Author Topic: Obama weighs airstrikes in Iraq  (Read 498 times)

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Online mystery-ak

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Obama weighs airstrikes in Iraq
« on: August 07, 2014, 08:02:24 pm »
http://thehill.com/policy/defense/214584-us-helps-aid-kurdish-sect-trapped-on-mountain-by-isis

By Kristina Wong and Justin Sink - 08/07/14 11:35 AM EDT

The Obama administration is reportedly considering airstrikes on Sunni militants who have trapped tens of thousands of people on a desolate mountaintop in Iraq.
 
The refugees, who are mostly members of religious minority groups in Iraq, are running out of water, and officials have warned of a possible humanitarian crisis that could cost thousands of lives.

The Pentagon has already been working with Baghdad in an effort to bring in water and other supplies to the refugees, but The New York Times reported that military action is being considered.

Press secretary Josh Earnest, however, would not confirm or deny that air strikes were under consideration when he spoke with reporters on Thursday.

“I'm not in a position to shed light on the president's thinking right now,” Earnest said, adding that he could not “rule things on the table or off the table.”

Earnest said the White House was “gravely concerned” for the health and safety of the refugees, and that the United States was “working intensively with the government of Iraq” to address the crisis.

But while Earnest said the situation was “nearing a humanitarian catastrophe” and “deeply disturbing” he declined to say if addressing the situation ranked as a core U.S. interest — and thus deserving of military intervention.

“That is something we evaluate on a case by case basis,” Earnest said.
The administration has come under pressure from many lawmakers in Congress to avoid aggressive military action in Iraq despite the onslaught by the Islamie State of Iraq and Syria. Many lawmakers fear getting pulled back into Iraq so soon after the end of the Iraq war, and their reticence is matched by the public.
 
Most of the people trapped are Yazidis, a community whose religious beliefs mix parts of Zoroastrianism with Islam and Christianity. ISIS is known for its brutality toward followers of other religions.
 
“There are children dying on the mountain, on the roads,” Marzio Babille, the Iraq representative for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) told The Washington Post.
 
“There is no water, there is no vegetation, they are completely cut off and surrounded by [ISIS]. It’s a disaster, a total disaster," Babille said.
 
An official with the Pentagon on Thursday did not say exactly what types of supplies were being delivered by the U.S., but confirmed the administration is working with Iraq.
 
"We have been working urgently and directly with officials in Baghdad and Erbil to coordinate Iraqi airdrops to people in need," a Defense official told The Hill.
 
"The Government of Iraq has initiated air drops in the region and we are in constant communication with them on how we can help coordinate additional relief, enhance their efforts, and provide direct assistance wherever possible," the official said.
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rangerrebew

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Obama considering Iraq airstrikes
« Reply #1 on: August 07, 2014, 08:03:12 pm »
Obama considering Iraq airstrikes
 
AFP

2 hours ago
       
President Barack Obama is considering ordering US airstrikes against Sunni extremists in northern Iraq and humanitarian food drops to beleaguered civilians, reports said Thursday.
 
US media, citing senior White House officials, said Obama was weighing military options after jihadists from the so-called "Islamic State" attacked Christian and Yazidi minority communities.

“There could be a humanitarian catastrophe there,” an official told the New York Times, warning that a decision on military action was expected “imminently — this could be a fast-moving train.”

Obama came to office determined to end US military involvement in Iraq and in his first term oversaw the withdrawal of the huge ground force deployed there since the 2003 American invasion.

But recent rapid gains by the Islamic State, a successor group to Al-Qaeda's former Iraqi and Syrian operations, compelled him to send military advisors back to Baghdad evaluate the situation.

The United Nations Security Council was to hold emergency talks on the crisis later Thursday, and France has pledged support for forces "engaged in battle" against the IS radicals.
 

The group, along with allied Sunni factions, is at war with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's mainly Shiite government forces and with the peshmerga forces of the Kurdish autonomous region of the country.

In late June it proclaimed a "caliphate" straddling rebel-held areas of Syria and Iraq and seized the major city of Mosul. In recent days it has seized towns formerly populated by Christians and Yazidis.

Iraqi religious leaders say Islamic State militants have forced 100,000 Christians to flee and have occupied churches, removing crosses and destroying manuscripts.

Meanwhile, several thousand Yazidis, members of an ancient pre-Muslim religious minority, are stranded on high ground after being driven out of their home town of Sinjar by IS fighters.

US press reports said that Obama could decide to mount a humanitarian operation to save displaced or besieged civilians, or launch military strikes to halt the IS advance.

http://news.yahoo.com/obama-considering-iraq-air-strikes-173234202.html
« Last Edit: August 07, 2014, 08:04:02 pm by rangerrebew »

Offline Relic

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Re: Obama weighs airstrikes in Iraq
« Reply #2 on: August 07, 2014, 08:13:35 pm »
There's no military solution... orders airstrikes?

Offline EC

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Re: Obama weighs airstrikes in Iraq
« Reply #3 on: August 07, 2014, 08:36:03 pm »
There's no military solution... orders airstrikes?

Don't worry about it. The Worm is doing his usual. Speaking loudly while waving his small stick.
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rangerrebew

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Re: Obama weighs airstrikes in Iraq
« Reply #4 on: August 08, 2014, 10:00:16 am »
As of today, another Obama promise is broken.  He's ordered "strategic" bombings in Iraq, whatever that means.
« Last Edit: August 08, 2014, 10:00:59 am by rangerrebew »