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A new trailer for Zona Hostil (aka Rescue Under Fire) is a reminder that not all military heroes come from Hollywood.

Heading for release in its native Spain on March 10, Zona Hostil is based on events that took place in Afghanistan in August 2012, revolving around military personnel in need of rescue during a time of warfare. Ariadna Gil stars as a medical officer with the Spanish army; she arrives by helicopter and then becomes trapped in a very bad situation. Raul Merida, Robert Alamo, and Antonio Garrido also star.

Adolfo Martinez Perez directed. He's worked as a storyboard artist on Hollywood productions such as The Jungle Book and Oblivion; this is his feature debut and the action looks striking and very fierce.

No word on distribution beyond Spain yet; Latido Films is handling. More information is available at the official site.

Watch the English-subtitled trailer below.

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ZONA HOSTIL (RESCUE UNDER FIRE) Trailer: Spanish Military Heroes in Afghanistan - ScreenAnarchy (blog)

Colin Powell didnt sign up with four stars in mind. The New York City native and son of Jamaican immigrants had a much simpler objective.

I came in the Army to be a good soldier. And what I've tried to do every day of my 35-plus years in services is to be a good soldier every day, and let the Army decide how far they wanted me to go.

The first (and so far only) African-American to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the first African-American to serve as secretary of state, recently shared insights from his incredible career as part of Military Times' Black Military History Month.

The following are highlights from the exclusive interview, edited for space and clarity:

Q. To start, we wanted to hear about your experience in Vietnam, specifically serving as an adviser.

A. I arrived in Vietnam on Christmas Eve in 1962, and I was assigned to be an adviser to a South Vietnamese battalion. I learned a lot about survival out in the forest. It wasnt really a jungle. It was a forest. And I learned a lot about what it is to work with other nationalities, and to not have language exchanges with them, because very few of them spoke English.

Q. Its very common in today's military to go out and work with partner nations. And as you mentioned, you don't speak the same language. Can you offer some advice for service members in that position?

A. Well, you always have to try to put yourself in their position not see everything through your eyes, but get on the other side and look back at yourself, so that you're reflecting their culture and their beliefs. Really, that was the lesson I learned in Vietnam.

Eating rice 21 times a week put me into their culture fully. Just staying up with them and letting them know I was just like them. We all slept on the ground together, and we all trenched up and down those mountains together. And they accepted me as one of them, and I was proud to be one of them.

Q. Can you talk about your time during the Nixon administration? You were a White House fellow.

Beyond that, though, I also traveled and I went to both Russia and China that year. I came back from that having the experiences with the people who were supposed to be our enemies, and could be our enemies if war came. I came away from that with a better understanding of the Soviet Union and a better understanding of the strength that we have in the West.

And it was my experience in the Soviet Union, I think that it allowed me to be a better counterpart to my Russian colleagues. Because they knew I had been in Russia, and I had not only studied how to fight a war if a war came, but how to work for peace. And to make sure that peace came, and not a war.

Q. What can you say to those in uniform today, who read the headlines about Russia and China and who may be anxious about what the future may bring?

A. My feelings about Russia and China were shaped in my White House fellow days and throughout my military and diplomatic career as national security adviser and secretary of state. I think that we have to be on guard with these two countries. But at the same time, I don't think they are seeking war. But they are acting in ways that are not always in our interest.

I think that it is important to make sure that you reach out and keep in close contact with both countries. Understand what theyre trying to do. I found that I could work very pleasantly with both my Chinese colleagues and my now Russian no longer Soviet my Russian colleagues on the basis of respect, and mutual understanding. And interests that sometimes diverged. But I don't think either of those countries is looking for a war with the United States of America.

Q. Can we talk about Desert Storm? I'm curious what kind of lessons you reflect on today.

A. Desert Storm, I think was a very successful operation. And the reason it was so successful is that the first President Bush gave us a very clear mission. And it was a mission that was blessed by Congress. Because it was a clear mission, we could get wide support from around the world. And the mission was to eject the Iraqi army from Kuwait and restore the legitimate government of Kuwait to Kuwait City. And we put 500,000 troops into that operation and another 200,000 allied troops joined us.

It was the only time in my career or in, frankly, most of American military history, where a chairman can say to the president of the United States, I guarantee the outcome. And the reason I could guarantee that outcome is that the president gave us everything we asked for. In a relatively short period of time, the Iraqi army was no longer in Kuwait, and the government had been restored.

