Uh-oh

Times:

WASHINGTON — President Obama said Thursday that the United States will deploy up to 300 military advisers to Iraq to help its beleaguered security forces fend off Sunni militants, edging the United States back into a conflict that Mr. Obama thought he had left behind.

Mr. Obama also said the United States was gathering intelligence on the positions of militant fighters to identify targets, and added, “We will be prepared to take targeted and precise military action if we conclude the situation on the ground requires it.”

The president emphasized again that he would not send combat troops to Iraq, but he said the United States would help the Iraqis “take the fight” to the militants, who he said pose a threat to Iraq’s stability and to American interests, because Iraq could become a sanctuary for terrorists who could strike the United States or its allies.

That's "up to" 300 advisers, and "prepared" to take some undefined military action not by ground troops, so up to here it's just establishing a posture, and perhaps some kind of signal to Iran that we wouldn't know how to read, or ante-up gesture to Maliki, or just STFU Fred Kagan (which is always a good idea in its own right). But I'll be prepared to take targeted and precise literary action if they disappoint me.

Ruh roh. Via.