‘People Are Going to Get Hurt’: America’s Quiet War in Iraq

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The aircraft parked on the ramp at this military base in northern Iraq offer a symbolic counterpoint to the White House narrative that U.S. forces are on the sidelines of the ground war against the Islamic State.

U.S. Army medevac Blackhawk helicopters are based here, including the one that picked up mortally wounded Navy SEAL Charles Keating IV under heavy enemy fire during a May 3 battle north of Mosul.

Also lined up on the tarmac are Army Apache attack helicopters; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft; and a variety of armed special operations aircraft from different military branches.

“We’re in a war zone, and this place is dangerous,” an Army officer told The Daily Signal.

The U.S. base is an operational hub for Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S.-led, 66-nation coalition combating Islamic State, the terrorist army also known as ISIS that holds territory in Iraq and Syria.

From the base in the vicinity of Erbil, capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, U.S. and coalition personnel coordinate airstrikes to support Kurdish peshmerga forces. U.S. special operations troops also stage operations from here to advise and assist the peshmerga during combat.

To accomplish the advise-and-assist mission, U.S. special operations troops frequently go into areas where combat is happening.

While embedded with the peshmerga on the ground, U.S. special operations troops sometimes call in airstrikes from coalition warplanes against ISIS forces, a U.S. Army officer told The Daily Signal on condition of anonymity due to security concerns and restrictions on speaking with news reporters.

The White House, however, has insisted U.S. ground forces in Iraq are not in combat.

The day of Keating’s death, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters in Washington: “The relatively small number of U.S. service members that are involved in these operations are not in combat but are in a dangerous place.”

The night after Keating was killed, the mood on the base in northern Iraq was somber, yet there was not a feeling of shock or surprise.

For many U.S. military personnel on the ground in Iraq, Keating’s death underscored something they’ve known for a long time—U.S. special operations forces are neck-deep in the daily grind of the ground war against ISIS.

“Most people took it in stride,” the Army officer told The Daily Signal. “We’re in a war zone, and this place is dangerous. We know people are going to get hurt.”

Indispensable

The base in northern Iraq has all the trappings of other U.S. military installations spread across the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia.

It has a tent gym loaded with Crossfit equipment and truck tires stacked out back. Civilian contractors in khaki 5.11 Tactical cargo pants and button-down shirts are here. And inside the chow hall, called a DFAC, an eclectic mix of uniforms from coalition countries and military branches is on parade.

There’s also a subgroup of oft-bearded, elite troops who tend to stick to themselves.

The infrastructure at the base has expanded noticeably since this correspondent last visited in September 2015. More troops, tents, aircraft, and equipment are here than eight months ago.

The installation’s growth reflects the creeping growth in the U.S. presence in Iraq, and the increasingly indispensable role U.S. airpower and special operations support play in the ground war against ISIS.

“We can’t fight without U.S. airstrikes or U.S. support,” a Kurdish official at the Kurdistan Region Security Council told The Daily Signal on condition of anonymity due to security rules. “But the U.S. mission can’t exist without us. It’s a partnership.”

A Dangerous Place

U.S. special operations forces in Iraq for the advise-and-assist mission are not sequestered inside fortified compounds impervious to attack.

These members of the military, including Navy SEALs and Army Special Forces, deploy to team safe houses behind the front lines to carry out their mission and to forward stage as land-based, quick-reaction forces in case U.S. servicemen and servicewomen come under attack.

The Navy SEAL quick-reaction force in which Keating served was stationed at one such team house outside Mosul.

The SEALs deployed in “nontactical vehicles,” military jargon for civilian SUVs. The ensuing firefight lasted for hours, according to military personnel and news reports.

The U.S. Army DUSTOFF Blackhawk helicopter that picked up Keating came under heavy fire and returned pockmarked with bullet holes.

Keating was the third U.S. service member to die in Iraq from enemy fire since Operation Inherent Resolve began in 2014. And the May 3 battle wasn’t the first time U.S. aircraft took fire from ISIS over Iraq.

In September 2015, Air Force pararescuemen, also known as PJs, and combat rescue officers from the 57th Rescue Squadron, then deployed to this location, told The Daily Signal that ISIS forces frequently fired on the HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters they used to forward position behind enemy lines.

“We take fire every time we go out,” a combat rescue officer said then.

Also in September, U.S. Air Force A-10 attack pilots flying missions over Iraq and Syria from a base in the Persian Gulf region said the volume of surface-to-air fire they faced was much higher than in Afghanistan.

