Obama said - no plan to commit it force to combat Islamic State on ground in Iraq
Obama aide asserts no US troops on ground in Iraq...
National security adviser Susan Rice is asserting there's no plan to commit American ground combat forces to the fight against the Islamic State group.
Rice acknowledges on NBC's "Today" show that Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has raised this possibility.
But she says Dempsey hasn't made any such recommendation to President Barack Obama. The president has said repeatedly he has no intention of putting troops on the ground.
Rice says there could come a point where American advisers would be needed. But she also says the Middle East nations under siege by Islamic militants have an obligation to take the lead.
Rice says that over the longer term, the fight is one that "the locals have to take to the terrorists on the ground."
