Mediaboss Marketing

A ceremony unveiling a monument dedicated to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars was unveiled by the Queen a few days ago. She paid tribute to the military who supposedly helped to bring "peace and stability" to the two war-torn countries. On one side of the memorial, several British soldiers are lined up, their faces determined and brave, while on the other side, we see an etching of generic brown women, children and menan obvious afterthought receiving boxes with the Union Jack from soldiers with joy.

As a woman of Afghan descent born in Britain, I feel little joy about the UKs campaigns in the Middle East, in particular Afghanistan and Isis-occupied Iraq. Afghanistan is the invisible war: a plague that was born out of western-funded mujahedeen fighting against Soviet Russia, smothered with a reluctance to accept any blame. Where exactly is the joy and the liberation in that?

David Cameron appears to mouth sentence including 'manifesto' and 'stupid' at Iraq memorial service

In attendance at the unveiling of the monument were former Prime Ministers Sir John Major, David Cameron, and, crucially, Tony Blair, whose misguided decisions led to thousands of deaths for rewards yet to manifest. Throughout my life, I have been followed by the idea that my people are terrorists as Islamophobia was unleashed in the West during these wars.

Im truly saddened that as a nation, Afghanistan has seen turmoil at the hands of the West for the last 30 to 40 years. Now this memorial only serves to celebrate the individuals who, to my mind, destroyed a beautiful country with a rich, illustrious history.

What's perhaps the most offensive about these images are that they nakedly represent propaganda. In reality, Afghan and Iraqi people have been the sole perpetrators of keeping up Afghan spirits. It's thanks to Afghan revolutionaries like Roya Mahboob, who founded Digital Citizens Fund, a series of tech colleges for women and girls to help boost entrepreneurship. Or Laila Haidari, whose drug rehabilitation centres, Mother Camp, aim to curb the horrors of opioid addiction.

In Iraq, Women's Defence Units are fighting Isis and Zekra Alwach was voted into office as Baghdads first female mayor. Afghans and Iraqis have no ulterior motive when helping their own, whereas westerners all too often do so for power, wealth, and control over resources.

As a piece of British history, the memorial plays into the idea of white soldiers "saving" Afghan and Iraqi civilians, when all they've done is cause countless casualties and deaths, ruining the respective countries to add to the British governments hefty list of invasions. Where is this "freedom" we and the people of the respective countries were promised? Is it Isis occupying Iraq? The increase of Islamophobic attacks worldwide? Or is it the likelihood that anyone who "looks" Muslim will be heavily searched an airport?

It feels like this memorial serves as a justification for the actions taken by Blair and his peers. War prevails because Britain prevails as a result. It was Thatchers victory in the Falkland Islands that gave her popularity a much needed boost, after all. But unlike the Falklands, these wars have been the longest in British history, which only goes to show that these pursuits have simply been a failure.

Neither Iraq nor Afghanistan has anything to show for it. Weapons of mass destruction turned out to be little more than a myth and Osama bin Laden wasnt even found in Afghanistan. So, what is it we're celebrating with the memorial besides poor judgment from white people and the genocide of brown people? British imperialism and the pursuit of power.

See the original post:
The British Iraq and Afghanistan war memorial celebrates those who destroyed my country - The Independent

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2017 Indigenous Iraqi and Syrian forces have made tremendous progress taking the fight to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and Americans should be very proud of the role played in the effort by a small number of U.S. troops, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said during an interview.

When Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford took over as chairman in October 2015, ISIS had taken vast portions of Iraq and Syria and sought to establish a caliphate. The counter-ISIS strategy he inherited sought to train local forces to combat the terror organization.

This meant small numbers of American and coalition troops would work with Iraqi and vetted Syrian forces. Coalition air assets, special operators and artillery units would support the campaign.

The Iraqis have to be very proud of their forces, Dunford said. But I think we have to be very proud of the coalition, and what U.S. forces have accomplished.