But the best part from my perspective is the way in which the American people saw this operation. And they had been told that tens of thousands might be killed. They were worried about this volunteer army that had never been in this level of combat before. And they were absolutely joyful at the results. And they threw parades for our troops. And it just refreshed my memory that a classic military theory says, make sure you know what you're getting into.

And then, when you've decided on that political objective, then you put decisive force in to achieve it. And that's what we did in Desert Storm. Some people argue that we ended the war too soon. And there others who say we should have gone to Baghdad. We didn't end it too soon. We ended it when the president wanted to end it, because we were killing people that didn't need to be killed, because the mission had really been accomplished. And we didn't want to inflict too many casualties on our own troops, and especially also on the other side.

So I think it was a great success. But the biggest thing was the American people just absolutely fell in love with their armed forces once again.

Q. Can you talk about your tenure as secretary of state?

A. I was very proud to be appointed as secretary of state and in that first year of course, we had 9/11. And I was in Peru that day. I wasn't in Washington. And I'll never forget the handwritten note by my assistant saying that a plane had hit one tower, and we thought it was a small plane. And it looked like an accident. And it was like, 10 minutes later, he came in with another note saying a plane had hit the other tower, and I immediately knew it was a terrorist attack.

I told my plane to get ready, my pilots to get ready. We had to fly back to Washington as soon as possible. It was a long flight, but when I got back, I immediately joined the president. After a lot of discussion, we realized we had to respond to this attack in a forceful way. And that's what we did.

One of the challenges facing our young men and women now is that this conflict in there and in Iraq, both them have been going on for, like, 15 or 16 years with a volunteer force that represents a small part of the American population 1 percent. And they're the ones who have to keep going back and keep going back. And we are asking an awful lot of our young men and women in uniform, and a lot of their families. And it is also very expensive.

So I think one of the challenges coming up for the new administration is how to find a solution to these problems in Iraq and Afghanistan, and really turn it over to the people. And to the their governments while at the same time providing assistance aid so they can do what is necessary to provide peace and security for their people.

Q. We write about this where the cities, for example, that were once overtaken by U.S. troops, have fallen again. You know, from an emotional standpoint for some of these troops, it's been hard to rectify that in their minds. What would you say to them directly, those who are having trouble?

A. Well, I would say that we are enormously proud of their willingness to serve repeated tours in these places. And don't feel in any way that your service is unrewarded, or your service has no value to it. And it's very much rewarded and respected by the American people, and it has value. Al-Qaida, ISIS, cannot be allowed to prevail, or else we will be chasing the world back to the bad period of constant conflict. And so, it's important that we understand their service is necessary and valuable.

But it places an enormous demand upon them and of their families. And that sacrifice is greatly appreciated by those of us who used to be uniform, and I think all of the American people.

Q. February is Black History Month.

I've always gone in my life as a soldier who happens to be black, but I would not ever call myself a black soldier, or a black general, or a black secretary of state. I was very proud of my race and I never failed to give credit to those soldiers and statesman who went before me, and kind of paved the way for me. But at the same time, I don't want someone to think, well, it's a black secretary, is there a white secretary somewhere. No, there's not. There's only one. And so, I've always seen myself first and foremost as an American and as a leader of all of the people. And a representative of all of the people of the United States, and I happen to be black.

Continue reading here:
Q-and-A: Colin Powell on Vietnam service, Iraq and Afghanistan, and Black History Month - Military Times

Afghanistan v Ireland 2016-17 January 30, 2017

ESPNcricinfo staff

Jacob Mulder has been called up to Ireland's Intercontinental Cup squad Peter Della Penna

Ireland have selected a full-strength squad for their Intercontinental Cup fixture with Afghanistan in March, with legspinner Jacob Mulder in line for a first-class debut. Ed Joyce, Niall O'Brien and Tim Murtagh are also included, having missed the Desert T20 - where Ireland lost to Afghanistan in the final - earlier this month.

Ireland are currently top of the Intercontinental Cup table with four wins from four, leading Afghanistan by 19 points. The Intercontinental Cup is expected to provide a pathway into Test cricket, with the winner facing a play-off with the lowest-ranked Test nation in 2018.

Ahead of the four-day match, Ireland and Afghanistan will play three T20s and five ODIs; all of the fixtures will take place in Greater Noida, India. Two ODIs have also been arranged against UAE on March 2 and 4 as part of Ireland's training camp.

