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SHOOTING AT CONGRESSIONAL BASEBALL TEAM PRACTICERep. Steve Scalise shot during congressional baseball team practice | 0:46

A gunman opened fire on a Republican congressional team practice Wednesday, and at least one congressman was among the five wounded, authorities said. The Enquirer

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Residents in the Virginia Alexandria neighborhood that was the scene of the shooting recounted to reporters the massive police presence in its aftermath. (June 14) AP

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House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana was shot Wednesday at a congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, Va., congressional officials say. (June 14) AP

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File video: Freshman Rep. Brad Wenstrup talks about his toughest vote, his partys future, and other issues with Enquirer Washington correspondent Deirdre Shesgreen. Deirdre Shesgreen

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Rep. Steve Scalise shot during congressional baseball team practice

Virginia residents recount shooting aftermath

Steve Scalise, officers shot at congressional baseball practice

Freshman Rep. Brad Wenstrup talks about his toughest vote

A person is treated by emergency workers as members of the Republican congressional baseball team look on following a shooting in Alexandria, Va 14 June 14, 2017. The Republican House majority whip Steve Scalise and at least four others have been shot shot at a congressional baseball game practice session, according to media reports(Photo: Shawn Thew, European Pressphoto Agency)

Rep. Brad Wenstrup's combat surgeon instincts kicked in after a fellow congressman was shot at a baseball practice Wednesday.

Wenstrup, ofColumbia Tusculum,used some kind of scissors to cut through Rep. Steve Scalise's pant leg to get to the Louisiana congressman's wound, Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama told CNN.Wenstrup, a podiatrist, served as a U.S. Army surgeon.

"I felt like I was back in Iraq," Wenstrup told CBS News.

Scalise was among five wounded in the morning shooting, officials told news outlets. All are receiving medical attention. Scalise was undergoing surgery Wednesday morning after being shot in the hip, his office said in a statement.

For a time, "the field was basically a killing field," Sen. Rand Paul, of Kentucky, told CNN. Fifteen to 20 U.S. representatives and two senators were on the field, Paul said. "I saw Scalise go down on second base," but gunshots were still hitting the dirt in left field, Paul told CNN.

"I dont think anyone would have survived without the Capitol Police, said Paul, who is uninjured.Nobody else had a weapon. ...It would have been a massacre without them.

Brad Wenstrup(Photo: Provided)

After police had the shooter "down," Brooks said, members of Congress deferred to Wenstrup.

"I did what I did in Iraq," Wenstrup told ABC News.You assess their wounds, and you cut down their clothes and look for the wound and make sure that you stop the bleeding.

He made sure Scalise was conscious by asking him where he was and asking him to count. Scalise was in pain and "was losing a lot of blood," Wenstrup said.

Medics arrived, and they bandaged Scalise. Wenstrup said they gave him Gatorade and water to replenish his fluids.

"I'm glad I was there," Wenstrup told Fox News, "but it's a sad day in America."

Sen. Jeff Flake, of Arizona, told CNN it took at least 10 minutes until shooter was down. During that time, Scalise lay alone on the baseball field. "We couldn't get to him" because of the shots," Flake said.

I got Steve Scalises phone and called his wife, Flake told CNN. He said he didnt want her to hear Scalise had been shot via the news.

Gabby Giffords on baseball practice shooting: 'My heart is with my former colleagues'

Officials were practicing for a charity baseball game between Republicans and Democrats, which was set for Thursday. Money from the game goes to groups such as theWashington Literacy Center, the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington, and the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation.

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'Like I was back in Iraq,' Cincinnati congressman says after colleague shot - Cincinnati.com

HIGHLIGHTS

From 27 April to 30 May 2017:

As of 30 May 2017, the DTM has identified 3,020,034 internally displaced persons (503,339 families) displaced after January 2014, dispersed across 106 districts and 3,577 locations in Iraq. For the same period, DTM has identified 1,813,680 returnees (302,280 families).

