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The gut-wrenching news was all too familiar: a dictator unleashing a deadly chemical attack on his own people. The Butcher of Baghdad, Saddam Hussein, used chemical weapons in the 1980s. Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in 2013, and then again just a few days ago. In perhaps what might be the biggest test of President Trump's presidency, the question remains: will Syria be Trump's Iraq War?

From 2007-2010, I traveled to Baghdad 14 times as a civilian member of a special Department of Defense task force in charge of economic development and rebuilding as part of General David Petraeus' counterinsurgency strategy. The strategy, or "COIN" as we referred to it, focused on winning the hearts and minds of the people. Political victories, rather than military victories, were the key to achieving success. Military strength has its limitations, and COIN understood that

Although I'm a Republican, as a Mexican-American I have been very critical of Trump for obvious reasons but Trump's decision to fire 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles in Syria was the right call. I applaud his quick and decisive action as it sends a clear message to our allies and adversaries alike that a new sheriff is in town, and that this administration will not tolerate such atrocities so long as he is the president.

In a perfect world, the launching of Tomahawk cruise missiles would be the equivalent of a mic drop. But unfortunately, thanks to recent history over the last decade, we know that's not the case. Assad will have to respond, and Russia will be forced to either intervene or rush to Syria's defense. Either way, it doesn't look good.

Syria is now ground zero for ISIS. And for an organization that thrives on death and chaos, this is their dream scenario. From 2003-2012, it was Iraq and Afghanistan. Now it's Syria. With a former U.S. Marine Corps General with extensive on-the-ground combat training and expertise now the secretary of defense, a deployment of at least some U.S. troops to Syria seems almost inevitable.

If we learned anything from COIN and our battles in Iraq and Afghanistan, we will need a combination of military and civilian personnel to deploy to Syria to establish some form of stability and fast. Rebel fighters will need training, weapons and ammunition. ISIS and ISIS recruiters will need to be outnumbered and marginalized. Like radiation is to cancer cells, an aggressive strategy must be implemented to keep ISIS cells from metastasizing throughout Syria.

The American people are clearly not ready to endure yet another conflict. But in a post-September 11 era, we have no choice. How Trump chooses to address this new reality in Syria will perhaps be the greatest test of his presidency.

Mark Vargas (@MarkAVargas) is co-founder and president of Licentiam. From 2007-2010, he served as a civilian within the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense.

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Also from the Washington Examiner

President Obama's former deputy national security adviser indicated Saturday that he isn't very happy with President Trump's decision to hit a Syrian air base with missiles.

Trump's missile strike, which was retaliation for Syria's use of chemical weapons, drew instant comparisons to Obama, who warned the U.S. would act if Syria used chemical weapons.

Obama did nothing after Syria crossed that "red line" of Obama's, and many said Trump was the one to finally enforce Obama's ultimatum years later.

But in an early Saturday morning tweet, Rhodes suggested that Trump's strike was only aimed at boosting his press coverage, and seemed to warn reporters against helping him achieve this.

04/08/17 4:04 PM

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Will Syria be Trump's Iraq War? - Washington Examiner

By Maher Chmaytelli | ERBIL, Iraq

ERBIL, Iraq Iraq's Kurds plan to hold a referendum on independence this year to press their case for "the best deal" on self-determination once Islamic State is defeated, a senior Kurdish official said.

The Kurds already run their own autonomous region in northern Iraq and the official, Hoshiyar Zebari, indicated the expected 'yes' outcome in a vote wouldn't mean automatically declaring independence.

But with Kurdish forces also controlling wider territory regained from Islamic State, the referendum plan adds to questions about Iraq's unity after the militants have been ousted from Mosul.

The two main Kurdish parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), agreed at a meeting on Sunday that a referendum should be held this year, Zebari, a senior member of the KDP leadership, told Reuters.

"The idea of a referendum has been re-energized," Zebari, a former Iraqi foreign and finance minister, said in an interview in Erbil on Wednesday evening, commenting on the meeting held with the PUK's leadership.

