Obama authorizes U.S. airstrikes in Iraq as needed
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- President Barack Obama said Thursday evening that he has authorized the U.S. military to conduct airstrikes against Islamist forces as needed, but he said the nation would not send new ground troops there. Speaking in a televised address, Obama said such airstrikes would be made to protect U.S. personnel and facilities around the country, specifying the threat to the northern city of Erbil. The president also confirmed reports that U.S. planes had begun humanitarian air drops to prevent a "genocide" by Islamist ISIS forces against religious minorities in northern Iraq. Among other populations at risk, thousands of Yazidis, a Kurdish-speaking, non-Muslim minority group, are reportedly stranded in a mountain region and are at risk of starvation