Overall, the total number of identified IDPs remained stable during the reporting period, with a decrease of approximately 1% (7,513 individuals). The general decrease is to be attributed to return movements across all governorates, particularly in Anbar, Ninewa, Baghdad and Kirkuk governorates. At the same time, the governorate of Ninewa alone recorded an increase of 3% (20,958 individuals) because of the military operations in the city of Mosul.

The returnee population increased by 4% (76,542 individuals). The two governorates that reported the highest increase of the returnee population were Anbar by 7% (59,538) and Ninewa by 6% (15,030). Considering the available information and the DTM methodology, the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) has revised the planning figures for the humanitarian response at 3 million internally displaced persons.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

During the reporting period, between 27 April and 30 May, Ninewa was the only governorate that recorded an increase in IDPs, while all other governorates recorded a reduction. However, this should not be interpreted as an absolute decrease of displacement trends: it is rather due to returning movements reportedly outweighing new displacements in some governorates.

This was the case of Salah al-Din and Kirkuk governorates, where the ongoing military operations in Baiji, Shirqat and Hawija districts have not escalated further, prompting return movements from Kirkuk and Salah al-Din to retaken areas in Salah al-Din, and from Kirkuk to Anbar as well. Meanwhile, the steadily growth of IDPs in Ninewa is due to the military operations to retake the city of Mosul, currently focusing on the western side of the city. The operations to retake west Mosul were launched on 19 February and have caused large waves of displacements to camp and out-of-camp locations.

According to the DTM Emergency Tracking, which reports only IDP and returnees records whose locations have been verified, as of 1 June the total cumulative number of identified IDPs reached 517,650 individuals, of whom 378,120 are still in displacement and 139,530 have already returned, particularly to east Mosul, Baashiqa, Tilkaif and Hamdaniya.

Based on flow-monitoring data tracked at Hammam al-Aliel screening site, as of 1 June almost 590,000 individuals had left west Mosul and mainly headed towards camps in Southern Ninewa or east Mosul. In particular, during the reporting period the DTM has recorded an average displacement of over 6,000 individuals per day from west Mosul through this screening site, with peaks of 17,000 or 16,000 around mid-May depending on the progress of the military operations.

Furthermore, during the reporting period this identified IDP population from Mosul grew by 17% (75,930 individuals), while the number of IDPs crossing Hammam al-Aliel screening site grew by 53%, corresponding to approximately 200,000 individuals. The DTM is currently working on validating the displacement locations of IDPs in out-of-camp settings and aims to provide updated figures by location as soon as possible.

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Iraq: Displacement Tracking Matrix | DTM Round 72 - May 2017 [EN/AR/KU] - ReliefWeb

By Army Sgt. Anthony Hewitt, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division

FORT BRAGG, N.C., June 13, 2017 In Iraq's capital city of Baghdad during the 1980s, a family of six brothers and one sister -- all very close in age -- played in the streets and parks of their hometown, enjoying the simple things in life they had at the time. Through the decades, the times and the city had changed, and the streets and parks were not as simple.

Army Sgt. Ali Alsaeedy, an Iraq native and a paratrooper assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division's 307th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, described his journey from being a young college student in Baghdad to becoming a paratrooper in America's Guard of Honor.

Alsaeedy, the son of an Iraqi army reserve officer, said Iraq was a joyous place to grow up. "We played basketball, walked to school -- all the children in the neighborhood were close," he added. "There were negatives in politics, but we believed in our father, and everything was fine."

Alsaeedy's dream was to travel. "Everybody's goal [in high school] was to travel the world, places like [the United Kingdom], U.S., and Europe," Alsaeedy said. He kept that dream with him before pursuing a degree in biochemical engineering at the University of Baghdad.

