The man who led the US troop surge that preceded Washington's exit from Iraq after a costly eight-year war says there should not even be US air support without major change in Baghdad.
Jihadists moved nearer to Baghdad Thursday after capturing a town just hours to the north, as President Barack Obama said Washington was exploring all options to save Iraq's security forces from collapse.
A major offensive by jihadists is allowing Iraqi Kurds to take control of disputed territory that Baghdad has long opposed them adding to their autonomous northern region.
Militants seized the Iraqi city of Tikrit Wednesday but their assault on Samarra was repulsed as a lightning jihadist offensive launched in second city Mosul swept closer to Baghdad.
A wave of violence Friday killed 52 people in Iraq, most of whom were kidnapped and shot dead with their corpses abandoned, in scenes harking back to Iraq's sectarian war.
