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Obama Considering More Steps to Aid Iraqi Refugees

by VOA News August 13, 2014

The United States is considering measures including airlifts and a humanitarian corridor to rescue thousands of Iraqi religious minorities trapped on a mountain in northern Iraq.

On Wednesday, a key U.S. national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, said President Barack Obama would decide within days whether to send American military troops to help the Iraqi civilians, including Christians and members of the Yazidi religious sect. They'd fled brutal militants in the Islamic State group, who'd threatened to kill them unless they converted to Islam.

On Tuesday, the U.S. deployed another 129 military advisers to assess the situation on Mount Sinjar and elsewhere in northern Iraq. Obama will draw on their guidance in making his decisions, Rhodes said.

'Our goal here is to work with the Iraqis and with international partners so that these people can get off that mountain and to a safer place,' Rhodes said during a daily White House briefing, conducted in Edgartown, Massachusetts, where the president is vacationing with his family.

'Again, we don't believe that that involves U.S. troops re-entering a combat role in Iraq.'

Obama has pledged that American troops, which he ordered withdrawn from Iraq in 2011, will not return to ground action in the current crisis.

Last week, however, the U.S. leader authorized airstrikes against Islamic State fighters near Sinjar, with the attacks giving Kurdish fighters time to rescue more than 20,000 of those stranded on the mountain.

U.S. planes have been carrying out airdrops to get supplies to the refugees.

The military said late Tuesday it had conducted a sixth set of airdrops containing food and water, bringing the total amount of aid delivered so far to 100,000 meals and 27,000 gallons of water.

Other allies assist

Earlier this week, Massoud Barzani, president of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, asked the international community for help fighting the militants. The European Union failed to agree on a deal to supply weapons but said individual countries were free to make their own deals with Iraq.

On Wednesday, British Prime Minister David Cameron said an international plan is being developed to rescue the refugees. He'd cut short his vacation in Portugal Wednesday to return to London to meet with advisers on the humanitarian crisis.

He rejected demands by some British lawmakers to intervene militarily in Iraq. But he said Britain would play a role in the rescue plan, just as it already has with the United States in dropping food and water to the marooned refugees, some of whom have died in the extreme heat.

'I can confirm that detailed plans are now being put in place and are underway and that Britain will play a role in delivering them,' Cameron said.

On Wednesday, French President Francois Hollande's office said arms would be delivered in a matter of hours to Kurdish forces, with the coordination of the Iraqi government.

Maliki not giving up

Meanwhile, Iraq's incumbent Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he will not give up power until a federal court rules on President Fouad Massoum's decision to appoint Haider al-Abadi to take over the leadership post.

Maliki said during his weekly address Wednesday that Abadi's appointment to replace him violated the constitution and 'had no value.'

Maliki's critics accuse him of marginalizing Iraq's minorities.

He has been trying to extend his eight-year rule for a third term as Iraq moves to form a new government, but he has lost the support of the international community.

On Wednesday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lent his support to Abadi, the clearest sign yet that Tehran was no longer standing by Maliki.

'I hope the designation of the new prime minister in Iraq will untie the knot and lead to the establishment of a new government and teach a good lesson to those who aim for sedition in Iraq," Khamenei said during a meeting, according to a statement on his website.

Abadi has won swift endorsements from the United States and Iran as he called on political leaders to end feuds that have allowed Islamist militants to seize a third of Iraq.