"I was in my second year of college when everything happened -- the troops arrived," he said. "It was a year later when it seemed things began to settle down. We all were trying to educate ourselves on the matter, because we believed -- and still do -- that the U.S. forces and allies were there to transform the country and help. We felt there was not going to be any more tyranny system or sects of families taking over the country, doing whatever they felt they wanted so we believed in the change and welcomed it."

Trouble Finding Work

After graduating from college, Alsaeedy needed to find work, preferably in the engineering field. But it was extremely hard to come by, he said, due to the nature of the country and the fact that most employers hired only within their sects.

"I did not know exactly what to do or what I wanted to do, but I did know that I wanted to work for and with the service members," he said. "It was not just about money or security. It was about being a part of something important to me."

Unable to break into the U.S. contractor market, Alsaeedy's education and skill set eventually gravitated employers to him within the private sector. In 2005, he found stability in the information technology field as a networking specialist for satellite communications.

"Then one day a man came into the shop and it changed my life forever," he said. "He inquired about an internet network to be installed on a military base in Baghdad. I took the job. After the work was complete, they were very satisfied and needed more, so they hired me full-time. My English was very fluent, and I became a translator for them, too."

While the years passed, Alsaeedy's experiences and relationships grew through the ranks, and by 2007, he was a popular name among higher-ranking officials with the U.S. Air Force and the Marines in Qaim, Iraq.

Integrated Into Brotherhood

"I saw in the soldiers what very few of us [natives] see," Alsaeedy said. "They were trustful, pleasant and respectful; they integrated me into their brotherhood."

Insurgency propaganda said the Americans were in Iraq to destroy everything, Alsaeedy said." But they were not," he added. "They were building. They built infrastructure for the population and barracks for the Iraqi army. They supplied resources increasing our livelihood [and] creating jobs for husbands and fathers."

At the end of 2007, Alsaeedy received some big news. Then-President George W. Bush allowed vetted contractors who had worked for the U.S. government for at least five years to be granted special immigrant visas for them and their families. The visa allowed them to live and work in the United States. At the end of 2009, Alsaeedy said, things started to change as U.S. troops began to withdraw.

"The protection was decreasing and so was the structure," he said. "I knew if I stayed, my family and I were going to die soon." In 2010, Alsaeedy met his five-year requirement to qualify for the special visa for him and his family to move to the United States.

Settling in Virginia

He settled in Norfolk, Virginia, where a new country and culture surrounded him. What he once knew as a world of war was now a life of peace and the pursuit of happiness, he said. He was immediately hired, and he worked for an oil and gas company from 2011 to 2012.

Alsaeedy said he felt grateful to the United States for the opportunities hed received.

However, Alsaeedy said he wanted to give them more.

He enlisted into the U.S. Army in August 2013 as a combat engineer. Shortly thereafter, he attended basic training and advanced individual training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

Airborne School

Alsaeedy demonstrated his potential and quick-learning abilities, as well as outstanding physical fitness. He was afforded the opportunity to attend airborne school at Fort Benning, Georgia, upon graduation.

"I found out that I was going to be assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division," he said. "I knew it was an honor and a prestigious unit. I remember seeing the 'Double-A' patch in Iraq. And to realize that I am now one of those paratroopers along with my family -- I was beyond excited and humbled. However, it truly did not hit me until I came to Fort Bragg and walked through the division's museum. That's when I realized I was a part of something special."

In 2014, Alsaeedy arrived full of energy to Alpha Company, 307th BEB. He was a new Panther Engineer, and he integrated just fine among his leaders and peers.

"We did a lot of training," he said. "We went to every kind of weapons range you could think of. I learned demolitions, steel cutting, [went on] too many ruck marches, and was just very happy."

Returning to Iraq

But Alsaeedy's heart was holding a deep secret: there was something missing.

"My real dream was to return to Iraq," he said. "I wanted to be an asset to the unit. I had the language, the background and culture. I knew if I ever went back, I would put myself out there to be as valuable as I could for the 307th."

