Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/329418
ByJuliePace The Associated Press WASHINGTON President Barack Obama promised Thursday to send more mil- itary aid to Iraq to help beat back a fast-moving insur- gency as the U.S. evacuated a major air base in the na- tion'snorthwhereithadbeen trainingIraqisecurityforces. Obama did not say what kind of new assistance would be given to Bagh- dad. But two U.S. officials who are familiar with on- going negotiations said the White House is considering air strikes and increased surveillance, requested this week by the Iraqi defense minister, as the insurgency nears Baghdad. The officials were not au- thorized to discuss the mat- ter by name and spoke only on condition of anonymity. The Iraqi government has been asking for more than a year for surveillance and armed drones to combat a Sunni insurgency that has gained strength from bat- tlefield successes in neigh- boring Syria. "What we've seen over the last couple of days indicates the degree to which Iraq is going to need more help," Obama said. "It's going to need more help from us, and it's going to need more help from the international com- munity." He added: "We do have a stake in making sure that these jihadists are not get- ting a permanent foothold in either Iraq, or Syria for that matter." The president commented toreportersduringanOvalOf- fice meeting with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Obama said he had not ruled out any options. But press secretary Jay Carney said the U.S. was not con- sidering military "boots on the ground," and State De- partment spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the administra- tion was not contemplating sending troops back to Iraq after leaving in 2011 at the end of an eight-year war. Several thousand Ameri- cans remain in Iraq, mostly contractors who work at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on programs to train Iraqi forces on American mili- tary equipment like fighter jets and tanks. One of the largest training missions was based at an air base in the city of Balad, about an hour northwest of Baghdad, where three planeloads of Americans were being evac- uated on Thursday. They in- cluded 12 U.S. government officials and military per- sonnel who have been train- ing Iraqi forces to use fighter jets and surveillance drones. The evacuation means that the program at Balad has been suspended indefi- nitely. Other U.S. contractors are at a tank training ground in the city of Taji, just north of the capital, that is still in operation for now. In addition to the pos- sible military assistance, Psaki said the U.S. is send- ing about $12 million in humanitarian aid to help nearly a million Iraqis who have been forced from their homes by recent fighting in the nation's north and west. Iraq has been beset by re- surgent violence since the last American troops with- drew after more than eight years of war. The violence escalated this week with an al-Qaida-inspired group capturing two key Sunni- dominated cities and talk- ing of a march on Baghdad. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other Iraqi leaders have pleaded with the Obama admin- istration for more than a year for additional help to combat the insurgency, which has been fueled by the unrelenting civil war in neighboring Syria. North- ern Iraq has become a way station for insurgents who routinely travel between the two countries and are seeding the Syrian war's vi- olence in Iraq and beyond. WORLD Ob am a: U S wi ll s en d fr es h help to beleaguered Iraq By Sameer N. Yacoub The Associated Press BAGHDAD Islamic mili- tants who seized cities and towns vowed Thursday to march on Baghdad to settle old scores, joined by Sad- dam Hussein-era loyalists and other disaffected Sun- nis capitalizing on the gov- ernment's political paraly- sis over the biggest threat to Iraq's stability since the U.S. withdrawal. Trumpeting their vic- tory, the militants also de- clared they would impose Shariah law in Mosul and other areas they have cap- tured. In northern Iraq, Kurdish security forces moved to fill the power vacuum — taking over an air base and other posts abandoned by the mil- itary in the ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk. The move further raised concern the country could end up par- titioned into Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish zones. Three planeloads of Americans were being evacuated from a major Iraqi air base in Sunni ter- ritory north of Baghdad, U.S. officials said, and Ger- many urged its citizens to immediately leave parts of Iraq, including Baghdad. President Barack Obama said Iraq will need more help from the United States, but he did not spec- ify what it would be willing to provide. Senior U.S. offi- cials who spoke on condi- tion of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter by name said Washington is consid- ering whether to conduct drone missions in Iraq. The U.N. Security Coun- cil met on the crisis, un- derscoring the growing in- ternational alarm over the stunning advances by fight- ers from the militant group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki had asked parlia- ment to declare a state of emergency that would give him and his Shiite-led gov- ernment increased powers to run the country, but the lawmakers failed to assem- ble a quorum. The Islamic State, whose Sunni fighters have cap- tured large swaths of terri- tory in Iraq and Syria, aims to create an Islamic emir- ate spanning both sides of the border. It has pushed deep into parts of Iraq's Sunni heartland once con- trolled by U.S. forces be- cause police and military forces melted away after relatively brief clashes, in- cluding in Iraq's second- largest city of Mosul. Skirmishes continued in several areas. Two commu- nities near Tikirt — the key oil refining center of Beiji and the city of Samarra, home to a prominent Shi- ite shrine — remained in government hands, ac- cording to Iraqi intelli- gence officials. The price of oil jumped to above $106 a barrel as the insurgency raised the risk of disrup- tions to supplies. In its statement, the Is- lamic State declared it would start implementing its strict version of Shariah law in Mosul and other re- gions it had overrun. It said women should stay in their homes for modesty rea- sons, warned it would cut off the hands of thieves, and told residents to attend daily prayers. It said Sun- nis in the military and po- lice should abandon their posts and "repent" or else "face only death." The Islamic State's spokesman vowed to take the fight into Baghdad. In a sign of the group's con- fidence, he even boasted that its fighters will take the southern Shiite cities of Karbala and Najaf, which hold two of the holiest shrines for Shiite Muslims. "We will march toward Baghdad because we have an account to settle there," he said in an audio record- ing posted on militant websites commonly used by the group. The state- ment could not be inde- pendently verified. Baghdad does not ap- pear to be in imminent danger of a similar assault, although Sunni insurgents have stepped up car bomb- ings and suicide attacks in the capital recently. IRAQ Sunni militants vow to march on Baghdad EMADMATTI—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Kurdish security forces deploy outside of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, 180miles north of Baghdad, Iraq, on Thursday. 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