The Iraqi government failed to properly heed a U.S. warning that the Islamic State was staging forces in Western Mosul three days before they took over the northern Iraqi city, according to a U.S. official on Wednesday.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee discussed the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and heard the testimonies of Brett McGurk, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iraq and Iran, and Elissa Slotkin, Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary for International Security Affairs on the U.S.' position.
"In meetings with local officials from Mosul and with Kurdish officials on June 7, we received early indications that ISIL was growing in force from Syria into Iraq and staging forces in Western Mosul," McGurk said during the hearing.
McGurk stated they received permission from Kurdish leaders to deploy Peshmerga forces against the sudden rise of radical Sunni insurgents, and said, "but the governor of Baghdad did not share the same sense of urgency and did not approve the deployments."
He said the Iraqi military commanders promised to send nine brigades to Mosul in response to U.S. warnings but "we stressed, however, the forces would not arrive in time."
McGurk said the Islamic State has become an even more formidable force than Al-Qaeda - with both sharing the same doctrine.
"ISIL is no longer simply a terrorist organization. It is now a full-blown army, seeking to establish a self-governing state through the Tigris and Euphrates Valley in what is now Syria and Iraq," he said.
McGurk said there were significant risks in taking military action without a concrete understanding of the situation on the ground in response to the accusation of the lack of U.S. air support for the Iraqi army.
"Since then the U.S. has improved its understanding of the situation through the information they gathered on the Islamic State networks in Iraq and Syria," he added.
"We now have a much better picture to aid in eventual decision making by the President," he said adding that the administration is still studying Baghdad's request for air support.
McGurk spent seven weeks in Iraq following the Islamic State's takeover of Mosul on June 10.
