With Allison Sherry
As President Obama reviews options on ways the United States might help the deteriorating situation in Iraq, U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan said today that any American military re-intervention would be a "terrible mistake."
Less than three years after pulling American forces out of Iraq, Obama is weighing a range of military options, including airstrikes, to quell an al-Qaida inspired insurgency that has seized control of two Iraqi cities.
With Obama and his closest advisors mulling their options to aid the besieged Iraqi government, Nolan said he has hand-delivered messages to Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel urging the U.S. to steer clear of the conflict. Obama has ruled out sending troops to Iraq.
"U.S. military re-intervention into Iraq, whether by supplying troops, weapons, or support by air or sea, would be a terrible mistake – exacerbating the conflict and drawing us back into a war that has already cost our nation trillions of dollars and thousands of precious lives," Nolan said in a statement.
"At this critical point, it is the leaders and people of Iraq who must step forward and reclaim their nation. America cannot do it for them, and we should not once again attempt to try."
The office of GOP Rep. John Kline, a member of the House Armed Services Committee and 25-year veteran of the Marine Corps, declined to comment on the situation. Members of both the Senate and House Armed Services committees have been briefed on the situation by national security officials, according to news reports.
