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Iraq vet says he was prohibited from returning to FDNY Academy New York Daily News Decorated Iraq combat vet Samuel Berger, who has years of experience fighting fires, has been rejected from re-entering the FDNY Academy after he had to take an emergency leave because his mother fell ill, the Daily News has learned. The FDNY and a ...

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Iraq vet says he was prohibited from returning to FDNY Academy - New York Daily News

ANKARA Turkey's military killed 13 members of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in air strikes in northern Iraq on Sunday, the military said in a statement.

The warplanes struck seven PKK targets in the Avasin-Basyan region of northern Iraq, and killed militants believed to be preparing for an attack, the military said.

In a separate air strike in Turkey's southeastern province of Van late on Saturday, the military said warplanes had killed another 10 PKK militants.

The PKK, which has carried out a three-decade insurgency in southeast Turkey, has camps in the mountains of northern Iraq, near the Turkish border. It is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Susan Fenton)

MANCHESTER, England Members of Manchester suicide bomber Salman Abedi's network are still potentially at large, British interior minister Amber Rudd said on Sunday, after the terrorism threat level was lowered due to significant progress in the investigation.

BERLIN Germany, whose relations with Turkey have been strained by a series of rows, will decide within two weeks whether to withdraw troops deployed at Turkey's Incirlik air force base, a German Foreign Ministry official said on Sunday.

MILAN Former prime minister Matteo Renzi suggested on Sunday that Italy's next election be held at the same time as Germany's, saying this made sense "from a European perspective".

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Turkish military says kills 13 Kurdish militants in northern Iraq | Reuters - Reuters

Looking at the current U.S. engagement in the Middle East, one comes to an inescapable realization of the clear contrast between the strong rhetoric of the new Trump administration and the quiet echoes of the Obama administration. It is positive that the Trump administration is paying attention to the Middle East.

But President Trump's decision to visit Saudi Arabia and not Iraq has sent the wrong signals to the Iraqi side about his priorities in region. If Americas number one priority in the region is to defeat Daesh (ISIS) then his visit to Iraq should have been a priority. No country in the world has sacrificed more than Iraq in fighting and pushing back Daesh.

Even from a military perspective, Iraqi forces are by far the most experienced and capable to defeat themno other regional country can compare.

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The Iraqi security forces havent lost a battle against Daesh in two years. Any genuine international commitment to defeating the global threat of international terrorism must include a determined focus on rooting out remnants of Daesh in Iraq and Syria, while ensuring that security in Iraq is robust and lasting.

Here, the U.S., with detailed consultation with the Iraqi government, needs to make a firm decision about the extent of its future political and military engagement in Iraq. It needs to send a clear message to its Iraqi counterparts about that commitment.

As President Trump was feted in Saudi Arabia and Israel, Iraq and its challenges and sacrifices, appeared to be an afterthought. It is not just that President Trump did not make the almost customary surprise visit to the country during his trip to the region but that his message from Riyadhwhich cast violence in Iraq and the region in sectarian termsappeared to ignore the fundamental causes of Iraq's suffering, which is not Iranian expansionism but violent jihadist Salafism.

Whether consciously or not, President Trump appeared to reinforce the Saudi narrative that the region is in the midst of a sectarian struggle of good Sunnis versus evil Shia. Yet Iraq's Shiawho make up a majority of both the country's armed forces and its volunteer Popular Mobilization Forceshave fought valiantly against Daesh. No one should doubt their commitment or their loyalty to the Iraqi state they are defending.

The Iraqi government, which is led by Shia Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, has been an important ally for the United States and for Iran in fighting a war in which both countries have the same goal: dislodging and eradicating Daesh and defeating international jihadist Salafism.

Read more: U.S. lawmakers urge Trump to support 'rebuilding' in Iraq

Let us not forget here that the Saudis are not a neutral party, and neither are the Israelis. Both are engaged in a regional power struggle, along with Turkey and Iran. Washington's greatest contribution to peace would be encouraging dialogue among all parties and laying the seeds for a regional security framework that can manage the conflict, not fuel it.

U.S. President Donald Trump (C) makes his way to board Air Force One in Riyadh as he head with the First Lady to Israel on May 22, 2017. The president decided against visiting Iraq in his first trip to the region. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty

A stable Iraq is in the interest of U.S. national security for many reasons, not least Iraq's geopolitical significance due to its location. Regional superpowers like Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia will continue to compete in order to assert their positions in the Middle East and establish spheres of influence and Iraq's stance in regard to these rivalries can tip the balance.

Iraq's natural resources and ongoing oil export capabilities also allow it to be an important stabilizing factor in the flow of petroleum to various international markets.

On the security cooperation side, Iraq is at the forefront of the struggle against terrorism conducted by non-state actors, in particular Daesh and the threat it continues to present to international security.