“There’s a real threat here, unlike in Afghanistan,” an A-10 pilot told The Daily Signal at the time. “I’ve had a few close calls. Do we respect the threat? Yes. Are we afraid of it? No.”

Center of Gravity

The Department of Defense said it officially maintains 4,087 troops or less in Iraq and has plans to increase the number of special operations troops and support personnel in Syria from 50 to 300.

The number of U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria does not, however, reflect the aggregate U.S. war effort against ISIS.

To support Operation Inherent Resolve and military operations in North Africa, as well as operations in Afghanistan, the U.S. is standing up new bases and refurbishing old ones across the Middle East, reflecting a reversal of White House plans to draw down U.S. forces in the region.

“It’s busier now than it was a year ago,” Air Force Lt. Col. Mike Cummings, a C-130 pilot from the Alaska National Guard, told The Daily Signal during an interview at an undisclosed location in the Persian Gulf region.

“We were drawing down and now we’re building back up,” Cummings said. “Now we’re moving in the opposite direction.”

As of the end of April, the U.S. had conducted 9,073 airstrikes in Iraq and Syria in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, according to the Pentagon. Nearly all the U.S. military aircraft, manned and unmanned, launched from bases and Navy vessels outside Iraq and Syria.

U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM, declined to disclose the number of bases U.S. forces use throughout the Middle East to support the operation.

CENTCOM also declined to disclose the total number of U.S. military personnel committed to Operation Inherent Resolve due to “host-nation sensitivities and operational security.”

According to news reports and open source data, about 50,000 U.S. military personnel are deployed throughout the Middle East, including locations in Turkey and Navy personnel at sea. And, according to CENTCOM, 9,800 personnel remain in Afghanistan.

In an emailed statement to The Daily Signal, a CENTCOM spokesperson said: “We maintain the necessary forces and capability throughout the region to assist our partners and respond to threats as appropriate.”

Chasing the Front Lines

The total number of U.S. troops throughout the Middle East region is only a fraction of the approximately 170,000 U.S. troops who were in Iraq alone during the “surge” in 2007.

And unlike the days of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn, no countrywide network of U.S. forward operating bases and combat outposts inside Iraq exists from which ground and air forces can project power.

The war against ISIS in Iraq is a frontal war, with a clear delineation between enemy and friendly territory. The 1,200-mile-long front line in Iraq is defined in places by trenches and hilltop forts. Opposing camps trade potshots across no man’s land.

As Iraqi and Kurdish forces take back ground from ISIS, coalition air assets and advise-and-assist personnel constantly move to new bases closer to the shifting front lines. Some bases that were strategically positioned to launch warplanes a year ago are now inconveniently distant from the battlefield’s northward shifting center of gravity.

Bases in Turkey, consequently, play a more important role due to their geographical proximity to the battle space.

The Turkish air base at Incirlik, for example, was reopened to U.S. Air Force F-16s in August 2015 to conduct airstrikes against ISIS targets. The F-16s were swapped out for A-10 attack planes in October. And, according to news reports, F-15C fighter jets and F-15E strike aircraft also have deployed to Incirlik since August.

The total U.S. military force deployed at Incirlik has grown to nearly 2,500, up from about 1,300 last year, according to news reports.

Long-Term Plans

The Daily Signal recently visited an Air Force base at an undisclosed location in the Persian Gulf region. Military officials at the base said about 1,800 U.S. troops and about 2,200 civilian support personnel are deployed there.

The base is a key airlift hub for Operation Inherent Resolve and for supporting military operations in the Horn of Africa. The location is also the launching pad for U.S. and British drones flying missions over Iraq and Syria. Other coalition partner countries fly intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions from here.

Air Force Col. Clarence Lukes Jr., commander of the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing headquartered at the base, said Pentagon planners drew up a three- to five-year plan to build up its infrastructure after Operation Inherent Resolve kicked off in 2014. And, Lukes added, the Pentagon plans to use the base “for much longer.”

“This puts us in a perfect crossroads for different types of mission sets … regardless of the adversary,” Lukes said.

The base has a swimming pool, a movie theater, and a state of the art gym. Plans are under way to build brick and mortar dormitories to replace the tents and trailers in which most personnel now live.

A recreation center, called the Drop Zone, includes ping-pong tables, flat screen TVs tuned to the Armed Forces Network, and cans of nonalcoholic Beck’s beer in the fridge.

