--- title: Hagel: Ground Troops May Be Needed in Iraq description: 'I would say we're not there yet' canonical: https://time.com/3690978/chuck-hagel-iraq-troops/ author: Mandy Oaklander article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-31T14:24:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T04:02:32.266Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hagel: Ground Troops May Be Needed in Iraq og:description: 'I would say we're not there yet' og:url: https://time.com/3690978/chuck-hagel-iraq-troops/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7b7d16b92f70158/69877c84e53aba11f54d749f/462426550.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Obama Attends Armed Forces Farewell Tribute To Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hagel: Ground Troops May Be Needed in Iraq twitter:description: 'I would say we're not there yet' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7b7d16b92f70158/69877c84e53aba11f54d749f/462426550.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hagel: Ground Troops May Be Needed in Iraq  by [Mandy Oaklander](https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. Jan 31, 2015 2:24 PM UTC  President Obama and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the defense chief's formal farewell ceremony Wednesday. President Obama and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the defense chief's formal farewell ceremony Wednesday.Win McNamee / Getty Images  by [Mandy Oaklander](https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. Jan 31, 2015 2:24 PM UTC Departing defense secretary Chuck Hagel said it’s possible the United States may need to send non-combat ground troops to Iraq to help deter the Islamic State. Hagel, who resigned as Pentagon chief on Nov. 24, told CNN in an [interview Friday](http://news.yahoo.com/u-ground-troops-could-needed-iraq-chuck-hagel-005417897.html) that he thinks the deployment of American troops for intelligence-gathering and locating targets is a possibility, reports _Reuters_. He said he wasn’t sure, however, that it would come to that. “I would say we’re not there yet,” he said. “Whether we get there or not, I don’t know.” **MORE**: [Obama’s Awkward Farewell to Hagel](http://time.com/3687389/obama-hagel-farewell-awkward/) Currently, 4,500 troops are already committed to roles in Iraq including training and advising. President Obama [sent reinforcements to Iraq](http://time.com/3380424/what-are-those-1600-so-far-u-s-military-advisers-doing-in-iraq-so-far/) in advising roles in September. President Barack Obama has nominated Ashton Carter to replace Hagel as defense secretary. \[[_Reuters_](http://news.yahoo.com/u-ground-troops-could-needed-iraq-chuck-hagel-005417897.html)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3690978/chuck-hagel-iraq-troops/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3690978/chuck-hagel-iraq-troops/"},"headline":"Hagel: Ground Troops May Be Needed in Iraq","datePublished":"2015-01-31T14:24:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:02:32.266Z","description":"'I would say we're not there yet'","url":"https://time.com/3690978/chuck-hagel-iraq-troops/","keywords":["Military","Iraq","Chuck Hagel","Guantanamo"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7b7d16b92f70158/69877c84e53aba11f54d749f/462426550.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mandy Oaklander","jobTitle":"Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf7b7d16b92f70158/69877c84e53aba11f54d749f/462426550.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Obama Attends Armed Forces Farewell Tribute To Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel","caption":"President Obama Attends Armed Forces Farewell Tribute To Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel","creditText":"Win McNamee / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/military/","name":"Military"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3690978/chuck-hagel-iraq-troops/","name":"Hagel: Ground Troops May Be Needed in Iraq"}}]}] ```