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News Release Rep. Peter Welch June 5, 2017

Contact: Kate Hamilton (202) 440-3340

Welch, Lynch Call for Oversight of Trump Administrations Strategies in Afghanistan and Iraq

WASHINGTON As President Trump and his Administration reportedly weigh additional troop deployments and an expansion of the U.S. military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vermont) and Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-Boston) called on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to hold a bipartisan hearing to examine the long-term strategies of the Trump Administration in both countries. In a letter to Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, Congressman Welch and Congressman Lynch highlighted that the ongoing military and counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan merit robust oversight to determine the effectiveness of the strategies envisioned by President Trump and his Administration.

It has been fourteen years since Congress authorized the use of force in Iraq or Afghanistan. Much has changed during that time, and it is our duty as Members of Congress to ensure that the Trump Administrations strategy in those countries continues to serve American interests. Particularly as President Trump considers expansion of our missions and military capabilities in both countries, it is imperative that Members on both sides of the aisle are able to understand and evaluate the strategy we are pursuing in Iraq and Afghanistan going forward, said Congressman Welch.

As the Trump Administration weighs expanding military capabilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is vital that the Oversight Committee evaluate the soundness of these proposals. With American servicemen and women being sent on to the battlefield overseas, it is critical that the Trump Administration is held accountable for a long-term strategy. The lack of transparency from the Trump Administration regarding their overall plan hinders Congress ability to determine whether deploying thousands of American troops is consistent with the original Authorization for the Use of Military Force granted 14 years ago, said Congressman Lynch, the lead Democrat on the National Security Subcommittee. I think that initiating a major effort like this would require the Trump Administration to come back to Congress and explain its strategy and request a further authorization for that purpose consistent with the War Powers Act.

In the wake of the series of deadly insurgent attacks in Afghanistan, including the recent devastating bombing in Kabul which resulted in over 90 deaths and more than 450 wounded, Congressman Welch and Congressman Lynch, both members of the Subcommittee on National Security, underscored the deteriorating security climate facing U.S.-coalition and Afghan Government operations to combat the Taliban. Following the recent appropriation of $4.3 billion to train and equip the Afghanistan National Defense and Security Forces, the Trump Administration is currently weighing an additional troop deployment to help break the military deadlock between the coalition and the Taliban-led insurgency.

Meanwhile, President Trump formally delegated his authority to determine troop levels in Iraq and Syria to Secretary of Defense James Mattis and the Pentagon reportedly has already been making quiet, incremental additions to troop levels by sending more advisers into Iraq to work with units closer to the fight in Mosul. With discussion of an enduring troop presence in Iraq and nearly 15 years passing since the enactment of the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq, Congressman Welch and Congressman Lynch noted the importance of an effective strategy from the Trump Administration, as well as strong congressional oversight, to wisely employ the use of American military personnel and enhance American national security interests.

See the article here:
Welch, Lynch Call for Oversight of Trump's Strategies in Afghanistan and Iraq - vtdigger.org

Iraq faces obstacles in efforts to lift output The National An Iraq oil ministry spokesman says the appointment is one of several Mr Al Luaibi now wants to make as the country's industry comes through one of its most difficult periods, its finances generally start to stabilise, and with international oil ...

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Iraq faces obstacles in efforts to lift output - The National

In total, 484 people have died up to the end of April as a result of Operation Inherent Resolve, which began in August 2014. Photograph: Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images

Civilian casualties have increased sharply in the US-led military campaign against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, with nearly 60% of the officially acknowledged deaths from the three-year war being reported in the first three months of the Trump administration.

US Central Command (Centcom) admitted to 484 civilian deaths up to the end of April as a result of coalition strikes as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, which began in August 2014. That compares with a cumulative total of 199 announced at the beginning of February.

The tallies are limited to those incidents that the US military has been able to investigate and confirm. The true death toll is likely to be much higher, as the battle to wrest control of densely populated west Mosul in Iraq from Isis continues, and the battle gets started for the Isis stronghold in Syria, in Raqqa.

