Obama rules out sending combat troops to Iraq

President Obama on Friday ruled out sending US combat troops to Iraq but promised unspecified help to the country even as American policy in the region was going up in flames with the Sunni terrorist group ISIS marching to towards Baghdad. 

More than once, the US President indicated that boots on the ground is not an option for Washington even though he was being pilloried for frittering away gains from the nearly decade long American presence in the region. Acknowledging that the ISIS advance ‘poses a danger to Iraq and its people and, given the nature of these terrorists, it could pose a threat eventually to American interests as well,’ Obama said he has asked his national security team to prepare ‘a range of other options’ but it would take a few days to get them ready. 

‘People should not anticipate this is something that is going to happen overnight,’ Obama said, amid talk of American air strikes following the deployment of a US aircraft carrier to the region. ‘We want to make sure that we have good eyes on the situation there. We want to make sure we've gathered all the intelligence that is necessary so that if I do order action it will be precise and direct.’  Obama blamed the Iraqi leadership for its inability to bridge the sectarian divide that has inflamed the country and led the sunni ISIS fighters to move against the Shia-dominated govt. 

‘The United States is not simply going to involve itself in a military action in the absence of a political plan by the Iraqis that gives us some assurance that they're prepared to work together,’ Obama said, adding, ‘We're not going to allow ourselves to be dragged back into a situation where the (Iraqi) political leaders fail to address the underlying fissures dividing Iraqi society.’