President Obama said that American troops in are "in a war environment" fighting the Islamic State and that the men and women in the military are in "harm's way." He made the comments this evening on 60 Minutes:
"You know, you've said no American boots on the ground, no combat troops on the ground," said 60 Minutes host Steve Kroft. "We've got 1,600 troops there.
"We do," said President Obama.
"Some of them are going to be out embedded with Iraqi units," said Kroft.
"Well, they're in harm's way," Obama said, "in the sense that any time you're in war theater, it's dangerous. So I don't want to downplay the fact that they're in a war environment and there are hostile forces on the other side."
Obama and his administration have insisted that there will be no combat forces fighting the Islamic State.