June 13, 2014.

Obama to Review Options on Iraq, But Will Send No Troops

"Yes."

WASHINGTON----President Barack Obama Friday laid the groundwork for U.S. military action in Iraq, saying the crisis poses a threat to American national security interests—but cautioning that a possible strike isn't imminent.

And he did see them, for a fleeting instant, before the scenery of his mind changed. He saw five fingers, and there was no deformity. Then everything was normal again, and the old fear, the hatred, and the bewilderment came crowding back again. But there had been a moment----he did not know how long, thirty seconds, perhaps----of luminous certainty, when each new suggestion of O’Brien’s had filled up a patch of emptiness and become absolute truth, and when two and two could have been three as easily as five, if that were what was needed. It had faded but before O’Brien had dropped his hand; but though he could not recapture it, he could remember it, as one remembers a vivid experience at some period of one’s life when one was in effect a different person.

Mr. Obama said he would make a decision in coming days as he considers a range of military options in Iraq that are designed to slow the tide of Sunni militants, who have seized control of several major cities in recent days and are encroaching on Baghdad.

"You see now," said O’Brien, "that it is at any rate possible."

However, the president made clear that he isn't considering the deployment of U.S. ground troops, saying "we will not be sending U.S. troops back into combat in Iraq."