President Obama said that though the U.S. has "enormous interest" in Iraq, it is "ultimately up to the Iraqis" to resolve their conflicts. He said the U.S. is looking at options to support the Iraqi government without sending in troops. ( / Associated Press)
President Obama announced Friday that he would not send troops to Iraq but has asked his national security team “to prepare a range of other options” to counter the growing threat posed by radical Islamist insurgents who have seized territory in northern Iraq and are threatening the capital.
Speaking just before leaving for North Dakota, Obama told reporters that Iraqi leaders would have to reach a political solution to the sectarian divide in their country by making compromises with their opponents.
“We can’t do it for them,” the president said, repeating the same phrase a few minutes later.
The insurgent group, which calls itself the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), “poses a danger to Iraq and its people,” Obama said. “And given the nature of these terrorists, it could pose a threat, eventually, to American interests as well.”
Obama said the insurgents’ recent gains should serve as “a wake-up call” to the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and he cautioned that he would not exercise any military option until Iraq’s leaders demonstrated their commitment to bridging differences between sectarian groups.
During a news conference at the 'End Sexual Violence in Conflict' summit in London, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said President Barack Obama held a special meeting on Iraq with U.S. security officials, during which a range of options was discussed, "including military action." ( / AP)
The United States would not launch a military strike “in the absence of a political plan by the Iraqis that gives us some assurance they’re going to work together,” he said, adding that it “is going to take several days” to formulate any military response.
“People should not anticipate that this is something that will happen overnight,” Obama said.
He made the remarks after Secretary of State John F. Kerry said the United States would act soon to help address the surge of violence in Iraq, hinting that U.S. military intervention could be in the offing.
CNN reported Friday that the Pentagon plans to move the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush into the Persian Gulf in the coming hours to provide Obama with options for possible airstrikes against insurgents in Iraq.
In his comments before leaving the White House to visit an Indian reservation in North Dakota, Obama referred repeatedly to the insurgents as “terrorists” and said that despite massive U.S. aid over the years, Iraqi security forces have proven unable to defend a number of cities.
Obama said that “any action that we make take to provide assistance to Iraqi security forces” must be accompanied by serious efforts among Iraqi leaders to set aside their sectarian differences and build an effective security force.
“We will not be sending U.S. troops back into combat in Iraq,” he said. “This is not solely or even primarily a military challenge.”
Addressing Republican criticism that the administration had not been fully engaged in Iraq since the withdrawal of troops there in 2011, the president said he had taken several steps already to counter what he called a “vicious organization” that has engaged in terrorism in both Iraq and Syria.
“Now, this threat is not brand new,” he said. “Over the last year, we’ve been steadily ramping up our security assistance to the Iraqi government, with increased training, equipping and intelligence.”
“Nobody has an interest in seeing terrorists gain a foothold inside of Iraq, and nobody is going to benefit from seeing Iraq descend into chaos,” Obama said. “So, the United States will do our part, but understand that ultimately it’s up to the Iraqis as a sovereign nation to solve their problems.”
Obama underscored the limits of U.S. involvement in Iraq even as he suggested America might do more.
“Look, the United States has poured a lot of money into these Iraqi security forces, and we devoted a lot of training to Iraqi security forces,” he said. “The fact that they are not willing to stand and fight and defend their posts against admittedly hardened terrorists, but not terrorists who are overwhelming in numbers, indicates that there’s a problem with morale, there’s a problem in terms of commitment, and ultimately that’s rooted in the political problems that have plagued the country for a very long time.”
And he suggested that since instability in the Middle East rattles world oil markets, the administration would consult with other nations on how to minimize that financial upheaval.
“You know, one of our goals should be to make sure that in cooperation with other countries in the region, not only are we creating some sort of backstop in terms of what’s happening inside of Iraq, but if there do end up being disruptions inside of Iraq, that some of the other producers in the Gulf are able to pick up the slack,” he said.
In London, Kerry was asked by reporters about the possibility of U.S. airstrikes against the radical Islamist insurgents who have seized territory in northern Iraq and are threatening the capital. Kerry did not directly address the question. But he repeatedly noted that the Iraqi government is asking for outside help. Any U.S. military intervention in Iraq would come only by invitation and would be in line with international law, Kerry said.
Kerry and other top national security aides met with Obama on Thursday at the White House, but no immediate decisions were announced. Kerry said the group discussed possible military intervention, but he gave no details.
In response to a question Thursday about whether he was considering drone strikes, Obama said a number of options were being considered. “It’s fair to say . . . there will be some short-term, immediate things that need to be done militarily,” he said, noting that no options have been ruled out.
The Maliki government has requested strikes from U.S. drones or piloted aircraft “in the last several weeks,” as well as additional intelligence-sharing, as ISIS militants have stepped up attacks in Iraq, according to a senior Obama administration official in Washington. As long as there is an invitation from the sovereign government, the United States does not need United Nations approval to act.
“Given the gravity of the situation, I would anticipate timely decisions from the president,” Kerry told reporters Friday in London after an international conference on preventing rape as a weapon of war.
“We had a comprehensive meeting regarding the events in Iraq,” Kerry said. “We discussed a range of options including military action to provide support for the Iraqi government and respond to their request at this critical time.”
Kerry said that unlike in Syria, where a brutal government opposed by the United States is fighting a broad array of insurgent groups, “in Iraq there is a government that we have been deeply involved in, that we support, that we have a military relationship with” and that has “asked us for help.”
He called ISIS a “common threat” to the entire region, including to Iran.
He blamed the group’s rise primarily on the mayhem in neighboring Syria but said it is important to also address the “persistent divisiveness and gridlock with respect to some to the unresolved political issues in Iraq itself.”
“This needs to be a wake-up call for all of Iraq’s political leaders,” Kerry said. “I am confident that the United States will move rapidly and effectively.”
“We are laser-focused on dealing with the crisis at hand,” he said. “But just as important as any short-term action is our continuing effort to build the Iraqi government’s ability to be able to sustain this fight itself.”
British Foreign Secretary William Hague called on Iraq’s political leadership to “put aside their differences, however strongly felt, and act together against the terrorism that threatens them all.” He said Iraq’s security forces must act immediately to stabilize the country.
Hague ruled out any “military intervention” by Britain. “We are looking urgently at other ways to help,” he said, such as providing outside counterterrorism expertise.
The Washington Post reported Thursday that the Obama administration was weighing options including airstrikes and expanded intelligence and targeting assistance for Iraqi military forces.
In the face of rapid extremist advances and the collapse of Iraqi military defenses in the northern part of the country, the administration has decided temporarily to put aside its long-term goal of pressing Maliki for political reforms in favor of immediate action to stabilize the security situation.
U.S. contractors began evacuating the air base in Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad, that is being prepared for the arrival this year of F-16 aircraft purchased by Iraq. The international engineering and electronics company Siemens was trying to move 51 people out of Baiji, about 30 miles farther north, where they are upgrading Iraqi power plants.
The State Department said American contractors “are being temporarily relocated by their companies due to security concerns in the area.” But “the status of the staffing at the U.S. Embassy and consulates has not changed,” spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
About 10,000 American officials and contractors are in Iraq.
Gearan reported from London. William Branigin and Karen DeYoung in Washington contributed to this report.
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