"It's great to have such a wealth of experience to choose from," Ireland's head coach, John Bracewell, said. "We had a full squad available which hasn't been the case with injuries in recent times but it's great to have everyone back with such a busy programme in March.

"While we haven't been at our best in limited-overs cricket in recent times we have a great record in the Intercontinental Cup where we've won all our four games taking full points.

"The players are all fully focused on winning the competition for a fifth time, especially with the chance of playing Test cricket on offer. Ed Joyce has been in supreme form in the tournament with two double hundreds and he clearly looks like a man on a mission.

"Young Jacob Mulder was the stand-out bowler in the T20 and the selectors felt he deserved his opportunity in the longer format. With the conditions in India likely to be spin-friendly his legspin gives us added variety which could be so important."

Boyd Rankin will be rested for the matches in the UAE, but will join up with Ireland during the 10-day training camp to prepare for the Afghanistan games.

Australia-born batsman Nick Larkin, who played twice for Ireland in 2014, has however ruled himself out of involvement for the time being.

"After a lengthy period of discussion between Cricket Ireland and Nick Larkin, the player has finally clarified that his focus right now is on advancing his career with the NSW Blues in Australia," Cricket Ireland's performance director, Richard Holdsworth, said. "He is contracted there until 2018 and is not therefore available for Ireland during that period."

Ireland Intercontinental Cup squad: William Porterfield, John Anderson, George Dockrell, Ed Joyce, Jacob Mulder, Tim Murtagh, Andrew McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Kevin O'Brien, Niall O'Brien, Boyd Rankin, Paul Stirling, Gary Wilson, Craig Young

Ireland ODI squad v UAE: William Porterfield, Andrew Balbirnie, George Dockrell, Ed Joyce, Jacob Mulder, Tim Murtagh, Andrew McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Kevin O'Brien, Niall O'Brien, Paul Stirling, Stuart Thompson, Gary Wilson, Craig Young

Ireland ODI squad v Afghanistan: William Porterfield, Andrew Balbirnie, George Dockrell, Ed Joyce, Jacob Mulder, Tim Murtagh, Andrew McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Kevin O'Brien, Niall O'Brien, Boyd Rankin, Paul Stirling, Stuart Thompson, Gary Wilson, Craig Young.

T20I squad v Afghanistan: William Porterfield, George Dockrell, Josh Little, Jacob Mulder, Andrew McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Kevin O'Brien, Boyd Rankin, Paul Stirling, Greg Thompson, Stuart Thompson, Lorcan Tucker, Gary Wilson, Craig Young.

ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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Mulder named in squad to play Afghanistan - ESPNcricinfo.com

wbur The presidents order to military officials to devise a plan in the next 30 days to defeat ISIS, writes Andrew Carleen, was obscured by Trump's other actions. But it could be the first step toward full-scale war. Members of the Patriot Guard Riders gather for a funeral procession for Navy SEAL Charles Keating IV arriving at the Sacred Hearth Catholic Church in Coronado, Calif., Friday, May 13, 2016. The 32-year-old Keating received a Purple Heart and a Combat Action Ribbon for what he did the day he was killed in a gunbattle against ISIS on May 3. (Julie Watson/AP) COMMENTARY

I was just a couple of weeks into my freshman year in high school when planes piloted by al-Qaida hijackers slammed into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. At 14, I lacked the worldliness to fully wrap my head around the events of Sept. 11, 2001, but even I sensed that a seismic shift in the direction of our country had occurred. Over a decade later, I would be on the ground in Afghanistan, fighting in the war that began on that day.

In 2017 our military adventure in Central Asia will enter its 16th year. Thousands of American service members remain deployed in the country, stuck in a stalemate that shows no sign of abating.

The Afghan war is remarkable in American history not only for its length but also for the unprecedented lack of public and congressional debate over its merits. The conflict has spanned two, two-term administrations of presidents from both parties and has cost nearly $5 trillionin taxpayer dollars and thousands of young American lives. Despite the conflicts longevity and centrality to U.S.foreign policy this century, the war was barely discussed by either major candidate in the most acrimonious presidential election in living memory.

In his first week as president, Donald Trump managed to perpetrate a litany of apostasies against the vision of the United States to which most liberals and progressives subscribe. The presidents order to the Pentagon Saturday to devise a plan to defeat ISIS in the next 30 days was obscured by this laundry list of outrages.

In his inaugural address, President Trump stuck to the same, imprecise, bellicose tone, promising to wipe the Islamic State from the face of the Earth.

