The Slatest

United States Deploys More Troops to Iraq to Protect Embassy

Secretary of State John Kerry at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad in 2013.

JASON REED/AFP/Getty Images

Late this afternoon President Obama notified Congress that “up to approximately 275 U.S. military personnel” are deploying to Iraq to provide security for the U.S. embassy and its staff. Reports from earlier today said that between 50 and 100 Marines and Army personnel arrived at the embassy on Sunday; it appears that the troop total named in the president’s letter includes those that have been already deployed.