Friday, June 13, 2014

President Obama: No U.S. Troops To Iraq But Will Review Other Options In The 'Days Ahead'



Obama Rules OUT Sending Troops Back Into Combat In Iraq But Promises To Review Military Options – Including Air Strikes -- Daily Mail

* President says ground forces are off the table but other options will be among what his national security team presents him 'in the days ahead'
* Republicans in Congress insist that waiting shouldn't be an option: 'We need to be hitting these columns of terrorists marching on Baghdad with drones now'
* A senior Air Force official in Afghanistan said air bases there and across the Middle East expect 'contingency plans' in the next 72 hours
* Obama could have airstrikes underway in 24 hours, according to one retired general
* His authorization from Congress for military force in Iraq has never expired, so he could legally do it without approval from Capitol Hill
* American surveillance drones have already been flying over Iraq for weeks, gathering intelligence about the ISIS terror group and where it's headed – but U.S. military leaders concede it wasn't helpful
* Iraqi army units have been overrun by ISIS in Mosul and Tikrit, but gov't forces have held them in check for now without surrendering Baghdad
* ISIS aims to create an Islamic state under Shariah law stretching across parts of Syria and Iraq's northern provinces

Barack Obama said Friday that his national security team will soon provide him with a list of 'selective actions by our military' to help push back a terrorist horde marching through Iraq, but insisted that 'we will not be sending U.S. troops back into combat' there.

He will be 'reviewing options in the days ahead,' the U.S. president said in a hastily scheduled statement on the South Lawn of the White House, before boarding Marine One en route to Bismarck, North Dakota.

The murderous Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), formerly known as Al-Qaeda in Iraq, 'poses a danger to Iraq and its people,' Obama said, 'and given the nature of these terrorists, it could pose a threat to America and its interests as well.'

But he emphasized that Iraq's government should 'solve their own problems.'

The United States, Obama insisted, will not get involved in a protracted military campaign in the absence of work toward a political solution in the nation that Saddam Hussein once ruled with an iron fist.

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More News On President Obama's Remarks On Iraq

Transcript: President Obama’s remarks on the crisis in Iraq -- Washington Post
Obama says to take several days to decide how to help fight Iraq insurgency -- Reuters
U.S. Weighs Iraq Airstrikes, Obama Says He Won't Send Combat Troops -- CNN
Obama Says Iraq’s Leaders Must Hold Country Together -- Bloomberg
Obama says he will not send troops to Iraq but is considering ‘other options’ -- Washington Post
Obama on Iraq Security: We Can't Do It for Them -- AP
President Obama to take several days to decide how to help fight Iraq insurgency -- ABC News (Australia)
Obama: We Will 'Do Our Part' in Iraq, But Won't Send Troops -- NBC
Obama: US Considering 'Range of Options' on Iraq -- Voice of America
Obama urges Iraq's leaders to 'solve their problems,' reviewing US options -- FOX news
Obama Says He Will Decide on Military Support for Iraq in 'Days Ahead' -- New York Times
Obama to Review Options on Iraq, But Will Send No Troops -- WSJ
Obama on Iraq: 'The United States will do its part' -- USA Today
Obama speaks about Iraq insurgency, 'we will not be sending US troops back' -- New York Daily News
US won’t send more troops into combat in Iraq, Obama says -- Irish Times
Obama warns Iraq: No reforms, no aid from the U.S. -- L.A. Times
Obama: Iraq has to solve its own problems -- Al Jazeera

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