Obama authorizes 'targeted airstrikes' in Iraq to counter ISIS militants
updated 1:42 AM EDT, Fri August 8, 2014
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Kerry: "The world cannot sit by and watch innocents die"
- Obama says he's authorized "targeted airstrikes" in Iraq
- Obama: "We do whatever is necessary to protect our people"
- The United States drops humanitarian aid in Iraq, official says
"We do whatever is necessary to protect our people," Obama said. "We support our allies when they're in danger."
A key concern for U.S.
officials: dozens of American consular staff and military advisers
working with the Iraqi military in Irbil, the largest city in Iraq's
Kurdish region.
Obama said Thursday he'd
directed the military to take targeted strikes against Islamist
militants "should they move towards the city."
Rapid developments on the
ground, where a humanitarian crisis is emerging with minority groups
facing possible slaughter by Sunni Muslim extremists from the Islamic
State, formerly known as ISIS, have set the stage for an increasingly
dire situation.
Thousands of families from the Yazidi minority are trapped in the mountains, a senior administration officials said.
They have been without
food, water or medical care after fleeing the rampaging Islamist
fighters. Dozens of children have died of thirst in the intense summer
heat.
Obama: 'potential act of genocide'
In addition, throngs of
other refugees, many of them Iraqi Christians, are on the run -- their
largest city, Qaraqosh, now occupied by fighters who gave them an
ultimatum, "Convert to Islam or die."
The United States has
airdropped meals and water, sending humanitarian aid to trapped minority
groups on Mount Sinjar, which Islamic State is holding under siege, a
senior administration official said.
Two military cargo
planes flying at low altitudes dropped 5,300 gallons of water and at
least 8,000 meals, a senior administration official said. No U.S. forces
were on the ground, and the drop was coordinated with Iraqi troops.
"The aircraft that
dropped the humanitarian supplies have now safely exited the immediate
airspace over the drop area," a senior U.S. defense official said.
Obama also said he'd
authorized targeted airstrikes "if necessary" to help Iraqi forces
protect civilians trapped on the mountain.
"When we face a
situation like we do on that mountain with innocent people facing the
prospect of violence on a horrific scale, when we have a mandate to
help, in this case a request from the Iraqi government, and when we have
the unique capabilities to help avert a massacre, then I believe the
United States of America cannot turn a blind eye," Obama said. "We can
act, carefully and responsibly to prevent a potential act of genocide."
Fear of U.S. ground troops
The potential escalation
of U.S. military involvement comes two years after Obama ended the Iraq
war and brought home American forces.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Thursday that there is no chance of ground troops heading back.
Obama acknowledged that many Americans are concerned about military action in Iraq.
"As Commander in Chief, I
will not allow the United States to be dragged into fighting another
war in Iraq, so as we support Iraqis as they take the fight to these
terrorists, American combat troops will not be returning to fight in
Iraq because there is no American military solution to the larger crisis
in Iraq," Obama said.
Two vocal Republican
Senators said in a statement that the President's actions have not gone
far enough. "It should include U.S. air strikes against ISIS leaders,
forces, and positions both in Iraq and Syria," read a statement by Sen.
John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
Iraqi forces fight back
The Iraqi air force
bombed a number of targets Thursday night, Qubad Talabani, deputy prime
minister of the Kurdish Regional Government, told CNN. The strikes
killed at least two ISIS emirs, he said.
The United States has
been sharing intelligence through reconnaissance but are not involved in
any airstrikes, a senior Iraqi military official told CNN on Thursday.
The United States
"almost consistently" has manned or unmanned observation aircraft over
Irbil, a senior administration official said.
The ISIS fighters, armed
with armored vehicles and other military hardware taken from Iraqi
forces in a lightning sweep through the north earlier this year, have
overrun Iraq's largest Christian town and nearby villages.
When radical Islamist
fighters stormed the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar over the weekend, the
Yazidi minority who call it home fled into the surrounding mountains in
fear of their lives.
Other groups targeted by
ISIS, which seeks to establish a Sunni caliphate stretching from Syria
to Baghdad, include Shiite Muslim, Turkmen and Shabak -- all religious
minorities in that region.
Fleeing people, some in
cars and trucks and others on foot, got out with whatever possessions.
The United Nations estimates 200,000 people heading toward Kurdistan in
two recent days.
Kerry: 'ruthless thuggery'
In a statement released Thursday night, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called the situation a "wake-up call."
ISIS, he said, is "offering nothing to anyone except chaos, nihilism, and ruthless thuggery."
"With a gut-wrenching
humanitarian crisis unfolding, and the rolls of the starving and sick
growing daily, there's not a minute to waste," Kerry said. "The United
States is acting and leading, and the world cannot sit by and watch
innocents die."
After an emergency
meeting on the situation Thursday, the United Nations Security Council
issued a statement condemning the Islamists' attacks.
"The members of the
Security Council reiterate that widespread or systematic attacks
directed against any civilian populations because of their ethnic
background, political grounds, religion or belief may constitute a crime
against humanity, for which those responsible must be held
accountable," the statement said
The council called on
the international community to support Iraq "and to do all it can to
help alleviate the suffering of the population affected by the current
conflict."
Kurdish region
Outside Irbil, the
internal refugees were sleeping in parking lots or shells of buildings
under construction with little access to water or any other services,
CNN's Ivan Watson reported.
Kurdish officials call for U.S. or NATO airstrikes to help them fight the ISIS forces.
They also issued
statements intended to boost morale of the Kurdish people, saying the
Kurdish Pershmerga fighters would be able to hold off any serious threat
to Irbil and other cities.
A senior State
Department official said the United States also was weighing opening a
humanitarian corridor to provide support to Kurdish and Iraqi forces.
Earnest, however, said
while the United States would support Iraqi and Kurdish efforts, "we
can't solve these problems for them. These problems can only be solved
with Iraqi political solutions."
The United States has
245 military personnel in Iraq, 90 of whom are advisers. The carrier USS
George H.W. Bush and other Navy ships also are in the region.
The Yazidis
Yazidis, among Iraq's
smallest minorities, are of Kurdish descent, and their religion is
considered a pre-Islamic sect that draws from Christianity, Judaism and
Zoroastrianism.
Most of the 500,000 or so members live in and around Sinjar in northwestern Nineveh province, bordering Iraq's Kurdish region.
The U.N. children's
agency, UNICEF, said Tuesday that official reports indicated 40 children
from the Yazidi minority had died "as a direct consequence of violence,
displacement and dehydration" since the weekend.
"Families who fled the
area are in immediate need of urgent assistance, including up to 25,000
children who are now stranded in mountains surrounding Sinjar and are in
dire need of humanitarian aid including drinking water and sanitation
services," it said.
end quote from:
Minority groups facing slaughter by militants
The United States also airdropped meals and water, sending humanitarian
aid to thousands of families trapped and fleeing an area occupied by
ISIS.
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