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WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE

Air Force Capt. Gregory Billy Bob Thornton was flying over Iraq catching up on old times with a fellow A-10 jet pilot on the ground serving with a U.S. Army unit in Baghdad when the conversation abruptly changed.

He comes back on the radio and he says, Were taking direct enemy fire. We need you in here now. And it went from kind of catching up with one of our buddies to now going in and protecting him because hes under fire, Thornton said.

It was April 6, 2003, just days after U.S. troops went into Baghdad during the Iraq war.

Nearby, fellow A-10 Thunderbolt II pilot Lt. Col. Raymond Donk Strasburger was flying in a second jet and would soon join Thornton in a fierce battle with Iraqi Republican Guard troops firing tank rounds at U.S. soldiers on the other side of the Tigris River.

Thornton, 47, will receive a Silver Star the third highest medal for valor in the military in a private ceremony today at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force for his effort to help thwart the assault against U.S. troops.

Air Combat Command commander Gen. James Mike Holmes was expected to present the medal.

Thornton said the medal, upgraded from a Distinguished Flying Cross he originally received for the combat mission, was humbling. Air Force squadron mates had originally asked that Thornton receive the Silver Star. The Air Force agreed to the upgrade after a review of the mission years later.

I was actually driving to work when the general called to let me know, and I was shocked, surprised, thrilled, all kinds of emotions, said Thornton, a Southwest Airlines pilot who lives in Monument, Colo.

Strasburger, 56, a retired colonel, flew to Dayton with his wife, Teresa, from their home in Germany for the event. Thornton and Strasburger were assigned to the 75th Fighter Squadron at Pope Air Force Base, N.C., during the Iraq war.

In an email sent en route to Dayton, Strasburger, previously given the Silver Star for the combat mission, lauded Thorntons unequivocal and heart-felt dedication to preserve the lives of their fellow A-10 pilot and Army soldiers under a hailstorm of heavy enemy fire on the ground, and to simultaneously destroy the enemy at the expense of his own life if thats what it took.

According to an Air Force narrative, Thornton and Strasburger made multiple passes under enemy fire, firing the Thunderbolt IIs 30-millimeter gun and launching rockets and missiles through very heavy anti-aircraft fire and blinding sandstorms to decimate an enemy Republican Guard force.

In the midst of the 33-minute attack, the two aircraft destroyed three T-72 tanks, six armored personnel carriers and several other enemy vehicles, the Air Force said.

The memories are still vivid for Thornton, a retired lieutenant colonel.

The adrenalin was just amazing when we got done flying, he said. My first shot was on the lead tank, and I got a secondary explosion, and I still remember that vividly.

On his fourth pass, something he believes it may have been a missile nearly struck his A-10.

I maneuvered the airplane hard and I remember hearing Donks voice on the radio going, Are you OK?

Thornton was. The pilot went back on the offensive in a sandstorm that cut visibility to about a mile, or three times less pilots are normally allowed to train in, he said.

The two pilots used night flying-like tactics to avoid hitting each other, Thornton said.

You do so many different scenarios through training, and you just get comfortable in the airplane and it becomes a part of you, he said. The training kicked in. I didnt feel scared at all.

Read more:
Former Air Force pilot to receive Silver Star for Iraq combat mission - Dayton Daily News

VANCOUVER, Wash. (KOIN) The future is uncertain for an Iraq war veteran who was recently taken into ICE custody, despite growing up in the Portland area.

Chong Hwan Kim, 42, was born in South Korea. His father said their family had green cards when they legally immigrated to the United States more than 35 years ago.

KOIN 6 News confirmed Kim was a member of the National Guard for more than 5 years and served as an E4 Army specialist as a rifleman in Iraq.

He received a general discharge under honorable conditions.

But he also has a criminal record, which complicates his legal status.

Navy veteran Jordan Meyers reached out to KOIN 6 News after learning that Kim, his friend, had been detained by ICE and was being held in their Tacoma facility. Meyers said he and Kim belong to a support group for disabled veterans with PTSD.

Hes a positive member of my life, Meyers said. I wouldnt be where I am now without him.

Records show Kim has been arrested on several charges, including a mixture of felonies and misdemeanors, over the last 5 years. In 2016, he was convicted of attempted arson and possession of a destructive device.

Meyers said he knows about Kims criminal record, but said his friend has been working to clean up his act for some time now.

We dont leave anyone behind, Meyers said. Chong put his life on the line, he put himself in danger to sacrifice for our country. Regardless of maybe having a few issues here and there, we can stand behind him and help him in his recovery.

