U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

1 

49–011 2014

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 


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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. 


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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. 

Æ 


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