Iraqi forces pushed back ISIS in Ramadi and Beiji and are now pushing into western Mosul -- the largest city taken by ISIS. The strategy is working, the chairman said, and its because young American service members are doing the hard work every day to make it happen.

If you think of the relatively small number of Americans that had deployed to Iraq over the past 18 to 24 months, he said, if you think about how hard they had to work in conjunction with Iraqi security forces to make sure we learned the lessons from Ramadi and Anbar province and applied those lessons with the right capabilities in Mosul; Ill just tell you I am proud of the force that has done that.

The Task Ahead

There still remains much to do in Iraq, the general said, and he is taking nothing for granted.

In Syria, indigenous forces are isolating Raqqa and pushing back well dug-in ISIS forces on all fronts. There, the progress has been dependent on an even smaller number of Americans who worked to recruit, train and strengthen counter-ISIS forces.

We sent those guys into an incredibly complex environment, Dunford said. We told them to go in collect intelligence, develop relationships, vet people and identify people willing to take the fight to the enemy, train those people, equip those people, support those people, and win.

And those special operations forces and U.S. Air Force personnel did it -- day after day, little by little, and under extreme circumstances, the chairman said.

The fact that we are now talking about divergent political challenges, the fact that we are now addressing questions of what happens after Mosul or Raqqa, we shouldnt lose sight of the fact that it is a reflection of the members of the joint force that have actually enabled the indigenous force to take the fight to the enemy, Dunford said. Now we have the political opportunities that we didnt have two years ago to establish the framework for long-term peace and stability, and we owe it to them.

(Follow Jim Garamone on Twitter: @GaramoneDoDNews)

See more here:
Dunford: Americans Should Be Proud of Role US Troops Play in Iraq, Syria - Department of Defense

Charles Lawson, 27, a Naples High graduate, Iraq War vet and University of Miami graduate, is a franchisee of a new eco-friendly carpet cleaning business called Oxi Fresh in Naples. Lawson pitched his product at the fifth annual event hosted by the Naples Humane Society at Mercato on Sunday, March 26, 2017, in North Naples.(Photo: Luke Franke/Naples Daily News)Buy Photo

Charles Lawson has big plans, and they start with cleaning carpets.

Lawson, 27, a Naples High School graduate and an Iraq War veteran, plans to open Southwest Florida's first Oxi Fresh franchise in the coming weeks after months of preparation and even longer discovering his entrepreneurial impulses.

"I've been wanting to start this for a long time now," Lawson said. "I'm getting antsy. I want to start my career, you know."

Lawson acknowledges he wasn't that interested in school back at Naples High.

When he graduated in 2007, he joined the Air Force as a "way out," he said.

He went to basic training in San Antonioand then on to logistics and transportation training in Biloxi, Mississippi, and then back to San Antonio before landing at Cannon Air Force Base in Clovis, New Mexico.

He served seven months in 2010 and 2011 in Dohar, Qatar, during the Iraq War.

His unit's job was to ship everything from aircraft parts to bombs even a few military casualties to wherever they needed to go, a job he said was stressful.

"A lot of people were counting on us," Lawson said.

By 2014, Lawson had cut ties to the Air Forceafter a few years in the Air Force Reserve. He would travel one weekend a month to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa from Miami, where he was going to school. This time school was different, though.

Lawson loved college and the freedom, friendships and mental challenges that came with it, he said. He transferred from Miami-Dade Community College, where he got all As and one B,to the University of Miami with a 3.95 GPA.

After college, he went to work as a financial analyst fora telecommunications company in Boca Raton. It lasted 10 months. He said he didn't like the office grind.

"I couldn't see myself working in financial institutions," Lawson said. "It's not what I wanted in life."

That's when he started looking for businesses to buy. Oxi Fresh caught his eye, he said.

Charles Lawson, 27, a Naples High graduate, Iraq War vet and University of Miami graduate, is a franchisee of a new eco-friendly carpet cleaning business called Oxi Fresh in Naples. Lawson had a booth at the fifth annual Woofstock event hosted by the Naples Humane Society at Mercato on Sunday, March 26, 2017, in North Naples.(Photo: Luke Franke/Naples Daily News)

The company markets itself as an eco-friendly alternative to most carpet cleaning companies becauseits machinesuse less water and more naturalcleaners. He figured it could be a way to stand out from the rest of the carpet-cleaning crowd.

