Advisers Headed to Iraq

With Iraq being overrun by insurgent fighters, President Obama announced June 19 plans to send as many as 300 U.S. military advisers to help stabilize the government there. The troops will not assume a combat role, Obama said. “We will help Iraqis as they take the fight to terrorists who threaten the Iraqi people in the region and American interests as well,” Obama said. The insurgents, Sunni Muslims known as ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria), have overrun the cities of Mosul and Tikrit in the north and are taking aim on Baghdad. ISIS has been linked closely with Al Qaeda. Obama said the U.S. would like to see Iraq’s Shiite Muslim Prime Minister, Nouri Maliki, take steps to resolve sectarian differences peacefully.