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Trump's New Travel Ban Blocks Migrants From Six Nations, Sparing Iraq New York Times The new order continued to impose a 90-day ban on travelers, but it removed Iraq, a redaction requested by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who feared it would hamper coordination to defeat the Islamic State, according to administration officials. Trump removed Iraq from travel ban in recognition of fight against Isis,The Independent Trump's first victory in deportation feud is IraqWashington Times US says Iraq removed from travel ban partly for fight against Islamic StateReuters CNN -Washington Post -The White House all 2,250 news articles »

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Trump's New Travel Ban Blocks Migrants From Six Nations, Sparing Iraq - New York Times

MOSUL, Iraq Iraqi forces on Tuesday recaptured the main government building in Mosul, the central bank branch and the museum where three years ago the militants filmed themselves destroying priceless statues.

A Rapid Response team stormed the Nineveh governorate complex in an overnight raid that lasted more than an hour, killing dozens of Islamic State fighters, spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Abdel Amir al-Mohammadawi said.

The buildings, already in ruins, were not being used by Islamic State, but their capture is a landmark in the push to retake the militants' last major stronghold in Iraq, now restricted to the heavy populated western half of Mosul.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi flew into to Mosul to visit the troops fighting to oust Islamic State from the city in which it declared its sprawling caliphate in 2014.

"Iraqis shall walk tall when the war is over," Abadi told state TV as he arrived.

Islamic State snipers continued to fire at the main government building after it was stormed, restricting the movements of the soldiers, and forces pushing further into western Mosul came under rifle and rocket fire.

"The fighting is strong because most of them are foreigners and they have nowhere to go," said the head of a sniper unit for the Rapid Response, al-Moqdadi al-Saeedi.

Some of Islamic State's foreign fighters are trying to flee Mosul, U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Matthew Isler said.

"The game is up," Isler told Reuters at the Qayyara West Airfield, south of the city. "They have lost this fight and what you're seeing is a delaying action."

Iraq's Counter Terrorism Service (CTS), which spearheaded the assaults that won back east Mosul, was on Tuesday moving into the western half of the city, the final and trickiest battleground in the nearly five-month campaign due to the dense civilian population living in its narrow streets.

STREET BY STREET

The CTS forces had fought their way well into the Mansour neighborhood and were trying to advance street by street, sending heavy fire on IS sniper positions, a Reuters correspondent visiting the special forces' front lines reported.

Federal Police units arrived at a house that CTS forces were stationed in but had to move out, one-by-one, to a neighboring building as IS rocket fire hit homes nearby.

One CTS operative on the ground said he thought it would take a few hours to retake Mansour, one of Mosul's biggest neighborhoods which lies southwest of the old city and could serve as a base to advance into the historic center.

U.S. special forces were seen walking between buildings in the same area, some carrying assault rifles with scopes and silencers. Helicopters attacked targets just to the north and thick smoke filled the sky from various explosions.

Dozens of civilians streamed out of the Mamoun district toward the CTS troops as machinegun fire rang out in the background, adding to a wave of people displaced from Mosul that now numbers 211,000, 40,000 of whom fled last week alone, U.N. agencies say.

Some 750,000 people were estimated to live in west Mosul when the offensive began on Feb. 19.

Among the symbolic buildings retaken overnight was one that had served at Islamic State's main court, known for sentences including stonings, throwing people off roofs and chopping off hands, reflecting the group's hardline ideology.

The militants looted the central bank when they took over the city in 2014 and took videos of themselves destroying archaeological artifacts. Traffic in antiquities that abound in the territory under their control, from Palmyra in Syria to Nineveh in Iraq, was one of their main sources of income.

The number of Islamic State fighters in Mosul was estimated at 6,000 at the start of the offensive on Mosul on Oct. 17, by the Iraqi military which estimates that several thousands have been killed since.

Lined up against them is a 100,000-strong force of Iraqi troops, Kurdish peshmerga fighters and Iranian-trained Shi'ite Muslim paramilitary groups.

(Writing by Maher Chmaytell; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

WASHINGTON Faced with a growing test of resolve for a new U.S. president who vowed while campaigning to get tough on North Korea, Donald Trump's aides are pressing to complete a strategy review on how to counter Pyongyang's missile and nuclear threats.

SEOUL North Korea's latest weapons test showed it can accurately fire multiple medium-range ballistic missiles, an attack strategy that experts said could test the advanced U.S. THAAD anti-missile system which began to arrive in South Korea on Tuesday.

