Navy SEAL Killed by ISIS

Posted on May 3, 2016May 3, 2016 by Denise Simon

Enemy Fire Kills U.S. Service Member Helping Peshmerga Forces in Iraq

WASHINGTON, May 3, 2016 — A U.S. service member advising and assisting peshmerga forces in Iraq was killed by enemy fire north of Mosul today.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter — in Germany for this morning’s U.S. European Command change of command and to convene a meeting of his counterparts whose nations are leading the effort to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant— announced the service member’s death.

The secretary offered his condolences to the fallen service member’s family.

The service member was killed during an ISIL attack on a peshmerga position about 1 to 3 miles behind the forward line of troops, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said in a statement, adding that the service member’s name and other information will be released after next-of-kin notification is complete.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the service member’s family,” Cook said. “As Secretary Carter noted today in Germany, this sad news is a reminder of the dangers our men and women in uniform face every day in the ongoing fight to destroy ISIL and end the threat the group poses to the United States and the rest of the world. Our coalition will honor this sacrifice by dealing ISIL a lasting defeat.”

*****

ISIS used multiple vehicles, suicide car bombs and bulldozers to break through a checkpoint at the front line and drive 3 to 5 kilometers to the Peshmerga base where SEALs are temporarily visiting and were located as advisers, a U.S. defense official told CNN. The gun battle was around the town of Telskof in northern Iraq, the official added. The U.S. responded with F-15s and drones that dropped more than 20 bombs, according to a U.S. official. More from CNN.

*****

Baghdad (AFP) – The Islamic State group broke through Kurdish defences in northern Iraq on Tuesday and killed a US Navy SEAL deployed as part of the US-led coalition against the jihadists.

The attack came as the United Nations said that fighting with IS in northern Iraq could displace another 30,000 people, adding to millions who have already fled their homes.

And in Baghdad, throngs of Shiite pilgrims braved the threat of bombings by IS, which have killed dozens of people in recent days, to take part in a major annual religious commemoration.

The sailor from the special operations force was at least the third coalition member killed by enemy fire in Iraq since IS overran swathes of the country in 2014.

President Barack Obama hailed the 2011 withdrawal of American troops from Iraq as a major accomplishment of his presidency, but US forces have been drawn back into combat in the country against IS.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the death occurred during an IS attack on one of the Kurdish peshmerga forces’ positions north of Iraq’s jihadist-held second city Mosul.

A US defence official said the US SEAL’s death was the result of “an orchestrated attack”.

A coalition military official said the American was killed at 9:30 am (0630 GMT) by “direct fire” after “enemy forces penetrated” the peshmerga line.

– Firefight with IS –

The SEAL was a member of a “small team” that was present at a peshmerga encampment behind the original front line during the IS attack, which involved explosives-rigged vehicles, bulldozers and infantry, the official said.

“They fought, but they’re a small number and they’re not supposed to be in direct contact,” and they departed by American helicopter after the SEAL was shot, according to the official.

Kurdish forces are deployed in Nineveh province, whose capital Mosul is IS’s main hub in the country.

IS attacked the peshmerga in multiple areas of northern Iraq on Tuesday in an attempt to “thwart the plan to liberate Mosul”, said Jabbar Yawar, the secretary general of the autonomous Kurdish region’s peshmerga ministry.

Iraq’s Joint Operations Command said IS overran the Tal Asquf area and that the group employed suicide bombers.

Tal Asquf is a small Christian town whose population fled in 2014. According to the Kurdistan Region Security Council, the town was “completely cleared” of IS fighters later Tuesday.

Romeo Hekari, who heads a Christian unit fighting IS under peshmerga command, also said Tal Asquf was back under full control.

The United States announced last month that it was deploying additional forces to Iraq, bringing the official total to more than 4,000.

– Boots on the ground –

The coalition is carrying out daily air strikes against IS, and while most American forces on the ground in Iraq play advisory and support roles, Washington has also deployed special forces to carry out raids against IS, and US Marines to provide artillery support.

Two US military personnel had already been killed by the jihadists in Iraq: an American Marine by rocket fire in March and a special forces soldier who died of wounds received during a raid last October.

Obama repeatedly pledged that there would be no “boots on the ground” to combat IS, but the administration has since sought to define the term as meaning something other than American forces being on the ground and in combat.

“They are wearing boots, and they are on the ground, but that… doesn’t mean that they are in large-scale ground combat,” State Department spokesman John Kirby recently told journalists.