Daesh is not only a threat to the countries of the region; as the bombing in Manchester illustrated, it is a threat to the world. Iraqis are intimately familiar with the threat of violent extremism, we have suffered hundreds of Manchester-type attacks over the past 14 years, which have cost the lives of thousands, including women and children.

Another key factor that puts Iraq in a unique position, one that the West does not focus on, is the important influence of the city of Najafcurrently the preeminent Shia school of jurisprudencewithin the Shia world. As Najaf continues to compete for religious influence in the Middle East, Iraq increasingly has the ability to influence the future of Shia Muslim religious authority across the globe.

Finally let us also not forget that, demographically, Iraq is a young nation where the average age is below 20 years old. Youth empowerment is currently not receiving enough attention from the Iraqi government and international programs aimed at empowering the youth will ensure the battle of ideas against Daesh ideology will continue with the aim of a stable Iraq in which young people play a positive role.

A stable, strong Iraq is a key foundation for a stable Middle East so let us all work towards a democratic Iraq that represents all of our common interests.

If Washington seeks a long term security, economical and political partnership with Iraq, as it should, President Trump should have visited our country. Optics mean everything in the Middle East. This was a missed opportunity.

Lukman Faily was the Iraqi Ambassador to the United States between 2013 and 2016. He also served as Iraqs Ambassador to Japan from 2010 to 2013.

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Donald Trump Should Not Treat Iraq As An AfterthoughtWe Need Each Other - Newsweek

On Memorial Day, we pay respects to the fallen from past wars including the more than one million American soldiers killed in the Civil War, World Wars I and II, Korea and Vietnam.

Yet the nations longest and most expensive war is the one that is still going on. In addition to nearly 7,000 troops killed, the 16-year conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan will cost an estimated US$6 trillion due to its prolonged length, rapidly increasing veterans health care and disability costs and interest on war borrowing. On this Memorial Day, we should begin to confront the staggering cost and the challenge of paying for this war.

The enormous figure reflects not just the cost of fighting like guns, trucks and fuel but also the long-term cost of providing medical care and disability compensation for decades beyond the end of the conflict. Consider the fact that benefits for World War I veterans didnt peak until 1969. For World War II veterans, the peak came in 1986. Payments for Vietnam-era vets are still climbing.

The high rates of injuries and increased survival rates in Iraq and Afghanistan mean that over half the 2.5 million who served there suffered some degree of disability. Their health care and disability benefits alone will easily cost $1 trillion in coming decades.

But instead of facing up to these huge costs, we have charged them to the national credit card. This means that our children will be forced to pay the bill for the wars started by our generation. Unless we set aside money today, it is likely that young people now fighting in Afghanistan will be shortchanged in the future just when they most need medical care and benefits.

A forgotten war

While most Americans are keen to support our troops, we arent currently shouldering the financial or the physical burden of our nations warfare. Except for a short period between the two world wars, the percentage of the general population now serving in the U.S. armed forces is at its lowest level ever.

Whats more, the war in Afghanistan barely features on our front pages. During the past two years it has not even made it into the top 10 news stories.

There is not much pain in our pocketbooks either. In past wars, taxpayers were forced to cover some of the extra spending. During Vietnam, marginal tax rates for the top 1 percent of earners were hiked to 77 percent. President Harry Truman raised tax rates as high as 92 percent during the Korean War, telling the country that this is a contribution to our national security that every one of us should stand ready to make. In fact, taxes were raised during every American conflict since the Revolutionary War, especially for the wealthy.

This time around we have borrowed the money instead. Thanks to the Bush-era tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, nearly all Americans now pay lower taxes than before the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. And unlike previous wars, Congress has paid for the post 9/11 conflicts using so-called emergency and overseas contingency operations spending bills, which bypass Congress own budget caps. This has allowed the government to avoid any uncomfortable national discussion on how to balance war spending against other domestic priorities.

A bipartisan effort

We cannot simply undo the trillions of dollars that have already been added to the national debt as a result of these wars, but there is an important step we can take to commemorate those who have given their lives or their health to this 16-year-long quagmire. We owe it to them to ensure that there is sufficient money set aside to pay for the benefits we have promised to them and their families.

The solution is to set up a Veterans Trust Fund. Trust funds are an established mechanism for the federal government to fund long-term commitments. We already have more than 200 of them, including the best-known, Social Security. While trust funds do not force the government to set aside money, the federal government would be required to prepare an accounting of how much money is owed to veterans and take steps to provide funding to pay claims as they come due.

This process has already been adopted for the Military Retirement Trust Fund, which pays pensions to career service members who retire after 20 years service. Since Congress established the fund in 1984, it has been amortizing the retirement benefits that are already due and transferring an annual amount into the fund to cover them. We need to adopt a similar approach for todays all-volunteer veterans who fight multiple, lengthy tours of duty but usually leave the military before 20 years are up.