A coffee shop, the Green Bean, offers free Wi-Fi, mocha lattes, and protein shakes. Wi-Fi is available throughout the base. Self-serve ice cream and Krispy Kreme doughnuts can be found in the DFAC.

“Morale hinges on three things,” Lukes said. “Self-serve ice cream, laundry, and Wi-Fi.”

U.S. servicemen and servicewomen say there has been a noticeable uptick in operational tempo since Operation Inherent Resolve began almost two years ago. Yet, many also consider the battle against ISIS to be just the latest chapter in nearly 15 years of nonstop combat operations.

For them, combat deployments are now a way of life.

“It’s just the status quo,” Lt. Col. Corey Reed, deputy operations group commander for the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing, said. “As Afghanistan tapered off, OIR [Operation Inherent Resolve] kicked off. So it’s business as usual.”

“It’s like the last one never ended,” Cummings, the C-130 pilot, said. “It’s not really the start of something new.” (For more from the author of “‘People Are Going to Get Hurt’: America’s Quiet War in Iraq” please click HERE)

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Iran Threatens to Sink US Warships

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The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) threatened to “drown” any US warships approaching Iran, a top general said Tuesday, according to state-controlled media.

“We have informed Americans that their presence in the Persian Gulf is an absolute evil,” Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi stated to state media. “Americans are aware that Iran would destroy their warships if they take a wrong measure in the region.”

He further threatened that the US would “lose control of everything” by drawing others into Middle-East affairs.

“There has never been normal conditions in the Persian Gulf and Americans can feel the presence of IRGC navy forces at any spot,” he added. “Iran’s great power has forced US to consider creation of deterrent capabilities” . . .

The threats surface just days after top White House adviser Ben Rhodes revealed the US deliberately misled the American public about the 2015 Iran deal. (Read more from “Iran Threatens to Sink US Warships” HERE)

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State Department Will Not Pursue Death Penalty Against Accused Benghazi Leader

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Ahmed Abu Khatalla, the accused ringleader of the of the Benghazi terrorist attacks that killed four Americans including a U.S. ambassador, will not face the death penalty if found guilty, Justice Department officials announced Tuesday.

The decision was revealed in a filing to D.C.’s federal trial court and marks a victory for Khatalla’s attorneys who had pressed the government to nix the death penalty as a punishment should the Libyan militant be convicted at trial, the Associated Press reported . . .

U.S. investigators have labeled Khatalla as the central figure behind the Sept. 11, 2012, assaults on a State Department diplomatic compound that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, State Department information management officer Sean Patrick Smith, and two other Americans.

“The department is committed to ensuring that the defendant is held accountable for his alleged role in the terrorist attack on the U.S. Special Mission and annex in Benghazi that killed four Americans and seriously injured two others, and if convicted, he faces a sentence of up to life in prison,” Justice Department spokeswoman Emily Pierce said in a statement Tuesday, according to the Washington Post. (Read more from “State Department Will Not Pursue Death Penalty Against Accused Benghazi Leader” HERE)

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Pamela Geller: Immediately After Muslim Mayor Elected, London’s Iconic Buses Proclaim “Glory to Allah”

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The Islamization of Britain made an immense advance this week, as a Muslim with extensive ties to jihadis and Islamic supremacists, Sadiq Khan, was elected mayor of London, just as London buses are set to carry ads proclaiming the “glory of Allah.”

It’s a sign of the times – and a sign of things to come. Is anyone really surprised? That a man such as Sadiq Khan, who has shared a platform with open Jew-haters, could still be elected mayor of London, is an indication of how far gone Britain already is. In Sadiq Khan’s campaign, his opponents brought up his close ties to jihadis, Islamic supremacists and Islamic Jew-haters as a blot on his record. Soon enough in Britain, however, that sort of thing will be a selling point for candidates appealing to an increasingly Muslim electorate.

The UK banned me from the country. It is already acting like a de facto Islamic state. Did anyone really think that the notoriously anti-Semitic UK would vote for Khan’s opponent, Zac Goldsmith — a Jew? London has already been overrun – voter fraud in Muslim precincts is rampant. Not that they will really needed it soon. London’s Muslim population is 1.3 million and growing.

The Muslims who voted for Sadiq Khan did not reject his extremist ties and supremacist rhetoric, dispelling the notion that most Muslims are moderates and do not adhere to the Sharia, or support extremism. Apparently, they are not “Uncle Toms,” as Sadiq likes to call moderate Muslims.