As Kurdish forces and the jihadists clashed on Tuesday, the United Nations expressed concern that “as many as 30,000 newly displaced individuals” could arrive in Makhmur southeast of Mosul, fleeing fighting in the area.

In Baghdad, tens of thousands of pilgrims converged on a shrine to mourn the death of Imam Musa Kadhim, the seventh of 12 imams revered in Shiite Islam, who was killed in 799 AD.

A shrine official said that “millions” had taken part in commemorations in recent days, despite IS-claimed bombings targeting the pilgrims that have killed at least 37 people in the past week.

Obama/Kerry Cant Modify Iran, Cyber Army

Posted on May 3, 2016May 3, 2016 by Denise Simon

Iran’s cyber army – the latest in a series of maleficence

TheHill: In July, when the P5+1 struck a nuclear deal with Iran dubbed as “historic,” administration officials spun it as a first step on a path toward improving Tehran’s behavior. That path hit yet another bump in recent weeks, when Iran launched nuclear-capable missiles in defiance of a United Nations Security Council resolution that endorsed the nuclear deal.

In a letter to the U.N., the U.S., France, Great Britain and Germany decried the missile tests. Secretary of State John Kerry speaking on a visit to Bahrain on April 7, 2016, condemned “the destabilising actions of Iran.”

Iran’s Minister of Defense Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehghan shot back: “If John Kerry actually thought about these subjects, he would no longer utter nonsense and foolish words.” The U.S., he said, should “leave the region and stop supporting terrorists.”

The Iranian regime, in contrast, clearly has no plans to curtail its regional meddling. According to reports from inside the Iranian regime, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has dispatched hordes of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), mercenary militias, as well as groups of regular army forces to Syria in anticipation of new attacks against the opposition and Free Syrian Army (FSA).

In a move unparalleled since the Iran-Iraq war, Khamenei has deployed his military on a large scale abroad.

The missile launches, coupled with the Iranian regime’s expanding role in wreaking havoc in Syria, naturally grabbed the headlines, overshadowing a no less disturbing report by the U.S. Justice Department that Iran was behind a series of cyber attacks against the U.S., targeting at least 46 companies and a dam by 2013. Now, new and stunning intelligence about the scope and depth of the Iranian regime’s investment in a cyber war against the U.S. are widening the anti-terror focus.

According to the U.S. indictment, between 2011 and 2013, hackers linked to the IRGC attacked U.S. financial institutions as well as a flood-control dam 25 miles north of New York City. Other targets included the New York Stock Exchange, Bank of America, and AT&T.

The hackers broke into the command and control system of the dam in 2013, according to Washington, and may have been able to release water from behind the dam if not for the fact that the sluice gate had been manually disconnected at the time of intrusion.

This is an unequivocal warning that the Iranian regime is preparing to mount a larger cyber attack against American infrastructure.

According to new reports from inside the Iranian regime, IRGC commander Mohammad-Ali Jafari has thrown his weight behind designating a “Cyber Force” to act as the IRGC’s “sixth force” – alongside its ground forces, navy, aerospace, extraterritorial Qods (Jerusalem) Force, and domestic Bassij militia.

The IRGC has been deeply involved in cyber warfare aimed at domestic suppression and supporting terrorists abroad since 2007. IRGC Brigadier General Hossein Hamedani (killed in late 2015 leading the charge in Syria) announced in 2010, “The Bassij cyber council has trained over 1,500 active ‘cyber jihadis,’” promising that their activities would increase in the near future.

When the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization was formed following the 2009 nationwide uprisings against the theocracy, the Cyber Army was placed under it. In November 2010, the Cyber Army claimed that it had hacked 500 sites simultaneously, while disrupting the intelligence networks and private websites of other counties.

Tehran has no intention of getting “right with the world,” as President Obama once suggested. The Iranian regime is committed to pursuing a strategic war against the U.S. and its allies. Any hopes of change in behavior are illusory at best.

Washington needs to develop a more comprehensive strategy to confront this threat before it’s too late. Since the regime’s cyber force, now targeting U.S. sites was formed to counter social protests and political activism inside Iran, America’s natural allies in this war are the Iranian people and the organized opposition.