In early 2015, the 3rd BCT deployed to Southwest Asia in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. At the time, it was the newest campaign in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. There, paratroopers assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division provided advice and assistance to Iraqi security forces.

In a twist of fate, Alsaeedy's unit operated in the neighborhood where he was raised. His dream finally came true.

"It wasn't easy at first," Alsaeedy said while looking up with teary eyes. "But it was my leadership. They understood my situation. They supported me. It made my job and task much easier."

Alsaeedy's background and capabilities soon became an asset for his battalion commander all the way up to division command sergeant major and higher-ranking officials in tactical operations centers around the area of operations.

With his hard work and commitment to his leadership and the unit's mission, Alsaeedy received the first battlefield promotion for a noncommissioned officer during the OIR campaign. He was pinned with the rank of sergeant during the fall of 2015 upon the unit's redeployment to Fort Bragg.

Great Things

His accomplishments and accolades did not stop there. "When I became an NCO, great things began to happen for me and my family," Alsaeedy said. He attended the Warrior Leader's Course soon after becoming a sergeant, learning technical skills and correspondence in the craft of an NCO.

Alsaeedy's motivation and physical fitness separated him from his peers. He wanted to go to Sapper School and master his craft as an engineer. "I may have had a more advanced role during deployment, but I am still an engineer in the 307th," he said.

Early 2016 came around, and he began training with the division's Best Sapper Team as it prepared to compete in the U.S. Army Best Sapper competition.

To keep himself busy and find new challenges, Alsaeedy attended the two-week Fort Bragg Pre-Ranger Course, which evaluates and prepares future candidates for the U.S. Armys Ranger School at Fort Benning.

He never went to Sapper School, though. Immediately upon graduating the Pre-Ranger Course, he was put on a bus to Ranger School. Alsaeedy went straight through the 62-day course, a course that normally has a high attrition rate.

"I have been busy, that's for sure," he said. "But I felt the more I accomplish as an NCO and a paratrooper, the more I am giving back to the Army.

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Face of Defense: Army Paratrooper Recalls Childhood in Iraq - Department of Defense

Workers for government contractor DynCorp International conspired to bilk the State Department out of millions of dollars, according to a federal investigation in Virginia.

The criminal charges come as DynCorp faces an unrelated civil suit by the Justice Department in the District of Columbia that contends that the company allowed a subcontractor to charge excessive rates. DynCorp has denied wrongdoing, saying it stopped working with that subcontractor many years ago.

Both cases involve the training of civilian police officers in Iraq. A 2010 report from the State Departments special inspector general for Iraqs reconstruction found that oversight of Dyncorps police training contract was, and for years had been, weak.

One defendant pleaded guilty in federal court in Alexandria, along with two relatives who lied to cover up his crime. Another alleged co-conspirator is headed for trial, and another is being extradited from Europe.

Federal authorities allege that the convicted man, Wesley Struble, who most recently lived in the Philippines, knew his co-defendants, Emil Popescu and Jose Rivera, from the world of Iraqi contracting.

Popsecu and Struble were working in 2011 at a company that leased a camp from an Iraqi firm for $124,000 a month. Together, according to prosecutors, they concocted a plan to get DynCorp to lease the camp for more than five times that amount.

Popescu went to work for the Iraqi company and persuaded them to cut their current lease, then offer the camp to DynCorp for half a million more a month, authorities allege. Struble, meanwhile, joined Rivera at DynCorp, where they helped persuade the McLean, Va.-based contractor to pay the inflated rent. They falsely claimed the previous tenant had paid the same amount.

The State Department paid $5,320,000 in rent for the property from September 2011 through April 2014. Popescu, Rivera and Struble shared the profits with Iraqi co-conspirators, according to prosecutors.

In a statement, DynCorp spokeswoman Mary Lawrence declined to comment, noting that the company is not the subject of this investigation.