Four members of Congress, Beto ORourke, D-Texas, Seth Moulton, D-Mass., Don Young, R-Ark., and Walter Jones, R-N.C., recently introduced a bipartisan Veterans Health Care Trust Fund Act. This proposal would establish a fund for veterans benefits, paid for in part by a small income tax surcharge. Those serving in the military and their families would be exempt from paying.

Such a fund cannot solve all the problems of todays veterans. But on this Memorial Day, lets not forget to provide for the men and women who have borne the brunt of the nations longest and most expensive war.

Linda J. Bilmes, Daniel Patrick Moynihan Senior Lecturer in Public Policy and Public Finance, Harvard University

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Iraq and Afghanistan: The $6 trillion bill for America's longest war is unpaid - Salon

David Ignatius 6:00 a.m. ET May 28, 2017

In this May 11, file photo Iraqi special forces advance to their next position in the Islah al-Zarai area in Mosul, Iraq. U.S.-backed Iraqi forces were moving to surround Mosul's Old City after launching a fresh push to drive Islamic State militants from areas they still hold.(Photo: Maya Alleruzzo/AP)

The Manchester terror attack by an alleged Islamic State soldier will accelerate the push by the U.S. and its allies to capture the terror groups strongholds in Mosul and Raqqah. But it should also focus some urgent discussions about a post-ISIS strategy for stabilizing Iraq and Syria.

For all President Trumps bombast about obliterating the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, the Raqqah campaign has been delayed for months while U.S. policymakers debated the wisdom of relying on a Syrian Kurdish militia known as the YPG that Turkey regards as a terrorist group. That group and allied Sunni fighters have been poised less than 10 miles from Raqqah, waiting for a decision.

All the while, the clock has been ticking on terror plots hatched by ISIS and directed from Raqqah. European allies have been urging the U.S. to finish the job in Raqqah as soon as possible.

The horrific Manchester bombing is a reminder of the difficulty of containing the plots hatched in ISIS and the cost of waiting to strike the final blows. ISIS is battered and in retreat, and its caliphate is nearly destroyed on the ground. But a virtual caliphate survives in the network that spawned Salman Abedi, the alleged Manchester bomber, and others who seek to avenge the groups slow eradication.

The Raqqah assault should move ahead quickly, now that the Trump administration has rejected Turkish protests and opted to back the YPG as the backbone of a broader coalition known as the Syrian Democratic Forces. These are committed, well-led fighters, as I saw during a visit to a special forces training camp in northern Syria a year ago.

The Trump administration listened patiently to Turkish arguments for an alternative force backed by Ankara. But the Pentagon concluded that this force didnt have any real battlefield presence, and that the real choice was either relying on the Kurdish-led coalition to clear Raqqah or sending in thousands of U.S. troops to do the job.

The White House rightly opted for the first approach several weeks ago. To ease Ankaras worries, the U.S. is offering assurances that the Kurdish military presence will be contained, and that newly recruited Sunni tribal forces will help manage security in Raqqah and nearby Deir el-Zour.

The endgame is near in Mosul, too. Commanders say that only about 6 percent of the city remains to be captured, with 500 to 700 ISIS fighters hunkered down in the old city west of the Tigris River.

Once Raqqah and Mosul are cleared, the challenge will be rebuilding the Sunni areas of Syria and Iraq with real governance and security so that follow-on extremist groups dont quickly emerge. This idea of preparing for the day after ISIS has gotten lip service from U.S. policymakers for three years, but very little serious planning or funding. It should be an urgent priority for the U.S. and its key Sunni partners, such as Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Intelligence services from several key allies are said to have met in recent weeks with Sunni leaders from Iraq to form a core leadership that can take the initiative. But so far, this effort is said to have produced more internal bickering than clear strategy.

CIA Director Mike Pompeo told me and several other journalists in an interview Tuesday that he plans to move the agency to a more aggressive, risk-taking stance. Heres a place to start.

The Kurds are the wild cards in both Iraq and Syria. The Syrian Kurds are already governing the ethnic enclave they call Rojava. That should be an incentive for Syrias Sunnis to develop similar strong government in their liberated areas. Meanwhile, Iraqi Kurds have told U.S. officials they plan to hold a referendum on Kurdish independence soon, perhaps as early as September.

U.S. officials feel a deep gratitude toward Iraqi Kurds, who have been reliable allies since the early 1990s. But the independence referendum is a potential flashpoint, and U.S. officials may try to defer the Kurdish question until well after Iraqi provincial elections scheduled in September.

Iraq and Syria need to be reimagined as looser, better governed, more inclusive confederal states that give minorities room to breathe. The trick for policymakers is to make the post-ISIS transition a pathway toward progress, rather than a continuation of the sectarian catastrophe that has befallen both nations.

David Ignatius is columnist with the Washington Post Writers Group.

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