"Having American troops drawn into this fight... (would come) with a host of problems," said one US military official, speaking on condition of anonymity. A second US military official also said the option was not under consideration.
A civilian US official told Reuters: "What we need is for everybody who is in Iraq to defend Iraq, and in the end, it's got to be Iraqis."
"Remember whose country it is and who's got to take responsibility for it. It's not the United States, in this case. It's the Iraqis," the civilian US official said.