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WASHINGTON In a highly unusual intervention, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans to remove Iraq and Myanmar from a U.S. list of the world's worst offenders in the use of child soldiers, disregarding the recommendations of State Department experts and senior U.S. diplomats, U.S. officials said.

The decision, confirmed by three U.S. officials, would break with longstanding protocol at the State Department over how to identify offending countries and could prompt accusations the Trump administration is prioritizing security and diplomatic interests ahead of human rights.

Tillerson overruled his own staffs assessments on the use of child soldiers in both countries and rejected the recommendation of senior diplomats in Asia and the Middle East who wanted to keep Iraq and Myanmar on the list, said the officials, who have knowledge of the internal deliberations.

Tillerson also rejected an internal State Department proposal to add Afghanistan to the list, the three U.S. officials said.

One official said the decisions appeared to have been made following pressure from the Pentagon to avoid complicating assistance to the Iraqi and Afghan militaries, close U.S. allies in the fight against Islamist militants. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.

Foreign militaries on the list can face sanctions including a prohibition on receiving U.S. military aid, training and U.S.-made weapons unless the White House issues a waiver.

Human rights officials expressed surprise at the delisting, which was expected to be announced on Tuesday, the officials said, as part of the State Department's annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report.

A State Department official said the TIP report's contents were being kept under wraps until its release and the department "does not discuss details of internal deliberations."

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Under the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008, the U.S. government must be satisfied that "no children are recruited, conscripted or otherwise compelled to serve as child soldiers" in order for a country to be removed from the list and U.S. military assistance to resume.

In the lead-up to Tuesday's report, the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, which researches the issue and helps shape U.S. policy on it, along with its legal office and diplomatic bureaus in Asia and the Middle East concluded that the evidence merited keeping both countries on the list, the officials said.

Officials said that although the report had been finalized there was always the possibility of last-minute changes.

BETRAYING CHILDREN

Human Rights Watch said removing Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, from the list would be a "completely premature and disastrous action that will effectively betray more children to continued servitude and rights abuses."

The decision also would put the Trump administration at odds with the United Nations, which continues to list the Myanmar military, along with seven ethnic armed groups, on its list of entities using and recruiting child soldiers.

"What's particularly astonishing is this move ignores that the U.N. in Burma says that it is still receiving new cases of children being recruited" by the Myanmar military, said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

Rights groups have long accused Myanmar of using child soldiers. Bordering both China and India, Myanmar is also of growing strategic importance to the United States at a time of increasing encroachment in the region by China, which has sought closer relations with its neighbor.

Iraq, which has received more than $2 billion in U.S. arms and training over the last three years, was added to the State Departments "Child Soldier Prevention Act List"in 2016. However, the flow of U.S. assistance has continued.

Former President Barack Obama handed out full or partial waivers regularly, including last year to Iraq, Myanmar, Nigeria, South Sudan and others out of 10 countries on the list.

Last year's State Department report said some militias of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an umbrella group of mostly Shi'ite Muslim factions with ties to the Iraqi government and backed by Iran, "recruited and used child soldiers."

The report said that despite the PMF being funded by the government, Baghdad struggled to control all of its factions.

"The government did not hold anyone accountable for child recruitment and use by the PMF and PMF-affiliated militias."

Human Rights Watch said in January that it had learned that militias had been recruiting child soldiers from one Iraqi refugee camp since last spring.

The broader TIP report, the first of Trump's presidency, is sure to be closely scrutinized for further signs that under his "America First" approach there will be little pressure brought to bear on friendly governments, especially strategically important ones, for human rights violations at home.

The Obama administration, while more vocal about political repression around the world, also faced criticism from human rights groups and some U.S. lawmakers that decisions on annual human trafficking rankings had become increasingly politicized.

(Additional reporting by Antoni Slodkowski in Yangon and Phil Stewart in Washington; Editing by Grant McCool and Leslie Adler)

CARACAS A man describing himself as a former boss and friend of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Friday urged an investigation into the killing of his son in anti-government unrest convulsing the OPEC nation for nearly three months.

DUBAI Saudi security forces on Friday foiled a suicide attack on the Grand Mosque in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, cornering the would-be attacker in an apartment, where he blew himself up, the Interior Ministry said.

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Exclusive: US list to drop Iraq, Myanmar as worst offenders on child soldiers - Reuters

IRBIL, Iraq With their control of Mosul slipping away, Islamic State militants decided to send a message of defiance: They blew up the 12th century al-Nuri Mosque, along with its famous leaning minaret.

