President Barack Obama on Thursday ordered up to 300 members of U.S. special-operations forces to Iraq, while ruling out immediate airstrikes against Sunni extremists and stepping up the pressure on Baghdad to form a government that bridges the country's ethnic and religious divisions.
Mr. Obama announced his plans at a news conference after he met with his national security team. He spent much of his public appearance focused on Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite whom U.S. officials and lawmakers blame for lighting the fuse of the crisis through policies detrimental to the country's minority Sunni population.
Mr. Obama also made clear, as have other U.S. officials this week, he isn't opposed to Iraqis replacing Mr. Maliki, whose government has struggled to counter advances by militant Sunni fighters with the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.
"Now, it's not the place for the United States to choose Iraq's leaders," Mr. Obama said. "It is clear, though, that only leaders that can govern with an inclusive agenda are going to be able to truly bring the Iraqi people together and help them through this crisis."
Mr. Obama questioned whether Mr. Maliki is such a leader. "The test is before him and other Iraqi leaders as we speak," Mr. Obama said. "Regardless of what's happened in the past, right now is a moment where the fate of Iraq hangs in the balance."
A key mechanism for tamping down the Sunni revolt, said Mr. Obama and other administration officials, is the swift formation of a new government following the ratification of April's parliamentary elections.