At the same time, many Jews were prohibited from voting. Even the Chief Rabbi of London was turned away – leading to the Chief Executive of one London borough having to resign. Innumerable voters throughout the London Borough of Barnet – where much of the British Jewish community lives today – were prevented from voting by a suspicious and never-explained “error” at the area’s polling stations. (Read more from “Pamela Geller: Immediately After Muslim Mayor Elected, London’s Iconic Buses Proclaim “Glory to Allah”” HERE)

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Back From the Dead: Former North Korean General Believed Executed Turns up Alive

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A former North Korean military chief who Seoul had said was executed is actually alive and in possession of several new senior-level posts, the North’s state media said Tuesday.

The news on Ri Yong Gil marks yet another blunder for South Korean intelligence officials, who have often gotten information wrong in tracking developments with their rival. It also points to the difficulties that even professional spies have in figuring out what’s going on in one of the world’s most closed governments.

Ri, who was considered one of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s most trusted aides, missed two key national meetings in February. Seoul intelligence officials later said that Kim had him executed for corruption and other charges. (Read more from “Back From the Dead: Former North Korean General Believed Executed Turns up Alive” HERE)

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What It’s Like to Be on ISIS’ Kill List

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Waleed Basyouni is trying to take something good from the fact that the Islamic State terrorist group has specifically targeted him for death.

In the twisted way in which the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, views the world, Basyouni says he would not be considered a threat to the terrorists if he wasn’t doing something right.

“I have a long history with these jihadist groups speaking very vocally against them,” Basyouni, a Houston imam, told The Daily Signal.

“When we, as Muslims, come out and show there is another choice, you can be successful or accepted in keeping a Muslim identity and also a national identity, that in itself will destroy what ISIS is calling for, even if it makes us a target. I take pride from that. It means whatever I am doing is hurting them and I am glad to know that.”

Last month, ISIS published a hit list in its online propaganda magazine, Dabiq, targeting moderate Muslims living in the West.

In an article titled, “Kill the Imams of Kufr in the West,” ISIS calls for its followers to kill “overt crusaders” and “politically active apostates” who “involve themselves in the politics and enforcing laws of the kufr [disbelievers].”

The target list includes high profile Muslim American political figures Rashad Hussain, who has served as the U.S. special envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn. And for the first time, ISIS put out a direct hit on U.S. imams, or religious leaders, including Basyouni.

In an hour-long phone interview with The Daily Signal this week, Basyouni described what it’s like being on an ISIS kill list, and why the threat won’t stop him from preaching Islam the only way he knows how, and condemning those who twist the religion into something it isn’t.

There is nothing scary about Basyouni, a baby-faced 46-year-old Muslim whose idea of extreme is indulging in sports like scuba diving and mountain climbing.

Basyouni is the imam of the Clear Lake Islamic Center in Houston. Known since before 9/11 to deliver sermons in which he challenges prominent terrorists by name, including Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki, Basyouni travels the world spreading his counter-narrative message.

“We try to educate Muslims about the true religion so that we can build a resilient community immune from extreme messages that ISIS and other terrorist groups are trying to spread,” said Basyouni, who is also the vice president of the AlMaghrib Institute, an educational nonprofit for Muslims that he says has more than 130,000 students across the world.

“That’s what bothers ISIS the most—the firewall we are building inside the communities through education,” Basyouni added.

Born in Egypt, and raised in Saudi Arabia, Basyouni moved to the United States in 1997.

Basyouni immigrated first to Montana to be with his wife, who had previously come to the state from Saudi Arabia.

Already possessing bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Islamic studies from Al-Imam Muhammad University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Basyouni earned a doctorate in theology from the Graduate Theological Foundation in Indiana.

He’s proving that Islam and the West can co-exist, much to ISIS’ chagrin.

“I chose to live here,” Basyouni said. “I chose to be an American citizen and I truly believe this is the greatest country in the world today. I will stand out against any threat to this society at large. If I can make this place safe, I will do it.”

Basyouni believes that his religious expertise, and exposure to different teachings of Islam, taught him to be an “independent thinker,” and gives him the credibility to confront ISIS. His authority is bolstered by his large following: Basyouni has more than 30,000 Twitter followers, and over 230,000 people have “liked” his Facebook page.

“This is my duty as a Muslim scholar,” Basyouni said. “These guys have abused my religion. We have a verse in the Quran that says people of knowledge will explain it to the people and defend their religion. This kind of counter messaging is what gives me superiority over others because I can strip down the evidence and names they use to claim legitimacy.”

Basyouni learned he had become an ISIS target from a friend—a former Department of Homeland Security employee—who also made the hit list.

