Barack Obama allowed air strikes against jihadist terrorists IS: Is this the beginning of a new war in Iraq for the United States? Just want to avoid the President.

If a US-President shall act late in the evening before the TV cameras, which is usually a bad omen. So also in the early hours of Friday: Since Barack Obama appeared in the dining room of the White House – a rather unusual place for such dramatic performances – and read an eight-minute statement from the teleprompter, which many seemed like a bad deja vu.

In fact, history seems to be repeating itself in those eight minutes. Again, a President from Washington ordered air strikes in a Middle Eastern country. And again, it was in this country about Iraq – America’s war trauma still fresh.

Still – – ​​anything other than eleven and a half years ago, when Obama’s predecessor George W. Bush from the Oval Office announced from the beginning of the disastrous war in Iraq Nevertheless this time. A war on whose rejection of Obama tied his political ascent, on the Senate to the White House – where would it then but always seek this war until now.

US Air Strikes Against Islamic State Iraq:President Obama wants just a little war

Which explains why Obama this time just a little war will. It has permitted limited air strikes, not on Iraq or his government, but to the terror group “Islamic State” (IS), which threatens the population. In particular, some 40,000 refugees of religious minority Yazidi, sitting on Mount Sinjar near the Syrian border in the case and fear death.

“This week has caused an Iraqi, that nobody comes to help,” Obama said, and spoke of a potential genocide. “Today, America comes to the rescue.”

US intervention consists of two parts:

Surgical air strikes: You should protect American citizens in Iraq, if the radical Islamic militia bring them into danger. Obama called the city of Erbil in the Kurdish autonomous region, where “diplomats and civilians serve in our consulates and American military personnel to advise Iraqi forces.” If the “barbaric” IS militia is move to Erbil, there would be “targeted strikes” on their convoys. It circulated conflicting information about whether it had already been air strikes or not. “So far, no air strikes took place,” it said in the night from U.S. government circles. But Kurdish and Iraqi officials said, according to the “New York Times” that there had been in the night U.S. air attacks on two towns in northern Iraq, and Gwer Mahmour.

Humanitarian aid: Obama also authorized the dropping of food and drinking water for the trapped Yazidis. This action, he stressed it was “at the request of the Iraqi government.” According to the White House about 8,000 meals and more than 200,000 liters of drinking water have already been dropped on the mountain, from three transport aircraft of the U.S. military, escorted by two F-18 fighter planes.

“These innocent families are faced with a terrible choice,” Obama said of the Yazidis. “Either they ascend the mountain and be slaughtered, or stay and die slowly of thirst and hunger.”

It was Obama to hear how hard he remembered this decision. “The United States can not and should not intervene every time there is a crisis in the world”, he tried his half-hearted Obama Doctrine – the crux of its tangled foreign policy – rhetorically still be saved. But this time was clear: We need to act to “prevent a massacre”.

US Air Strikes Against Islamic State Iraq:US air strikes are not the only means

The air strikes are certainly not the only military force means the United States in Iraq. Military advisers are already on the ground to support the overmatched Iraqi forces against IS. They would also help if necessary to “break” the siege of Mount Sinjar, Obama announced.

However, this U.S. personnel was not trained for combat, stressed a senior White House officials shortly afterwards: “We will not use any combat troops.” Help there would be only in the form of further military advisers. “These are very clear limitations.”

Understandable: The vast majority of Americans – especially Obama – have no desire to plunge Iraq into a new war adventures. Instead, Obama is a political solution: It was hoped that the government crisis in Iraq is settled until Sunday, it said.

“The risk for the future of Iraq could not be clearer,” said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in the night. “The current crisis underscores this risk deeply.” But the diplomatic capital of the United States in the region is currently close to zero.

Remained open again even if Obama is ever legally empowered to order air strikes alone, without blessing of vacationing Congress. “We are of the view that the President under the Constitution as commander in chief has the authority to to prevent damage to American citizens,” it said in the White House. Also international law approve of the actions that the government of Iraq had the United States asked for help.

In Congress itself, which is to mid-September in the summer break, the opinions are divided to. An existing authorization of the Congress of 2001, which permanently approved U.S. strikes against al-Qaida, could possibly not apply to the militia IS, since the group is not associated with al-Qaeda.

[adrotate group=”14″]