Statement before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security/Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies

******

In 2014: As international scrutiny remains focused on the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear program, a capability is developing in the shadows inside Iran that could pose an even greater threat to the United States. The 2010 National Security Strategy discusses Iran in the context of its nuclear program, support of terrorism, its influence in regional activities, and its internal problems. There was no mention of Iran’s cyber capability or of that ability to pose a threat to U.S. interests. This is understandable, considering Iran has not been a major concern in the cyber realm. Furthermore, Russia and China’s cyber activities have justifiably garnered a majority of attention and been widely reported in the media over the past decade. Iran’s cyber capabilities have been considered third-tier at best. That is rapidly changing. This report discusses the growing cyber capability of Iran and why it poses a new threat to U.S. national interests.

Iran in a Cyber Context.

Just as computing power grows exponentially each year, so can an adversary’s cyber capabilities. When one considers the origins of world-class cyber threats to the United States, two countries immediately come to mind—Russia and China. Yet with its growing cyber capabilities and intent to use them, Iran is rapidly striving to earn a position among the ranks of this nefariously elite group. For decades, the U.S. Government has publicly acknowledged concern over Iran’s efforts to develop a nuclear program to counter U.S. military capabilities. Recently, the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review stated that, “Over the past 5 years, a top Administration priority in the Middle East has been preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.”² This focus on Iran’s nuclear ambitions has distracted many from Iran’s other developing capability. In the last few years, Iran’s cyber proficiency has garnered the attention of a select few government officials and private industry leaders. In late-2011, the executive chairman of Google stated, “The Iranians are unusually talented in cyber war for some reason we don’t fully understand.”³ Stopping a cyber adversary from disrupting activity or stealing intellectual property has been the primary concern of government and private sector organizations, but in the military and intelligence communities, there are other concerns about Iran. More here.

Carter’s Ultimatum to Russia

Posted on May 3, 2016May 3, 2016 by Denise Simon

STUTTGART, Germany (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter blasted what the U.S. and its allies see as Russian aggression in Europe, saying Tuesday that Moscow is “going backward in time” with warlike actions that compel an American military buildup on NATO’s eastern flank.

“We do not seek to make Russia an enemy,” Carter said at a ceremony to install a new head of the military’s U.S. European Command and top NATO commander in Europe. “But make no mistake: We will defend our allies, the rules-based international order, and the positive future it affords us,” he said.

Carter’s remarks reflect U.S. aggravation with Moscow on multiple fronts, including its intervention in eastern Ukraine, its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and what Carter called Russian efforts to intimidate its Baltic neighbors — countries the United States is treaty-bound to defend because they are NATO members.

Carter said the “most disturbing” Russian rhetoric was about using nuclear weapons.

“Moscow’s nuclear saber-rattling raises troubling questions about Russia’s leaders’ commitment to strategic stability, their respect for norms against the use of nuclear weapons, and whether they respect the profound caution that nuclear-age leaders showed with regard to brandishing nuclear weapons,” he said.

The end of the Cold War with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was thought to have virtually ended the prospect of nuclear conflict with Moscow. But the speeches at Tuesday’s change-of-command ceremony emphasized the possibility of history repeating itself, or at least ending a period of warmer U.S.-Russian relations.

Senior White House officials said the U.S. and its partners were shifting into a new phase focused on military deterrence to Moscow. Additional NATO forces that will rotate through countries on Russia’s eastern flank will be enough to defend NATO countries if Russia were to attack, said the officials, who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

To that end, the U.S. plans to add a third U.S. Army combat brigade in Europe in the coming year as part of a $3.4 billion initiative, Carter said. On Monday, he said NATO is considering establishing a continuous rotation of up to 4,000 troops in the Baltic states and possibly Poland.

That force, which could include some U.S. troops, is among options expected to be considered at a NATO defense meeting in June. U.S. officials said they were encouraging other NATO members to commit troops to the force as well.

But U.S. attempts to control or direct Russia haven’t fared well. The U.S has been unable to end Russia’s occupation of parts of Ukraine and support for separatist rebels. And Washington is desperately seeking Moscow’s help to enforce a cease-fire in Syria between the Russian-backed government and Western-supported rebels, and eventually usher President Bashar Assad out of power.

On both fronts, the United States has been running into brick walls with the Russians.

U.S. officials said that they had “explicitly compartmentalized” the various issues the U.S. is discussing with Russia. Yet it’s unlikely that Russia’s government sees it that way.

The U.S. and NATO have sought to avoid provoking Moscow more than necessary, such as opting against opening new bases or permanently stationing troops in the Baltic countries. The Kremlin has raised concerns that permanent basing would violate a 1997 NATO-Russia agreement that prohibits permanent basing “in the current and foreseeable security environment,” and senior U.S. officials said that NATO had decided to abide by those provisions.

Carter said he regretted the deterioration in relations with Moscow.

