Capt. Ahmed Adnan al-Musawe had survived another day battling Islamic State fighters in Mosul last weekend when he heard startling news: The new American president had temporarily barred Iraqis from entering the United States and wanted tougher vetting. Captain Musawe, who commands an infantry unit of the Iraqi Army’s elite counter terrorism force, considers himself already fully vetted: He has been trained by American officers in Iraq and in Jordan. “If America doesn’t want Iraqis because we are all terrorists, then America should send its sons back to Iraq to fight the terrorists themselves,” Captain Musawe told a New York Times reporter
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Trump Admin. Won't Disclose How Many U.S. Troops Are In Iraq And Syria
The Trump administration has ceased disclosing to the public when U.S. troops are deployed on the ground in Iraq and Syria, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Obama administration made a practice of announcing all conventional force deployments, letting the public know when it was sending U.S. service members into harm's way. But Trump, who campaigned on promises to rely on "the element of surprise" in warfare, has in his two months in office already dispatched hundreds of Marines and paratroopers to active war zones in the Middle East without informing the public or Congress.
Iraqi Christians targeted for deportation face 'death sentence' in Iraq, lawyers say
Iraqis are being swept up in immigration raids across the US and targeted for deportation by the Trump administration, in a crackdown attorneys and advocates described as a “death sentence” for members of Iraq’s Christian minority.
Donald Trump and the Coming Fall of American Empire
Even as President Donald Trump faces ever-intensifying investigations into the alleged connections between his top aides and family members and powerful Russian figures, he serves as commander in chief over a U.S. military that is killing an astonishing and growing number of civilians. Under Trump, the U.S. is re-escalating its war in Afghanistan, expanding its operations in Iraq and Syria, conducting covert raids in Somalia and Yemen, and openly facilitating the Saudi’s genocidal military destruction of Yemen.
Chuck Schumer Caved to Facebook and Donald Trump
Schumer has sided with the GOP on Wall Street, Israel, Iraq, Iran, and Facebook. Almost any other Democrat should be Senate minority leader instead. As I argued
earlier this week, the next two years in U.S. politics will be a 24/7
battle for the future of American democracy; a relentless fight against
fascism, racism, and white nationalism. Are we really expected to
believe that Schumer will be the leader of the #Resistance in the Senate
? Don’t make me laugh.
In Syria, Kurdish Fighters Face Trump Pullout, Own Mistakes
Khalil was shopping in the Hasakah marketplace in Syria when
Kurdish military police arrested him last March. He was 19 and had
papers that showed he was in high school, but that didn’t matter. The
Kurdish militia, which feeds troops to the U.S.-led war in Syria, was
way short of volunteers. They ordered him into a minibus and drove
through the northeast Syrian city, abducting others along the way.
Barham Salih: Trump did not ask Iraq's permission to 'watch Iran'
Iraqi President Barham Salih has said US President
Donald Trump did not ask Iraq's permission for US troops stationed there
to "watch Iran". Salih was responding on Monday to Trump's comments to US media in which he said American forces would remain at a US base in Iraq to keep a close eye on neighbouring Iran.
Trump Threatens Iranian Cultural Sites, and Warns of Sanctions on Iraq
President Trump on Sunday evening doubled down on his claim that he
would target Iranian cultural sites if Iran retaliated for the targeted
killing of one of its top generals, and threatened “very big sanctions”
on Iraq if American troops are forced to leave the country.
Iraqi parliament calls for expulsion of foreign troops
In an extraordinary parliamentary session on Sunday, parliament called
on the government to end all foreign troop presence in Iraq and to
cancel its request for assistance from the US-led coalition which had
been working with Baghdad to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant (ISIL).
U.S. Launches Attacks on Iranian-Backed Forces in Iraq and Syria
The United States military on Sunday
struck five targets in Iraq and Syria controlled by an Iranian-backed
paramilitary group, in response to a rocket attack on Friday that killed an American contractor, the Pentagon said. The
airstrikes, carried out by Air Force F-15E fighter planes, hit three
locations in Iraq and two in Syria, all controlled by the paramilitary
group, Kataib Hezbollah.