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Boris Johnson refuses meeting after Kirkcaldy woman's brother jailed in Iraq - The Courier

LAKE SAWA, Iraq -- Hussam al-Aqouli remembers the exact spot along southern Iraqs Lake Sawa where his two daughters once dipped their feet into clear waters. Now he stands there two years on and the barren earth cracks beneath him.

This year, for the first time in its centuries-long history, the lake dried up. A combination of mismanagement by local investors, government neglect and climate change has ground down its azure shores to chunks of salt.

Lake Sawa is only the latest casualty in this broad country-wide struggle with water shortages that experts say is induced by climate change, including record low rainfall and back-to-back drought. The stress on water resources is driving up competition for the precious resource among businessmen, farmers and herders, with the poorest Iraqis counting among the worst hit amid the disaster.

This lake was known as the pearl of the south, said al-Aqouli, 35, a native of the nearby city of Samawa, looking out onto the dry cavernous emptiness. Now it is our tragedy.

Between the capital Baghdad and the oil-rich heartland of Basra, Muthanna is among Iraqs poorest provinces. The number of those living under the poverty line in the province is almost three times the national average.

Desert expanses dominate the landscape with a narrow ribbon of farmland along the Euphrates River in the north. Economic development was hindered by the countrys turbulent history, neglect by the Baath party regime since the 1980s, then later by wars and sanctions.

Locals call the area surrounding Lake Sawa atshan or simply thirsty in Arabic.

Formed over limestone rock and studded with gypsum formations, the lake has no inlet or outlet and the source of its waters had mystified experts for centuries, fueling fantastical folklore and religious tales that locals recite as historical fact.

Al-Aqouli spent his childhood frequenting the lake with his family. He hoped he could do the same when he started a family, he said. Instead he spends his days on social media writing long blog posts and urging Iraqis to take action. Often, he feels hopeless.

The lake rises 5 meters (16 feet) above sea level and is about 4.5 kilometers (3 miles) long and 1.8 kilometers (1 mile) wide.

Lake Sawa appears in some old Islamic texts. It is said the lake miraculously formed on the day the Prophet Muhammad was born in 570 A.D. Thousands of religious tourists visited the site annually to submerge themselves in its holy waters, which they believe are blessed by God.

The lakes rich mineral deposits are also considered a cure by some for skin diseases prevalent in historically neglected Muthanna.

Locals say the drying up of the waters of Lake Sawa presages the return of the Imam al-Mahdi, a revered figure in Shiite Islam and a descendent of the prophet.

It means the end of days is near, said al-Aqouli, in jest.

For environmentalists, the doomsday predictions may not be far off.

Studies have shown the lake is fed by underground water sources through a system of cracks and fissures. It can also receive rainwater from surrounding valleys and heavy rainfall in past years has caused flash floods.

The degradation of the water began over 10 years ago, but this summer was the first time we lost the entire wetland, said Laith Ali al-Obeidi, an environmental activist in southern Iraq.

Experts said the lake has not dried up for good but its disappearance this year is a concerning consequence of the thousands of illegal wells dug by businessmen in nearby cement factories and manufacturing zones, a result of drought and decreasing waters along the nearby Euphrates.

By early June, some water began to reappear because farmers, done with the harvest season, stopped diverting underground water.

Mounds of salt line the road to the river in Muthanna province and are overseen by enterprising locals who extract it by diverting groundwater and digging wells. The salt is used as a raw material in various industries in the area.

Mortadha Ali, 45, is involved in the salt business in Muthanna. He blames years of government neglect in the province for the disappearance of Lake Sawa. They should provide people with jobs, so they arent obliged to dig wells to make a living, he said.

Enforcing the closure of illegal wells and additional protective measures would have reversed Lake Sawa's decline, said Aoun Diab, an adviser to the Water Resources Ministry. But these would have directly affected the economic interests of provincial officials.

This has disrupted a delicate and interdependent ecosystem sustained by the rare desert oasis.

Species of fish, unfit for human consumption, were food for various vulnerable migratory birds that sojourned along its banks. With the fish gone, the birds too will have to reroute their seasonal passage or perish, said al-Obeidi.

And the future is poised to bring more hardship, with alarming predictions of more water stress. The Water Resources Ministry has said water levels decreased by 60% compared to last year in 2022.

Lake Sawa is a case study for climate change in Iraq, al-Obeidi said. This is the future.