“We haven’t had to prioritize deterrence on NATO’s eastern flank for the past 25 years, but while I wish it were otherwise, now we have to,” he said at an outdoor ceremony, speaking from a podium framed by birch trees and drenched in sunshine.

Carter emphasized his hope that Russia will abandon what he called its confrontational approach.

“The United States will continue to hold out the possibility that Russia will assume the role of a constructive partner moving forward, not isolated and going backward in time as it appears to be today,” he said. “Much of the progress we’ve made together since the end of the Cold War, we accomplished with Russia. Let me repeat that. Not in spite of Russia, not against Russia, not without Russia, but with it.”

Related: Operation Atlantic Resolve

Carter made no mention of two post-Cold War developments that many believe prompted, at least in part, Russia’s turn away from the West, namely, the expansion of NATO to Russia’s very doorstep and U.S. placement of missile defenses in Europe.

“We’ll keep the door open for Russia,” he said. But it’s up to the Kremlin to decide.”

Army Gen. Curtis “Mike” Scaparrotti was installed Tuesday as head of U.S. European Command and the top NATO commander in Europe. Scaparrotti most recently commanded U.S. and allied troops in South Korea and has commanded troops in Afghanistan. He succeeds Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, who has pointedly and repeatedly warned that NATO must better prepare for an adversarial relationship with Russia.

Obama Gives Qatar Top Grade, then Trump

Posted on May 2, 2016May 2, 2016 by Denise Simon

Remember it was Qatar that was the designated headquarters for the Taliban, it was also Qatar that provided a ClubMed resort for the 5 former Gitmo detainees traded for Bowe Bergdahl.

Qatar also hosted the Muslim Brotherhood leadership until they quietly expelled but a few, but the faithfulness still remains.

So how could any businessman do business with Qatar with any conscience?

More here from CNN Money.

Obama Gives Qatar Undeserved A+ on Fighting Incitement

Hate Preachers on Qatar Campus: Obama Gives Qatar Undeserved A+ on Fighting Incitement

David Andrew Weinberg

“Kill the infidels… Count them in number and do not spare one.” Blatant religious incitement of this sort feels like such a caricature of radical Islam that it borders on the implausible. Yet it is happening right under the noses of six prestigious American universities on their satellite campuses in Qatar.

Although this incitement violates a prominent pledge by Qatar’s government to the U.S. administration, President Obama gave Qatar’s Emir Tamim a free pass on the issue after they met in Riyadh on Thursday. Their one-on-one meeting was on the sidelines of a U.S.-Gulf summit, following which the President signed onto a joint communique that said America “commended” the Gulf states for their efforts to combat terrorism. Among these, it praised “actions by Gulf partners to counter ISIL’s hateful ideology and message, and more broadly to counter violent extremism.”

Yet there can be no more pivotal component to the Islamic State’s hateful ideology than its call to murder infidels. Thus, even if President Obama has chosen to give the Qatari regime an undeserved A+ report card on combating religious incitement, legislators who represent these public and private American schools must urgently speak out. Similarly, conscientious students, faculty, and other community members at these schools should spread the word and stand up in opposition to this dangerous new development on campus.

These particular hateful remarks about killing infidels were delivered on March 18th by preacher Mudassir Ahmed at the main mosque in Education City – a project of the quasi-governmental Qatar Foundation. The sprawling Education City campus, located not far from downtown Doha, is also home to satellite programs for Virginia Commonwealth, Cornell, Georgetown, Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, and Texas A&M Universities. Since the mosque was inaugurated last year, the Foundation has promoted a slew of appearances there by speakers with records of religious incitement.

The Foundation’s newspaper regularly encourages readers to “join the QF community for prayer” at the Education City Mosque and to “avail the services of the Education City buses to and from the mosque.” The Foundation’s Housing and Residence Life office reportedly emailed students to inform them that the mosque’s Friday sermons would be translated into English “to ensure that everyone is benefiting.” As for hate preacher Mudassir Ahmed in particular, the Foundation promoted his sermon in advance on social media, posting and reposting a flier with its logo as well as that of Qatar’s Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs.

That sermon, however, was not the first time incitement was uttered from the Education City Mosque. Last November, less than a week before Michelle Obama visited Doha to address a conference at the Foundation, Saudi preacher Tareq al-Hawas used its pulpit to condemn “the aggressor Zionists,” urging God to “count them in number and kill them completely; do not spare one.” And just this month, a different preacher with a record of glorifying Hamas (including specifically its military wing) called at the campus’s mosque for God to “render victorious our brothers the mujahideen… in every place” and even to “guide their shooting.”

