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Mattis: Get Rid of Senseless Exercises, Get Back to Warfighting

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis wants the military to get back to the art of fighting wars and do realistic training and stop wasting time on what he termed “senseless exercises.” Mattis came to this conclusion after hearing complaints of thousands of service members.

Many service members said that too much of their time is spent covering mandatory training that has nothing to do with their warfighting capabilities.

The training that is the subject of complaints covers everything from alcohol use to active shooters to sexual harassment to stress management.
Addressing the service secretaries and chiefs of the Armed Forces, Mattis has ordered the formation of a new working group to “determine changes to military personnel policies” to “equip more ready and lethal forces.” The working group will include the second in command of each branch of the U.S. military and report to the deputy secretary of defense and vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The secretary wants each service to examine its military education to “regain a concentration on the art and science of warfighting” and look into the hours of “mandatory force training that does not directly support core tasks” such as flying jets, jumping out of planes, and hundreds of other U.S. military missions essential to defending the United States and its allies.
One official with knowledge of the discussions surrounding the memo told Fox News, “servicemembers spending too much time on senseless training that is really a waste of time.” One U.S. military officer said there is “too much sexual harassment training” and not enough time spent at places like the shooting range, for example.
Last year, Fox News traveled to Ellsworth Air Force Base where numerous B-1B bomber pilots said that in addition to planning and flying training missions that can take over 12 hours at a time, they spend “countless hours” on mandatory training they view as unnecessary.
Currently, only about half the Air Force’s fleet of long-range B-1B bombers are fully mission capable.
Mattis also wants the working group to look into “hiring practices for the [DoD] civilian workforce,” which some senior military officers have complained has become too large in recent years despite Obama-era cuts involving tens of thousands of uniformed servicemembers.
“There are more civilians working for the Pentagon than there are uniformed troops in the Navy and Air Force combined,” Katherine McIntire Peters, deputy editor of Government Executive Media Group, wrote in a recent op-ed. Peters put the Defense Department’s civilian work force at 770,000.

Mattis also wants to overhaul and improve the counter-intelligence capability of the military as well. He has given a deadline for recommendations no later than December 1.

To read the entire article from Fox News click here:

Photo courtesy DOD

Iraq, Iran Sign Pact to Boost Military Cooperation

In a move that is bound to concern Washington, Iran and Iraq signed a pact on Sunday to step up military cooperation and the fight against “terrorism and extremism”, according to official Iranian news agencies.

At a time when the US has repeatedly voiced its intentions to limit the influence of Tehran in the region and elsewhere, this can’t be looked upon as anything but bad news.

Iranian Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan and his Iraqi counterpart Erfan al-Hiyali signed a memorandum of understanding which also covered border security, logistics and training, the official news agency IRNA reported.
“Extending cooperation and exchanging experiences in fighting terrorism and extremism, border security, and educational, logistical, technical and military support are among the provisions of this memorandum,” IRNA reported after the signing of the accord in Tehran.
Iran-Iraq ties have improved since Iran’s long-time enemy Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003 and an Iraqi government led by Shi’ite Muslims came to power. Iran is mostly a Shi’ite nation.
U.S. President Donald Trump has voiced concern over what he sees as growing Iranian influence in conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Iraq, where it is aligned with Shi’ite fighters.
Tensions between Iran and the United States have heightened since the election of Trump, who has often accused Tehran of backing militant groups and destabilizing the region.
Earlier this month, Trump said that new threats were emerging from “rogue regimes like North Korea, Iran and Syria and the governments that finance and support them”.

The US has frequently accused Iran of arming insurgent groups in Iraq, something Tehran has denied. The new pact between the two countries which includes border security will be an area to watch in the coming months. This will be included in the growing list of issues the Trump administration will have to deal with.

To read the entire article from Reuters click here:

File Photo courtesy DOD

Iranian and Hezbollah Influence Growing in Latin America

It is no secret the Iranians are trying to export their own brand of influence across the Middle East. They are supporting the Assad regime in Syria during the bloody civil war there are trying to establish bases near the border with Israel. Tehran and their proxy terrorist group Hezbollah are preparing for their next foray against the Israelis and they’ve been rattling their sabers openly about it.

