State Dept.: Obama Acted Against ‘Imminent Threat’ To ‘Strategically Important’ Erbil

‘You saw the president take very quick action’

HARF: "We really wanted to prevent ISIL's very rapid move on Erbil. It happened really over the past several days and that's why you saw the president take very quick action, because there was an imminent threat to Erbil, where we have a number of people today. He did speak with Congressional leaders, we've talked to Congress quite bit about this. They understood the need to move very quickly to protect our people there. And unlike Syria, the Iraqi government invited us in. They asked us, all different leaders in Iraq, religious leaders, government leaders, tribal leaders, asked us to help in this case. And that's why you've really seen where we could act for very urgent humanitarian crisis. Tens of thousands of people, as you mentioned, potentially about to starve to death on this mountain, when we can bring resources to bear quickly, unlike anyone else can, you saw the president say we absolutely have to do so."

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