The mosque, destroyed Wednesday night, would have been a symbolic prize in the fight for Iraqs second-largest city. It was from a pulpit in that mosque that the extremists leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared a caliphate in the lands they had seized in Iraq and Syria in July 2014.

According to Iraqi officials, the destruction of the landmarks indicated that IS defenses are crumbling and the campaign to retake Mosul launched more than eight months ago is in its final stages.

They knew that the battle had been decided in favor of the Iraqi forces and they knew that we were going to enter the mosque in only a few hours, said Iraqi special forces Lt. Gen. Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, adding that his troops were only 50 meters (yards) from the mosque site.

Thats why they exploded it, he said.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi tweeted early Thursday that the mosques destruction was an admission by the militants that they are losing the fight, calling it a formal declaration of their defeat.

Inside western Mosul, residents were still reeling from the loss of the iconic structure that was blown up during the celebration of Laylat al Qadr, the holiest night of the year for Muslims.

The Night of Power commemorates when the Quran was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad during the holy month of Ramadan, which is in its waning days. The minaret that leaned like Italys Tower of Pisa had stood in Mosul for more than 840 years and was known as al-Hadba.

It is a shock, a real big shock, Amir al-Jumaili, a professor at the Archaeology College in Mosul, told The Associated Press.

Mohammed Tariq al-Bayati recalled growing up next to the mosque.

I was in my grandfather house. I remember we used to play under its shade, al-Bayati said. After learning of its destruction, he said he felt like his childhood had also been demolished.

It is the citys icon, I can say that Mosul has died, the longtime resident added.

An IS statement posted online shortly after the destruction of the landmarks was reported by the Ministry of Defense blamed a U.S. airstrike.

A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition rejected the claim. U.S. Army Col. Ryan Dillon told the AP that coalition planes did not conduct strikes in that area at that time.

IS fighters initially tried to destroy the minaret in July 2014, saying the structure contradicted their fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. Mosul residents converged on the area, however, and formed a human chain to protect it.

The destruction of the mosque and the leaning minaret is only the latest in a long series of priceless archaeological and cultural sites that the militants have ravaged across Iraq and Syria.

In addition to pillaging hundreds of treasures and artifacts, IS fighters have damaged or destroyed dozens of historic places, including the town of Palmyra in Syria, home to one of the Middle Easts most spectacular archaeological sites; the 2,000-year-old city of Hatra; and the nearly 3,000-year=old city of Nimrud in Iraqs Euphrates River valley.

Earlier this month, Mosul residents reported IS fighters had begun sealing off the area around the al-Nuri Mosque. They said the militants ordered families to leave the area, likely in preparation for their final stand.

This is a crime against the people of Mosul and all of Iraq, and is an example of why this brutal organization must be annihilated, U.S. Maj. Gen. Joseph Martin, the commander of coalition ground forces in Iraq, said in a statement.

Patrick Martin, a research analyst with the Institute for the Study of War, suggested the move may have more to do with optics than a sign of an imminent defeat.

This robs Iraqi security forces of a symbolic victory, Martin said.

Iraqi security forces capturing the building where ISIS announced the caliphate would have been a huge media win and message to Iraqis in general, so destroying the mosque robs them of that, he added.

The destruction also feeds into the IS narrative that the United States and the coalition is inflicting massive destruction as they try to retake Mosul, Martin said.

The mosque sat at the heart of the Old City, the last IS stronghold in Mosul. Iraqi forces launched a push into the Old City earlier this week, but progress has been slow as the last militants there are holed up with an estimated 100,000 civilians, according to the United Nations.

The U.N. special envoy to Iraq, Jan Kubis, said the destruction is a clear sign of the IS groups imminent collapse.

This latest barbaric act of blowing up a historic Islamic site adds to the annals of Daeshs crimes against Islamic, Iraqi and human civilization, Kubis said in a statement, using another acronym for the group. The destruction ... shows their desperation and signals their end.

While the destruction of the mosque demonstrates how much the security forces have achieved, Martin said, we dont want to lose sight of the fact that there is a lot more work to be done. Thats a reference to the pockets of IS-held territory in Iraq and the work that lies ahead for government security forces to hold the terrain retaken from the extremists.

