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The Iraqi government has on Wednesday handed over the remains of 21 missing persons to Kuwaits embassy in Baghdad, who are believed to be Kuwaiti captives from the 1990 Iraqi invasion.

The handover took place near Baghdad International Airport in the presence of representatives of the Iraqi Defence Ministry, the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC)and the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

Kuwait News Agency quoted acting charg daffaires at the Kuwaiti embassy in Iraq, Mohammad Al-Wuqayyan, stating that: Handing over the remains is part of the efforts relating to the Kuwaiti missing prisoners file.

Al-Wuqayyan explained that the file is being supervised by two international committees headed by the ICRC, with Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the US, the UK and France as members, as well as UNAMI as an observer.

The Kuwaiti official added that he believes, according to initial indications, that the remains belong to Kuwaiti captives and missing persons found in the Samawah desert, south of Iraq.

Kuwaits General Departmentof CriminalEvidence will perform DNA tests on the remains to match the results with the database of Kuwaiti and foreign captives and missing persons.

READ: Kuwait calls on Iraq to resolve economic crisis

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Iraq hands over remains of 21 Kuwait missing persons since Gulf War - Middle East Monitor

"Burn pits" are open air, war zone garbage dumps that contain everything from human and medical waste to ammunition.

INDIANAPOLIS A new wave of veterans are getting sick from suspected war time exposures.

Comedian-turned-activist Jon Stewart is now asking Congress to provide better care for troops. He took to Capitol Hill this week to raise concerns about "burn pits."

"So our veterans lived 24 hours a day, 7 days a week next to toxic smoke," Stewart said during a briefing that aired on the TODAY Show.

"Burn pits" are open air, war zone garbage dumps that contain everything from human and medical waste to ammunition. But the piles just don't sit, they are set afire with jet fuel, creating a toxic mix.

13 Investigates first heard about "burn pits" in 2017 from a now-deceased Iraq War veteran.

Specialist Ashley Shelton was sent into a combat zone in Afghanistan despite five positive pregnancy tests. She unexpectedly gave birth there as part of the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade. She talked about her exposure to the burn pits.

"I was working around chemicals that were hazardous," she said.

After bringing her case to 13 Investigates, she fought for and finally received full disability before her untimely death last year. Her death was not directly related to the exposure.

Stewart wants Congress to provide veterans of the Iraq War who were exposed to the toxins lifetime health coverage.

Veterans of past wars have had to fight for care after similar exposures

"They just don't care," said former Lt. Col Steve Avery.

The 29-year serviceman was a wartime Air Force pilot who flew troops into nearly every armed conflict from Vietnam to Desert Storm. Those veterans were exposed to Agent Orange, toxic sprays and more.

13 Investigates helped Avery to retrieve his lost medical records a decade ago and to get the benefits he deserved.

"You would be exposed to burn pits at Army bases, Navy bases and even Air Force bases. You would have no idea what they were burning or destroying or whatever," he said.

He believes no matter the exposure, the VA should do a better job taking care of the men and women who serve once they come home.

"These people know that these guys have been exposed to this. This is a no-brainer and denying these people their benefits, that's the kind of stuff that's going on," said Avery.

He advised veterans who have been exposed to carefully document everything and to seek help from the American Legion.

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Iraq and Afghanistan veterans exposed to toxins from 'burn pits'; VA and Congress urged to provide care - WTHR

Iraqi counter-terrorism forces stand guard in front of the US embassy in the capital Baghdad. Image Credit: AFP

Abu Dhabi: Iraqi intelligence officers have arrested the killer of activist Shilan Rauf and her parents in Erbil, where he fled after he committed the crime, local media reported.

The Kurdistan Counter-Terrorism Foundation has broadcast the purported confession of the murderer of the Kurdish family in the Mansour area in Baghdad.

The daughter, Shilan Rauf, was a pharmacist and an activist and the mother, Alia Rashid Najm, was an employee in the religious and charitable institution.

The suspect is Mahdi Hussein Nasser, who lives in the Habibiya area in the suburbs of Baghdad and works as an Interior Ministry security officer, guarding the Russian embassy in the Iraqi capital.

The Russian embassy is located near the house of the three victims, in a supposedly fully secured area, where the Bahraini embassy building is also located. It is difficult for anyone to enter the building, raising doubts about the possibility of armed militias committing the crime, given the role of the pharmacist in treating the injured protesters.

The perpetrator of the massacre said in his confessions that he got to know Shilans father by virtue of working with him.

