U.S. Weighs Military Rescue Mission for Yazidi Refugees

 The proposal is still under development and hasn't been approved by President Barack Obama. U.S. officials said the rescue mission is one of many options the U.S. military is weighing after dropping food and water to dying refugees over the past six days.
 
"People are looking at ways to do something more than just drop water and supplies," one senior U.S. official said. "You can only do that for so long."
 
Since last week, the U.S. has sought to halt the militants' advance on the Kurdish city of Erbil and to relieve Yazidis trapped by the fighters on a barren mountain range through a campaign of airstrikes and aid drops.
 
A rescue mission could expose U.S. forces to direct fire from the militant group Islamic State, also known as ISIS, and that is a risk Mr. Obama may not be willing to accept.
 
On Tuesday, the Pentagon continued to lay the groundwork for a rescue by sending another 130 military advisers to northern Iraq to develop options the Pentagon can present to the president. The team will be made up of U.S. Marines and members of American special operations forces who have expertise in difficult missions.
 
The U.K. government also announced it was sending several Chinook transport helicopters to the region—a move that would position British forces to help rescue Yazidi refugees struggling to survive in the mountain range.
 
Mr. Obama has repeatedly emphasized that the air campaign would be limited in scope, if not duration. At the same time, the U.S. has opened the door to offering more support to the Iraqi government if it successfully establishes a new government. It is already covertly supplying Kurdish forces with arms, U.S. officials said.
 
"This is not a combat, boots-on-the-ground operation," said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel during a talk Tuesday afternoon with U.S. Marines at Camp Pendleton, Calif. "But, short of that, there are some things that we can continue to do—and we are doing."
 
No rescue operation is likely to take place until the U.S. military gets a better understanding of the scope of the crisis. American officials don't know how many refugees are trapped in the mountains. Estimates range from several thousand to as many as 35,000 people.
 
"Any operation with respect to the mountain has its challenges," the official said. "Whether you try to do something by air, whether you try to do something by ground, both have inherent risks to them."
 
Since Thursday, U.S. military planes have been dropping tons of food and water for thousands of Yazidis forced into the mountains by militants from the Islamic State. The U.K. has recently joined in the airdrops, and Australia is expected to join in the effort in the coming days.
 
At the same time, U.S. jet fighters and armed drones have repeatedly hit Islamic State forces near Mount Sinjar and halted efforts by the fighters to advance on the stranded Yazidi refugees. The latest strike came Tuesday when an American drone destroyed an Islamic State mortar position firing on Iraqi forces protecting Yazidis trying to get to safety.
 
The Iraqi military has joined the effort by dispatching helicopters to drop small amounts of water and rescue dozens of desperate refugees.
 
On Tuesday, one helicopter loaded with refugees crashed as it tried to leave the mountain, killing the pilot and injuring several people. Lt. Gen. Qassem Atta, an army spokesman, said a technical problem caused the crash.
 
Among those on board were Yazidi lawmaker Vian Dakhil, who became known for an emotional plea for help that she made in parliament last week for her religious kin, and two journalists for the New York Times. Alissa J. Rubin, New York Times Paris bureau chief and a longtime war correspondent, and Adam Ferguson, a freelance photographer on assignment for the paper, were injured in the crash, the newspaper said.
 
Iraqi helicopters on similar missions have successfully carried scores of refugees to safety. So far, helicopters haven't faced serious threats from Islamic State fighters on the ground.
 
Along with the aerial rescue operation, Syrian Kurdish fighters who control the border area at the base of the northern side of Mount Sinjar have cleared the way for some Yazidis to escape.
 
Thousands of refugees have flooded out of the mountain range and into neighboring Syria. Many have taken shelter at a refugee camp, while others have crossed back into part of Iraq not threatened by the Islamic State.
 
If these rescue operations continue to be successful, a U.S.-led rescue mission might not be necessary, officials said.
 
"My sense is the situation on Mount Sinjar is not as dire as it was 48 hours ago," said one senior U.S. military official.
 
Sending U.S. forces on a rescue mission in northern Iraq would also increase the risks for Americans. So far, the dangers have been limited. American cargo planes have carried out nearly a week of airdrops without facing any serious threats from Sunni forces on the ground.
 
U.S. jet fighters have also carried out five days of airstrikes with no danger of being shot down, officials said.
 
Mr. Obama authorized the airstrikes and aid mission out of fear that the Sunni militants were trying to wipe out the Yazidi religious minority in what would be an act of genocide.
 
Staging a rescue mission, if approved, could be a turning point for U.S. involvement in Iraq.
 
"This to me represents a dramatic escalation, and I think it deserves a little bit of thought to avoid exactly a Black Hawk down situation, where you think you're there for humanitarian reasons and suddenly you're there for a civil war," said Sam Brannen, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies who worked at the Pentagon in the Obama administration
 
A rescue operation, whether its conducted by land or by air, would put U.S. troops at risk, in part because militants can be hard to discern from civilians, said Michael Rubin, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.
 
"Are you going to risk having someone come on to a helicopter or into a crowd that's actually a suicide bomber?" Mr. Rubin said.