Rivera and Struble sent thousands of dollars back to family in the United States, sometimes hidden in stereo speakers, according to court documents.

Struble persuaded his mother and sister to lie about that money. Now, all three have pleaded guilty Struble to conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Act, and his mother and sister to lying in front of a grand jury.

In a recorded phone call in November 2015, Struble told Rivera to simply pretend he had been saving money for years.

It takes a lot to go into bank records anyway, you know, for any sort of investigation, Struble said, according to court records.

Rivera, who court records indicate was working with federal agents, said he did not know how much money they had made but that he could not possibly have saved that much from his legitimate work.

It wasnt as much as we wanted, I know that, Struble replied.

Popescu maintained in a March interview with special agents that the money he received was from his salary and performance bonuses, according to an FBI affidavit.

Rivera was arrested last month at his home in Potomac, Md. Popescu, a Romanian citizen, was arrested in that country around the same time, according to local news reports. Both are charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Rivera on Friday pleaded not guilty and announced his intent to go to trial, despite having cooperated in the investigation against Struble. Popescu is still in the process of being extradited.

Struble, 49, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years in prison Friday. He was also ordered to pay approximately $3.4million in restitution.

The U.S. native has for the past five years been living in the Philippines with a woman he met in Iraq. They have two children together, along with her two children from a previous marriage.

In court filings, defense attorneys emphasized that he is a decorated veteran of the war in Iraq. Struble was awarded a Bronze Star for his work as an Air Force counterintelligence agent just after the invasion. His crime, they say, was an isolated incident.

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DynCorp workers accused of bilking State Department out of millions in Iraq - Washington Post

Ayyub Faleh Hassan al-Rubaies reputation for ruthless revenge attacks against members of the Islamic State militantgroup (ISIS) has earned him international attention and the nickname Archangel of Death. He goes after his victims with an ax and sword. Once, he set an ISIS fighters corpse on fire. When he was accused of mutilating the body, he assured his loyal supporters he had confessed his sins to his imam under instructions to never do such a thing again.

Now the Iraqi militiaman widely known in Iraq as Abu Azrael (meaning Father of Azrael, the Islamic and Jewish angel of death) is looking across the border into Syria. After recently dislodging ISIS from several northwestern Iraqi villages in the region, the celebrity warrior toldNewsweekhe wants to continue defending his homeland from the Sunni militant group by any means necessary.

Related: War in Iraq: Iran allies battle ISIS to secure border with Syria and Unite forces

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The effort is significant beyond the global attention focused on Abu Azraels superhero persona. The border operation could help create an extensive route of support from Damascus to Baghdad against ISISs self-proclaimed caliphate, which has significantly diminished throughout Iraq and Syria in recent years.

We have not entered into Syrian territory, but we are still on the Syrian-Iraqi border and were closing in on Daesh, inflicting bitter losses, Abu Azrael said via Twitter, using the Arabic-language acronym for ISIS. We will defend the oppressed people of all sects, protect the country from criminals, help the displaced and return them to their areas.

Abu Azrael, center, part of the majority-Shiite Muslim Kataib al-Imam Ali, is one of over 100,000 fighters under the umbrella of the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces involved in the battle against the Islamic State militant group. In this photo provided by his official Facebook page, Abu Azrael poses with comrades in the desert district of Al-Ba'aj, in northwestern Iraq, on May 30. Social Media

The Iraqi militiaman first made headlines in 2015, when he drew comparisons to Sylvester Stallones iconic Hollywood Vietnam War action hero, JohnRambo. His massive, muscular frame often stands out from his fellow fighters in Kataib al-Imam Ali, a majority-Shiite Muslim militia operating under the banner of the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). The militia operates under a joint command with the Iraqi military and is considered a semiofficial branch of the states armed forces.

