President Obama is ready to use American air power in “targeted and precise military action” against Islamists who have captured vast swathes of northern Iraq and are now threatening the capital.
Mr Obama made the dramatic announcement yesterday after meeting his national security advisers.
He said that he was deploying an elite US special operations force to Baghdad to stiffen the spines of the Iraqi military, who crumbled in the face of advancing Islamic extremists.
Along with the 300 special forces, who will train and advise the Iraqi security forces, Mr Obama said that he was prepared to set up joint operating centres in Baghdad and northern Iraq to share intelligence and co-ordinate a plan to beat back forces from the Islamic State of Iraq