[House Document 113-171]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]




113th Congress, 2d Session - - - - - - - - - - - - House Document 113-171

 
           DEPLOYMENT OF ADDITIONAL U.S. ARMED FORCES TO IRAQ
         

                               __________

                             COMMUNICATION

                                  from

                   THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

                              transmitting

 A LETTER DIRECTING THE DEPLOYMENT OF UP TO 475 ADDITIONAL U.S. ARMED 
                        FORCES PERSONNEL TO IRAQ




 November 12, 2014.--Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 
                         ordered to be printed
                                           The White House,
                                    Washington, September 23, 2014.
Hon. John A. Boehner,
Speaker of the House of Representatives,
Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Speaker: In my reports of August 8 and 17 and 
September 1 and 8, 2014, I described a series of discrete 
military operations in Iraq to stop the advance on Erbil by the 
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), support civilians 
trapped on Mount Sinjar, support operations by Iraqi forces to 
recapture the Mosul Dam, support an operation to deliver 
humanitarian assistance to civilians in the town of Amirli, 
Iraq, and conduct airstrikes in the vicinity of Haditha Dam.
    As I noted in my address to the Nation on September 10, 
with a new Iraqi government in place, and following 
consultations with allies abroad and the Congress at home, I 
have ordered implementation of a new comprehensive and 
sustained counterterrorism strategy to degrade, and ultimately 
defeat, ISIL. As part of this strategy, I have directed the 
deployment of 475 additional U.S. Armed Forces personnel to 
Iraq, and I have determined that it is necessary and 
appropriate to use the U.S. Armed Forces to conduct 
coordination with Iraqi forces and to provide training, 
communications support, intelligence support, and other 
support, to select elements of the Iraqi security forces, 
including Kurdish Peshmerga forces. I have also ordered the 
U.S. Armed Forces to conduct a systematic campaign of 
airstrikes and other necessary actions against these terrorists 
in Iraq and Syria. These actions are being undertaken in 
coordination with and at the request of the Government of Iraq 
and in conjunction with coalition partners.
    It is not possible to know the duration of these 
deployments and operations. I will continue to direct such 
additional measures as necessary to protect and secure U.S. 
citizens and our interests against the threat posed by ISIL.
    I have directed these actions, which are in the national 
security and foreign policy interests of the United States, 
pursuant to my constitutional and statutory authority as 
Commander in Chief (including the authority to carry out Public 
Law 107-40 and Public Law 107-243) and as Chief Executive, as 
well as my constitutional and statutory authority to conduct 
the foreign relations of the United States.
    I am providing this report as part of my efforts to keep 
the Congress fully informed, consistent with the War Powers 
Resolution (Public Law 93-148). I appreciate the support of the 
Congress in this action.
            Sincerely,
                                                      Barack Obama.