In a report on SOFREP from Travis Allen on July 14, Hezbollah launched 4000 rockets into Israel in the 2006 war. Now after being bled dry in the Syrian civil war, they’re ready for the next battle. The Iranians have built underground bunkers for Hezbollah rocket factories and they’re threatening one of the US’ staunchest allies in the region. But this isn’t the only place the Iranians are peddling their influence. And it is much closer to the US border in Latin America.

Since the 1980s the Iranians have been steadily building their presence in Latin America from just a handful to 12 diplomatic missions in the region. In 1992 at the Israeli Embassy and again in 1994 at the Jewish Community Centers (AMIA) in Buenos Aires, clear evidence linked Iran and Hezbollah to the bombings of those facilities, yet they were allowed to grow with impunity. The bombing in Buenos Aires killed 89 and wounded 300 in what was the worst terrorist attack in Argentine history.

In testimony only months after the attacks, the State Department’s coordinator for counterterrorism expressed concern that Iranian embassies in the region were flooding their missions with far too many “diplomats”, and it is believed that many of whom were believed to be intelligence agents and/or terrorist operatives.

In 2015 chief prosecutor Alberto Nissman who investigated the AMIA bombing died under suspicious circumstances. Nisman, the special prosecutor who had been investigating the AMIA bombing for over a decade, filed a complaint against then Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and some officials in her administration for covering up Iran’s involvement in the attack.

Four days later, Nisman was found with a bullet in his head. His testimony before the Argentine Congress about the alleged cover-up had been scheduled for the following day.

In a 2016 interview, Treasury Department and Hezbollah expert Matthew Levitt who also the Director of the Washington Institute of Counter-Terrorism and Intelligence stated that:

FBI, CIA, Interpol, and other documents about terrorist activity in Brazil, which warned that Mohsen Rabbani, an Iranian intelligence agent who worked closely with Hezbollah to carry out the 1992 Israeli Embassy and 1994 bombings in Buenos Aires, “frequently slips in and out of Brazil on a false passport and has recruited at least 24 youngsters in three Brazilian states to attend ‘religious formation’ classes in Tehran.” In the words of one Brazilian official quoted by the magazine, “Without anybody noticing, a generation of Islamic extremists is appearing in Brazil.” Hezbollah reportedly has expanded its criminal activities in Brazil as well to include shipping fraud, involving containers that enter Brazil at the port of Sao Paulo and disappear on their way up the river to the Tri-Border Area.

The Tri-Border Area is the lawless area of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina where drug trafficking and counterfeiting run rampant. The Hezbollah operatives are blending into the numerous Shia and Lebanese communities in the area.

Hezbollah thru the Iranians are heavily involved in the drug business and a 2011 DEA report stated that a ring that was broken up had laundered over $200 million thru the Lebanese Canadian Bank where monies were used to fund the Islamic Jihad Organization, which is Hezbollah’s terrorist wing.

However, since the bombings in Argentina, the Iranians and Hezbollah are keeping a low profile in Latin America, especially in the Tri-Border Region. Iran claims it is only trying to grow its trade with the region while leftist governments of Ecuador, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Bolivia have vigorously welcomed Iran’s new influence in Latin America. Many of these countries are hostile to continuing US influence and have welcomed the Iranians in an attempt to thumb their nose at Washington. Especially in Venezuela prior to Chavez’s death and Bolivia.

The Spanish Language television station “HispanTV” has since 2012 carried the news from Tehran and its Islamist message to millions of viewers across the region. While conversion rates to Islam continue to be small, there is the concern that the message to entice some youth over to more radicalized views will ultimately occur.

Iran’s presence in Latin America developed over the course of four sequential stages:
Cultural – building of schools, mosques and “Cultural Centers”
Diplomatic – established diplomatic posts as a cover, solidified presence in the region
Economic – Illicit trade (drug smuggling, money laundering) to circumvent UN sanctions
Military – Money was used to help missile building programs and fund terrorism

And while Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif went on a six-nation tour and openly denigrated America, he espoused his beliefs that the US would go out of its way to encourage other nations to do business with Iran. He was correct. Then Secretary of State John Kerry visited Europe to encourage banks and companies to again do business with Iran. Outwardly under the Obama administration, the attempt was to downplay the growing Iranian presence in the region.

The new regime in Washington under President Trump will have to navigate the waters carefully. He was vehemently opposed to the Iran nuclear deal and his government could open the door for new sanctions against Tehran. The Colombian peace accord with FARC was a blow to Tehran as the leftist terror group was openly allied with Hezbollah. This peace pact besides disarming the rebel group may prevent further infiltration of Iranian influence in the area.

