Obama Considering Airstrike On Iraq's Islamic State
The Obama administration is reportedly considering an airstrike and a possible delivery of emergency supplies to religious minorities, including Christians, that have recently been displaced in Iraq by the Islamic State militant group.
The New York Times reported Thursday that a top official at the White House communicated that President Obama may conduct an isolated airstrike to weaken the Islamic State's power. Since the Islamic State began invading northern Iraqi towns in June, thousands of Christians and other religious minorities have been forced to flee to the country's mountaintop regions occupied by Kurdish forces.
The official told the NYT that at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the president weighed several options, including airstriking Islamic State troops or dropping humanitarian aid to victims. A second White House official told the newspaper that the president's decision will be made "imminently — this could be a fast-moving train."
"There could be a humanitarian catastrophe there," the official added.
Bernadette Meehan, a spokeswoman for Obama's National Security Council, added to Reuters that the president may also provide provisions to the Kurds, who are battling the Islamic State, but any such provision "must be coordinated with central government authorities, in Iraq and elsewhere."
The Islamic State recently displaced tens of thousands of members of the ancient Yazidi community when it defeated Kurdish forces over the weekend.
The Islamic State has also forced multiple Christians in the town of Mosul to convert to Islam, pay a tax or die, as well as imposed taxes on cars carrying goods to gain more power over the local economies. The ultimate goal of the Islamic State is to overthrow Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