But the lake is also a ghost of its former illustrious past.

The only body of water near to the city of Samawah, the area boasted thousands of tourists a year. Their waste water bottles, soda cans and abandoned flip flops remain along the dried up shores as an ode to what the impoverished area has lost.

Holiday installations built decades ago stand half-finished. Most were looted after the Gulf War in the 1990s and then after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.

In 2014, Lake Sawa was named a Ramsar site, an international designation for important wetlands, gaining recognition as a rare area in need of protection. A large billboard marking the occasion overlooks the site. Local authorities hoped this would boost tourism and government resources to resume development of the area. Plans were drafted to pave roads and walkways around the lake, as well as electricity lines and water projects.

Ultimately, these failed to transpire.

The hot air was heavy as al-Aqouli took one last look of the lake before leaving.

Believe me, it was beautiful, he said.

Read the original:
Iraq's 'pearl of the south' Lake Sawa dry amid water crisis - ABC News

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The George W. Bush Presidential Center, in Dallas, is a 226,000-square-foot building that houses the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum and the George W. Bush Institute. It isnt the sort of place you go for unvarnished truth about George W. Bush. Like many institutions of its ilk, it serves up carefully curated hagiography, amid stately colonnades and a burbling fountain. Visitors enter into a 67-foot-tall atrium called Freedom Hall; the Defending Freedom Table is a large touch-screen where museumgoers can view maps and photographs from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Theres a statue of Bush and his father gazing purposefully into the middle distance, and a statue of Barney and Miss Beazley, George and Laura Bushs Scottish terriers, striking a similar pose. In the library, scholars can pore through official White House documents to extract fuller, less flattering stories of the Bush years. But the public-facing image is a portrait in whitewash. On the librarys website, an online exhibit about the Sept. 11 attacks and their aftermath hails Bush for demonstrating the strength of American resolve.

It was a surprise, therefore, when a scathing indictment of the former president was issued recently at a Bush Center event. Even more unexpected was the source of this blunt talk: Bush himself. During brief remarks at a forum on elections and democracy, held last month, Bush stumbled over his prepared text. He was discussing the Russian president Vladimir Putins suppression of dissent. The result is an absence of checks and balances in Russia, Bush said. And the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq. I mean of Ukraine. Iraq, too. Anyway.

Footage of the error spread quickly. On social media, the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme song became the soundtrack for Bushs blunder. Late-night hosts weighed in. (That is a refreshingly lighthearted confession to war crimes, Stephen Colbert said.) Many commentators diagnosed a Freudian slip: the ex-presidents guilty conscience had reared up, unbidden. In any case, the Bush video was a novelty: Rarely has a world leader issued so bald a confession about a matter of such historical consequence.

It was also a genre piece. Gaffe videos are ubiquitous clickbait, and politicians bloopers are among the most popular fodder. Bush, famously, is a gaffe specialist, the purveyor of scrambled-hash syntax, madcap circumlocutions, spoonerisms and other Bushisms that have haunted the internet or as Bush would have it, internets for decades. Many Bushisms have entered American lore, taking their place alongside the gonzo poetry of Yogi Berra. It is Bush who popularized the term misunderestimated, who posed the question Is our children learning? who mused I think we agree, the past is over. In 2009, Bush announced he would write a memoir to ensure that theres an authoritarian voice saying exactly what happened.

To the friendly audience at the Bush Center, the Iraq-Ukraine mix-up landed as a Bushism par excellence, a harmless and endearing slip-up. The former president chuckled, shook his head and joked that he was having a senior moment. Sympathetic laughter rippled through the crowd.

But not everyone was amused. This was a faux pas that told uncomfortable truths. It makes perfect sense to confuse Russias war in Ukraine with Iraq: The two events have much in common. Saddam Hussein was no Zelensky, but the Iraq invasion was, indeed, brutal and unjustified. It was a world historical calamity that sowed chaos, spread torture and resulted in, according to numerous sources, hundreds of thousands of deaths. The ideology behind Bushs war may have been cooked up in the stolid bureaucratic world of think-tank Washington. But in spirit it was no less reckless and grandiose than the imperial visions driving Putins conquest of Ukraine.