Trump’s inaugural address promised to eradicate radical Islamic terrorism “from the face of the earth.”

Perhaps a good place to start is close to home where Hezbollah has operated networks that have bought political influence among local powers, allied with organized crime, and has had financial dealings with both. The US has long advocated that Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism, and their proxies Hezbollah have certainly lived up to that distinction in the Middle East. Placing harsh financial sanctions on the banks and countries complicit in Hezbollah’s dealings is the only way to counter their efforts in the region.

Otherwise, the specter of more terrorism, this time closer to, if not in the United States is a distinct possibility.

Photo: Hezbollah

US Treasury Department Levies More Sanctions on Iran

The U.S. Treasury Department levied fresh sanctions against Iran despite a statement from President Trump that Tehran’s government was acting in compliance with the Nuclear deal they signed with the Obama Administration in 2015. These newest sanctions are directly related to Iran’s ballistic-missile program.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated 16 entities and individuals for what it said was “engaging in support of illicit Iranian actors or transnational criminal activity.”

The sanctions target seven entities and five individuals for supporting Iran’s military or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC); also targeted: an Iran-based transnational criminal organization and three associated persons. Those targeted include a Chinese national, four Chinese companies, and a Turkish firm. Iran’s testing and development of ballistic missiles, the U.S. State Department said in a separate statement, is “in direct defiance of UN Security Council Resolution 2231,” which endorsed the nuclear agreement.
The State Departments’ statement included: The three networks designated today supported Iran’s military procurement or the IRGC through the development of unmanned aerial vehicles and military equipment for the IRGC, the production and maintenance of fast attack boats for the IRGC-Navy, or the procurement of electronic components for entities that support Iran’s military.
The transnational criminal organization designated today, along with two Iranian businessmen and an associated entity, orchestrated the theft of U.S. and western software programs which, at times, were sold to the Government of Iran.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the actions “send a strong signal that the United States cannot and will not tolerate Iran’s provocative and destabilizing behavior.”
The move comes a day after Trump certified that Iran was complying with the nuclear agreement it signed with the U.S. and other world powers. Trump, as a presidential candidate, had called the deal “the worst” ever and had vowed to walk away from it. Under the law, the administration must inform Congress every 90 days whether Iran is still complying with the agreement, under which it agreed to freeze its nuclear program in return for the lifting of some international sanctions. This is the second time the Trump administration has certified that Iran is in compliance.

The message from the Trump administration seems to be that Iran is on notice, that even if they comply with the terms of the nuclear deal, that the US will not look the other way in other activities that the Iranians are conducting.

To read the entire article from The Atlantic click here:

Photo courtesy The White House

The 54th Massachusetts Volunteers Storms Fort Wagner July 18, 1863

On this day in July 1863, William Carney a sergeant from the 54^th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry would perform actions that would earn him the Medal of Honor. The action took place at Fort Wagner on Morris Island, outside of Charleston, SC.

Carney was the first African-American to be awarded the Medal of Honor in the nation’s history. And his actions and those of the 54^th would pave the way to change. Prior to this battle, African-American soldiers were considered inferior to white soldiers. After the battle that fallacy would begin to disappear.

The war up to mid-1863 hadn’t gone well for the Union. With far fewer men and natural resources, the Confederacy had whipped the Union to a stalemate. With casualties mounting, President Abraham Lincoln approved the formation of all-black regiments. The 54^th Massachusetts Volunteers was one of the first. Lincoln was initially opposed to the idea but relented under the pressure to raise more troops.

Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, Commander of the 54th Mass. Volunteers

The South had also toyed with the same idea. They too were in desperate need of troops to do the fighting. Confederate President Jefferson was considering putting blacks in the army but changed his mind after receiving a letter from Major General Harold Cobb.

Cobb wrote to Davis, “Don’t do it. You can’t do this. Use Negroes for whatever purpose you choose, such as chopping and digging and planting, and as servants, but don’t make them soldiers, because if you make them soldiers, if they can stand on the field of battle with white men — if that is true, then the whole theory of slavery is wrong, and this Confederacy cannot endure.” His words would prove prophetic.”

Things were beginning to turn in favor of the Union by July 1863; General Grant took Vicksburg on the Mississippi River which split the Confederacy in two. And then General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia was defeated in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania while trying to invade the North.