To ensure his safety, Basyouni says he quickly contacted his local FBI connections, who he says he has a “working relationship” with (he’s a 2012 graduate of the bureau’s citizens academy).

Basyouni’s young children, a 15-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son who he preferred not to name, reacted to the news in their own way.

“I told them to take it easy and it’s not a big deal, but my daughter heard from a classmate in school that, ‘Your dad is on the ISIS kill list,’” Basyouni said. “She came to me and said, ‘Papa, is that true they are going to kill you?’ I said, ‘I hope not.’ I never thought I’d have that conversation with my 15-year-old daughter.”

Basyouni says he has received supportive calls from leaders of Houston area synagogues and churches, neighbors, and officers in the local police department. While Basyouni promises to be more cautious when he travels—and he will consider hiring private security—he says he won’t limit his activism.

“I take the threat seriously, absolutely,” Basyouni said. “Some of my friends have told me to be more general, and not name names. I believe these issues have to be addressed very bluntly and explicitly. I think it would be wrong if I limit my activity. I would be giving them [ISIS] what they want and not what they deserve. They make these threats just to scare us and stop us from doing what we are doing. But I am not scared.” (For more from the author of “What It’s Like to Be on ISIS’ Kill List” please click HERE)

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Navy SEAL Killed as ISIS Overruns Kurdish Positions in Iraq

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A U.S. Navy SEAL died in combat Tuesday while embedded with Kurdish peshmerga soldiers in a battle against the Islamic State, Department of Defense sources said.

The SEAL, whose name and rank were not immediately disclosed, died during an Islamic State attack on the town of Tel Skuf, about 17 miles north of the terrorist army’s stronghold of Mosul.

Late in the day, the Associated Press identified him as Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Charlie Keating IV, 31, saying the name was released by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey.

Keating, grandson of the late Arizona financier Charles Keating, grew up in Phoenix and attended the Naval Academy before becoming a SEAL based out of Coronado, Calif., AP reported.

Keating was conducting an advise-and-assist mission with the peshmerga, a Kurdish fighting force allied with the U.S.-led coalition in the war against the Islamic State, the Islamist militant group also known as ISIS.

“It shows you it’s a serious fight that we have to wage in Iraq,” Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in announcing the “combat death” in Stuttgart, Germany, without releasing the name, AP reported.

Military officials told the wire service that Keating died after being hit by small arms fire. He died around 9:33 a.m. local time from a gunshot wound, two defense officials told Navy Times.

Presumably, U.S. troops performing that mission are not on forward edge of the front lines and do not directly participate in fighting. The Pentagon said Keating was 2 to 3 miles behind the front lines when he was killed.

The combat fatality is the third among U.S. troops in Iraq since the 2014 launch of Operation Inherent Resolve, the coalition campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

Marine Staff Sgt. Louis F. Cardin died March 21 during an ISIS rocket attack at an outpost near the town of Makhmour, about 40 miles southeast of Mosul.

And U.S. Army Special Forces Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler, who also was performing the advise-and-assist mission, died from enemy fire in October during a hostage rescue operation in Iraq.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said President Barack Obama had been briefed on the incident and extended condolences to Keating’s family. He said the incident was a “vivid reminder” of the dangers facing U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria.

“They are taking grave risks to protect our country. We owe them a deep debt of gratitude,” Earnest said, AP reported.

Old political hands in Washington and Arizona recall Keating’s grandfather as a politically active developer and financier who became embroiled in a savings and loan scandal that ensnared five U.S. senators, including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. The elder Keating died in 2014.

Of the “Keating Five”–the others were Alan Cranston, D-Calif.; Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz.; John Glenn, D-Ohio; and Donald Riegle, D-Mich.–McCain is the only one still serving on Capitol Hill.

The ability of ISIS forces to break through peshmerga lines Tuesday underscores how the terrorist army is still able to mount offensive operations despite nearly two years of coalition airstrikes.

The ISIS attack comprised 400 fighters and multiple car bombs and suicide bombers.

The attack also was a bellwether for the kind of tactics ISIS likely will use when Iraqi and Kurdish forces launch a campaign to take back nearby Mosul, a city of more than 1 million and the most populous city controlled by ISIS in Iraq.

Coalition and peshmerga reports indicate Mosul is heavily defended by multiple rings of improvised explosive devices and booby traps. Peshmerga troops say they anticipate ISIS fighters will launch waves of suicide attacks as in past battles.