Airwars, a UK-based watchdog group, estimates the civilian death toll from coalition airstrikes at over 3,800.

A Centcom spokesman said that the dramatic spike was largely caused by a single strike on 17 March when the bombing of a building in Mosul aimed at killing two Isis snipers called a building to collapse, killing 105 civilians. The spokesman also said that 80 previously undisclosed civilians deaths from earlier incidents had been added to the cumulative total in April.

However, human rights groups and other observers point to an array of other factors that suggest that civilian deaths from the counter-Isis campaign are likely to remain high and probably climb.

One of that factors is a legacy of the last weeks of the Obama administration, when targeting procedures were changed, removing the requirement for each sortie to be approved by a central strike cell in Baghdad.

That has meant that Iraqi forces fighting on the ground have been able to call in an air strike from a coalition member with planes in the area. It does not have be approved by the coalition as a whole.

The coalition also includes the UK, Netherlands, France, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Jordan. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates also take part in air strikes in Syria.

The procedural changes in December, said Belkis Wille, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) researcher in Baghdad, allowed for a quicker response time, but that also makes for more mistakes.

HRW is calling for the old procedures or new equally rigorous guidelines, to be reinstated.

Another factor is the growing intensity of the fight for Mosul, where Iraqi forces supported by coalition air power are taking on Isis militants bottled up in the west of the city, home to 200,000 civilians whom Isis is using increasingly as human shields. But even as Isis fighters blend in with Mosul residents, the coalition is using bigger bombs and less accurate means of delivering them.

From an analysis 380 of bomb craters in west Mosul from fighting in March and April, HRW estimates that the coalition was now routinely dropping 500- and 1000lb bombs, much bigger warheads that the more precise ones used earlier in the campaign. Meanwhile, more mortars are being used by ground forces, and highly inaccurate improvised rockets are being fired by some Iraqi units.

A Central Command investigation into the 17 March airstrike that killed 105 civilians in Mosul was caused when a coalition bomb detonated an Isis arms cache and destroyed the whole building where many local residents were sheltering. However, observers pointed out that the bomb dropped on the building, a 500lb GBU-38 was far greater than necessary to kill two snipers.

The US defence secretary, James Mattis, has denied there has been any change to the rules of engagement used in the campaign against Isis. But Micah Zenko, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations said there is evidence that air strikes can now be called in by a colonel, rather than a one-star general, as was the case until this year.

Those closer to the fight are more likely to call in lethal force and are less likely to follow a value-based approach, Zenko said. He said that rhetoric coming from the leadership in Washington could also be having an effect.

A change in the rules of engagement does not have to be a change in doctrine, he said. It can just be a change in tone and command climate. Mattis has again and again talked about an annihilation campaign, and that can an influence lower down.

Read more here:
Civilian deaths from US-led strikes on Isis surge under Trump administration - The Guardian

Men in the Iraqi Army in Habbaniyah, Iraq gather together. Although the Iraq War officially ended in 2011, U.S. troops are still deployed there, according to J. Kael Weston, who spent seven years as a State Department representative with the military in Iraq and Afghanistan. (J. Kael Weston)

J. Kael Weston spent seven years as a State Department representative with the military in Iraq and Afghanistan and wrote the bookThe Mirror Test: America at War in Iraq and Afghanistan.Although Weston said he does not believe the Iraq War was justified, he said he believes the U.S. needed to do its best to make sure the Iraqi government is stable before pulling out.

A vacuum is probably the worst outcome because then we really dont have an influence, not only militarily, but we also dont havean influence on the politics in that country, Weston said in an interview on the BYU campus as the White House announced Iraqs emergency status is being extended past May 22, 2017, for one year.

The U.S. is reportedly considering sending more troops to Afghanistan, according to a press release by Sen. MikeLee, R-Utah.

The White House statement says the emergency status would continue becausethe obstacles to the orderly reconstruction of Iraq; the restoration and maintenance of peace and security in the country and the development of political, administrative and economic institutions in Iraq continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.

Weston said a general asked for an additional 45,000 troops, and he predicted the general would get that at a minimum.

