President Obama on Thursday said he won’t "rule out anything" in responding to the "emergency situation" in Iraq and vowed that rebel militants cannot be allowed to gain permanent footholds in the country.

“This is an area that we’ve been watching with a lot of concern, not just over the last couple of days but over the last several months," Obama said.

“I don’t rule out anything because we do have a stake in making sure that these jihadists are not getting a permanent foothold in either Iraq or Syria, for that matter," he continued.

Obama said there would be some "short-term, immediate things that will need to be done militarily" and that his staff was "looking at all the options."

"But this should be also a wake-up call from the Iraqi government that there has to be a political component to this," Obama said.

Obama's vow to not "rule out anything" was in response to a question about the use of drones or manned airpower, and an administration official clarified that the White House was not considering boots on the ground....