Kelly File | New Year, New 1300 Troops to Iraq
President Obama #39;s approval rating with the military has hit a record low 15%, but that hasn #39;t stopped him from deploying another 1300 American troops to Iraq. However, the troops remain "noncombat.
By: ConcernedVetsNews
Original post:
Kelly File | New Year, New 1300 Troops to Iraq - Video
The children awoke the day before Christmas behind blast walls and armed guards, in a dingy Syrian Catholic schoolhouse strung with clotheslines. Their families have been cooking on hot plates and sleeping on pallets there in recent months, forced from their homes in northern Iraq by Islamic State militants.
They took turns showering in the communal bathroom, dressed in donated clothes and prepared to meet Santa.
This year, there would be no big holiday parties at Our Lady of Salvation, a local landmark topped by a towering cross that's visible for miles. Christians are leaving Iraq, the population down from more than 1 million a decade ago to about 350,000, many of them displaced.
In the north, Islamic State fighters have forced thousands to flee. In Baghdad, where the security situation is still so tenuous that priests worried that celebrations could provoke an attack. Last Christmas, three bombings targeted Christians, including a Roman Catholic church, and killed 38 people.
Shortly before the 6 p.m. Christmas Eve service, the children and their families filed out of the school past concrete barriers topped with barbed wire and into the packed church for several hours of singing and prayer, the highlight of their day, hoping the strangers they met meant them no harm.
"The guards and blocks can't do anything if something is about to happen," the Rev. Nabil Yako said.
Four years ago, suicide bombers walked into the church and took the assembled hostage, ultimately killing 58 people, including two priests. The church remained open afterward, but many parishioners fled to other parts of Iraq and overseas. Fewer than half of the 500 members remain.
Only a few who survived the attack stayed, including the man who made the nativity scene and would play Santa after the service.
Samir Bassem, 9, wearing a donated blue track suit and a large metal cross, planned to ask Santa for a toy car a Ferrari. Chaeen Bassem, 7, wanted a motorcycle. Fullah Falah, 9, her curly hair freshly washed and corralled into a bun, wanted a red dress.
Their parents had no gifts this year. They had fled the northern city of Mosul after their homes were marked with an Arabic "N" for nasrani, or Christian, and seized by Islamic State during the summer. Homeless and unemployed, they shared the same Christmas wish.
Original post:
In Iraq, displaced Christians gather for a somber Christmas
Published December 25, 2014
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, right, and his Iraqi counterpart Haider al-Abadi shake hands after a news conference in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2014.(AP Photo)(The Associated Press)
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, right, and his Iraqi counterpart Haider al-Abadi speak to the media after their talks in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2014.(AP Photo)(The Associated Press)
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi speaks to the media during a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu after their talks in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2014.(AP Photo)(The Associated Press)
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, right, and his Iraqi counterpart Haider al-Abadi listen to their national anthems during a ceremony before their talks in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2014.(AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)(The Associated Press)
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, right, and his Iraqi counterpart Haider al-Abadi speak to the media after their talks in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, Dec. 25, 2014.(AP Photo)(The Associated Press)
ANKARA, Turkey The Iraqi prime minister says Iraq and Turkey have discussed cooperation in fighting the Islamic State group, including possible Turkish military and intelligence assistance.
Haider al-Adabi told reporters during a visit to the Turkish capital on Thursday that he had provided a list of things Iraq was requesting from Turkey to help fight the militant group, including training Iraqi forces and providing intelligence and arms.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey was ready to support Iraq but did not elaborate. He said the countries' defense ministries were holding discussions.
Turkey has declared it is willing to train and equip forces fighting IS, but has been reluctant to provide greater support to the U.S.-led coalition. Turkey insists that the coalition must also aim to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad.
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Iraq seeks Turkish help in fight against IS, including arms and intelligence sharing
ANKARA: Iraq and Turkey on Thursday (Dec 25) pledged to join forces to fight Islamic State (IS) insurgents who are holding swathes of Iraq and Syria.
"ISIS threatens not only Iraq's and Turkey's security but the entire region," Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi told a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, using an alternative name for IS militants.
Turkey, a vocal critic of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, has faced international criticism for letting radicals pass through its territory to fight in Syria.
Ankara wants a wider strategy for Syria that would ultimately bring Assad's downfall. It has repeatedly called for a buffer zone, backed by a no-fly zone, to be put in place inside the war-torn country on the Turkish border.
"We can defeat this organisation by uniting all our powers, with the support of the countries in the region," al-Abadi said, in translated remarks. Al-Abadi said he expected Turkish support on intelligence-sharing, military training and armaments.
Davutoglu said Turkey was already training Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters to combat the IS. "We are open to any idea" to extend further support to Baghdad, he said.
Turkey and Iraq shared a "common approach to fight all terrorist organisations in the region" including the IS and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Davutoglu said.
"We are ready to give any kind of support against terrorist organisations including those who have emerged in recent times like (IS) as well as the PKK which launches attacks against Turkey by using Iraqi soil," he said.
Iraq is battling to retake large areas overrun by the militant group while Turkey borders territory which the militants control in neighbouring Syria. The Iraqi prime minister said that Iraqi security forces and peshmerga fighters were "rapidly" pushing out the insurgents from areas under their control.
Al-Abadi's visit to Turkey follows a trip to Iraq by Davutoglu in November - in a sign of a thaw in bilateral ties which were strained in recent years over a number of issues including Ankara's move to aid Iraqi Kurds independently export oil.
Originally posted here:
Iraq, Turkey pledge to join hands to fight Islamic State militants
Iraq #39;s Peshmerga forces delivering aid to trapped Izadi Kurds in Mount Sinjar
The development comes three days after Kurdish fighters launched a major operation there. They #39;ve opened a humanitarian corridor for thousands of Izadi Kurds...
By: PressTV News Videos
Continued here:
Iraq's Peshmerga forces delivering aid to trapped Izadi Kurds in Mount Sinjar - Video