Kims father said a judge told his son, if he kept getting into trouble with the law, his immigration status could be in jeopardy. Now his family is worried about what could happen if gets deported back to South Korea where he is unfamiliar with the language, the country and its people.

Im just absolutely shocked that somebody who served our country honorably [that] there would be any question as to whether theyre welcome [here], Meyers said.

Officials with ICEs Tacoma branch wouldnt tell KOIN 6 News if or when Kim will be deported. His family says they cant afford to hire their own immigration lawyer.

Originally posted here:
Iraq vet in ICE custody may be deported to S Korea - NBC4i.com

Nowhere to Hide follows a man through five years of dramatic change in the war-torn Diyala province of Iraq. (Globe and Mail Update) Nowhere to Hide follows a man through five years of dramatic change in the war-torn Diyala province of Iraq. (Globe and Mail Update)

Brad Wheeler

Published Friday, Jun. 30, 2017 12:00AM EDT

Last updated Friday, Jun. 30, 2017 12:00AM EDT

Following the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq in late 2011, a nurse with a small video camera documents the victims of the ensuing violence that devastates the country. Hes Nori Sharif, a content husband, grateful father of four and subject of an immersive, compact and unpolished documentary from the Kurdish-born, Oslo-based filmmaker Zaradasht Ahmed.

Theres a lot to be disturbed about, but what upsets Sharif the most is the senselessness of an undiagnosed war that defies explanation. You see symptoms, he explains, but you don't understand the disease. Victors and spoils are not obvious. Nothing is accomplished but loss, confusion and body-maiming chaos. Even the opportunists dont benefit any more, he says.

The turning point of the film comes when Sharif and his family are forced to flee their home in the face of advancing Islamic State forces. After 13 stops, they land in a refugee camp. Hes no longer reporting on the sufferers of the warring. Hes become one.

Follow Brad Wheeler on Twitter: @BWheelerglobe

The Big Sick writers say making the film was therapeutic (The Canadian Press)

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Original post:
Review: Nowhere to Hide is an immersive look at violence in Iraq - The Globe and Mail

On Sunday, June 11, when some Iraqi Christians were on their way to church, Detroits Immigration and Customs Enforcement office arrested dozens. More were arrested on their way home from church. Torn from children and families, they were sent to various detention centers, most going to a facility in Youngstown, Ohio. They are now facing deportation to Iraq.

President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence promised earlier this year to prioritize protecting Christians from persecution in the Middle East. In a speech in May, Pence said that protecting religious freedom is a foreign-policy priority of the Trump administration and that the persecution of Christians around the world was of enormous importance. He also declared that the administration would be reaffirming Americas role as a beacon of hope and life and liberty and that America was and is and ever will be a shining city on a hill.

'Protecting Religious Freedom Is a Foreign-Policy Priority of the Trump Administration'

It was a sermon-like speech brimming with allusions to Christian scripture and with explicit vows to help followers of Christ. And yet, by rounding up these followers within that shining city, the Trump administration is now sending the very people it pledged to saveMiddle Eastern Christiansback into the hands of their persecutors.

Families and advocates fear this is a death sentence for loved ones because Christians are a minority group in Iraq and face likely persecution or torture there. On Monday, a federal judge ordered a nationwide temporary stay for the 199 detainees, who can legally fight their deportation for two more weeks.

Also on Monday, the Supreme Court partially reinstated Trumps travel ban. Iraq was originally one of seven Muslim-majority countries whose residents were banned from entering the United States, but after negotiating with the U.S., Iraq won an exemption. Unfortunately for Iraqi Christians, this victory appears to have come at their expense by prompting Iraq to take some of them back. As a result of recent negotiations between the U.S. and Iraq, Iraq has recently agreed to accept a number of Iraqi nationals subject to orders of removal, ICE said in a statement.

The operation in this region was specifically conducted to address the very real public safety threat represented by the criminal aliens arrested, said Rebecca Adducci, the field office director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations in Detroit. The vast majority of those arrested in the Detroit metropolitan area have very serious felony convictions, multiple felony convictions in many cases.

The weekends arrests sparked major protests in Detroit outside of the Federal Building and at Chaldean churches. The Chaldean Community Foundation has been preparing ways to halt or slow the process until conditions improve in Iraq, something CCF president Martin Manna says is highly unlikely.

This is of great concern for the community, Manna told me. It isnt your typical deportation scenariothis is a community with a [threat of] genocide [leveled] against them. Its been an ongoing persecution.

