Obama announces to Senate yesterday a continuation of Bush-era 'emergency' policy in Iraq.
Why?
As outlined in Obama's words here, so the current government can settle the outstanding debts of the previous government with respect to the oil industry. For the US, those are the 'relevant' issues.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?r111:2:./temp/~r111V2Tffs::
Human lives and the environment do not constitute emergencies.