The 54^th Massachusetts marched thru Boston on May 28 after completing its initial training at Camp Meigs in Massachusetts. The regiment was commanded by a young 25-year old Colonel, Robert Gould Shaw whose parents were noted abolitionists in Boston. Among their volunteers were two sons of noted abolitionist Frederick Douglass. They were sent to Beaufort, SC as part of the X Corps under the command of Major General David Hunter. But Hunter was soon relieved by MG Quincy A. Gilmore who had the ambition to go far in the military. Gilmore set his sights on Charleston, the place where the Civil War began with the bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter. It was considered a bastion of the Confederacy and would be a worthy prize.

Gilmore’s plan was to seize Morris Island, where its guns controlled the inner harbor. From there on Cumming’s Point at the northern tip of the island, Union guns could be brought to bear on Fort Sumter, which had blocked the Federal’s fleet from entering the harbor.

But first, they’d have to take Fort Wagner and Battery Gregg on the upper third of the island. After making an amphibious landing on the southern half of the island on July 10, Gilmore’s men surprised and routed the Rebel troops and could have taken Wagner but he stopped short. That move would prove disastrous and costly for the Union. A frontal assault on Fort Wagner with no artillery support the next day on July 11 was thrown back with ease and the Union suffered terrible casualties. Gilmore would try again with more troops and a tremendous naval bombardment a week later.

Opening moves

Fort Wagner was relatively small, and measured only 250 by 100 yards, and spanned an area between the Atlantic on the east and an impassable swamp on the west. Its walls, composed of sand and earth, rose 30 feet above the level beach and were supported by palmetto logs and sandbags. The Fort held fourteen cannons, the largest, a 10-inch (250 mm) Columbiad that fired a 128-pound shell.

The only access for opposing forces was across an open beach area. In front of the wall was a water-filled trench which measured 10’ wide by 5’ deep and was supported by sharpened palmetto stakes. The structure under the cannons (called a bombproof) could shelter over 1000 troops and had a sandbagged roof approximately 10 feet thick which made it impervious to any shelling.

At 8:15 a.m. Union artillery began to fire on Wagner. Soon after, 11 Union ships under the command of Rear Admiral John Dahlgren sailed into position and began to pour fire on the Rebel fort. The Southern troops covered their cannons with sandbags and hunkered down. On battalion stayed on post while the rest of the troops rode out the bombardment in safety below in their bombproof.

As the tide rose in the afternoon, the Union ships could move in closer to shore and were firing from just 300 yards away. The bombardment rose in intensity as the afternoon waned. One Confederate officer wrote after the battle, “Words cannot depict the thunder, the smoke, the lifted sand and the general havoc; the whole island smoked like a furnace and trembled as from an earthquake!” Despite this heavy shelling, casualties among the Southerners were few. And as the sun began to set, the Confederate defenders could see troops massing down the beach, the expected attack was forming.

The 54^th Mass Leads the Assault

Brigadier General George C. Strong had chosen Shaw and the 54^th Massachusetts as the vanguard for the assault. He galloped up to the massing black troops and called the sergeant holding the colors to the front. “If this man should fall, who will lift the flag and carry it on?” Shaw stepped forward and said, “I will.” The men cheered in a deafening roar.

Shaw arranged his Regiment (624 men) in a column of wings, with the muskets at the shoulder and bayonets fixed. Shaw gave the order to advance at 7:45 p.m. They advanced at a quick time until Shaw could see they were nearing the dunes and then he ordered the men to double-quick time. At the point on the beach where the sand narrowed the approach to just 100 yards wide with the swamp on the left and the ocean to the right, the Massachusetts men were forced together forming a “V” with Shaw leading from the front. He ordered a charge.

As the 54^th neared the Confederate ramparts, the shelling finally stopped. The Southern soldiers quickly deployed along the walls and loaded the six cannons that had survived the all-day bombardment. Once the Union troops were with 150 yards they opened fire. Shaw waved his sword and urged the men into the vortex of fire. They negotiated the palmetto stakes, crossed the ditch, which in many places had nearly filled in with sand from the shelling and up the parapet. As he crested the top, he waved his sword again, “Forward 54^th!”, he screamed. Just then three bullets ripped into his body, killing him instantly. He pitched forward into the sand.