Weston said he has always believed the U.S. should have as few troops as possible in Afghanistan for as long as necessary, but he did not know how many troops that would be. He said approving the troop increase was better than not approving it.

I do think its too risky to abandon the longest war in American history, Weston said. The instability, I think, could create a situation where terrorists who do have designs to attack us could have a safe haven.

The War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War began in 2001 and 2003, respectively. Both are considered part of the War on Terror. Weston saidan interesting difference between these two wars and past wars is how disconnected the American home front is from the wars being fought.

Wars, in a way, are easier to fight when the people are disconnected from the wars because the pain is not felt in the communities; the pain is not felt in a more shared sense, Weston said. Its felt by a very narrow part of our community, particularly the military.

Weston said he wrote his bookto give a voice to the Afghans and Iraqis, as well as the troops who have experienced the wars.He said there is power in providing them a voice from the grave.

We owe it, I think, to the Iraqis and the Afghans because our war front is their home front, Weston said. They never get to redeploy to a safe place. The wars just still going on in their neighborhoods and in their villages.

University of Utah student John Snook spent 18 months in Afghanistan and 20 months in Iraq while serving in the U.S. Army from 1998 to 2004. He said its important for Americans to understand how many people in those countries want to remove the terrorists as well, not to be labeled with them.

Were not fighting everyone, Snook said. Were fighting a few select.

Ted Ellsworth, a BYU alumnus with a bachelors degree in Middle East Studies and Arabic, was president of the Middle East Studies Arabic Students club. Ellsworth said people need to remember those in Afghanistan and Iraq are trying to deal with the conflict, as well.

We tend to kind of distance ourselves from it rather than viewing the human aspect of it, which is that these are numerous people, many of whom are suffering as a result of the conflicts within their country, who dont feel passionate about any particular group, who just want peace, Ellsworth said.

Ellsworth said he also wished people would stay up-to-date with the current events around these issues. He said while the complexities of the wars can be intimidating, people need to study them because America has entangled itself in these countries and our actions have consequences.

Yes, there are ways to simplify the conflict, but dont oversimplify it for the sake of ease, Ellsworth said.

Weston said these wars have showed the U.S. some important lessons not only about others, but also about itself.

Finally Ill say that these wars have taught me for seven years that we have limits, Weston said. The United States has limits, and thats not a bad thing to know. It took us a long time, I think, to acknowledge that.

Kelsey is a News Media major minoring in Women's Studies at BYU. She loves reading the news, especially world news and politics, and spending time outside. She currently serves as staff writer for the Metro Desk.

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US still needed in Iraq, former State Dept. representative says - Universe.byu.edu

Bodies of seven African migrants recovered from truck in Libya

Twenty-eight others, including five women, were rescued on Sunday when the truck was discovered at Garabulli, a town some 50 km east of Tripoli.

FILE: A migrant is rescued from the Mediterranean sea by a member of Proactiva Open Arms NGO north of Libya on 3 October 2016. Picture: AFP.

TRIPOLI Seven African migrants died, apparently from suffocation, after being locked for two days in a refrigerated truck that was abandoned by people smugglers on the Libyan coast, officials said.

Twenty-eight others, including five women, were rescued on Sunday when the truck was discovered at Garabulli, a town some 50 km east of Tripoli that is a common departure point for migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to Italy.

We got a call from a civilian who reported that he could hear voices coming from a truck, which he believed contained Africans, based on their language, said Adel Mostafa, an anti-illegal migration official in Tripoli.

The survivors said they had been left there by smugglers, according to Hosni Abu Ayana, a second official at the Tripoli detention centre to which they were brought. The migrants said the truck driver left the vehicle at the side of the road after unknown gunmen began firing at the tyres.

Libya is the main gateway for migrants trying to reach Europe by sea. The North African country slipped into turmoil after its 2011 uprising and migrant smugglers operate with impunity, packing people onto ill-equipped boats that often sink or break down.

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Bodies of seven African migrants recovered from truck in Libya - Eyewitness News