June 13, 2022, 12:50 p.m. ET

Bush left office in 2009 as one of the least popular presidents in history. Todays Bush is a cuddlier figure, who, we are told, likes to putter around his art studio, painting pictures of dogs and American flags. Bushisms have played a role in this rehabilitation, helping to recast the erstwhile war president as a mellow senior citizen who laughs at his own foibles. A Bush Center podcast takes its name from a Saturday Night Live sketch lampooning Bushs malapropisms: The Strategerist. Last year, Bush appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live to take a quiz, Bushism or Not? based on videos of his famous gaffes. The clips included the extraordinary moment at a 2008 Baghdad news conference when an incensed Iraqi journalist threw a pair of shoes at the president. I was very proud of you for dodging those shoes, Kimmel said. You have very good reflexes.

Several months later, a Bush speech was interrupted by Mike Prysner, an activist and Iraq veteran. Mr. Bush, when are you going to apologize to the million Iraqis who are dead because you lied? Prysner screamed. You lied about weapons of mass destruction! ... My friends are dead! Prysner had planned to recite some names of the dead, but he was hustled out of the auditorium. In America, we are not so good at truth and reconciliation. We prefer Twitter dunks and yuks on late-night TV.

In 2022, the United States is experiencing a collective senior moment. Our democracy is aging and enfeebled. We began the century by imposing regime change overseas; now we fend off a putsch at our Capitol. Bushs Iraq-Ukraine flub is a marker of these tragic follies and of the decline-and-fall trajectory we appear to be traveling. Its also a reminder of how many people would prefer to forget the Iraq debacle altogether. The invasion did not, in fact, rest on the decision of one man. Much of Washingtons political class Republican and Democrat, neo-cons and liberal hawks backed the invasion and the falsehoods that justified it. These war supporters shared a particular kind of American hubris and navet, an eagerness to ignore the realpolitik behind our interventions in the oil-rich Middle East while intoning fine words about the spread of freedom and democracy.

That message was impossible to escape in the months before the invasion. We decry Putins use of misinformation to promote the assault on Ukraine. But Bushs drive to war was likewise accompanied by a propaganda push, and many journalists and public intellectuals who peddled that party line still occupy influential posts. It is surely unpleasant for them to be reminded of their misjudgments. But the truth has a way of seeping out, sometimes in unlikely places, like the daises of presidential libraries. Call it a Freudian slip or a brain freeze or history having its revenge. Contrary to the Bushism, the past is not is never over.

Source photographs: Screen grabs from Associated Press

Jody Rosen is a contributing writer for the magazine and the author of Two Wheels Good: The History and Mystery of the Bicycle.

Audio produced by Jack DIsidoro.

Excerpt from:
When George W. Bush Confused Russias War in Ukraine With Iraq - The New York Times

The Ilyushin Il-76 is a multi-purpose, fixed-wing, four-engine turbofan strategic airlifter designed by the Soviet Union's Ilyushin design bureau. It was first planned as a commercial freighter in 1967.

Recently, I flew on SilkWay Ilyushin IL-76TD-90 transporter from Baku, Azerbaijan to Erbil, Iraq. It was a mission of a lifetime!

Before the flight, I took a photo with all the airmen. It took a strong team of 5 men to operate including 2 pilots, a. flight engineer, a radio controller, and a navigator. The flight also carries a loadmaster and 2 technicians.

This particular IL-76TD-90 has new stage 4 noise compliant engines (Perm PS90 engines) instead of the older and noisier Soloviev D-30 engines. It can fly to any airport unrestricted (noise abatement) with better performance.

The cockpit looked different from the Western conventional airplane. Some parts of the cockpit has been modified and digitized.

One of the highlights before departure is to climb up to the top of the IL-76 through its escape hatch door. The wingspan was massive!

Before takeoff, the captain and loadmaster briefly introduced the cockpit and the cargo cabin.

Inside the cabin, it has a crane system and ramp system able to load without any existing infrastructure in remote airfield.

The cockpit of IL-76 split into the upper deck where 2 pilots and flight engineer and a radio controller sit.

A navigator sits on the lower deck, with a view of the glass nose.

Loadmaster has its own station too in the pressurized cabin.

My flight to Erbil took 2.5 hours. The IL-76TD-90 flies at about 700-750 km/h.

Our cruise was around 30,000 ft. The fuel burn at cruise was about 1.6 tons per engine. It is interesting to see 2 iPad holders on top as pilots don't use paper charts anymore.

Watch the takeoff of IL-76 on my video:

View of the Perm PS90 engines overwing.

The view is absolutely the best from the navigator's office.

We crossed the Caspian Sea, entering Iran and later made a right turn towards Iraq. The landscape gradually became desert.

