. has spent months training Iraqi forces in Anbar, providing munitions like AT4s, the 84mm unguided shoulder-fired missiles that can stop truck bombs, and conducting airstrikes almost daily on Ramadi, Carter said.

In total, about 3,600 U.S. troops currently are authorized to be deployed in Iraq.

About Andrew Tilghman

Andrew Tilghman is the executive editor for Military Times. He is a former Military Times Pentagon reporter and served as a Middle East correspondent for the Stars and Stripes. Before covering the military, he worked as a reporter for the Houston Chronicle in Texas, the Albany Times Union in New York and The Associated Press in Milwaukee.

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