Joe Biden will visit Israel on Wednesday
Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Monday that President Joe Biden will travel to Israel on Wednesday. Biden is traveling to Israel following the deadly terrorist attacks on the country by the terrorist group Hamas, which is occupying the Gaza Strip. Biden will travel to Tel Aviv to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials ahead of an anticipated Israeli incursion in force into the heavily populated Gaza City. The attacks by land, sea, and air have killed at least thirty Americans. Thirteen Americans remain unaccounted for. The White House has said that some Americans are being held hostage. More than 1,300 Israelis were killed and over 2,800 were wounded. At least 150 are believed to be prisoners of Hamas. Biden will discuss issues including American citizens and others unable to leave Gaza, information about the hostages held by Hamas, civilian causalities, and providing humanitarian assistance. Biden will then travel from Tel Aviv to Amman, Jordan on Wednesday to meet with King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The Biden Administration has expressed concerns that the coming Israeli offensive combined with the blockade could result in excessive civilian casualties for the Palestinian people. Israel has called for 1 million people in Gaza to evacuate to its southern end. U.S. officials said on Sunday that they have been trying to assist Americans looking to leave the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, but to this point, none of the Americans have been able to get out. Republicans, including U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama), claim that Biden has been silent about the role they believe that Iran has played in financing Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist groups. “When Joe Biden took office, Iran was broke,” Tuberville said on the social media site X. “Now, Iran is sitting on billions and bankrolling terrorists. @JoeBiden’s policies have emboldened and funded our enemies.” Congressman Mike Rogers (R-AL03) also agreed with Tuberville. “I stand with the people of Israel in the face of the cold-blooded assault that Iran-backed Hamas terrorists have launched on their home,” Rep. Rogers said in a statement. “Israel has a steadfast right to defend itself against attacks on its people, and this barbaric attack will not go unanswered. The U.S. will continue to support our ally through robust security assistance which Israel utilizes in its self-defense. Israel remains the United States’ closest ally in the Middle East – our prayers are with the people of Israel.” Rogers is the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Biden and Blinken have been heavily criticized for their recent allowing of $6 billion in illicit oil sales money go to Iran to facilitate a prisoner exchange involving five American citizens unjustly imprisoned by the Iranian Regime. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Joe Biden says U.S. combat mission in Iraq to conclude by year end
President Joe Biden said Monday the U.S. combat mission in Iraq will conclude by the end of the year, an announcement that reflects the reality on the ground more than a major shift in U.S. policy. Even before Biden took office, the main U.S. focus has been assisting Iraqi forces, not fighting on their behalf. And Biden did not say if he planned to reduce the number of troops in Iraq, now about 2,500. The announcement comes on the heels of Biden’s decision to withdraw fully from Afghanistan nearly 20 years after the U.S. launched that war in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Together, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have heavily taxed the U.S. military and kept it from devoting more attention to a rising China, which the Biden administration calls the biggest long-term security challenge. For years, U.S. troops have played support roles in Iraq and neighboring Syria, which was the origin of the Islamic State group that swept across the border in 2014 and captured large swaths of Iraqi territory, prompting the U.S. to send troops back to Iraq that year. Speaking to reporters during an Oval Office session with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Biden said his administration remained committed to a partnership with Iraq — a relationship that has been increasingly complicated by Iranian-backed Iraqi militia groups. The militias want all U.S. troops out of Iraq immediately and have periodically attacked bases that house American troops. Dan Caldwell, a senior adviser to Concerned Veterans for America, said U.S. troops will remain at risk. “Regardless of whether their deployment is called a combat mission, U.S. troops will remain under regular attack as long as they remain in Iraq,” Caldwell said in a statement. “An American military presence in Iraq is not necessary for our safety and only risks the loss of more American life.” Biden said the U.S. military will continue to assist Iraq in its fight against the Islamic State group, or ISIS. A joint U.S.-Iraq statement said the security relationship will be focused on training, advising, and intelligence-sharing. “Our shared fight against ISIS is critical for the stability of the region, and our counterterrorism operation will continue, even as we shift to this new phase we’re going to be talking about,” Biden said. The shift from a U.S. combat role to one focused on training and advising the Iraqi security forces was announced in April when a joint U.S.-Iraqi statement said this transition allowed for the removal from Iraq of any remaining U.S. combat forces on a timetable to be determined later. It did not specify what combat functions the U.S. was engaged in then, nor did Biden get into such specifics on Monday. “We’re not going to be, by the end of the year, in a combat mission,” he said. White House press secretary Jen Psaki declined to say how many troops would remain in Iraq by year’s end. “The numbers will be driven by what is needed for the mission over time, so it is more about moving to a more advising and training capacity from what we have had over the last several years,” she said. The U.S. troop presence had stood at about 2,500 since late last year when then-President Donald Trump ordered a reduction from 3,000. The Iraqi government in 2017 declared victory over the Islamic State group, which is now a shell of its former self. Still, it has shown it can carry out high-casualty attacks. Last week, the group claimed responsibility for a roadside bombing that killed at least 30 people and wounded dozens in a busy suburban Baghdad market. In his remarks alongside Biden, al-Kadhimi thanked the United States for its support. Back home, al-Kadhimi faces no shortage of problems. Iranian-backed militias operating inside Iraq have stepped up attacks