KABUL Gunmen dressed as doctors attacked a military hospital close to the U.S. embassy in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Wednesday and were engaging security forces inside the building, officials and witnesses said.

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Iraqi forces retake Mosul museum, close in on IS-controlled old town - Reuters

New York Times

Trump Tower, TSA, Iraq: Your Monday Evening Briefing New York Times 1. President Trump revised his travel ban, removing Iraq but leaving six other predominantly Muslim nations on a list of those barred from entering the U.S. He also scrapped a provision that explicitly protected religious minorities. Unregulated ...

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Trump Tower, TSA, Iraq: Your Monday Evening Briefing - New York Times

Lobbyists for the Iraqi government were in contact with Trump administration officials and lawmakers ahead of the decision to remove the country from the travel ban, new documents filed with the Justice Department show.

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, a high-powered law and lobby firm, sent letters to senior administration officials, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis, requesting sit-down meetings.

The lobbyists asked U.S. officials to have introductory meetings with Iraqs new ambassador, Fareed Yasseen, who assumed the post in January, and Naufel Alhassan, the deputy chief of staff to Iraqs prime minister, Haider al-Abadi.

I can confirm that [Yasseen and Alhassan] are strong advocates of U.S. interests within Iraq and understand the efforts you have undertaken to ensure Americas priorities in the region, many of the letters sent to officials read.

Both Alhassan and Ambassador Yasseen were supporters of Prime Minister Abadis decision to take no reciprocal action against the Presidents Executive Order on immigration, despite significant pressure from the Iraq parliament and citizenry to do so, the letters continued.

The letters came around the time of a call between Trump and al-Abadi on Feb. 9, and before a meeting between the prime minister and Vice President Pence and others at the Munich Security Conference.

During Trumps call with al-Abadi, the president said he wanted to underscore the support of the United States for the Iraqi people in our shared fight against the terrorist group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria [ISIS].

Iraq hired Brownstein before Trumps inauguration to work on issues related to Iraq, immigration, defense, economics, and overall foreign policy, disclosure forms say.

The contract, worth $40,000 per month, runs from Jan. 15 to April 15.

Al Mottur, a shareholder at Brownstein, said Iraqi officials were the ones who persuaded the Trump administration to change course on the travel policy.

The overwhelming majority of the successful effort to have them removed was conducted by the country of Iraq itself, Mottur said. Wed love to take credit, but thats a disservice to the work that the government of Iraq did in this space.

Diplomats from Iraq and its prime minister had a series of meetings with high-level Trump administration officials at the Munich Security Conference in Germany last month, in addition to subsequent conversations in other venues.

Mattis, for example, made an unannounced visit to Iraq near the end of last month. Both he and other Trump officials, including national security adviser H. R. McMaster, have contacts in the country dating back to their time in the military. Tillerson also has ties to officials in Iraq, including the prime minister, from his time as the CEO of Exxon Mobil Corp.

There appeared to be sufficient consensus among the national security team and senior officials coming out of these meetings that the administration chose to remove them from the list, Mottur said.

The U.S. officials who received letters from R. James Nicholson, a senior counsel at Brownstein, include Tillerson, Mattis, Pence, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and Tom Bossert, an assistant to Trump for homeland security and counterterrorism.

Many of the letters include identical text, with only some personal touches added.

Former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn received a letter from Nicholson on Feb. 9. Flynn had met with Yasseen a week before, the letter notes. Flynn has since resigned following a controversy over communications with the Russian ambassador to the United States.

On Capitol Hill, the lobbyists for Iraq requested meetings with the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Jack ReedJack ReedSenate panel approves Trump adviser keeping his military rank Iraqs lobbyists mobilized after travel ban, documents reveal Senate Dems want Mar-a-Lago visitor records made public MORE (R.I.), and Sen. Lindsey GrahamLindsey GrahamEuropean leaders voice support for State, USAID efforts DOJ nominee declines to back special prosecutor on Russia Graham quips: I gave Trump my new cellphone number MORE (R-S.C.), a member of the committee.

Dr. Naufel is having a series of meetings with administration officials and congressional leadership in order to provide insights on the current challenges in Iraq as well as progress being made, Nicholson wrote to the senators, referring to al-Abadis deputy chief of staff, whom he refers to as Abadis right hand.

While Iraqi officials have had meetings with top Washington officials, its unclear how many stem from the letters.

On Jan. 27, Trump signed the initial executive order temporarily prohibiting citizens of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen from coming to the United States.

Several courts blocked the orders implementation.