Lawson went to Denver for a weeklong training and came away impressed with the franchise support system behind Oxi Fresh, from tracking customer satisfaction to marketing options.

Oxi Fresh franchise developer Matt Kline, who has been working with Lawson to set up his business, said Lawson struck him as a go-getter and an easy choice to be awarded a franchise, in part because of his military service.

"As long as you put a path in front of military veterans, you don't have to worry about getting the effort out of them," Kline said.

Lawson has been no exception, despite challenges in getting a loan to startthe franchise because of his lack of credit history and business experience,Kline said.

Lawson is in the final stages of getting a Small Business Administration loan, a grueling process.

"I think most people in his position would have given up a long time ago," Kline said.

Instead, Lawson has soldiered on. He hascompany T-shirts on order. He hasbusiness cards and coupons printed. He hasa Nissanvan picked out, and he's been talking with a company to get it wrapped with the Oxi Freshlogo.

The plan is to do all the jobs himself for the first six monthsand then start hiring help so he can focus on growing his business. He wants to take over the Fort Myers-Cape Coral franchise area in a few years.

He plans to target pet owners at the Humane Society. He plans on knocking on doors of property managers and apartments to drum up business, emphasizing the quick-dry nature of the Oxi Fresh system.

By the time he's 35, Lawson said, he wants to branch out into other franchises, maybe opening a Chick-fil-A or a Jimmy Johns. He can rattle off the buy-in fees they charge and the percentage they take.

Somedayhe'd like to go back to school and get a master's in business administration, but he says he can always fall back on his finance degree if his franchise plan fails.

"I don't think it will, though," Lawson said.

Charles Lawson, 27, center, greets Dominique Colas and his Chihuahua Zora as well as other passers-by while representing his Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning franchise during the fifth annual Woofstock event hosted by the Naples Humane Society at Mercato on Sunday, March 26, 2017, in North Naples. The Naples High graduate and Iraq War veteran is a new franchise owner of the eco-friendly carpet cleaning business in Naples.(Photo: Luke Franke/Naples Daily News)

Read or Share this story: http://nplsne.ws/2ndFoIK

Visit link:
Naples High grad, Iraq War vet ready to clean up - Naples Daily News

Iraq - In the midst of ongoing operations in Mosul, the Government of Japan is providing USD 6.7 million to IOM to support its humanitarian response to displacement in Iraq.

Over a one-year period, this contribution will support IOM to assist internally displaced Iraqis, as well as returnees and host community members.

The project will fund two components of the emergency response efforts: shelter support to maintain and upgrade emergency shelter sites and critical arrangements (unfinished schools and religious buildings, among others) to safely house new internally displaced persons (IDPs); and provision of emergency seasonal non-food items (NFI) to meet the immediate needs of families fleeing from conflict.

In areas retaken by the Iraqi government, the project will contribute to promoting community stabilization through several initiatives, including:

Providing 100 low-cost houses with infrastructure.

Implementing six community infrastructure rehabilitation projects (also called Quick Impact Projects), including the rehabilitation of schools and health centres, in response to the communities expressed needs.

Providing training to community members and law enforcement officials on community policing principles.

Carrying out a detailed assessment, through IOM Iraqs Displacement Tracking Matrix, on return movements to retaken areas to inform programmatic decision-making and benefit the wider humanitarian community.

IOM has identified the need for comprehensive community recovery packages targeting areas of return, and is committed to respond to the urgent needs of returnees. IOMs community stabilization initiatives respond to infrastructure damage in retaken areas with urgently needed rehabilitation projects. In addition, the project will continue supporting its successful eye care health activities for vulnerable communities.