We were number 3 on approach and was put on hold in a DME ARC. The air was pretty rough with thermals and clouds over Erbil. There were other military planes such as C-17 and A400M landing before us.

Watching the landing on my video:

We didn't spend long on the ground at Erbil. The cargo took just 15 minutes to offload through the rear ramp and a high loader. After dropping off the cargo, we flew back to Baku empty.

The IL-76 took about 8 mins to start the engine, one by one after push back. The 2 technicians will be responsible for communicating with the cockpit on engine start and push back. Once all engine has started, they get inside the aircraft and close the door to depart.

Unlike An-124, IL-76TD-90 do not require engine warm-up on the runway, it is ready to depart immediately.

We took off from Rwy36 of Erbil quickly, with the long runway end in sight from the glass nose of IL-76.

I settle down and have my late lunch in the cabin with a big smile. I think it was the internal satisfaction from flying the IL-76.

To be able to experience a flight on the IL-76 put a huge smile on my face and my heart. I am glad to be able to showcase the unique operation of this great transporter. The unique capability of the IL-76 has supported many air missions in the world.

Watch the video for landing in Baku. The views are beautiful across the Caspian Sea.

Excerpt from:
Trip Report: Flying The Soviet Transporter IL-76 to Iraq - Sam Chui

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BOSTON Like many students, it took Shelane Etchison time to adjust to graduate school. Perhaps less typical, she had to figure out how to simultaneously juggle two Ivy League master's programs.

But maybe Etchison's most unique adjustment was adapting to civilian life after spending years hunting high-value targets in places like Afghanistan and Syria as one of the first female soldiers to serve in a special operations unit, let alone a combat role.

"I've had to work to be more conscious and deliberate about what is my next purpose and mission, who is part of my new tribe?" Etchison, 36, told Fox News. "That can be challenging. It's been lonely and kind of strange at times."

"But in the last year, through getting help with the [Department of Veterans Affairs] and starting to build some friendships in school, you start to see the opportunities and possibilities that the civilian world can give you," Etchison continued.

FEMALE SAILOR BECOMES THE FIRST WOMAN TO COMPLETE NAVAL SPECIAL WARFARE TRAINING

Shelene Etchison, one of the first women allowed in a combat role, trains in preparation for deployment.

The Florida native, who recently graduated with two master's degrees from Harvard University, settled on her next mission: returning to her old stomping grounds abroad. But this time, Etchison aims to help develop the war-torn countries economies, rather than take up arms.

Like many servicemembers of her generation, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks compelled Etchison, who was in high school at the time, to join the Army.

"It's surprising to my family that I ended up joining the military," she told Fox News. "It's even surprising to myself."

"I decided I wanted to be as close to the front lines and what we are actually doing to combat terrorism," Etchison continued.

After finishing college as an ROTC student, however, the new Army officer was kept far from the fighting.

"It was disheartening and frustrating, frankly, that by virtue of being a woman and that alone I was not allowed to go into the parts of the military that would be closest to actually combating terrorism," Etchison said.

But she soon had the opportunity, not just to fight, but to become part of the founding class of specially trained female fighters.

Special operations forces in Afghanistan, like the Army Rangers and the Navy SEALs, were hunting high-value Taliban and al Qaeda targets, but faced a major obstacle: cultural norms forbid American men from talking with Afghan women, meaning the U.S. military was losing out on a major source of intelligence.

Shelane Etchison discusses transitioning from Army special operations to two Harvard master's programs. (Fox News)

AFGHANISTAN'S TALIBAN URGED BY UN SECURITY COUNCIL TO LIFT RESTRICTIONS ON WOMEN, GIRLS

"The women know what's going on in their village," Etchison said. "They know what's going on in their homes. And so we were leaving potentially tons of vital intelligence that they know just untapped."

"So, if it's only women who could talk to these Afghan women, then they need to recruit only women to do this job," the veteran continued. But "at the time, there weren't women in any of these special operations units. The military banned women from even trying out to be in these units."

Three years into Etchisons career, the Army aimed to close that gap. In 2011, it formed Cultural Support Team, an all-female fighting force within the 75th Ranger Regiment that would work alongside a team of Afghan women trained for combat by their own military.

"It seemed almost like: 'here, this is the time, this is the chance,'" Etchison told Fox News. "This is unprecedented that the military's looking for women to fulfill these jobs in these combat roles and doing so within special operations units."

