Obama says he had ordered two operations in Iraq. Obama authorizes airstrikes

President Barack Obama said Thursday night he has authorized “targeted airstrikes” in northern Iraq and the delivery of humanitarian assistance to religious minorities trapped there by Sunni extremists.

“Several military aircraft” dropped the supplies to a group of Iraqis near the town of Sinjar, a senior defense official said. The aircraft were able to drop and exit the Iraqi airspace safely.


American warplanes have not launched attacks in Iraq so far, senior administration officials said, but Obama has authorized such strikes if commanders believe they are necessary.

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Addressing the nation from the White House, the president said American warplanes would attack convoys of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant if they threatened the Kurdish capital of Erbil, which is home to a U.S. diplomatic mission and a joint operations center staffed by American special operators.

Moreover, he said, the threat posed by ISIL to the Yazidi religious minority constitutes a potential genocide — and said the U.S. must try to stop it.

“Today America is coming to help,” Obama said, making it clear, though, he had no intention of launching another ground war in Iraq.

“As commander-in-chief, I will not allow the United States to be dragged into fighting another war in Iraq,” he said. “And so even 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’s no American military solution to the larger crisis in Iraq. The only lasting solution is reconciliation among Iraqi communities and stronger Iraqi security forces.”

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The United States can’t intervene in every international dilemma, Obama said. He acknowledged his own eagerness to end the Iraq war, but said America must act in the face of a “ruthless” and “barbaric” campaign by ISIL.

Vice President Joe Biden also phoned Kurdistan’s regional president, Masoud Barzani, to discuss the humanitarian and security crisis, the White House said.

Three Air Force cargo aircraft — one Boeing-built C-17 Globemaster III and two Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules — spent about 15 minutes over the drop zone on Thursday, the Pentagon said.

The aircraft released about 5,300 gallons of drinking water and about 8,000 meals. The cargo aircraft were escorted by two F/A-18 Hornet fighters. And defense officials held out the possibility of future humanitarian drops.

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“The United States military will continue to work with the Department of State as well as international partners including the government of Iraq, the United Nations and non-government organizations to assess the need for additional humanitarian operations in Iraq going forward,” the Pentagon said.

The White House said it had conferred with congressional leaders on Thursday ahead of the operations there, and that it believed Obama had the authority to act under his national security powers and because of Iraq’s request for help. If American warplanes do launch attacks in Iraq, Obama would notify Congress under the War Powers Resolution, a senior administration official said.

The official stressed that Obama’s order was limited to protecting Erbeil and the Yazidi religious minority, and it would not usher in more action or authorize strikes on Syria or elsewhere in the Middle East.

“We are not launching a sustained campaign against ISIL here,” the official said.

Administration officials made clear that Thursday’s actions hadn’t changed the basic outlook on Iraq, which must form an inclusive government in order to bring the crisis to a final end.

“An enduring solution to the persistent threat posed by ISIL will require further reconciliation among Iraqi communities and strengthened Iraqi security forces,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a statement.

Thursday night’s announcements closed out an afternoon and evening of confused and conflicting reports about what was taking place in Iraq and Washington. The New York Times and other news organizations reported that American warplanes had conducted airstrikes in Iraq, but the Pentagon issued a strong denial. Pentagon officials deferred questions to the White House, where officials deferred questions to the Pentagon.

Earlier in the day, White House press secretary Josh Earnest condemned the “cold and calculating manner” in which the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has targeted religious and ethnic minorities in the territory it has seized. “It is a situation we are deeply concerned about and closely monitoring,” he said.

But other than confirming Obama met with national security advisers this morning, Earnest and other White House officials would not comment on a report in The Times that Obama could decide soon about potential air strikes or additional humanitarian assistance for the crisis in the north.

“I’m not in a position to rule things on the table or off the table in this context,” Earnest said.

A defense official told POLITICO on Thursday afternoon that Iraq’s government had begun dropping relief supplies to some 40,000 Iraqi Yazidis trapped on a mountaintop without access to food or water and cut off by ISIL fighters. The U.S. is in “constant communication” with Baghdad and Erbil, the official said, “on how we can help coordinate additional relief, enhance their efforts and provide direct assistance wherever possible.”

At a White House briefing earlier in the day, Earnest responded to questions about potential attacks by restating the administration’s position that American military action in Iraq is dependent upon Baghdad forming a new, inclusive government.

“You don’t want to have a situation where you have an Iraqi government that is relying solely on American military might to remain in power,” he said. Washington especially wants to see a new government in Baghdad that does not include the incumbent prime minister, Nouri al Maliki, whom American officials have blamed for alienating large sections of Iraq’s population.