against U.S. forces in recent months, and a series of devastating hospital fires that left dozens of people dead and soaring coronavirus infections have added fresh layers of frustration for the nation. For al-Kadhimi, the ability to offer the Iraqi public a date for the end of the U.S. combat presence could be a feather in his cap before elections scheduled for October. Biden administration officials say al-Kadhimi also deserves credit for improving Iraq’s standing in the Mideast. Last month, King Abdullah II of Jordan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi visited Baghdad for joint meetings — the first time an Egyptian president has made an official visit since the 1990s when ties were severed after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. The Iraqi prime minister made clear before his trip to Washington that he believes it’s time for the U.S. to wind that mission down. “There is no need for any foreign combat forces on Iraqi soil,” al-Kadhimi told The Associated Press last weekend. The U.S. mission of training and advising Iraqi forces has its most recent origins in President Barack Obama’s decision in 2014 to send troops back to Iraq. The move was made in response to the Islamic State group’s takeover of large portions of western and northern Iraq and a collapse of Iraqi security forces that appeared to threaten Baghdad. Obama had fully withdrawn U.S. forces from Iraq in 2011, eight years after the U.S. invasion. Pentagon officials for years have tried to balance what they see as a necessary military presence to support the Iraqi government’s fight against IS with domestic political sensitivities in Iraq to a foreign troop presence. The vulnerability of U.S. troops was demonstrated most dramatically in January 2020 when Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on al-Asad airbase in western Iraq. No Americans were killed, but dozens suffered traumatic brain injury from the blasts. That attack came shortly after a U.S. drone strike killed Iranian military commander Qassim Soleimani and senior Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis at Baghdad International Airport. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Bradley Byrne: A new Middle East?
Congressman Byrne outlines recent developments in the Middle East.
Donald Trump says he was ‘very happy’ to sign order
The Latest on immigration legislation (all times local): 2:41 p.m. President Donald Trump is continuing to rail against U.S. immigration policies days after signing an executive order reversing his administration’s insistence on separating migrant children from their parents at the border. Trump said, as he met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House, that the executive order was “great” and that he was “very happy” he’d signed it. But he’s continued to call for an overhaul of U.S. immigration laws, calling them “obsolete” and “horrible” and saying, “The laws have to be changed.” He says he wants to put in place a “nice, simple system” in which people who aren’t supposed to be in the country are immediately sent back without appearing before judges. He’s also continuing to blame Democrats, accusing them of wanting open borders and claiming that they don’t care about crime. ____ 9:55 a.m. House Republicans aides say GOP leaders are weighing legislation aimed at addressing the uproar over the Trump administration’s separation of migrant families caught crossing the U.S. border. The bill is being discussed as an alternative to a broader immigration package that seems headed toward defeat in a planned House vote this week. The staffers provided no detail on what the narrower legislation would say. Republican lawmakers are eager to vote on legislation letting authorities keep detained families together for longer than 20 days, the current legal standard. President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy of prosecuting families caught illegally entering the U.S. has resulted in nearly 2,300 children being separated from parents. Trump reversed that policy under bipartisan fire. The aides spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. ___ 9:15 a.m. President Donald Trump says the legal due process given to people caught trying to cross the U.S. border illegally is dysfunctional and “not the way to go.” Trump says in a series of typo-filled tweets that, “Hiring many thousands of judges, and going through a long and complicated legal process, is not the way to go – will always be dysfunctional.” Trump says that people trying to gain entry “must simply be stopped at the Border and told they cannot come into the U.S. illegally” and that children should be sent back to their home countries. He adds that, “If this is done, illegal immigration will be stopped in it’s tracks.” His comments Monday were similar to those over the weekend in which he compared people crossing the border to invaders. Trump is also complaining about media coverage of his immigration policies, saying they’re the “same” as the Obama administration’s, although that’s not the case. ___ 8 a.m. Rep. Mark Meadows, chair of the House Freedom Caucus, says the House will likely reject the latest compromise immigration bill and that leadership will present separation legislation that would address family separations at the border. Meadows says on Fox News Monday that even as GOP leadership planned a Tuesday evening vote, lawmakers were still negotiating over the phone this weekend on the details. One hang-up among Republicans, he said, was whether young immigrants known as “Dreamers” would be allowed to bring their parents to the U.S. When asked if the bill will pass or fail, Meadows said “I would think fail right now.” Meadows said if that happens as he expects, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who chairs the Republican Conference, would present “follow-up piece of legislation within days.” He says Rodgers “has some real thoughtful insight in terms of how we keep those families together,” which is something “that a lot of us want to do.” ___ 12:20 a.m. GOP leaders’ election-year struggle to shove an immigration bill through the House this week are being hampered by President Donald Trump and fears of conservative voters, leaving prospects dubious. Party leaders are trying to finally secure the votes they need for their wide-ranging bill with tweaks they hope will goose support from the GOP’s dueling conservative and moderate wings. But more importantly, wavering Republicans want Trump to provide political cover for immigration legislation that’s despised by hard-right voters. His recent statements on their immigration bill — supporting it one day and later recommending they drop it — and his history of abruptly flip-flopping on past health care and spending measures have not been reassuring. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