I needed a sum of money and asked him to loan me the money, but the latter refused and said that he did not have the money and then a verbal altercation took place between us, Nasser said.

He added he found a knife near him, so he stabbed the father of the pharmacist, who fell to the ground, then his wife entered and he stabbed her too, and she fell on the ground as well.

The perpetrator said he dragged the two bodies to the bathroom and opened the faucet on them to erase traces of blood, but Shilan saw what happened and hit him with a cigarette extinguisher, claiming that he tried to calm her down without success.

The perpetrator cleaned the place and then searched for money and found about 10,000 dollars, in addition to some Iraqi money.

He took the money and mobile phones of the victims and the knife and put it in a bag. Then he went out and threw the crime tool on the Army Channel road east of Baghdad, and traveled to Erbil, where he rented a room in a hotel.

He tried to travel to Turkey but could not as he was arrested at the hotel.

In two separate statements, Iraqi doctors and pharmacists syndicates denounced the assassination of the Kurdish family.

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Iraq: Killer of three members of Kurdish family arrested in Erbil - Gulf News

Halving the number of US troops in Iraq is a terrible idea. Just ask the head of US Central Command, Gen. Frank McKenzie, who in recent days warned of sharp increases in Iran-backed attacks against US bases in Iraq.

McKenzie said Iranian attempts to provoke American forces were very dangerous, because I dont think they have an appreciation for where our red line would be. They might believe they can continue to attack us with rockets and missiles in Iraq and we wont respond, and that would be a very dangerous thing for them to believe. Although many of these attacks were low level, McKenzie warned that these militias were signaling their readiness to massively escalate operations when the time was right.

US President Donald Trumps reduction in his Iraq force size, from 5,200 to about 3,000 by November, comes at a time when Daesh has been regrouping and regaining strength; it has an estimated 20,000 fighters, carries out about 60 attacks a month in Iraq alone, and has financial reserves of up to $300 million. Trumps repeated assertions that Daesh has been defeated is therefore a dangerous delusion.

Drastic cuts in US force numbers in Syria (from about 2,500 to 500 since 2018) were justified by the claim that US interests in Syria could be protected through its presence in Iraq. This is obviously no longer the case; the withdrawal gives Daesh and Iran a free hand, while leaving allies such as Kurdish SDF fighters even further exposed. Over the past year, Iran sought to recruit locals into its own militia structures in eastern Syria, enticing fighters away from the US-backed SDF. This is in parallel with Turkish and Russian efforts to undermine the SDF and expand their own spheres of influence.

The US has already closed several of its principal Iraq bases during 2020, cutting its presence to a small number of concentrated locations. This is perfectly logical from the perspective of being able to protect a sharply reduced number of troops, but it leaves huge areas of the country where the US cant adequately monitor activities by Daesh and Shiite militants. Last year Trump was ridiculed for claiming that he could use Al-Asad base in western Iraq for watching what was going on in Iran.

This drawdown occurs in the context of Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhimis confrontation with the Tehran-backed paramilitaries of Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi. In response to his efforts to curb their activities, the Hashd stages almost daily attacks against Western and Iraqi assets, while assassinating activists and enemies, and launching missiles against the heavily fortified Green Zone.

The Hashd have about 140,000 fighters, and have resisted all attempts at demobilization or incorporation into the regular armed forces. Over the course of 2020 names of new Hashd factions began to appear, such as Usbat Al-Thaireen and Ashab Al-Kahf, apparently with the aim of establishing additional layers of deniability for terrorist attacks, although the principal elements are closely associated with Kataib Hezbollah.

So far, all Kadhimi has succeeded in doing is goading Kataib Hezbollah into even more provocative behavior. Lets not forget that these militias are on the Iraqi state payroll, with a budget of over $2 billion. Militias have deeply infiltrated the police and armed forces, and in particular the interior ministry. There is therefore a grave risk that attempts to confront the Hashd could lead to a fracturing of the military, without extensive international support. This is a disastrous moment for the US to cut and run.

The US has already closed several of its principal Iraq bases during 2020, cutting its presence to a small number of concentrated locations

Baria Alamuddin

Nobody is in any doubt that these troop withdrawals, along with parallel cuts in Afghanistan, are being conducted for purely domestic US political purposes, and Trumps increasingly desperate attempts to seek re-election. Trumps sharp downward pressure on troop numbers has consistently been against the advice of his generals.

Trumps relationship with his military has become even more fraught after his leaked comments calling US soldiers who died overseas losers and suckers, while publicly accusing Pentagon chiefs of waging wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy. Overseas troop deployments are rarely popular, but they should be based on objective assessments of strategic requirements not a cheap way of winning votes.

