With Iraq's military in tatters and U.S. forces gone, the Kurdish peshmerga is the only viable force to stave off ISIS in Iraq. With little support from Baghdad, discontent grows among the fighters.
Airstrikes against ISIS have had some success. But James Jeffrey, Obama's former ambassador to Iraq, says Americans on the ground are necessary to win the war.
The White House authorized the deployment an additional 1,500 U.S. military personnel to Iraq to help advise that country in its fight against the so-called Islamic State, or ISIS.
In 2004, coalition forces began what would be the bloodiest battle American troops had seen since the Vietnam War. Melissa Block talks with Greg Nichols, who was 19 years old at the time.
The new personnel will serve "in a non-combat role to train, advise, and assist Iraqi Security Forces, including Kurdish forces," White House press secretary Josh Earnest says.
A Sunni Muslim tribe in central Iraq braves nightly shelling and threats from the Islamic State, refusing the group's orders to join its movement. But they say they need help.
U.S. airstrikes helped save thousands from the Yazidi community in northern Iraq in August. But the group says the Islamic State has seized many Yazidi women and is selling them as sex slaves.
U.S. airstrikes against the Islamic State began nearly three months ago, yet there have been relatively few changes on the battlefield. Many analysts say the U.S. effort may not be sufficient.