The Most Equal Comrade tries his damnedest to avoid calling it US combat troops in Iraq

We're going back into Iraq in a boots-on-the-ground way, as many generals have insisted would be necessary.  But the MEC doesn't order the doubling of the number of troops there until three days after the election, and then tries to assure the post-American public that there's no mission creep.

No wonder, given how many times he has insisted that our role was limited to airstrikes and advising the Iraq military:

Jun 19: We're prepared to send a small number of additional American advisors, up to 300, to assess how we can best train, advise and support Iraqis security force forces going forward I think we always have to guard against mission creep, so let me repeat what I've said in the past -- American combat troops are not going to be fighting in Iraq again. 

Sep 7: The notion that the U.S. should be putting boots on the ground is a profound mistake. 

Sep 10: These American forces will not have a combat mission. We will not get dragged into another ground war in Iraq. 

Sep 12: My fellow Americans, tonight I want to speak to you about what the United States will do with our friends and allies to degrade and ultimately destroy the terrorist group known as ISIL. 

Sep 12: But I want the American people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil. This counterterrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out ISIL wherever they exist, using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground. This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years. And it is consistent with the approach I outlined earlier this year: to use force against anyone who threatens America’s core interests, but to mobilize partners wherever possible to address broader challenges to international order. 

Sep 18: The the American forces that have been deployed to Iraq do not and will not have a combat mission. 

But these guys are going to be out in Anbar province, where ISIS has made things very hairy.  What do you call it when you have armed troops in an area where the enemy is actively engaging in hostile actions?

And how are non-jihadist Sunnis in the area supposed to view this, given the secret letter to Khameini asking for Iran's coordination in the anti-ISIS effort?  Are they going to be inclined to support our presence?

Because the MEC finds foreign policy a giant bore, he has not thought this through - at least beyond thinking so-called rapprochement with Iran is going to seal his place in history as a great peacemaker.