The Kurds played a major role in the U.S.-backed campaign to defeat Islamic State, the ultra-hardline Sunni Muslim group that overran about a third of Iraq nearly three years ago. The militants are now fighting off Iraqi forces in Mosul, their last major city stronghold in Iraq from where they declared a "caliphate" that also includes parts of Syria.

While the fall of Mosul would effectively end the "caliphate", it will not solve deep divisions over power, land and resources between Iraq's Shi'ite Arab majority, and the important Sunni Arab and Kurdish communities.

The two rival Kurdish groups issued a joint statement on Sunday declaring support for the plan of holding a referendum, leaving its exact timing to an agreement with other, smaller Kurdish groups.

Zebari described the aim as "self-determination", leaving open the exact nature of any deal with Baghdad following the referendum when Kurds would be likely to vote strongly for independence.

"It will give a strong mandate to the Kurdish leadership to engage in talks with Baghdad and the neighbors in order to get the best deal for Kurdish self-determination," he said.

Iraqi Kurdish independence has been historically opposed by Iraq and also its neighbors, Iran, Turkey and Syria, as they fear the contagion for their own Kurdish populations.

Iraq's Kurds are the community to have advanced the most toward their long-held dream of independence. Iraq has been led by the Shi'ites since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, in 2003, following a U.S.-led invasion.

They run their own affairs in the north, through a Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), led by KDP leader Massoud Barzani.

They have their own armed force, the Peshmerga, which prevented in 2014 Islamic State from capturing the oil region of Kirkuk, after the Iraqi army fled in the face of the militants.

The Kurds have historical claims over Kirkuk, which is also inhabited by Turkmen and Arabs. Hardline Iranian-backed Iraqi Shi'ite militias have threatened to expel the Kurds by force from this region and other disputed areas.

Kirkuk's Kurdish-led provincial council rejected this week a resolution by the Iraqi parliament in Baghdad to lower Kurdish flags raised since last month next to Iraqi flags over public buildings of the region.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan also warned the Kurds on Tuesday that failure to lower the Kurdish flags would damage their relations with Turkey.

"We don't agree with the claim 'Kirkuk is for the Kurds' at all. Kirkuk is for the Turkmen, Arabs and Kurds, if they are there. Do not enter into a claim that it's yours or the price will be heavy. You will harm dialogue with Turkey," he said at a rally in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak.

The KRG government rejected the Iraqi and Turkish demands, arguing that the Kurds' role in defending Kirkuk against Islamic State justified the hoisting of their flag.

"If it wasn't for the Peshmerga, there would be neither Iraq's flag in the city nor Kurdistan's," KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani told reporters in Erbil on Wednesday.

Masrour Barzani, head of the KRG's Security Council and son of President Barzani, said in June that Iraq should be divided into three separate entities to prevent further sectarian bloodshed, with a state each given to the Shi'ites, the Sunnis and the Kurds.

The Shi'ites live mainly in the south, the Sunnis and the Kurds are on opposite corners of the north while the central region around Baghdad is mixed.

(editing by David Stamp)

WASHINGTON A Chinese fighter plane has been spotted on a Chinese-held island in the South China Sea, the first such sighting in a year and the first since U.S. President Trump took office, a U.S. think tank reported on Thursday.

CARACAS Venezuelan opposition protesters and security officers clashed on Thursday as the country's fragmented opposition gained new impetus against a socialist government it blames for the country's social and economic collapse.

U.S. officials should be respectful of the Mexican 2018 presidential election, Mexico's foreign minister said on Thursday, after a top U.S. security official suggested a win by a leftist candidate would be bad for both nations.

Read more here:
Kurds 're-energize' independence referendum plan for post-jihadist Iraq - Reuters

Bethanie Mitchell

Bethanie Mitchell is a freelance visual journalist. Previously, she was based in Myanmar for nearly six years where she focused on a long-term documen

The abduction of children in Iraq by IS militants has sent minorities fleeing for their lives.

