Obama ‘won’t rule anything out’ to assist Iraqis, but won’t send troops

June 14th, 2014

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON â€” The United States has ruled out sending troops to stop Al Qaida’s advance in Iraq.

The administration of President Barack Obama said the United States was prepared to increase military aid to Iraq to stop the offensive of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. But officials said this would not include the deployment of U.S. troops.

Iraqi army armored vehicle is seen burned on a street of the northern city of Mosul. /AP

A destroyed Iraqi Army armored vehicle in Mosul. /AP

“We have a near-term situation that we need to move very quickly on, and
we are assessing what we can provide additionally, what we can do
additionally to assist Iraq,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said.

In a briefing on June 12, Carney said the administration would consider
U.S. air strikes on ISIL positions. But he stressed that Obama would not
consider combat troops.

“And he [Obama] made clear that we are considering our options as part
of the overall effort to support Iraq and as part of the overall assistance
that we provide and can provide Iraq in this fight,” Carney said.

Earlier, Obama pledged to consider military assistance to Iraq in its
battle with ISIL. But later officials said Obama did not mean to include
troop deployment or even air strikes, rather training of Iraqi forces.

“I don’t rule out anything because we do have a stake in making sure
that these jihadists are not getting a permanent foothold in either Iraq or
Syria,” Obama said. “So my team is working around the clock to identify how
we can provide the most effective assistance to them.”

Officials acknowledged uncertainty over responding to the Iraq Army
collapse. Over the last decade, Washington has processed $25 billion in U.S.
arms deals for Baghdad and was preparing to deliver such platforms as the
F-16 multi-role fighter and the AH-64 Apache attack helicopters.

“The current focus of our discussions with the government of Iraq and
our policy considerations is to build the capacity of the Iraqis to
successfully confront Islamic extremists,” National Security Council
spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said.

Congress has been skeptical over additional U.S. military aid to
Iraq. In late 2013, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Sen. Robert
Menendez held up the delivery of Apache helicopters to Baghdad amid reports
that Al Maliki was becoming repressive and ignoring the Sunni community.

The Defense Department has reported intensified arms deliveries to Iraq
in 2014. Officials cited missiles and other munitions as well as unmanned
aerial vehicles and asserted that deliveries would continue.

“Recently, we have sent them 300 Hellfire missiles, millions of rounds
of small arms, thousands of rounds of tank ammunition. Scan Eagle
surveillance platforms are on schedule for delivery later in the year,”
Pentagon spokesman Steve Warren said. “We’ve also recently notified Congress
of an additional sale of $1 billion, which includes 200 Humvees.”