Formally launched in October, the fight for Mosul has displaced more than 850,000 people. While Iraqi forces have had periods of swift gains, combat inside the city has largely been grueling and deadly for both security forces and civilians.

Al-Jumaili, the archaeology professor, said he long feared the destruction of the mosque and minaret was inevitable.

It was the last icon for the historic city of Mosul and a valuable symbol, he said. I am sure Mosul residents could not sleep last night. (AP)

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IS militants destroy 12th century mosque in Iraq's Mosul - The Philadelphia Tribune

Detroit, Mich., Jun 23, 2017 / 03:26 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A district court judge on Thursday halted the deportation of more than 100 Iraqis, including many Chaldean Christians, who were recently picked up by immigration officers and detained.

We are thankful and relieved that our clients will not be immediately sent to Iraq, where they face grave danger of persecution, torture or death, Michael Steinberg, legal director of the ACLU of Michigan, which represented the Iraqi nationals, stated in response to the ruling.

On Sunday, June 11, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement began picking up Iraqi nationals in the Detroit metropolitan area who had previous criminal records.

Ultimately, 114 Iraqis were picked up, some reportedly at their homes in front of their families and others in public places like restaurants. They were detained and informed of their immanent deportation.

Many of the detainees were Chaldean Christians, and members of the local Chaldean Church were dismayed at the arrests.

ICE stated that the detainees had criminal records and although they had entered the U.S. legally and had not yet become citizens, they were no longer eligible for full citizenship. Furthermore, they had been ordered for removal by a federal judge, although in some cases the orders were reportedly decades old.

Iraq had previously refused to accept the Chaldeans, in some cases, for humanitarian reasons, Thursdays decision read.

However, they recently agreed to accept them as part of a deal with the U.S. that removed Iraqs place on a list of countries where foreign nationals were barred from traveling to the U.S., except in special cases, as part of President Donald Trumps immigration executive order.

Bishop Francis Kalabat of the Chaldean Catholic Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle of Detroit insisted that many of those who were detained were responsible residents since they had served their time in prison, and that many of the crimes had been committed decades prior to the June 11 arrests.

Pleas to stay the deportations reportedly reached the highest levels of government. The ACLU represented the Chaldeans in court, filing a habeas corpus action petition on their behalf, while the Knights of Columbus and members of Congress wrote Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly.

Leading U.S. bishops also wrote Secretary Kelly, advocating for a stay on the deportations until Iraq could guarantee the safety of religious minorities.

Returning religious minorities to Iraq at this time, without specific plans for protection, does not appear consistent with our concerns about genocide and persecution of Christians in Iraq, a letter by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Houston-Galveston, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, along with Bishop Oscar Cantu of Las Cruces, chair of the U.S. bishops international justice and peace committee, and Bishop Joe Vasquez of Austin, chair of the bishops migration committee, stated.

The persecution that the Christian and Chaldean Catholic community has faced in Iraq is well- documented, they added. The deportations to this same country, under such scrutiny for abuse and genocide of Christian and other minorities, seems to run counter to what is happening in other parts of our government.

Lawyers for the detainees insisted that under the Convention Against Torture they should not be sent back to a country where they have a reasonable expectation of persecution.

Furthermore, since the detainees have already served their prison sentences for their previous crimes, we believe it would not be just or humane to deport a person who has integrated into American life and poses no evident risk to the local community, the bishops continued.

This past week, Bishop Kalabat noted in a Facebook post that Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako was also involved in the efforts to halt the deportations, and spoke with an international Catholic organization that are in contact with Vice President Pence directly.

Bishop Kalabat also said he had appealed to Michigan Governor Rick Snyder to pardon all those who had state felonies.

Then on June 22, Judge Goldsmith granted a two-week stay on the deportations of the Iraqi nationals within the jurisdiction of the Detroit ICE Field Office with final orders of removal, who have been, or will be, arrested and detained by ICE.

In light of these complex jurisdictional issues, and the speed with which the Government is moving to remove Petitioners, it is necessary to stay Petitioners removal pending the Courts determination regarding its jurisdiction, Judge Goldsmith stated.

He also cited the threat of irreparable harm claimed by the detainees through the significant chance of loss of life and lesser forms of persecution if they were to be deported to Iraq, as well as the public interest in due process that their requests for relief be heard by a federal court before their deportation.

The court took a life-saving action by blocking our clients from being immediately sent back to Iraq, Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLUs Immigrants Rights Project, stated. They should have a chance to show that their lives are in jeopardy if forced to return.