At the bottom of the slope, the bearer of the colors was killed. SGT William Carney ran forward and picked them up. He ran up the slope waving the colors, exhorting a group of soldiers with him. The defenders unleashed a fusillade of hand grenades down the slope and took out all of the attackers except Carney who was wounded.

Sergeant William Carney, 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was awarded the Medal of Honor.

The attack by the 54^th stalled, as fire decimated the regiment. The Southerners were incensed at the sight of a black regiment and no quarter was given by either side. The rest of Strong’s brigade came charging up. The men of the 6^th Connecticut crested the ramparts at the weakest point. Strong tried to push more troops into the opening, sending men from the 48^th New York, 3^rd New Hampshire, 76^th Pennsylvania Zouaves, and the 9^th Maine into the fray.

But the defenders had pushed three howitzers up and they fired canister rounds directly into the flank of the attacking Union troops. The firing was so fierce that one Union color guard remarked that “It was impossible to pass over that ridge and live five seconds.”

Inexplicably, the second brigade of Union assaulters commanded by New Hampshire Colonel Haldimand Putnam didn’t begin his assault until 8:30, a full 45 minutes since Shaw’s men stepped off. By the time they arrived at the ditch, the battle had disintegrated into a bloody chaos. Putnam tried to rally his men and called for reinforcements. Had Gilmore sent the third brigade into the fray, the Union men may have still taken Fort Wagner. But General Thomas Stevenson’s men were never given the order to advance. Gilmore’s command element had lost control of the situation, the initiative and now the battle.

Putnam was ordering his men back when the back of his head was blown off by canister shot. The Confederates launched a counter-attack and killed or captured the surviving Union troops in front of the fort. Carney despite being shot twice got the 54^th’s colors away from the fort safely. By 10:30 p.m. the battle was over.

Aftermath

Confederate BG William B. Taliferro who had served under Stonewall Jackson, wrote that he had “never seen so many dead in the same space.” The casualties on the Union side were horrific with over 1500 dead, wounded or missing. The 54^th Massachusetts lost 281 men including 54 dead and 48 unaccounted for and presumed dead, almost 40 percent of the command. Confederate casualties amounted to 36 dead and 145 wounded.

The Southerners singled out Shaw and his men for the ultimate insult. After stripping the dead of any souvenirs, including Shaw’s sword and signet ring, they piled the dead into a mass grave. Gilmore wouldn’t assault the garrison again but laid siege to it and finally, on September 6, short on food, supplies, and water, the Confederates of Fort Wagner and Battery Gregg abandoned their positions during the night.

Although the battle for Fort Wagner was a defeat, the ultimate result was that the union would take it eventually while under siege and command the entrance to the inner harbor. And while Charleston wasn’t taken, the port was no longer open which was a huge blow for the Confederacy. Already needy for supplies and trade goods from Europe, the loss of the port put an even greater strain on the Southern economy.

But even more importantly, the 54^th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry showed that black troops could fight with equal skill and valor as their white counterparts. When word of the assault reached the newspapers, blacks flooded the recruitment centers. By the end of the war, over 200,000 blacks had served in the Union Army.

Erosion has washed away the beach where the battle was fought and the Confederate fort which is now under water. The Union disinterred the dead and reburied them in a military cemetery in 1865.

The story of Shaw and the men of the 54^th was captured in the book “One Gallant Rush” and in the film “Glory” with Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, and Morgan Freeman.

Photos Courtesy: Library of Congress

Mortars Hit Russian Embassy in Damascus, Seven Injuries Reported

The Syrian civil war has seen most of the news centered around the fighting in Raqqa and along the Israeli border. But on Sunday the war came to Damascus, although in a limited way as one of the forces opposing President Assad dropped two mortar rounds at the Russian Embassy in Damascus.

One of mortar rounds landed in the embassy compound, another fell nearby but no injuries were reported by either Russian or Syrian news outlets. No one has yet claimed responsibility. The United States and Turkey support different groups trying to oust Assad from power while the Islamic State has also been heavily involved in the fighting.

The state-run SANA news agency on July 16 said two shells were fired at the Russian Embassy, with one hitting the compound and the other falling nearby.
SANA said at last seven people were injured by shelling in a residential area near the embassy grounds, although it was not known if that was related to the embassy attack or a separate event.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the shelling. Rebels fighting the government of Moscow-backed President Bashar al-Assad have previously struck the Russian Embassy.
The United States and Turkey back differing rebel groups in Syria’s civil war, while Russia and Iran support Assad.
Islamic State (IS) extremists have also entered the conflict and are opposed by the other combatants.
Earlier in the day, a bomb exploded near a hospital in the rebel-held northwestern city of Idlib, wounding five people, including at least two children, according to the Syrian Civil Defense group, known as the White Helmets.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights released a report on Sunday putting the total deaths thus far in the civil war at over 330,000 with nearly 100,000 of them civilians.

