The WSJ reports,"President Barack Obama decided against immediate air strikes on marauding Sunni extremists in Iraq, opting instead to pursue strategies such as providing intelligence to the Iraqi military, addressing the country's political divisions and seeking support from regional allies".
Mr. Obama will convene a White House meeting Wednesday with Republican and Democratic leaders from the House and Senate to brief them on what officials call this new comprehensive approach.
The White House and Pentagon now hold a more skeptical view of the possible effectiveness of speedy airstrikes and instead are considering deploying U.S. special operations forces to provide intelligence and battlefield advice to the Iraqi military, the U.S. officials say.
The president faces little pressure from the American public to launch a military offensive in Iraq less than three years after he ended American involvement in what had grown to be a deeply unpopular war there, although some U.S. lawmakers have urged him to quickly act militarily.
Mr. Obama has asked his advisers to craft an Iraq response package that includes political measures to be taken by the Iraqi government in addition to the training and advisers.
A third component—support from countries in the region—also ideally would be part of the package, U.S. officials said, but appears increasingly unlikely amid longtime sectarian splits among Iraq's neighbors.
Also affecting the administration's thinking about the merits of airstrikes is the performance of Iraqi security forces, which has improved in recent days after large scale desertions last week.
Adm. Kirby said there were encouraging signs that Iraq's security forces, and the Shiite militias helping them, are better prepared than those in the north to combat the threat from ISIS
"It appears as if they have the will to defend the capital," he said. "We have reason to believe, certainly indications, that the Iraqi security forces are stiffening their resistance."