The British 2009 troop withdrawal from Iraq, followed by Obamas 2011 pull-out, were conducted in a context of intense attacks by Iran-backed paramilitaries almost identical to those engaged in provocations today. Kataeb Hezbollah used to broadcast its attacks against Coalition forces on its Ettijah TV channel.

This allowed these factions to perpetuate a narrative about their supposed ability to defeat foreign invaders. Gen. McKenzie himself commented that the aim of these Iran-sponsored attacks was to force America out. Trump is therefore fatally playing into Tehrans hands by being seen to accede to its demands to leave the region, humiliatingly chased out by its Iraqi and Syrian proxies.

Given that Iranian proxies, including the Houthis in Yemen, have staged hundreds of attacks against GCC civilian and economic targets, this withdrawal will send a shiver throughout the GCC; notably in states such Kuwait, on the frontline against these threats, and Bahrain, hundreds of whose terrorists received training and weapons from Kataib Hezbollah and Quds Force.

Trump is repeating the mistakes of his predecessor by drawing down his forces at the wrong time in the wrong context, creating a huge strategic vacuum to be filled by Iran and terrorist groups.

Obamas 2011 Iraq pullout effectively allowed the birth and extraordinary expansion of Daesh. What kind of monsters will Trumps untimely and unjustified pull-outs produce?

Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has interviewed numerous heads of state.

Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News' point-of-view

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Why Trump's Iraq drawdown is a gift to Iran and Daesh - Arab News

On Wednesday in the U.S. House, two Republicans and one Democrat introduced a bill that would authorize the President to award the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award for military valor, to Army sergeant first class Alwyn C. Cashe, a Black soldier who died on November 8, 2005 from extensive burns he received while rescuing troops from a burning vehicle during an attack amid the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Republican Representative Michael Waltz of Florida, Democratic Representative Stephanie Murphy of Florida and Republican Dan Crenshaw of Texas filed legislation that would award Cashe the Medal of Honor even though current federal law renders him ineligible because more than five years have elapsed since his actions.

In October 2005, while serving during his second tour of duty in Iraq, Cashe's military vehicle was hit by an IED (improvised explosive device) before he and his fellow troops came under fire from nearby combatants. Injured, Cashe pulled the driver from the vehicle as its fuel cell drenched Cashe's uniform in fuel, eventually igniting.

While Cashe's body was literally in flames, he avoided the small arms fire and pulled all six passengers from the vehicle, including the body of an interpreter killed by the IED explosion. Covered in burns and flames, he ensured that his fellow troops escaped the area before leaving himself.

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Cashe eventually succumbed to the second- and third-degree burns covering nearly two-thirds of his body. He died at the San Antonio Military Medical Center in Texas a month later.

After his death, he was awarded a Silver Star for his actions, partly because a paperwork error didn't disclose that he had been in active duty and under fire at the time of his death, criteria required to be considered for the Medal of Honor.

However, current federal law also requires Medal of Honor recipients to receive the honor within five years of their qualifying actions. Since Cashe's actions occurred nearly 15 years ago, he is ineligible.

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"For well over a decade, there has been a painstaking effort by Cashe's family, friends, and former comrades to have his Silver Star upgraded to the Medal of Honor, which is clearly justified by the facts of this case," Murphy said in a statement on Wednesday.

"With [this bill] today, my colleagues and I are working together to remove the one remaining technical obstacle that stands in the way of this incredible soldier receiving the recognition he earned," she continued.

In August, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he reviewed Cashe's case and supported efforts to award him the Medal of Freedom. If awarded, Cashe would become the first Black soldier to receive the medal as a veteran of recent conflicts.

In addition to the proposed legislation, the aforementioned representatives also added an amendment in the most recent Defense Reauthorization Bill that would revise Medal of Freedom guidelines so that more veterans of recent conflicts may be considered for it. However, the bill is considered unlikely to be passed before the November 3 elections as many congressional officials campaign in their districts during October.

According to Military Times, only 24 Medals of Honor have been awarded to soldiers who served in the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Comparatively, 3,500 Medals of Honor have been awarded since the 1865 conclusion of the American Civil War. A total of 406 Medals of Honor were given to soldiers of the Korean and Vietnamese invasions.

Newsweek contacted the Department of Defense for comment.

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Bipartisan Bill Would Waive Rules Keeping Iraq War Hero From Receiving Medal of Honor - Newsweek