To read the entire article from Radio Free Europe click here:

Photo courtesy Russian Embassy

The Latest Cyber War Developments Have a New, Worrisome Twist

United States national security officials looking into Russian cyber-meddling of the recent elections are seeing that the recent “ransomware” cyber-attacks are part of an increasing problem. Hackers are now not just in the business of ransom but in chaos and disruption of the internet.

The goals are to disrupt signaling capabilities, disruption of normal systems and demonstrate the instability of the Western democracies. And some say it IS time to worry.

A number of analysts described the Petya/NotPetya incident of June and the WannaCry event in May as ransom attacks, aimed at gaining as much bitcoin as possible. But our analysis of cyber-coercion highlights how ransomware events such as the Petya are often strategically motivated and less about gaining funds than they are about sending a signal. The primary goal instead appears to be limited destruction through malware wiping systems.
North Korea and Russia are the likely originators of these attacks. What’s the motivation, beyond simply the chaos factor? For Russia, the Petya attack could be a means of encouraging the perception of Ukraine as a failed state — a view that aligns with Russian interests.
Cyber-operations amplify larger psychological warfare efforts. North Korea’s goal, most likely, could be to cause general chaos in Western systems, as a means of signaling strength — and its capacity to escalate in any future crisis.
In addition to propaganda, states use cyber-operations to influence elections and conduct disruption operations. Russian interference in the elections of Western states has become so common it is now expected. But instead of just disrupting elections, Russia now seems to be leveraging cyberespionage and propaganda to generate larger crises.
Russia now appears to be using Ukraine as more than a testing ground for cyberwar — it is demonstrating its ability to disrupt faith in public institutions. While the resulting crises after a cyber-event risk inadvertent escalation, the real danger is the erosion of cyber norms. With each new cyber-disruption, the shock decreases, and we grow to expect disorder. The resulting uncertainty and chaos undermines our trust in the open Internet architecture and risks upsetting stability inherent in cyber-exchanges to date.

To read the entire article from The Washington Post, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Clint Eastwood Casting Real Heroes in Paris Train Attack Film

Clint Eastwood’s next film about a terror attack on a train in Paris that was thwarted by three American men on vacation, will star the actual heroes of the 2015 incident.

Eastwood’s film, “The 15:17 to Paris” is based on the book the trio, Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos, and Spencer Stone co-wrote with Jeffrey E Stern. The three men will play themselves in the film despite having no acting experience.

Actors will play younger versions of the trio in the film, which is thought to focus on the three men’s friendship.
The men were awarded Legion d’honneur medals for their actions.
They also received a hero award from Eastwood himself at an awards ceremony last year.
Sadler, Skarlatos and Stone were among a number of passengers who overpowered a heavily armed man who had opened fire on the train.
Stone and Skarlatos were both off-duty servicemen, while Sadler was a student at California State University.
The man they apprehended was later named as Ayoub El-Khazzani, a Moroccan believed to have had links to radical Islam.
The film is the latest in a series of movies Eastwood has made based on real-life people in extraordinary situations.
His last film, Sully, told of pilot Chesley Sullenberger, who landed his damaged plane on the Hudson River in 2009.
If made, The 15:17 to Paris will not be the first fact-inspired film to feature non-actors in leading roles.
In 2012 release Act of Valour, real-life Navy Seals were shown embarking on a fictional covert mission.

The film will also star Jenna Fisher (“The Office”) and Judy Greer (“War for the Planet of the Apes”). The men, who have been friends since meeting as young boys in California, were hailed as heroes after the thwarted attack, as were two other passengers.

To read the entire article from the BBC click here:

Photo courtesy White House

Trump Arrives in Paris for Bastille Day, CT Talks

U.S. President Donald Trump will attempt to mend some fences with the French as he arrived in Paris today. Trump a year ago characterized Paris as an unsafe city due to terrorism will mark the French national holiday, Bastille Day, hold counter-terrorism talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and mark the US’ 100^th anniversary of entering World War I.

