June 17th, 2014
04:51 AM ET

Iraq Crisis: U.S. Moves Firepower to Region as ISIS Advance Continues

As the Islamic militants continue their murderous advance in Iraq, the Pentagon is moving more firepower and manpower into the region to prepare for whatever U.S. President Barack Obama orders.

Already at the U.S. Embassy, dozens of Marines and Army troops have moved in to beef up security.

The aircraft carrier George HW Bush and five other warships are now in the Persian Gulf. More than 500 Marines and dozens of helicopters are on standby.

A top priority: evacuate all Americans at the embassy if it comes to that.

On Monday, Secretary of State John Kerry, in an interview with Yahoo! News, acknowledged airstrikes on Iraqi targets are under consideration.

"Well, they are not the whole answer but they may well be one of the options that are important to be able to stem the tide and stop the movement of people who are moving around in open convoys and trucks and terrorizing people," he said. "When you have people murdering, assassinating in these mass massacres, you have to stop that and you do what you need to do."

We'll have the latest on "New Day" at 6am ET.

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soundoff (2 Responses)
  1. Junaid

    Us will not do any it is the true faith of muslims

    June 17, 2014 at 2:50 pm | Reply
  2. Mahmud

    Iraq majority are Sunni...Let Sunni Rule for peaceful athmosphare in Iraq

    June 17, 2014 at 6:56 am | Reply

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