The airstrikes that President Barack Obama is considering against Islamic militants in Iraq could prove as messy and inconclusive as the war the U.S. thought had ended in 2011.
Unlike the strikes that preceded the Iraq and Afghanistan ground wars, any air offensive this time would come with the support of the Iraqi government, giving the U.S. virtually complete control of the skies to curb the Sunni militants' offensive.
Yet for all the available firepower of U.S. planes and missiles, with an aircraft carrier already in the Persian Gulf, airstrikes risk civilian casualties and may not be enough to defeat an irregular enemy moving through densely populated areas, defense analysts and administration officials said.