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   From: gay.scum@barrackobama.com   
      
   Turning loose those five terrorists had immediate and positive   
   results - for the terrorists.   
      
   Gutless puke Barack Obama got a boot kicked up his ass.   
      
   Washington: Washington vowed Wednesday to boost aid to Iraq and   
   is mulling drone strikes amid fears Iraqi forces are crumbling   
   in face of militants increasingly emboldened since the US   
   withdrawal.   
      
   Iraqi officials have already privately asked the US to consider   
   sending in drones to root out militants from the Islamic State   
   of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), who in a lightning offensive have   
   seized a swathe of the north.   
      
   The request has been turned down in the past, but Washington is   
   now weighing possibilities for more military assistance to   
   Baghdad, including drone strikes, a US official told AFP on   
   condition of anonymity.   
      
   Resorting to such aircraft -- which remain highly controversial   
   in Afghanistan and Pakistan -- would mark a dramatic shift in   
   the US engagement in Iraq, after the last American troops pulled   
   out in late 2011. "The United States has been fast to provide   
   necessary support for the people and government of Iraq,"   
   National Security Advisor Susan Rice told a Washington think-   
   tank.   
      
   "We are working together to roll back aggression and counter the   
   threat" posed by ISIL to Iraq and the region, Rice said. But she   
   insisted the US "must do more to strengthen our partners'   
   capacity to defeat the terrorist threat on their home turf by   
   providing them the necessary training, equipment and support."   
      
   State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki stressed there were no   
   current plans to send US troops back to Iraq, where around 4,500   
   Americans died in the eight-year conflict. She also denied the   
   offensive, in which the militants seized northern Mosul and then   
   Tikrit, had caught Washington by surprise or marked a failure of   
   US policy in the country it invaded in 2003.   
      
   The United States has repeatedly warned of the dangers of ISIL   
   and has already expedited arms shipments to Iraq this year and   
   ramped up training for Iraqi security forces. White House   
   spokesman Jay Carney said the US would "stand with Iraqi leaders   
   across the political spectrum as they forge the national unity   
   necessary to succeed in the fight against ISIL."   
      
   The US would also provide "and as required increase, assistance   
   to the government of Iraq to help build Iraq's capacity to   
   effectively and sustainably stop ISIL's efforts to wreak havoc   
   in Iraq and the region," he added in a statement.   
      
   In January, Washington sold 24 Apache attack helicopters to   
   Baghdad, as well as about 300 anti-tank Hellfire missiles and   
   two of some 36 F-16 fighter aircraft, according to a Pentagon   
   spokesman.   
      
   Some of the arms have been delivered and others will soon be on   
   their way. A request for a further $1 billion in aid, including   
   provisions for around 200 Humvee vehicles and 24 AT-6C Texan II   
   aircraft, is before Congress.   
      
   The last US troops left Iraq in December 2011, eight years after   
   ousting Saddam Hussein following the invasion ordered by then   
   president George W. Bush.   
      
   Since then, Washington has provided training to Iraq's military   
   for counterterrorism missions, including in Jordan since early   
   2014.   
      
   Iraq debacle US Vice President Joe Biden meanwhile called for   
   the "safe and immediate" return of 49 Turkish citizens kidnapped   
   from a consulate in Mosul.   
      
   During a call with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,   
   Biden said "the United States is prepared to support Turkey's   
   efforts to bring about the safe return of its citizens."   
      
   US officials also said they would try to help an estimated   
   500,000 people displaced from Mosul. Amid reports that the Iraqi   
   army had simply fled the city in face of the offensive, security   
   expert Bruce Riedel told AFP "there's plenty of room for finger-   
   pointing for the debacle in Iraq."   
      
   He pointed to "the disastrous decision to start the war in   
   2003." The Pentagon needed to review the difficulties facing the   
   Iraqi military, the Brookings Institution senior fellow said.   
   "If it's a problem that the Iraqi military is broken at its   
   core, then there's no point in sending more Humvees and   
   Apaches," Riedel added. "It's a point of how do we minimize our   
   losses and live with what might be rapidly be developing as a de-   
   facto partition of Iraq between a Sunni extremist state and a   
   Shiite state."   
      
   http://www.firstpost.com/world/us-promises-to-stand-by-iraq-   
   offers-support-to-combat-militants-1566835.html   
      
       
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)