Etchison joined part of the 20-woman inaugural team, making her one of the first women in U.S. history to join men on the front lines, let alone special operations.

"Myself and my female colleagues in the Cultural Support Teams," Etchison said, "we just did it."

"From the application process, through the challenging selection process, we were run into the ground, given like no sleep, given all these different physical challenges, mental challenges, the training," Etchison continued. "Then our deployment, from literally surviving Afghanistan, winning over our male colleagues, proving our place in this organization, making a mark for women in the military ahead. And just creating such solid bonds with our group of women."

ARMY'S FIRST FEMALE INFANTRY OFFICER SAYS LOWERING FITNESS STANDARDS FOR WOMEN WOULD PUT MISSION AT RISK

Shelane Etchison gathers information about the Taliban from women and children in the Helmand Province.

Etchisons accomplishments, achieved so young, created a new challenge.

"You really questioned did I peak at 25 years old?" she said. "Is the most consequential thing that I am going to accomplish already done?"

"And kind of grappling with 'what do I do now?' was challenging," Etchison added.

She began seeing limits to the military, that there was only so much she could do as a servicewoman to help people in war-torn countries.

"Impact in the armed forces only goes so far," Etchison told Fox News. "A lot of the places I deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Europethere needs to be more than military intervention to solve these problems. That was so clear in these places I went to."

She ultimately decided her path was outside the military. The Army major left after 11 years in the service.

"The reasons why I decided to leave were very, very challenging to come to," Etchison told Fox News. "And I did not take it lightly, but I personally felt like it's a hard, fast, demanding life. And there were certain personal tolls that were being taken."

Shelane Etchison, a former special operations soldier, works on two Harvard master's degrees.

US AFGHANISTAN AID GOING DIRECTLY TO TALIBAN, NONPROFITS WARN

She eventually resolved that helping these countries she grew to cherish would be her new mission but this time, through peace.

"I wanted to go to school to be able to bring further impact to these places that I really do care deeply about and have great people that are worthy of a stable, secure life," Etchison told Fox News. "And to me, that looked like transitioning from the security apparatus to other apparatuses of development, like in economic development and economic opportunities in these places."

"I had to get out of the military to be able to do that," Etchison added.

Etchison said her time in the armed forces and specifically her experience with the Cultural Support Team inspired her to apply to Harvard.

The Army "just challenges you and pushes you beyond what you think youre capable of," Etchison told Fox News. "And the cultural support team just put that on a rocket ship for me."

"I thought, you know, there's no reason to put limits. I'll apply to Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School of Government," she told Fox News. "I ended up getting into both."

But Etchisons transition out of the military wasnt easy, starting Ivy League dual master's programs aside.

"There is a sudden loss of community, identity, purpose," she said. "You go from an organization where literally your squad leader or whoever's in charge of you, their job is to have personal accountability of you every day."

Shelane Etchison in her graduation robes after completing two master's programs at Harvard University.

COMBAT VETERAN AND HIS WIFE HELP OTHERS FIGHT PTSD AND FIND HEALING AND HOPE

"And then you go to the civilian world where no one needs to call you. No one needs to check up on you," Etchison continued. "It took probably a year and a half for me to start to feel better."

She broke down her former sense of direction suddenly eliminated from her daily life into simple terms.

"The military kind of hands you your purpose," Etchison told Fox News. "Here's your mission. Here's your teammates. Work together. Accomplish said mission."

"That just feeds so much into our tribal brain of working together and accomplishing something," Etchison continued.

Her experience with the Cultural Support Team, however, helped her overcome these challenges and reorient herself.

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"The Cultural Support Team Programseeing that through and being successful in it was a life lesson that you really shouldn't put limits on yourself," Etichson said. "And also a lesson that challenge is good."

In May, Etchison graduated with master's degrees in public policy and business administration. She starts an economic development job later this month in Iraq.

"Its a starting point into exploring going back into post-conflict zones and what else stability looks like besides just military intervention," Etchison said.

CORRECTION: An earlier headline incorrectly identified Etchison as a Ranger. She was deployed with the Rangers, but not as a Ranger. We regret the error.

Ethan Barton is a producer/reporter for Digital Originals. You can reach him at ethan.barton@fox.com and follow him on Twitter at @ethanrbarton.

Read more here:
Former special operations soldier returns to Iraq but this time with her Harvard master's degrees - Fox News