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Judge halts deportations of Chaldean Christians to Iraq - Catholic News Agency

The Jerusalem Post

Hezbollah says future Israel war could draw fighters from Iran, Iraq The Jerusalem Post BEIRUT - Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Friday that a future war waged by Israel against Syria or Lebanon could draw thousands of fighters from countries including Iran, Iraq and Yemen. His comments indicated that the same array of ... Hezbollah says future Israel war could draw fighters from Iran, Iraq, elsewhereNasdaq all 103 news articles »

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Hezbollah says future Israel war could draw fighters from Iran, Iraq - The Jerusalem Post

More than a decade after Cal Farleys Boys Ranch alumnus Rafael TJ Carrillo Jr. was killed in action serving for the US Army in Iraq, a statue honoring him and other Boys Ranch alums who have fallen in action will be unveiled today at the Boys Ranch Cemetery.

Carrillo, originally from Austin, spent five years at Boys Ranch where he played football, wrestled, was active in the chapel program and discovered that the military was where he wanted to be following his graduation in 2002.

He was killed by an improvised explosive device in Iraq in June 2005 while serving as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Carrillo was assigned to HHC 1-64 Battalion, 2nd Brigade Team, 3rd Infantry Division, mortar platoon. He served as an M1114 armored Humvee gunner. On the day of his death, Carrillo was conducting an area-security mission at a road junction in Baghdad. He was 21 years old.

Carrillo was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart by the Army.

Were proud to honor TJ and so many others whove sacrificed so much for our nation, Cal Farleys President & CEO Dan Adams said. It was important to TJ to make life better for the children of Iraq, just as Cal Farleys improves the lives of young people like him from across the United States.

The statue will serve in memory of Carrillo and all others who came through Cal Farleys before making the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Members of Carrillos family, as well as former military friends and commanders from around the country will be present today for the official unveiling.

Its hard to find the words, Carrillos mother Amy Tippie said of the statue honoring her son. Its so amazing, and something I never thought wed see. This is a reminder of TJ and the sacrifice he made, and his time at Boys Ranch.

According to Tippie, Carrillo was not enamored with the idea of coming to Boys Ranch, often fighting the rules early in his time there. But by his senior year, he had turned things around and discovered the military is where he wanted to be, she said.

During Carrillos junior year a family friend who was a high-ranking military official visited Tippie and and Boys Ranch, and it was that meeting that made TJ want to join the military.

He actually enlisted at the start of his senior year when he was 17, Tippie said. But of course he needed to graduate high school first.

Shortly after graduating from Boys Ranch High School, Carrillo officially enlisted in the Army, spending nearly three years in the service before his death.

Family, those at Boys Ranch and the military remember Carrillo most for his sense of humor particularly the voice impressions he did.

His sense of humor is what I always remember, Tippie said. He was always a joker, and a lot of that was to get attention. The boys at Boys Ranch called him Batman, and I remember one time he said he was going to prove he could fly by jumping out a window, but it was closed so it didnt work out too well for him. He even carried that sense of humor into the army. His peers and leaders said he was very good at doing voice imitations.

After his death they held a memorial service for him in Iraq and the sergeant said that he hoped he was using his real voice when he met St. Peter.

Now, 12 years after his death, his memory and sacrifice will live on at the Boys Ranch Cemetery with todays unveiling of the statue. It takes on special meaning for Tippie, as it was designed and cast by Clint Howard, a cousin of Tippies husband.

That makes it so much more special, Tippie said of having family work on the statue. Clint worked very closely with me and Julie, TJs sister, on making it right. He wanted to get everythign right, TJ even had a scar on his chin, and Clint went to that level of detail. Its been an amazing experience for us all.

The 6,000-pound sculpture is based upon a photo taken of Carrillo by one of his fellow soldiers. It depicts Carrillo kneeling beside an Iraqi boy. Both Carrillo and the boy are displaying a thumbs up gesture.

In addition to family being on-hand for the ceremony Tippie found out Thursday that one of Carrillos Army instructors, Sherman Powell, will be flying in from Michigan to attend Saturday.

When it all started I was so grateful and didnt want anyone to put this out there in any ways Tippie said. But Cal Farleys has been so behind us in support it touches your heart, thats just who they are.

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Cal Farley dedicates sculpture to alumnus lost in Iraq War - Amarillo.com