Some of the Iraqi Christians being detained are former refugees who have lived in the U.S. for many years. Other Iraqi Christians living in the U.S. are refugees who escaped from Iraq more recently, under threat of genocide and torture at the hands of ISIS. Both the Obama and Trump administrations declared the latter individuals victims of genocide. Metro Detroits Iraqi Christian population is the largest in the world outside of Iraq and is one of the hardest hit by ICE raids on the religious community.

Iraqi Christians are one of the oldest Christian communities in existence, with most belonging to the Chaldean Catholic Church. Theyve long been subject to persecution as non-Muslims in Iraq. In 1987 there were more than 1.4 million Christians in Iraq (about six percent of the population). In August 2014, there were about 500,000 Christians, but only 300,000 remained following an ISIS cleansing. As of last year, the number fell to an estimated 250,000. Canon Andrew White, called the Vicar of Baghdad, said, The time has come where it is over, no Christians will be left.

Justin Hanna, a Michigan attorney representing Iraqi Christian detainees, said that sending these individuals back to Iraq violates the United Nations Convention Against Torture, and that emergency motions have been filed on their behalf to reopen their cases to prevent them from being deported. Motions have also been filed to stay their cases so theyre not deported in the meantime.

The Convention Against Torture its not optional, its mandatory that the U.S. does not send or deport an individual back to a country where there is likelihood that they will be tortured or persecuted, Hanna said.

The U.S. government argues that conditions have improved in Iraq and that there isnt likelihood of either torture or persecution. But Hanna insisted that even though ISIS has been losing territory in Iraq, conditions will still be dangerous for the detainees: Theres still likelihood that these people will be persecuted and tortured to the extent that theyre minority Christians and that theyll be seen as supporting Western governments and having been Westernized to the point where the people that live in Iraq would persecute them.

Many detainees came to the U.S. when they were young, and are well into their 50s and 60s now. In some cases, theyve lived in the U.S. for up to 50 years. A lot of these people dont speak the [Arabic] language anymore, or never did, said Hanna. Although Arabic is the majority language of Iraq, it is not a native tongue for some minority groups.

Take 57-year-old Laith Francis, for instance, who left Iraq with his family when he was just four years old. On June 11, he was taken from his home in Walled Lake, Michigan, by two ICE agents who said he was being brought in for routine questioning. Instead, they pulled over on the side of the road and handcuffed him. Francis now waits in the Youngstown detention center, where hes allowed two phone calls a day.

Laith was charged with possession in 1991, a crime for which he was convicted and served time. Lawyers and family members believe that his orders for deportation have been in place for years, as have orders for many of those currently being detained by ICE. The orders previously did not go through because it was deemed too unsafe to send individuals back to Iraq, but they are going through now that the Trump administration deems the country safe enough.

Our whole family is very hurt, said his sister Joanne Francis, who hasnt heard from her brother in several days. Everybody is praying that they let him out. This was unexpected.

Just two months ago, Laith had major surgery and is still recovering. His sister was taking care of him up until his arrest. Laith was the only member of their family who did not get U.S. citizenship, and Joanne fears for his future.

Laith has a cross tattoo on his arm and doesnt speak Arabic, she said. Iraq is the last place he should be. Hell be tortured and killed.

Like Laith, many other detaineesnotably those who came to the U.S. as children with their families and built their lives in Americadont have family, friends or contacts in Iraq. Without a sponsor or connection, they wouldnt be able to seek refuge in northern Iraq, and would instead get stuck in Baghdad, where theyd likely be persecuted, according to Hanna. The attorney added that the village where many of Detroits Iraqi Christians originate fromTel Keyf, also known as Tel Keppenow has zero inhabitants, due to ISIS activity.

One detainee Hannas firm represents has a niece with blood cancer. The detainee is her bone marrow donor. Shes already had two bone marrow transfusions and should she need another, theres no other match, Hanna told me.

This detainee was originally held in a facility in Monroe, close to Detroit, and was subsequently moved to Louisiana and then to Arizona. We dont understand why theyre moving him. Theyre claiming theres not enough space in Michigan, Hanna said. Detainees are being shuffled around. I could get on a plane and fly to Arizona tomorrow to have my client sign documents with the court, Hanna continued, but I could get there and he might not even be there and I wouldnt know.

