UPDATE 6:30 PM ABC NEWS
US ready to strike, unfolding right now.
I haven't heard President Obama's speech, but New York Times is reporting.....
DOHUK, Iraq — American military forces bombed at least two targets in northern Iraq on Thursday night to rout Islamist insurgents who have trapped tens of thousands of religious minorities in Kurdish areas, Kurdish officials said.
Word of the bombings, reported on Kurdish television from the city of Erbil, came as President Obama was preparing to make a statement in Washington.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
As the internal debate dragged on Thursday, Pentagon officials repeatedly and categorically denied numerous reports claiming US airstrikes or aid drops had already begun.
The US military is already helping the Iraqi government coordinate air drops of vital supplies to at least 40,000 Iraqis, mostly from the Yazidi minority, trapped on top of Mount Sinjar in the north after death threats from the Islamists who have overrun much of Sunni and northern Iraq.
http://www.theguardian.com/...