In the previous round of the IOM Iraqs Japan-funded programme from May 2016 to February 2017, more than 5,500 displaced children received vision screenings, and more than 1,000 received full eye examinations and prescription glasses.

The contribution of the Government of Japan has enabled IOM to support thousands of displaced Iraqis with emergency assistance and livelihoods, said IOM Iraq Chief of Mission Thomas Lothar Weiss. We are pleased to continue this important partnership, in coordination with the Government of Iraq and humanitarian partners, to improve conditions for those who are still living in displacement as well as for those facing the challenge of returning home in retaken areas, he added.

Mr. Fumio Iwai, Ambassador of Japan to Iraq said, This shows Japans strong and faithful commitment, to addressing the IDP crisis in Iraq, as part of a new package of humanitarian, counter-terrorism and community stabilization in support of Iraq amounting to around 100m USD. He added Japan is determined to serve displaced Iraqi families and host communities respecting human dignity.

Tiba, a 7-year-old displaced girl from Mosul, who now lives in Erbil, said: I am very comfortable with the glasses. I wanted the frame to be pink. I am happy now that I can read, write and watch TV with them. I thank Japan for the eyeglasses. My family is displaced now, but I hope we can return to Mosul one day.

Over three million Iraqis continue to be displaced across Iraq since January 2014. Due to Mosul military operations, which began in mid-October 2016, an additional 283,000 Iraqis have been displaced (cumulative); more than 215,000 are currently displaced; and more than 68,000 have returned home. More than 57,000 have been displaced from West Mosul in the past two weeks.

The latest DTM Emergency Tracking figures on displacement from Mosul operations are available at: http://iraqdtm.iom.int/EmergencyTracking.aspx

Please click to download the latest:

IOM Iraq DTM Mosul Operations - Factsheet (March 9):

http://iraqdtm.iom.int/Downloads/DTM%20Emergency%20Tracking/Mosul%20Cris...

IOM Iraq DTM Mosul Operations Data Snapshot (March 9): http://iomiraq.net/article/0/9-march-2017-mosul-displacement-snapshot

For further information please contact Hala Jaber at IOM Iraq, Tel. +964 751 740 1654, Email: hjaberbent@iom.int

Link:
Japan Donates USD 6.7 Million to Aid Displaced Iraqis: IOM - ReliefWeb

FILE - In this March 5, 2011 file photo, an anti-government rebel sits with an anti-aircraft weapon in front an oil refinery in Ras Lanouf, eastern Libya. The fight for Libya's Ras Lanuf refinery and nearby Sidr depot threatens to spiral into open conflict between rival factions vying for power from east and west. With both sides claiming the facilities as their own but control unclear, decisive days lie ahead. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)

CAIRO -- Hundreds or thousands of armed men are converging on Libya's main oil-shipping terminals, which the rival powers in the country's east and west are fighting to control in a battle being watched by global oil markets.

The struggle for the Ras Lanuf refinery and nearby Sidr depot threatens to spiral into an all-out conflict between east and west.

Already, it has seen the bloodiest fighting yet between the two camps: About 40 troops from the east were killed over four days as militias backed by western factions stormed the area Friday, losing a handful of casualties.

Now forces from the east loyal to military strongman Khalifa Hifter are massing nearby, threatening a new assault to wrest back the facilities, which nominally are in the hands of the Tripoli government.

In another step, the eastern parliament Tuesday voted to withdraw support from the United Nations peace deal that created the Tripoli government in January 2016 in hopes of ending years of chaos in the North African country. The withdrawal of support undermines the government, which has had difficulty asserting authority even in Tripoli.

Hifter, an army general, former CIA asset and U.S. citizen who lived nearly 20 years in American exile, is the most powerful figure in the east, touting himself as the champion against Islamic militants in Libya -- though his enemies accuse him of aiming to become a new dictator like Moammar Gadhafi, who was overthrown and killed in the country's 2011 Arab Spring revolt.

He has talked of marching to take Tripoli to unite the country, hinting he aims to rule. He opposed the government set up by the U.N. peace deal because it would have pushed him out as head of the military.