Khaalid Walls, a spokesperson for the ICE Detroit Field Office, wrote in an email that an overwhelming majority of the 199 Iraqi nationals arrested nationwide had criminal convictions for crimes including homicide, rape, aggravated assault, kidnapping, burglary, and other offenses.

The statement from Walls noted that the agency focuses its enforcement resources on individuals who pose a threat to national security, public safety, and border security.

According to Hanna, however, roughly 85 percent of detainees committed nonviolent crimes. They are people who entered the country legally, but lost their legal status due to criminal activitysomething for which theyve already been punished.

These people have paid their dues to society through probation or jail time, he said. Theyve paid those consequences, and now theyre being criminalized again 10, 20, 30 years later after theyve been members of the community.

Continue reading here:
Which Christians Is Trump Willing to Protect? - The Atlantic

Northern Iraq

A doctor measures a baby at the MSF-supported primary healthcare centre in Hammam al-Alil, south of Mosul.

West Mosul MSF has started to provide life-saving trauma assistance for the war-wounded at a medical structure in the Old City of west Mosul, the final conflict area, where an estimated 60,000 residents remain.

Teams are carrying out surgery for war-wounded patients, performing emergency caesarean sections, and providing short-term post-operative care and maternity care. The facility in Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, is equipped with an emergency room and a mass casualty intake room for triage in case of an influx of wounded patients.

Emergency and Post Operative Care, Al Taheel At Al Taheel hospital, where MSF opened a 24/7 emergency room on 26 March, a surgical unit and 32-bed post-operative ward have been set up to provide medium-term care to patients in and around Mosul suffering from violent trauma injuries.

The emergency room has received more than 1,000 patients since it opened and more than 175 surgical interventions have been carried out.

Al-Khansaa Teaching Hospital, East Mosul MSF has just started supporting this Ministry of Health facility in the Al-Sukkar neighbourhood, which has suffered extensive damage during the conflict. The hospital currently has a 120-bed capacity to respond to the massive needs in Mosul. Mental health support is to be provided to all patients.

Maternal Health, Karama MSF opened a 15-bed maternity hospital in Karama, east Mosul on 19 March. The team, composed of international and Iraqi midwives and obstetricians, has assisted 376 births at the hospital, which is open 24/7.

Trauma care and primary healthcare, Hammam al-Alil Hammam al-Alil (known as HAA) is located 30 kilometres south of Mosul and is the closest camp for internally displaced people. The town has received a big influx of displaced people, with more arriving daily to be settled in different camps and with many in transit as they return to east Mosul.

MSF opened a field trauma hospital in HAA on 16 February. It is equipped with a 22-bed emergency room, two operating theatres, a seven-bed intensive care unit/recovery room and a 32-bed inpatient department. Between 19 February and 10 June, the emergency room received 3,144 patients, 56 per cent of whom were women and children. To date, the team has performed 305 major surgical procedures and 67 minor procedures. The majority of cases are emergency surgeries.

Since April 15, MSF has also supported the local department of healths primary healthcare centre in Hamman Al-Alil town. More than 18,000 consultations for the host population and the internally displaced were carried out by 10 June.

MSF has run an ambulatory therapeutic feeding centre for children suffering from acute malnutrition since June. The majority of patients come from two nearby camps for internationally displaced people. Psychosocial support is offered to the patients in the trauma centre and primary healthcare centre.

Post-operative and rehabilitation care, Al Hamdaniya At Al Hamdaniya hospital, MSF has provided post-operative care with rehabilitation and psychosocial support in collaboration with Handicap International since 15 March. Of the 255 patients admitted to date, nearly half have been women and children, and the 43-bed facility is almost constantly full. A room for advanced dressings, where minor surgical procedures can be performed, is expected to open in the next few days.

A child is tested for malnutrition in the triage tent of the MSF-supported primary healthcare centre in Hammam al-Alil.

By 1 June, the team had treated 7,100 patients in the emergency room, around 10 per cent of whom were admitted to the inpatient department. A total of 1,350 surgical interventions were performed between December and 1 June. A four-bed intermediate care unit, opened in mid-April to provide care to patients in critical condition, has been equipped with seven observational beds and two resuscitation beds.

MSF set up a 12-bed intensive therapeutic feeding centre in March to provide care to children recently displaced from west Mosul or Shirqat Region, as well as those from camps for displaced people in Hammam al-Alil and Qayyarah. In May, 178 patients were admitted, including 91 infants under six months old. The centre works regularly over capacity, with as many as three babies per bed. Since February, MSF has run a mental health clinic for patients in the hospital and those referred from Qayyarah camps. The team consists of a psychiatrist, two psychologists and two psychosocial counsellors.

