There's been a lot of debate over what the US response will be to the chaos currently engulfing Iraq. What are the options? Military, non-military? Is it even our business to be there?
Well, now the Iraqi government (whatever's left of it, anyhow) has officially put its thumb on the scale by requesting the US use its air power against ISIS.
The Iraqi government had recently claimed some success against ISIS in battle, but now they are asking for us to bomb:
CNN: Iraq has asked for air power, says top U.S. military official
While Iraq's military claimed Wednesday to have driven back militants battling for control of the country, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told Congress that the United States has received a request from the Iraqi government to use its air power in the conflict.
Gen. Martin Dempsey, the senior ranking member of the U.S. armed forces, spoke before the Senate Appropriations Committee Wednesday on Capitol Hill in Washington, saying that the United States' "national security interest [is] to counter [ISIS] where we find them."
This appears to move us significantly closer to officially resuming our military intervention in Iraq, albeit only with air power* (for now). Unless you think Obama will refuse a request from the Iraqi government.
Are they doing this of their own accord, or were they pressured into it to provide legal cover for an imminent American action that had already been decided upon, or what? So many questions.
*Technically, we're sending 275 troops in to help secure the US embassy. So we actually have troops there.