Such language should not have come as a surprise. Ahmed had delivered similar remarks in a 2013 sermon at Qatar’s state-controlled Grand Mosque, where another preacher called just last year for Allah to “destroy” Christians, Alawites, Shi’ites and Jews. Also in 2013, Hawas reportedly lamented on air that Hitler had not “finished off” the Jews, thus “relieving humanity” of them. And in spite of Hawas’s 2015 incitement at the Education City Mosque, he was just invited back, delivering additional militaristic remarks there on March 11th, just one week before Ahmed’s outrageous appearance.

In fact, every Friday preacher at the mosque this March has had a distinguished past record of religious incitement. Omar Abdelkafi, who addressed the mosque on March 25th, is an Egyptian fundamentalist who recently declared that the Charlie Hebdo murders in Paris were “the sequel to the comedy film of 9/11,” in which Muslims “played no part.” He also seems to have instructed pious Muslims not to shake hands with Christians or even walk on the same sidewalk.

And on March 4th, the Education City Mosque hosted Mohammed al-Arefe, a prominent hardliner from Saudi Arabia with more followers on Twitter than Beyoncé. In the past, Arefe has reportedly described Shi’ite Muslims as purveyors of “treachery” and “evil,” and in 2013 as “non-believers who must be killed” according to Human Rights Watch. He has allegedly offered tips on wife-beating, called Osama bin Laden a “sheikh,” and proclaimed that “one’s devotion to jihad for the sake of Allah and one’s will to shed blood, smash skulls, and chop off body parts… constitute an honor for the believer.”

This was not the first time any of these four preachers was permitted to deliver a guest sermon at the Education City Mosque. Nor are they its only speakers with a record of hate speech. When the facility was inaugurated a year ago, the Foundation misleadingly proclaimed that it reflected a “strong commitment” to pluralism.

Yet the mosque’s guest preacher for that very event was Saudi cleric Saleh al-Moghamsy, who had previously opined on Qatari TV that bin Laden died with more dignity than any Christian, Jew, Zoroastrian, apostate, or atheist simply by virtue of being a Muslim. Moghamsy has also asserted that God created women as an “ornament“ to men. Another guest preacher at the mosque has previously declared that “the dumbest girl is that who judges her beauty with the number of those who molest her. This poor idiot girl does no [sic] know that flies fall only on stinking things.”

[“Skyline of Doha at Night”; Source: Wikipedia]

Freedom of speech is a touchstone of the American academy, and freedom of religion is a fundamental American value enshrined in the Bill of Rights. But that doesn’t mean these six U.S. universities should remain silent in the face of such blatant hate speech. President Obama missed a real opportunity to make clear that Qatar’s embrace of such hate preachers violates its 2014 pledge to aid the fight against the Islamic State by “repudiating their hateful ideology.” Even the Emir himself has embraced several such hate preachers in the past year. And providing prestigious platforms to those who advocate killing infidels would seem to be a rather blatant violation of that 2014 pledge.

Further, if these six American colleges turn a blind eye to the problem, they would convey the impression that they care more about Gulf petrodollars than creating a tolerant atmosphere for female students and religious minorities, for whom such incitement could pose even a physical danger on campus. The U.S. universities with programs in Qatar reportedly receive a combined $320 million a year from the Qatar Foundation to sustain their campuses in the energy-rich city state. Cornell alone reportedly receives an astonishing yearly outlay of $122 million.

Of course, such generous, recurring payments give school administrators a powerful incentive to remain silent about the revolving door of hate preachers at the Education City Mosque. But improving the selection of these guest preachers would actually make U.S.-Qatari education programming more sustainable by removing one of the biggest potential obstacles to continued cooperation.

Regardless, these schools may have no choice in the matter. Their students and faculty have already begun to raise concerns about systematic labor abuses in Qatar, as well as potential risks to academic inquiry in a nation that throws people in jail for insulting religion or the ruler.

There are many more people of good conscience in student government, campus groups, faculty bodies, and university boards who would be shocked to learn about the appalling promotion of hate speech inside Qatar’s glittering Education City. They can and should let their voices be heard.

5 Years and the CIA Tweeted, But Obama Admin Still Wrong

Posted on May 2, 2016May 2, 2016 by Denise Simon

Over the weekend, the CIA tweeted about the Usama bin Ladin raid…..emulating events of 5 years ago. Several media outlets wrote pieces saying how weird it was while others were more critical. The CIA twitter feed was full of people even more hostile.

