CBS Minnesota / WCCO | Minn. Mom's Death May Be Tied To Iraq Burn Pits CBS Minnesota / WCCO She did two tours in Iraq, in 2005 and 2007. And during that time she was exposed to toxic burn pits where it's documented that chemicals, paint, aluminum cans, munitions, petroleum, among other things, were constantly burned. Environmental, that's ... |
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Minn. Mom's Death May Be Tied To Iraq Burn Pits - CBS Minnesota / WCCO
Department of Defense | US Commander in Iraq: Somewhere Between 12000-15000 ISIS Fighters Remaining in Iraq and Syria CNSNews.com Stephen Townsend, the commander of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, told reporters on Wednesday there are between 12,000 and 15,000 ISIS fighters right now in Iraq and Syria, with around 2,000 of them isolated in and around western Mosul. Townsend said ... Officials Provide Details of Latest Counter-ISIS Strikes in Syria, Iraq US Commander Downplays Chance of Big Iraq, Syria Troop Hike US commander downplays chance of big Iraq, Syria troop hike |
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US Commander in Iraq: Somewhere Between 12000-15000 ISIS Fighters Remaining in Iraq and Syria - CNSNews.com
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense James Mattis and national security adviser H.R. McMaster made the request, the sources said. One of the main reasons is Iraq's role in fighting ISIS.
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly also supported the move, but it remains unclear whether the White House has made a final decision.
Trump's original executive order, signed a week after he entered the White House, banned citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries -- Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen -- from entering the US for 90 days, and temporarily suspended the entry of all refugees.
A federal court issued a temporary injunction last month that halted implementation of the travel ban nationwide, and an appeals court declined to reinstate the ban.
The new executive order will make clear that legal permanent residents (otherwise known as green card holders) are excluded from any travel ban, and those with validly issued visas will also be exempt from the ban.
The new order also is expected to revise or exclude language prioritizing the refugee claims of certain religious minorities.
Two sources told CNN they expect Trump will formally revoke the earlier executive order.
CNN's Laura Jarrett, Ariane de Vogue and Jeremy Diamond contributed to this report.
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Top Trump advisers urged Iraq to be removed from new travel ban - CNN
The order is a revision to the travel ban implemented in the first days of Trumps presidency, which temporarily prohibited individuals from seven countries and refugees from entering the United States.
Iran, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Somalia, Libya and Sudan were included in the initial order, which has been blocked by federal courts.
Urging from State Department and Pentagon officials led to the de-listing of Iraq, the AP reported, allegedly because of the work the country has done in fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Earlier in the evening The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the planning, that Trump's new order would likely exempt current visa holders in hopes of making the policy more able to withstand legal challenges. One source told the Journal the new order may remove Iraq from the list.
It would also reportedly strike a provision in the previous action that gave preference to refugees who are religious minorities, apparently an appeal to criticism that the ban is targeted specifically at Muslims.
Trump's first order halted the entire refugee program for four months while placing an indefinite stop to the acceptance of Syrian refugees.
Last month, the country of Iraq hired a K Street firm, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, to work on its behalf. It will be serving as policy counsel for the country's embassy in Washington, including helping with lobbying, "business development support, and strategic advisory services to advance the goals" of the Iraqi government,according to disclosures filed with the Justice Department. The contract, which goes through mid-April, lists Iraq as paying the firm $40,000 per month.
Updated at 12:01 a.m.
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Trump to remove Iraq from travel ban list in revised executive order: report - The Hill
Ahmed Sami Kheder, above, died when the convoy he was travelling in was hit by gunfire. It is not known whether Hisham Fadlallah died in the same incident
Two British students who abandoned medical degrees in Sudan a couple of years ago to work as doctors helping Isis in Syria have been killed in fighting, it has emerged.
Ahmad Sami Kheder , 25, originally from Carshalton in south London, is understood to have died last weekend when a convoy he was travelling with leaving Mosul, Iraq, was hit by gunfire.
Hisham Fadlallah, from Nottinghamshire, was also killed, although it is not known whether he was killed in the same incident. A source close to Fadlallahs family confirmed the deaths and said the family is flying to Khartoum for the wake.
Hisham al-Hashimi, an Iraqi-based writer on extremist groups, told the Guardian: This information is correct. They were British-Sudanese medics killed near Mosul on Sunday.
Mosul is currently the scene of fierce battles as Iraqi forces backed by US and coalition military attempt to wrest control of the city from Isis.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said the government is aware of reports of their deaths and said: We advise against all but essential travel to Iraq and against all travel to large parts. Anyone who does travel to these areas, for whatever reason, is putting themselves in considerable danger.
Kheder and Fadlallah were among the medical students of British origin at the University of Medical Sciences and Technology in Sudan who travelled to Syria in successive waves from 2015 onwards. The Sunday Times estimated last month that 22 such people had attempted to join Isis, including several sets of siblings.
The pair left Khartoum, Sudan, for Syria in early 2015 as part of a group of nine students that also included Kheders sister Nada, 22.
In 2015 Kheder appeared in an Isis propaganda film that sought to portray the group in a softer light, including footage of babies in hospital, high-tech medical equipment and Kheder sitting at a desk with a stethoscope or teaching a class of students.
Raffaello Pantucci, director of international security studies at the Royal United Services Institute and author of a book on British foreign fighters, said Kheder and his cohort had been valuable to Isiss propaganda efforts.
They were interesting because they were showcasing a positive message for the group, he told the Guardian. This is a group thats eager to show its not just a bunch of guys chopping off heads, its doctors, engineers, everyone. And having these well-spoken British kids showing up and saying these sorts of things was quite useful for that cause.
The British medical students who left Khartoum to join Isis are believed to have been radicalised at the universitys Islamic Cultural Association, a low-key group founded in 2006 to help western students become closer to their religion. The organisation is accused of being the hub from which Isis recruited at least 24 medical students from Sudan.
The association became increasingly hardline after 2011, when Mohammed Fakhri al-Khabass, 26, from Middlesbrough, became its president. The university told the BBC he played a major role in recruiting and radicalising for Isis. His whereabouts remain unknown.
It is believed Kheder and Fadlallah initially attended a medical faculty opposite Raqqas National Hospital after entering Syria to join Isis in March 2015. Isis opened the facility in January as part of its embryonic health ministry. Kheder later moved to work in a medical facility in Deir Ezzor province in the Islamic State, much of which remains territory occupied by Isis.
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British students killed in Iraq after joining Isis - The Guardian