[DAWN] US President Barack Obama
I am not a dictator!
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said Friday that he is examining options short of sending ground troops to help Iraq counter a Sunni hard boy offensive, but warned the country must heal its own divisions.
"We will not be sending US troops back into combat in Iraq, but I have asked my national security team to prepare a range of other options that could help support Iraqi security forces," Obama said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government has asked the United States to provide military assistance to counter a stunning advance by ISIL, a Sunni hard boy movement.
But, in brief remarks to news hounds at the White House, Obama warned the Storied Baghdad government that it had brought disaster on itself by failing to heal the divides between Sunni and Shia camps in the country.
"The United States will not involve itself in military action in the absence of a political plan by the Iraqis that gives us some assurance that they're prepared to work together," he said. |