The general is backed by Egypt and Russia, but Washington under the Obama administration kept him at arm's length. One question in his future will be whether the U.S. warms up to him under President Donald Trump, who has sounded more favorable to Egypt and more open to dealing with regional strongmen.

Hifter commands a collection of militias and eastern tribal forces as well as the remnants of the Libyan National Army, including Gadhafi-era officers.

Hifter also is allied to the eastern-based parliament, which was the last legislature to be elected in Libya and had to flee east when opponents took over the west in 2014.

Hifter's forces seized the oil facilities last year. The Obama administration had joined the U.N. in calling on him to hand them over to the Tripoli government. Hifter had seemed more inclined to use them as a bargaining chip to force a rewriting of the peace accord.

But now that they have been wrested from him by force, he may resort instead to an all-out fight against Tripoli. His army says it is massing forces east of the terminals, awaiting orders. Their strength is unclear but they can call on reserves of thousands of eastern Libyan fighters and tribesman and are backed by Libyan and foreign air support. Hifter travels regularly to Cairo and insiders have said he flew there shortly after losing control of the terminals.

The Tripoli government was created under the U.N. deal in hopes of ending the east-west split. Instead, it has become just another player in that divide, reliant on its militia allies to have any authority.

Chief among those allies are the militias of the neighboring city of Misrata, the strongest and most cohesive fighting force in the west. The Misrata militias provide security for the Tripoli government and it was they who earlier this year captured the Islamic State group's main stronghold, Sirte, effectively defeating for now the extremists' attempt to extend their caliphate to Libya.

The international community has tried to bolster the Tripoli government -- particularly Italy, which is heavily invested in Libya's oil sector and has a military presence in the capital in the form of an army hospital that treated Misrata fighters during the battle against IS.

It was a newly formed militia that retook the oil facilities at Ras Lanouf and Sidr. The Benghazi Defense Brigades, as it is called, depicts itself as an eastern-based force, made up of former rebels and Islamic militants recently defeated by Hifter's forces in the eastern city of Benghazi. But it is clearly linked to the west, with some Misrata fighters in its ranks -- and its commanders recently held a press conference in Misrata.

The Brigades handed the oil facilities over to the control of the Tripoli government, which has ordered its National Petroleum Guards under Brig. Gen. Idris Abukhamada -- the official guard force for oil infrastructure -- to deploy at the sites.

Oil prices have dropped over the past week because of growing U.S. supplies, frustrating OPEC attempts to bolster the price by curbing production. While the supply glut is the biggest factor dominating the market, the Libya fighting has potential to put some upward pressure on prices.

It did so when the Brigades took Ras Lanouf and Sidr last week, forcing the shutdown of the maritime export terminals there, Libya's largest. That spooked the markets, causing a brief blip of higher prices. The facilities remain closed, causing some reduction in Libya's production, which in February had reached 700,000 barrels a day.

Oil is Libya's only real source of revenue, and it has been trying to rebuild the industry, though it remains but a shadow of the 1.6 billion barrels a day produced in 2011. While the oil facilities have changed hands several times over the past years, the revenues have continued to flow into the central bank based in Tripoli, an arrangement accepted by all parties that for the moment is not in doubt.

Heavier fighting at the facilities could further scare traders, especially if infrastructure is damaged.

The ball appears to be in Hifter's court. His forces could face only weak opposition if they stormed Ras Lanouf and Sidr, protected only by the official oil guard units.

But the impact could be much wider.

Until now, the powers in east and west have largely avoided fighting directly, instead battling through proxies. Storming the oil facilities would be a direct assault by Hifter on the internationally backed Tripoli government since it officially holds them now. Hifter would likely be seen as flouting the United Nations and European countries, which have called for a cease-fire.

That opens the door to further possible escalations. How far Hifter goes depends on whether he finds international supporters, but he could try to carry out his threats to move against Tripoli, pitting him against Misrata's powerful fighters.

See the original post here:
Libya's deepening split finds battleground at oil terminals - Southeast Missourian