IraqObama orders 300 U.S. “advisers” to Iraq

President Barack Obama a few minutes ago announced he authorized sending up to 300 U.S. troops to Iraq to help Iraqi military forces cope with a rapidly advancing attack by Islamist fighters from the fundamentalist group ISIS.

“It is in our national security interest not to see an all-out civil war in Iraq,” Obama said.

The president, speaking from the White House Briefing Room, stressed that he would not send combat troops into Iraq, and the contingent being sent there would operate as “advisers.”

While reiterating that he would not send combat troops to Iraq, the president said the United States would help the Iraqis “take the fight” to the militants, who he said pose a threat to Iraq’s stability and to American interests, because Iraq could become a sanctuary for terrorists who could strike the United States or its allies.

Obama also said the United States was gathering intelligence on the positions of militant fighters to identify targets, and added, “We will be prepared to take targeted and precise military action if we conclude the situation on the ground requires it.”

The Washington Post noted that Obama stopped short of explicitly calling for Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki to step down, but he did stressed that Iraq would be far better off with leadership which is more inclusive and which is more accommodating of the demands of Iraq’s ethnic and religious minorities.

Obama’s appearance in the Briefing Room followed a meeting with his national security team in the White House Situation Room.

The Iraqi government, brushing aside U.S. barely veiled demand that Maliki step down, and indicating that Maliki was not going to make his government more inclusive, still expressed its frustration Thursday over U.S. reluctance to use its air power to attack the insurgents.