Claiming that he did not want to telegraph exact military plans to the enemy, candidate Trumps platform for addressingISIS was strikingly short on details. Judging from crude soundbites on the campaign trail anddumbfoundingly hyperbolic critiques of President Obamas approach to the organization, one could reasonably assume he planned on pursuing an aggressive strategy.

In his inaugural address, President Trump stuck to the same, imprecise, bellicose tone, promising to wipe the Islamic State from the face of the Earth. The guarantee was delivered in the way a politician might promise a tax cut or education reform, as though it were merely a matter of process and political will, and not an excruciatingly complicated geopolitical issue in a part of the world already strewn with failed U.S. interventions.

President Trump is hardly the first commander-in-chief to oversimplify nuanced foreign policy issues. Given his apparent immunity to facts, however, I fear that our current chief executive may be uniquely unwilling to apply the lessons of recent history to any decision on use of force.

President Trump has inherited an executive branch with the authority to effectively dictate policy regarding national security issues. This power comes courtesy of the second Bush and Obama administrations and the feckless Congresses that failed to insist on the legislative branchs coequality in these realms. To borrow a phrase from Boston University Professor Emeritus Andrew Bacevich, the imperial presidency seems to have found its emperor.

Thanks to the expansive interpretation of the post-9/11 Authorization for Use of Military Force, vigorously defended by the Obama administrations lawyers which essentially allows the president to decree which global threats it can be applied to President Trump will have a blank check to implement whatever action he sees fit.

Many national security experts see no path to dislodging ISIS outside of full-scale war.

There is no reason to believe the military will not carry out its charge of devising a plan to satisfy the presidents ambitious promise to the American people. Many national security experts see no path to dislodging ISIS outside of full-scale war. This would constitute a return of American soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines to the disastrous fighting in the Levant our country extricated itself from less than a decade ago.

That President Trump would make a promise with such implications in his inaugural address and have it go unaddressed by elected officials is truly astonishing. His rhetoric suggests a complete disregard for the consequences of achieving this end, all for a threat that could never reasonably be described as existential to the United States.

What we have seen from our thin-skinned commander-in-chief is an obsession with his public image. Idon't think it's alarmist to suggest that President Trump is above expanding a war in the Middle East in order to wrap himself in the flag and label his detractors as unpatriotic weaklings who hate the troops.

Given the indifference of Congress to 15 years of war in Afghanistan and the sheer number of distractions sure to arise throughout the Trump administration, I have no confidence that our legislators will act on their own to prevent yet another catastrophic military adventure in the Middle East.

What it will take to hold our elected officials accountable is large-scale, grassroots opposition to further military over-extension and an escalation that would satisfy only a vocal, hawkish minority in the presidents base.

As an opponent of virtually all of the presidents policies, I have been heartened by the extensive backlash from the general public on issues such as the border wall and immigration restrictions. I fervently hope that the same passion that has animated people on behalf of the groups impacted by these policies will be mobilized on behalf of our military men and women and their families who will be the ones to bear the burden of our presidents reckless inaugural promise.

Will crowds of people take to the streets if the president orders service members to die for his vanity project? I hope so. The question remains, however, where have these crowds been for the last 15 years?

Follow Cognoscenti on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up for our twice-weekly newsletter.

Andrew Carleen Cognoscenti contributor Andrew Carleen is a former public affairs officer in the U.S. Navy who lives in Quincy, Massachusetts.

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Afghanistan Veteran: We Need Massive Protests If Trump Escalates Military Action - WBUR

A refugee family from Afghanistan touched down in Atlanta late Monday, becoming among the last to arrive in Georgia undera polarizing new executive order restricting immigration enacted by the Trump administration.

Wali Omari had worked as a driver in the U.S. embassy in Kabul. He and his his wife, Parwana, along with their five-year-old daughter and three-year-old son landed at Hartsfield Jackson International-Airport just before midnight.

They were greeted with hugs and flowers by about two dozen well wishers in the arrivals area, some holding signs that said Welcome Home. Many were with the International Rescue Committee in Atlanta, which is preparing resettle them here. The family, looking happy but tired, had traveled more than 25 hours, a journey that was marked by uncertainty after President Donald Trumpon Friday temporarily blocked refugees from coming to the United States as part of a promised crackdown on immigration.

Speaking briefly to reporters at the airport, Omari said he was anxious he and his family would not be able to complete the final leg of their trip - from Germany to the United States - because of Trumps ban.