Following the presidents speech to a joint session of Congress, reports surfaced that Iraq would be removed from the list, citing urging from the State Department and the Pentagon. Iraq has been a key ally in the region in fighting ISIS, and many Iraqis risked their lives to serve as translators for U.S. soldiers in post-9/11 military operations.

On Monday, the White House issued a revised order with several tweaks, including removing Iraq from the list of banned countries.

The removal sends a positive message about U.S.-Iraq relations moving forward, said Iraqi government spokesman Saad al-Hadithi, according to The Associated Press, adding that it illustrates a real partnership between the two countries.

Excerpt from:
Iraq's lobbyists mobilized after travel ban, documents reveal | TheHill - The Hill

(Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

IRBIL, Iraq Iraqi officials on Monday praised the Trump administrations decision to exclude Iraq from a list of Muslim-majority countries whose citizens will be temporarily banned from entering the United States, calling it an acknowledgment of their nations unique role in the struggle against global extremism.

A previous ban had prompted widespread anger and disbelief in Iraq, a country destabilized by cycles of conflict since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 and a front-line battlefield in the fight against the Islamic State militant group.

A revised executive order signed by President Trump on Monday imposes a 90-day ban on the issuance of new visas to citizens of Iran, Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, Syria and Libya, citing national security concerns, but it called Iraq a special case.

Despite the continued presence of the Islamic State in the country, the order said, other factors justified Iraqs exclusion from the list, including close cooperation between Baghdad and Washington as well as the significant presence of United States forces in Iraq.

[Revised executive order bans people from 6 Muslim-majority nations from getting visas]

A spokesman for Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Trump and the Iraqi leader had discussed the ban in a telephone call several weeks ago and that the U.S. president had promised to review Iraqs status. The decision on Monday showed an appreciation for the partnership with Iraq in fighting terrorism and would speed up the fight against the Islamic State, the spokesman said.

The relief in Iraq was in sharp contrast to the criticism of the revised order from human rights groups, which derided it as effectively a ban on Muslims, as well as refugees and their advocates. The order suspends the U.S. refugee program for 120 days.

The order heartlessly targets the most vetted and most vulnerable population to enter the United States, David Miliband, president and chief executive of the International Rescue Committee, which resettles refugees in the United States, said in a statement.

This ban doesnt target those who are the greatest security risk, but those least able to advocate for themselves. Instead of making us safer, it serves as a gift for extremists who seek to undermine America, he said.

The Trump administration says the ban is critical to public safety, and officials asserted Monday that the revised order would eliminate the chaos at airports worldwide that accompanied the initial executive order, issued in January.

Mohamed Gabr, a Syrian refugee who lives with his family in Cairo and said he was supposed to be resettled in New Jersey before the initial ban, was still waiting to hear from his resettlement agency about when and if his family would be able to travel.

[Trumps new travel ban still wouldnt have kept out anyone behind deadly U.S. terror attacks]

(Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

My condition is intolerable. For a year and eight months, we have been stuck here. For two months, I have been told to wait, he said.

Despite the uncertainty about their future, Gabr and his wife, Lamis el-Hamawi, said they were happy that the executive order had been narrowed, if only slightly. We wish the Iraqis all the best, Hamawi said. They are just like us, they faced the same horrors. We dont see any difference between us and them. We dont hate or discriminate.

They do, she said, referring to U.S. officials. But we dont.

The revised executive order comes as the United States isstepping up its involvement in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq, including by sending hundreds of military advisers to front-line positions with Iraqi security forces wrestling for control of the northern city of Mosul.

The original White House ban was seen as especially egregious by Iraqi troops and commanders representing units that have suffered heavy losses in the grinding fight for Mosul.

It showed no appreciation at all for the sacrifices of Iraqis in fighting terrorism, said Lt. Gen. Sami al-Aridhi, commander of the second division of Iraqs U.S.-trained counterterrorism forces.

It had a negative impact on the psyche and morale of fighters, especially for the special forces, because we deal directly and closely with the Americans, he said.

On Monday, some of the resentment abated, Aridhi said, adding that he hoped to visit the United States someday, when the fight against the Islamic State has ended, and enter the country with respect: as an Iraqi who fought against terrorism consistently since 2003.

Heba Mahfouz in Cairo and Louisa Loveluck in Beirut contributed to this report.

Read more:

What Trump changed in the new travel ban

Away from Iraqs front lines, the Islamic State is creeping back in

Tragedy inside Mosul as food runs out and the battle against ISIS drags on

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Iraq, excluded from travel ban, praises new White House executive order - Washington Post