In one of the most recent instancesof Abu Azraels warpath against ISIS, he claimed in a clip posted late last month on social media to have burned the nearby jihadist-occupied village of al-Adnaniyah in Iraq. Abu Azrael and his comrades in Kataib al-Imam Ali said they were operating near the Sinjar mountains west of Mosul where the Iraqi military, Kurdish forces and a U.S.-led international coalition have advanced against the final jihadist positions in what was once ISISs largest city of control. In the video, one of Abu Azraels fellow militiamen vowed to finish the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in Syria, suggesting the Iraqi militias were preparing to cross the border.

The remark drew a negative response from U.S.-backed forces in Syria. The territory immediately across the border from Kataib al-Imam Alis positions is controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed coalition consisting mostly of Kurds, but including Arabs and other ethnic minorities battling ISIS. The SDF is currently storming ISISs de facto capital of Raqqa with heavy support by the U.S., which remains wary of Iranian influence in the Middle East. While the PMF and Kurds have allied in the fight against ISIS in Iraq, SDF spokesperson Tilal Silo said late last month that the group would not allow the Iran-backed PMF in its territory in Syria.

Abu Azrael joins representatives of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO) and other officials for Iftar dinner in Baghdad, Iraq, May 31, 2017. Social Media

If Hashd forces attempt to enter our areas, our forces will fight them, Silo told Kurdistan24 news outlet, referring to the PMFs Arabic-language name:Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi.

Reports had emerged in recent days claiming PMF forces had already crossed into Syria and had begun digging trenches in preparation for battle. Across the border, they could link up with anti-ISIS campaigns run by the Syrian army and its allies. But PMF spokesperson Ahmad al-Asadi later denied the rumors, saying that official Iraqi armed forces do not have a presence outside of Iraqi territory, according to Kurdistan24.

In its three years of fighting, the PMF played a major role in reversing territorial gains in Iraq made by ISIS, which once claimed up to 45 percent of the nation. After the ultraconservative Sunni Muslim group conducted mass executions, incarcerations and implemented other forms of harsh oppression against locals, Abu Azrael was one of more than 100,000 militia fighters to take up arms and force the militants out of key cities, leaving only Mosul and pockets of influence elsewhere. Abu Azrael, a father of five, was noticed online for going above and beyond his call of duty, killing ISIS militants not only with bullets, but by ax and sword, as well. He has reportedly trained in Tae Kwon Do.

Social media footage also drew Abu Azrael heavy criticism last year, however, when he was pictured burning the corpse of an ISIS fighter. He later apologized for the act, which could amount to a war crime. The incident highlighted concerns by Iraqs Sunni Muslim population of retribution acts by Shiite Muslim militias and the Iraqi army. Stories of such atrocities have already begun to emerge, but Abu Azrael assured that ISIS fighters were his and his comrades only target. He said such reports of sectarian tensions had been exaggerated and propagated by external factors promoting a harsh, intolerant brand of Islam similar to that of ISIS and aimed at distorting the PMFs mission.

We do not pose any threat to any peaceful entity, Abu Azrael said. We are Kataib al-Imam Ali and other resistance factions of the Iraqi army, and our main target is Daesh and no one else. I dont believe anyone wants Daesh in the country.

As for those who criticize Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi, this is his personal opinion or what is published by some media about the Hashd containing lies and fake news, so some people believe it, he added.

Both fame and infamy, however, have not stopped Abu Azrael from pursuing his mission to pulverize ISIS into flour, as he often says. After ISIS is defeated, Abu Azrael said Kataib al-Imam Ali, which also reportedly includes some Sunni Muslims and Yazidis, will work with all communities toward preventing the resurgence of jihadist groups in the country.

After the liberation of Iraq [from ISIS militants], we will ensure that they never return. Abu Azrael toldNewsweekbefore regrouping with his men to pray. I hope the world has witnessed their crimes against our people and will support us.

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Iraq's 'Archangel of Death' Known for Slaughtering ISIS Fighters Denies War Crime Accusations - Newsweek