NYT President Obama said Thursday that the United States will deploy up to 300 military advisers to Iraq to help beleaguered security forces fend off Sunni militants, edging the United States back into a military conflict that Mr. Obama thought he had left behind.
Mr. Obama also said the United States was gathering intelligence on the positions of militant fighters to identify targets, and said, “We will be prepared to take targeted and precise military action if we conclude the situation on the ground requires it.”
The president emphasized again that he will not send combat troops to Iraq, but he 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.