Perhaps none of these people including media took a deeper look at the possible reason as to why the CIA hosted this session. Could it be that the CIA hosted this event to flush out who was participating globally, where they are and to investigate their affiliation or sympathy with terror groups? Of course. Sheesh….I ‘get-it’.

Does anyone realize that al Qaeda is not on the run, has not been decimated much less defeated?

Replaced as the preeminent global jihadist power by the Islamic State group, Al-Qaeda nonetheless remains a potent force and dangerous threat, experts say.

With last year’s Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris and a wave of shootings in West Africa, Al-Qaeda has shown it can still carry out its trademark spectacular attacks.

And in Syria and Yemen its militants have seized on chaos to take control of significant territory, even presenting themselves as an alternative to the brutality of IS rule.

Writing for French news website Atlantico in early April, former intelligence officer Alain Rodier said that while IS may have stolen the spotlight, Al-Qaeda may be in a better long-term position.

By rushing to declare its caliphate and establish its rule, IS has made itself an easier target, with thousands of its supporters killed in air strikes launched by a US-led coalition and by Russia.

Its harsh rule has also alienated potential supporters, while groups like Al-Nusra have instead sought to work with local forces in areas under their control.

“The death of Al-Qaeda’s founding father in no way meant the end of his progeny,” Rodier wrote. “This jihad will last for decades.” More here from Dubai (AFP).

In 2011, when Barack Obama ordered all….all military out of Iraq, the country was stable and sovereign and could self govern. Yeah, right. Then Obama’s National Security Advisor, John Brennan, now the Director of the CIA stated that al Qaeda’s goal for a global caliphate was an absurd notion. Really?

Are you still unsure as to how the Obama strategy or rather lack of strategy was concocted?

“Our strategy is…shaped by a deeper understanding of al Qaeda’s goals, strategy, and tactics,” Brennan claimed. “I’m not talking about al Qaeda’s grandiose vision of global domination through a violent Islamic caliphate. That vision is absurd, and we are not going to organize our counterterrorism policies against a feckless delusion that is never going to happen. We are not going to elevate these thugs and their murderous aspirations into something larger than they are.”

Sure recently Islamic State has suffered some territorial setbacks as well as financial setbacks, that is a great thing. However, Islamic State just imposed it’s will in the highly protected and fortified Green Zone in Baghdad.

The Green Zone, surrounded by thick blast walls topped with razor wire, is off-limits to most Iraqis because of security procedures that require multiple checks and specific documentation to enter. It has long been the focus of al-Sadr’s criticism that the government is detached from the people.

Supporters of al-Sadr have been holding demonstrations and sit-ins for months to demand an overhaul of the political system put in place by the U.S. following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Last summer, demonstrations demanding better government services mobilized millions across Iraq and pressured Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to submit his first package of reform proposals. However, months of stalled progress followed, and in recent months al-Sadr’s well-organized supporters took over the protest movement.

Despite the subdued end to the latest protest, Iraqi officials fear the precedent set by the Green Zone breach will continue to undermine the country’s security.

Earlier on Sunday, car bombs in the southern city of Samawah killed 31 people and wounded at least 52. A police officer said two parked cars filled with explosives were detonated within minutes of each other around midday, the first near government offices and the second at an open-air bus station less than a mile away. On Saturday, an ISIS-claimed bombing in a market filled with Shiite civilians in Baghdad killed at least 21 people and wounded at least 42 others.

Further, al Qaeda is recruiting heavily in Syria those Islamic State fighters leaving the terror battlefield. While recently, there is a major debate underway about the Obama administration releasing the 28 pages about Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the 9/11 attack, John Brennan said recently that those documents are full of misinformation and assumed facts now proven to be false. Either way, they need to be declassified, but there will be consequences for going that. However Brennan could be somewhat correct given the trove of documents recovered from the bin Ladin compound. Some of those documents have been declassified and is know at the ‘bookshelf’.

Declassified Material – March 1, 2016 (113 items)

Declassified Material – May 20, 2015 (103 items)

Publicly Available U.S. Government Documents (75 items)

English Language Books (39 items)

Material Published by Violent Extremists & Terror Groups (35 items)

Materials Regarding France (19 items)

Media Articles (33 items)

Other Religious Documents (11 items)

Think Tank & Other Studies (40 items)

Software & Technical Manuals (30 items)

Other Miscellaneous Documents (14 items)

Documents Probably Used by Other Compound Residents