LARA JAKES
National Security Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says the ground troops he may eventually recommend in Iraq would not necessarily be American.

Army Gen. Martin Dempsey testified to Congress earlier this month he may at some point recommend that ground troops be used to destroy the Islamic State militant operation. He told reporters Friday that the only force that can fight the Islamic State “would be comprised of Iraqis, Kurds and moderate Syrian opposition.”

Some Obama administration officials dispute Dempsey’s suggestion that American ground troops could be a possibility in the fight against Islamic State forces. But Dempsey said the president gave him a mission to destroy the group, and he will recommend what he thinks it takes.

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