Iraq Asked The White House For Air Support Against Militants - But They Said No

Stringer/ReutersCivilian children stand next to a burnt vehicle during clashes between Iraqi security forces and al Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the northern Iraq city of Mosul, June 10, 2014.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki asked last month for the U.S. to consider carrying out air strikes against its growing insurgency and the White House turned him down, The New York Times reports.

While the Obama administration denied the initial request, a senior U.S. military official told The Daily Beast the White House "did not give them a hard no - it was 'Thanks for your interest and we will talk about it more."

Insurgents in Iraq have scored a number of successes in the country recently, seizing control of the key Iraqi cities of Mosul and Tikrit, as well as occupying facilities in the oil-refining town of Baiji. These facilities include a power station that provides electricity to Kirkuk and Baghdad.

As well-trained, hostile forces increasingly surround al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister has asked for air support to include both manned and unmanned missions.

While there has been no request for ground troops, manned missions would mean a return to combat for a U.S. military that waged a bloody campaign against extremists for nearly nine years.

Still, the U.S. has provided Iraq with $14 billion in military aid so far, including F-16 fighter jets, M-16 rifles, Apache helicopters, and other military hardware, according to The Times.

Check out the full report at The Times >