Camps for internally displaced people The population of four camps for displaced people from Mosul sharply increased to 80,000 by the end of March following the mid-February offensive in west Mosul. Some 10,000 people have since left the camps to stay with relatives or rent houses in retaken areas of east Mosul.

In Chamakor and M2 camps, MSF mobile teams are offering treatment for chronic diseases (mainly diabetes and hypertension).

An MSF team is providing psychological and psychiatric consultations, group therapy, psychosocial counselling and child therapy to people suffering from moderate to severe mental health conditions.

Since the beginning of 2017, MSF teams providing mental healthcare in 13 sites have carried out more than 19,400 medical consultations and 12,200 mental health consultations in the camps near Mosul.

MSF teams are also working in Kirkuk, Dohuk, Sulaymaniyah, Salah Al-Din, Diyala, Al-Anbar, Baghdad and Babylon governorates.

Kirkuk governorate Teams are providing medical and mental health services to people displaced from Hawija. MSF runs a non-communicable diseases clinic and mental health activities, including referrals for psychiatric care in Daquq camp for displaced people. At Maktab Khalid entry point and Debes screening site, MSFs medical and humanitarian presence through the provision of mobile clinics ensures that the people with the greatest health needs fleeing Hawija receive timely treatment. MSF also supports the emergency rooms of the two main Kirkuk hospitals with training for Department of Health doctors and nurses in emergency room-related skills, donations of crash carts, and trauma room reorganisation.

Zummar Staff at the MSF-run maternity clinic in the village of Tal Maraq have assisted more than 500 safe deliveries since the start of the project in November 2016. The clinic offers pre- and post-natal consultations, basic emergency obstetric and neonatal care, manages minor obstetric complications, and refers patients with more serious obstetric complications to hospitals in Zakho and Dohuk. Since February, the clinic has a small paediatric ward.

MSF teams run mobile clinics in surrounding villages offering general healthcare and mental health consultations, as well as follow up and treatment for patients with non-communicable diseases.

Dohuk governorate In the Domiz refugee camp for Syrian refugees, MSF is running a maternity unit where women can deliver their babies safely and access reproductive healthcare. Since January 2016, MSF teams have assisted more than 1,000 births.

Sulaymaniyah Governorate MSF works with the health authorities in Sulaymaniyah emergency hospital and provides hands-on training to improve the quality of medical services in the intensive care unit and emergency trauma ward. The rehabilitation of the emergency room and intensive care unit wards has improved layouts and patient flows. Since the start of the project, staff have seen more than 200,000 patients in the emergency room and over 500 in the intensive care unit.

MSF has worked in camps for internally displaced people in the governorate since 2015, conducting health promotion activities and providing psychological and psychosocial care.

Salah Al-Din governorate As military operations expand in northwestern Iraq, thousands of Iraqis continue to flock to relatively safer areas. Since June 2016, MSFs mobile clinics have offered outpatient and mental health consultations in the city of Tikrit and the surrounding areas. In January 2017 MSF established a primary healthcare centre in one of the camps.

Diyala governorate Since May 2016, approximately 100,000 displaced people have returned to the towns of Sadiya and Jalawla, which were retaken from the Islamic State group. MSF supports the primary healthcare clinics in Sadiya and Jalawla, focusing on chronic diseases, sexual and reproductive health, maternity, mental health and health promotion services for displaced people, returnees and the host community.

MSFs field trauma hospital in Hammam al-Alil, south of Mosul.

Baghdad Governorate MSF teams in Abu Ghraib provide medical and mental health services to people displaced from central Iraq. A mobile medical team operates in impoverished neighbourhoods in the Abu Ghraib district, where many displaced people have settled in the past two years. A second team, based in a primary healthcare clinic in the Al Shuhada II area, is assessing the needs of thousands of people who were displaced and are now returning to their homes in villages in northern Abu Ghraib and Karma district in Anbar. In 2017, MSF has so far provided over 12,700 consultations, more than 2,300 consultations for non-communicable diseases and over 450 mental health consultations.

Babylon Governorate Since spring 2017, MSF has been fully supporting the 60-bed Ibn Saif Paediatric Hospital in Musayib. The team will concentrate on capacity-building, training and logistics support. Psychosocial services are to be supported at the hospital and within the community.

Read more from the original source:
Iraq: crisis update 29 June 2017 | Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF ... - Mdecins Sans Frontires (MSF) International