Omari feared he and his family were in danger because of his work with the Americans in Afghanistan, said his cousin, Ahmad Zia Mahbob, who lives in Clarkston.

The family is among 872 refugees from around the world exempted from Trumps order because they had already been approved for resettlement in cities across the U.S., were in transit and because their denial of admission would cause undue hardship.

Widespread protests erupted over the weekend as the travel ban took effect at airports around the country, including Atlanta. The Trump administration has tweaked some aspects of the plan, making clear, for example, that travelers with green cards could re-enter the United States. But it has stood firm behind the order, arguing it is needed to shield Americans from would-be terrorists.

Trumps order, signed Friday, suspends all refugee entries for 120 days. http://www.accessatlanta.com

Protecting the people of the United States remains the top priority of its leaders, he said, and thoughtful vigilance on this front has made our nation a beacon of hope to people throughout the world.

But a widening list of critics argue it is aimed at denying entry to Muslims and doesnt include some nations, like Saudi Arabia, with known ties to terrorism.

On Monday night, Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, formerly the top federal prosecutor in Atlanta,ordered the Justice Department not to defend the measure in court. Trump promptly fired her. She was an Obama administration appointee.

A Bhutanese father, mother and their 18-year-old son were also set to arrive in Atlanta Monday night, said Joshua Sieweke, the Atlanta office director for World Relief, a refugee resettlement agency. They were flying in from Nepal.

Jesse Ciavone, 20, was awaiting the arrival of the Omari family late Monday with a friend who works as an intern for the IRC.

"It's our duty as a nation to try and provide for those trying to flee a crisis situation," he said.

"When someone is in the face of death they shouldn't be turned away because of race or religion."

Well wishers gather to welcome a refugee family from Afghanistan at Hartsfield Jackson-International Airport on Monday night. Photo: Ellen Eldridge

Those exempted must still submit to interviews and national security checks. And the exemption does not apply to the seven predominantly Muslim countries covered in Trumps executive order: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. Meanwhile, many other refugees from Eritrea, Somalia and Myanmar have been blocked from resettling in the Atlanta area amid enforcement of Trumps decree, according to three Atlanta-area resettlement agencies. Among them are a 57-year-old widow and her 31-year-old wheelchair-bound niece from Somalia, said J.D. McCrary, executive director of the IRC in Atlanta. McCrary could not confirm the cancellation of their trip was related to Trumps order, though he assumes it is because of the timing.

These two women could not possibly be considered a security threat to America, he said. Choosing to slam Americas door on refugees is a betrayal of who we are as a nation and is deeply disturbing.

The IRC is expecting the arrival of 24 other refugees this week from Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Among them is a 32-year-old Christian woman from Myanmar who wants to reunite with her husband in Georgia.

But others arent so lucky.

Another Atlanta area refugee resettlement agency New American Pathways confirmed 18 refugees from Eritrea, Myanmar and Somalia who had previously been scheduled to arrive in Atlanta starting this week have been blocked by Trumps order. Among them are a pregnant woman from Eritrea and some Rohingya Muslims who are facing persecution in their predominantly Buddhist homeland of Myanmar. Lutheran Services of Georgia reported that several dozen refugees, set to touch down in February, will no longer be coming. They were from Syria, Iran, Somalia, Burma, Iraq and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Further, a Syrian Refugee family that was expected to arrive in Atlanta this week has been blocked from coming here, said Sieweke, of World Relief. But a 19-year-old El Salvadorian refugee is scheduled to arrive in Atlanta Tuesday followed by two people from the Ivory Coast and seven from Eritrea in February, he said.

On Monday, controversy over Trumps decree surfaced on the floor of the state Senate, where several Democratic lawmakers decried the chaos it created over the weekend and said they supported those protesting it. But their objections were met with a stony silence from Republicans, as well as a reprimand from state Sen. Greg Kirk, R-Americus. Kirk said he had spent the weekend looking after the communities around his district in South Georgia, which is still recovering from recent storms that killed at least 15 people in the state. The presidential election was over, Kirk said.

It is time for us to come together and stop the divisiveness, he said.

Issued late Friday afternoon, the presidents order bars any refugees from resettling in the U.S. for four months and it indefinitely blocks Syrian refugees from resettling here. Further, it bars people from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S. for three months: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.

Trump took to Twitter Monday morning to defend his order. He said only 109 out of 325,000 travelers who arrived in the U.S. Saturday were detained for questioning.

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Afghanistan refugees fleeing persecution expected to arrive in Atlanta - Atlanta Journal Constitution