On Saturday, President Barack Obama said in a statement that Americans should brace themselves for a longer U.S. involvement in Iraq. According to him, the United States cannot stand back while citizens are terrorized by the ISIL group and that as a result, air strikes could be continued to protect both U.S. diplomats and Iraq citizens.
The president added that the current situation is certainly not solvable in weeks and that Americans will be embarking on a long-term project.
Obama has already prepared a three-part strategy to ensure that U.S. involvement is efficient in Iraq, this only a day after aircrafts launched airstrikes on ISIL military installations. On Friday, American militants also dropped humanitarian aid for the thousands of Iraq citizens who fled from the terror of the ISIL group in the Sinjar Mountains.
According to president Obama, the top priority at the moment is to ensure that those who are stranded on the mountain are safe and can be returned to their homes. Additionally, the American president expressed his desire that the U.S. aid Iraq in establishing a functional and inclusive government.
In spite of President Obama’s implication in the matter, a U.S. military solution for the problem in Iraq is not a valid option and according to him, a broader solution needs to be found even if the immediate situation is trying to be dealt with.
After Sunni Islamic state extremists have captured hundreds of Yazidi women, other civilians were forced to flee into the mountains. These civilians included Christians and Kurds alike.
The women are, according to Iraq’s Human Rights Ministry, under the age of 35 and are being held in schools in the town of Mosul. Apparently these women are now considered slaves and will be sold off to or married to extremist fighters.
Yazidis belong to a religion that the Islamic State deems heretical. Sunni extremist groups view Shiite Muslims as apostates. Additionally, the same Sunni extremist groups have demanded that Christians either convert to Islam or pay a special fine.
President Obama’s concern is that there won’t be a possibility of providing safe passage to all those who face potential genocide at the hands of these extremists. He explained that both France and England have decided to join the humanitarian efforts.
The President not only acknowledged that Iraq needs a prime minister now more than ever (suggesting that he wrote off the legitimacy of Nouri al-Maliki, but also explaned that Iraq needs to effectively mount an offensive against these terror forces.