Infidels, pagans, nonbelieversthese are terms that Islamic State (IS) militants use when referring to minority groups within their reach.The Islamic States aggressive entry into Iraq, which is home to mostly Sunni Muslims, made additional targets of minorities who practice Yazidism or Christianity. Some of the groups most brutal tactics are its public penchant for the abduction and forced conversion of children from these minorities.

In 2014, IS entered the town of Qaraqosh, located in the Nineveh plains, an area of Iraq home to many Assyrian Christians.Qaraqosh was home to Iraqs largest Christian community, mostly those who practice Catholicism or Orthodox Christianity. Iraq, which has one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, has seen its numbers dwindle in recent years, leaving Christianity in the country vulnerable toextinction. The abduction of minority children only intensified the fragility of both Christian and Yazidi populations.

In December 2016, Qaraqosh was liberated from IS but the scars remain. Iraqs missing children are living shadows amidst the burned out churches, mosques and other destroyed buildings that IS left in its wake.

Christina, who comes from a Qaraqosh Catholic family, was only 4 years old at the time of her abduction. The tragedy has left her family living in a refugee camp and too afraid to return home. Christina is thought to still be alive. Her fate, like so many other minority children abducted by IS militants, is one of forced conversion or even conscription.

A 2016 United Nations report on children and armed conflict said the number of children abducted by the Islamic State is greatly under-documented due to a lack of access to conflict areas.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observers editorial policy.

Photo Credit: Bethanie Mitchell

Join our community of more than 1,800 contributors to publish your perspective, share your narrative and shape the global discourse. Become a Fair Observer and help us make sense of the world.

Continued here:
Losing Christina in War-Torn Iraq - Fair Observer

Isis has shot down an Iraqi army helicopter flying over Mosul, killing two pilots on board as the gruelling battle to drive militants out of the city continues.

The joint operations force said the aircraft went down in eastern parts of the city, where government forces, the Kurdish Peshmerga and international allies are battling to dislodge jihadis.

It had been providing air support to Federal Police forces battling militants on the ground, according to military officials.

An Iraqi helicopter fires a missile against Isis militants during a battle in Mosul, Iraq, on 28 March (Reuters)

The helicopter was hit by a rocket launched from western Mosul, where Isis militants are holding out in areas housing an estimated 400,000 people, Kurdish broadcaster Rudaw reported.

Footage from an Associated Press cameraman showed it falling out of the sky in a large ball of fire with a long trail of thick black smoke on Thursday afternoon.

It is the first aircraft downed by Islamic State over Mosul since the start of the US-led coalition backed offensive in October.

Extremists have fought the advance using mines, booby traps, snipers, ambushes and suicide bombings in densely populated districts, where militants have been using civilians as human shields.

Progress has slowed in the narrow lanes of Mosuls Old City, which Isis had prepared by making tunnels between buildings, screening streets from view with sheets and planting explosives.

Daesh fighters are resisting on a professional level because they have no escape routes left, said federal police officerHussein Qassem.

They are resisting until they are killed. God willing we will not leave any Islamic State fighters. We will fight till the end.

Isis has previously claimed to shoot down helicopters in Syria.

It has seized weapons from government stockpiles in territory seized across Iraq and Syria, as well as manufacturing its own munitions and weaponising modified drones.

The group has since lost almost all of its major strongholds, with Mosul the last city remaining under its control in Iraq.

More than 302,000 people have fled Mosul since the start of the offensive, with the International Organization for Migration saying 30,000 people were displaced last week alone.

Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced the formation of the groups self-declared caliphate from Mosuls historic al-Nuri mosque in 2014.

The so-called Islamic States de-facto capital is the city of Raqqa in neighbouring Syria, which has been isolated by Kurdish-led forces in preparation for an offensive.

Additional reporting by Reuters

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Isis shoots down Iraq army helicopter over Mosul killing two pilots - The Independent

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Originally posted here:
Jared Kushner mocked for wearing flak jacket and blazer in Iraq - New York Daily News