President Obama said the US will send up to 300 military advisers to assist the Iraqi Army, and that the US will step up its intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance efforts in Iraq to help it battle Islamist insurgents. US officials in Baghdad are consulting with Sunnis, Kurds and Shiites about possible alternatives to a government led by Iraqi president Nouri al Maliki. A recent report claimed that as many as 15 Somali-Americans have left Minnesota to fight in Iraq or Syria alongside the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham.
