Senior American military officials cautioned the White House against deepening US involvement in Iraq as President Barack Obama was weighing deploying more military personnel to halt ISIL advances, a report says.

The cautious position was most evident in recent White House debates after the Iraqi city of Ramadi fell into the hands of the ISIL terrorists last month, The Washington Post reports.

“After the past 12 years in the Middle East, there is a real focus by senior military leaders on understanding what the endgame is,” a military official told The Post on condition of anonymity, adding that US military leaders are “asking the question, ‘To what end are we doing this?’”

In the days that followed the fall of Ramadi, Obama assembled his top national security advisers to revise a strategy that has come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks.

One option, floated around in the meetings, was dubbed “higher risk,” which would have reduced the burden on Iraqi forces and pulled US troops deeper into the conflict.

The “higher-risk” option, favored by State Department officials, called for “US advisers” to be embedded in Iraqi combat units to direct US airstrikes on ISIL targets. The option would also have employed Apache attack helicopters, which are lethal in urban combat but susceptible to enemy ground fire.

However, Obama’s top military commanders argued against a shift in strategy that would put American military personnel in danger.

“We have become very sensitized to the idea that we don’t want to risk lives and limbs if there isn’t a high probability of a payoff,” a senior Pentagon official told The Post. “Our calculus is different.”

General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, maintained that the US-led airstrikes were taking a toll on the ISIL militants. The top officer also said more local fighters needed to be trained and armed to battle ISIL forces, according to several US officials familiar with Dempsey's position.

General Lloyd Austin III, who oversees US forces in the Middle East and developed the “higher-risk option,” acknowledged that "ground spotters" and attack helicopters were not needed in Iraq at this juncture, US officials said.

Similarly, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter argued that military advisers were not required to boost an aerial campaign that was already “going well.”

President Obama ultimately authorized the deployment of “up to 450 additional military personnel” to Iraq in order to “advise” and train local forces trying to regain areas lost to the Takfiri terrorists. However, the “advisers” will not accompany Iraqi military forces in combat missions, according to officials.

The administration is also considering establishing additional military bases in Iraq, with a new base being set up in Anbar Province serving as a model for more such US military hubs across the country.

Obama has also indicated that he is open to riskier options that would push US forces closer to the front lines, senior US officials said.

At a G7 summit in Germany earlier in the week, Obama said "we don't yet have a complete strategy” against the ISIL terrorists.

Obama’s admission came 10 months after he ordered an open-ended military air campaign against the Takfiri group.

HRJ/HRJ