According to unconfirmed reports from peshmerga soldiers in the area, the attacking ISIS fighters were able to break through Kurdish lines before a peshmerga counterattack supported by more than 20 U.S. airstrikes turned them back.

Fighting was ongoing and Kurdish authorities had sealed off roads to the area for safety.

Peshmerga troops reported multiple ISIS attacks Tuesday in the area around Mosul, including at front-line positions near Gwer, about 18 miles south of Mosul. (For more from the author of “Navy SEAL Killed as ISIS Overruns Kurdish Positions in Iraq” please click HERE)

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Daughter of Muslim Ruler Imprisoned for Doing Something Amazing

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maxresdefaultThe daughter of a Muslim ruler in the Middle East who embraced Christianity after a miraculous encounter with Jesus Christ has been imprisoned for her faith, according to a local ministry.

Evangelist Paul Siniraj, founder of Bibles For Mideast, an undercover Bible smuggling ministry that gets the Word of God into some of the most repressive Muslim countries, shared the story of 16-year-old Najima, once a devout Muslim who followed the Five Pillars of Islam, never missed the required five-times-a-day prayers, gave to the poor, and even fasted, as Islamic law requires.

However, while studying at a Western university, she noticed a small piece of paper stuck in a crease at the table at which she was sitting. It was part of a Bible tract about Jesus Christ . . .

The young woman threw the tract in the trash can, thinking that would be the end of it, but the verse kept lingering in her mind. One night, while Najima lay awake pondering the verse, a presence came into the room, filling the room with blinding light . . .

Filled with joy, the young woman told her friends and family about her newfound faith. However, her father and brothers were filled with rage and stripped her naked and bound her to a chair fixed to a metal plate with which they wanted to electrocute her. She asked them to lay a Bible in her lap. (Read more from “Daughter of Muslim Ruler Imprisoned for Doing Something Amazing” HERE)

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U.S. Commission: Religious Freedom Under ‘Serious and Sustained Assault’

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summit-cross-225578_960_720 (2)The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released their annual religious freedom report Monday and found that religious freedom worldwide “has been under serious and sustained assault” since their 2015 report.

“By any measure, religious freedom abroad has been under serious and sustained assault since the release of our commission’s last Annual Report in 2015,” the report said. “From the plight of new and longstanding prisoners of conscience, to the dramatic rise in the numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons, to the continued acts of bigotry against Jews and Muslims in Europe, and to the other abuses detailed in this report, there was no shortage of attendant suffering worldwide.”

“Regrettably the situation is that things have not improved and in some places things have gotten worse.” USCIRF Chairman Robert George told reporters in a conference call about the report on Monday. “At best in most of the countries we cover, religious freedom conditions have failed to improve in any serious or demonstrable way. At worst, they’ve spiraled downward.”

The report once again pushes for the U.S. State Department to designate Pakistan as a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), a recommendation it has made since 2002.

Pakistan’s “Religiously-discriminatory constitutional provisions and legislation, such as the country’s blasphemy law and anti-Ahmadiyya laws,” the report said, “intrinsically violate international standards of freedom of religion or belief and result in prosecutions and imprisonments.” (Read more from “U.S. Commission: Religious Freedom Under ‘Serious and Sustained Assault'” HERE)

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Cuban-American Filmmaker Warns America Is Morphing Into Communist Country

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cuba-1176152_960_720Filmmaker and American citizen Agustin Blazquez never thought his native Cuba would become a communist country, but now he sees the same radical shift happening in America.

In this exclusive video interview for The Daily Caller News Foundation, he says the left has been clever by using “very non-threatening words,” like liberal, progressive and concerned citizens, for advancing government control of American lives. The truth about Cuban politics is hard to find because of media spin and propaganda dominating American discourse.

For Blazquez, watching American youth embrace avowed socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders for president, strikes him as “absurd.” It is the end result, he says, of the cultural marxist education and media propaganda that has anesthetized too many Americans who do not defend the values that made America exceptional.

Watching President Barack Obama travel to Cuba, he says, made him “want to throw up.” This was a “betrayal to victims of communism,” the filmmaker of “Covering Cuba” says. Blazquez adds there are “so many [Nelson] Mandelas” in Cuban prisons, who are tortured, denied medical attention and abused. Yet, prominent black elites from America, including most incredibly to him, the Congressional Black Caucus, are wined and dined by the political elites but are blind to their “betrayal of blacks in Cuba.” (Read more from “Cuban-American Filmmaker Warns America Is Morphing Into Communist Country” HERE)

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