Obama to Meet With Lawmakers as He Weighs Iraq Airstrikes --- President Barack Obama will meet with the four top congressional leaders tomorrow on U.S. options in Iraq, as he ponders whether to launch airstrikes against Islamic militants. -- Obama will discuss foreign policy with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and House Democratic leaderNancy Pelosi at the White House. -- “I’m anxious to see what plan he might have, given where we are,” McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said. -- The president informed congressional leaders yesterday under the War Powers Act that he will deploy as many as 275 U.S. troops to Iraq to protect the American embassy and staff in Baghdad, Iraq’s capital. -- The troops, which are ready for combat, will remain available until security improves, according to the White House. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad will remain open, although its staff has been reduced. -- In weighing airstrikes against Islamic militants in Iraq, Obama is considering an option that could prove as inconclusive and chaotic as the war the U.S. thought had ended there in 2011. -- Unlike the strikes that preceded the Iraq and Afghanistan ground wars, any air offensive this time would come with the encouragement and support of the Iraqi government, giving the U.S. virtually complete control of the skies to curb the Sunni militants’ offensive. - More, Bloomberg, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-17/iraq-airstrikes-carry-downside-as-obama-weighs-options.html