The president left Washington on Wednesday evening and arrived in Paris at 9 a.m. local time. He’s scheduled to meet with Macron and French military leaders later today before issuing a statement to the press.

Before departing the U.S., the president gave several interviews at the White House, including an extended conversation with Pat Robertson of the Christian Broadcasting Network, a prominent figure in conservative political and religious circles.
A year ago Trump described Paris as “so, so, so out of control, so dangerous,” because of terrorists operating there. More recently he suggested that Islamic State attacks in Paris had diminished its standing as a world-class destination.
As he pulled the U.S. out of the 2015 international Paris accord to control greenhouse gas emissions, Trump said he was elected to represent “Pittsburgh, not Paris.” Nevertheless, he subsequently accepted President Macron’s invitation to attend the country’s annual mid-July celebrations.
During his two-day visit, Trump will meet with Macron, whose political fortunes have soared this year. The U.S. president also will lunch with military officials, tour the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte and join in Bastille Day celebrations Friday.
The two leaders are scheduled to meet Thursday before speaking to reporters.
On Friday, Trump and his wife, Melania, will attend the annual Bastille Day parade, which will include both French and U.S. military personnel.

There is hope in some circles that the Trump visit will mend some fences between the allies who fought two world wars together after the president’s criticism of the city and the government during the 2016 election.

To read the entire article from Voice of America click here:

Photo courtesy White House

Deforestation Running Rampant in Colombia After FARC Demobilization

Colombia has seen an alarming surge in deforestation since the peace deal with the terrorist organization FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) was signed in 2016.

The amount of deforestation in the country jumped 44% in 2016 to 178,597 hectares (690 square miles) compared to 2015 according to official figures released this month – and most of the destruction was in remote rainforest areas once controlled by the FARC guerrillas.

The guerrillas placed severe limits on the amount of logging that was allowed in areas under their control. It was mainly a self-serving move as the heavy forest protected and shielded the guerrillas from air attacks by the Colombian Air Force.

But last year, as the FARC began to move toward demobilization, criminal groups moved in, taking advantage of the vacuum left behind to promote illegal logging and mining and cattle ranching. Civilians who had been ordered by the FARC to maintain 20% of their land with forest cover began expanding their farms.
“The FARC would limit logging to two hectares a year in the municipality,” said Jaime Pacheco, mayor of the town of Uribe, in eastern Meta province. “In one week [last year], 100 hectares were cleared and there is little we can do about it.”
Over their 53-year existence, the FARC were far from environmental angels. While in some areas the guerrilla presence helped maintain the forests, in others the rebels promoted clear-cuts to make way for the planning of coca, the raw material used in cocaine, or illegal gold mining, both a source of income for the group.
Bombings of oil pipelines dumped millions of gallons of oil in waterways and jungles. Between 1991 and 2013, 58% of the deforestation in Colombia was seen in conflict areas, according to a 2016 report by Colombia’s planning ministry.
“They weren’t environmentalists but they did regulate activity, and – since they had the guns – people complied,” says Susana Muhamad, an environmental activist who conducted a diagnostic study of the environmental risks of the rebel retreat.
“We told the government that it would need to establish control in these areas quickly, but it hasn’t,” she said. “It’s like the wild west now, a land rush.”
Colombia, which has the world’s eighth-largest forest cover, committed under the Paris climate accords to reaching zero net deforestation by 2020 and halting the loss of all natural forest by 2030.
Norway is donating about $3.5m over two years to a pilot project that hopes to stem deforestation by offering paid jobs to former FARC fighters and communities to safeguard forests by tracking and reporting illegal logging, adopting sustainable farming methods and undertaking eco-tourism projects.
“We hope this project can be the way for more activities whereby peace comes with green dividends,” said Vidar Helgesen, Norway’s environment minister, on a recent visit to Colombia.
That is the kind of incentive farmers in the town of Uribe, once a FARC stronghold, say they need to keep the forest on their land intact. “We are willing to leave the forests if we get some sort of subsidy to do it,” one farmer, Noel Segura, said in a phone interview.

With the civil war now a thing of the past, logging companies are rushing to claim areas once held by the FARC and some citizens are worried that the area will suffer irreparable damage.

To read the entire article from The Guardian, click here:

Photo courtesy Colombia Edu.

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Opening moves

The 54th Mass Leads the Assault

Aftermath

The 54^th Mass Leads the Assault