'ISIS will go to hell': Iraqi Christians struggle to teach kids message of forgiveness

The message on the whiteboard inside the Mar Elia Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region bears a message for the hundreds of Christian families driven from their homes by Islamic State militants: "Be grateful. Be alive. Be happy. Be careful.”
But Christianity's central tenet of forgiveness is a hard sell for children who, after living much of their lives in relative peace with Muslim neighbors, find themselves homeless after their families fled when Islamic State militants ordered them to convert or be killed. With Iraq's Christian population dwindling, the daunting task of helping kids cling to the faith of their parents falls to church elders, who have taken in hundreds of families now living in a sprawling complex of tents.
"It's hard to explain what is happening," Father Daniel Alkhory told FoxNews.com in the predominantly Christian district of Ankawa inside the Kurdish capital of Erbil. "I was teaching them the parable of Ishmael and Lazarus, talking to them about Heaven and Hell, so I used that to bring up ISIS. I asked them where ISIS will go and they said, 'Directly to Hell!'"

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Hundreds of families live in tents set up atMar Elia Chaldean Catholic church in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region. (FoxNews.com)

Alkhory tells the story of a Christian in Mosul who had been living next to a Muslim man for more than 20 years when the Muslim man one day suddenly threatened him, ordering him to leave Mosul within 24 hours simply because he was Christian.
"So the Christian man started to pack his things, but before leaving he said he won't leave without saying goodbye to that neighbor," Alkhory recounted. "His neighbor opened the door and was really angry and shouting at him, 'Why are you here? I told you to leave Mosul!' The Christian man said he wouldn't leave without first saying goodbye. His Muslim neighbor started to cry and promised to protect him."

"I asked them where ISIS will go and they said, 'Directly to Hell!'"- Father Daniel Alkhory

In the enormous swath of Syrian and Iraqi land now controlled by Islamic State, the homes and churches of Christians have been looted and burned to the ground. Christians in Iraq once numbered around 1.5 million, or about 5 percent of the population. Current estimates hover around 200,000, their numbers depleted by murder, forced conversions and flight -- mostly at the hands of Islamic State radicals. Those who remain refuse to renounce their beliefs, even under the threat of death. One Christian man living at Mar Elia brandished a large tattoo of Jesus' mother Mary on his arm. Like many others, his faith was discovered by militants and he and his family were forced to flee to the safety of the Kurdish region.
More than 100,000 Christians have fled the clutches of the terrorist organization since its advance across the Nineveh Plains in Iraq, home to some of the world's most ancient Christian communities. The Kurdish region has taken in more than 1.5 million displaced people, including Christians and other ethnic and religious minorities, since June – and according to Alkhory, the word "displaced" is crucial terminology.

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Church leaders try to give the children a sense of normalcy with talent shows and movies. (FoxNews.com)

"Refugees is a bad word and refers to people that don't know each other, but these people here are our family. They are displaced people. We want to take the negative energy out with the words we use," he explained. "And we never call it a camp. It's a center."
"The children are very traumatized. They've lost their hopes and dreams and we try to help them understand that life keeps going," Alkhory said. "But a child is like a flower, we can shape them. We have to take care of them now; otherwise the next generation of ISIS could come from these children. Through all their sadness and depression, they wanted revenge. I knew I needed to build a new environment for them."
That new environment consists of time spent on artistic endeavors such as drawing images and creating shapes in an effort to express their feelings and frustrations, as well as outings to play in the park and dancing. The children recently saw their first-ever 3D movie: "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."
"They wore the glasses and were just so happy," Alkhory said.
The center even hosts its very own "Got Talent" and "The Voice" competitions, modeled on the hit American versions, where children can perform for friends and family and win prizes. Mass and Bible study each make up critical components of every day.
The flashpoint of the crisis began for the team at Mar Elia at midnight on Aug. 6, when Kurdish troops cautioned a local bishop in Qarakosh that the Christians had to leave as ISIS was closing in. Church leaders began knocking on doors urging families to immediately flee.
"Fifteen families stayed, as they didn't wake up. Sadly, we don't have any contact with them anymore. At the beginning we did, they were describing the horrors and said they couldn't even turn on a light as ISIS would become suspicious," Alkhory noted.
With no realistic prospect of returning to their homes anytime soon, the thousands of displaced families strewn across the Kurdish region have no choice but to start their lives from scratch in unfamiliar territory.
"Father, when can we go home? When can I see my friends?" one young boy asks the soft-spoken Alkhory. The pastor tells the boy he should make new friends at the center now, and maybe one day he will go home and meet his old friends once again.
But “home” as it stands for some 700 families from Christian villages is now a collection of tents donated by several different organizations and placed on Church grounds. The tents are divided into halves for each family, approximately four persons per half. Some organizations have started donated caravans to families, although land shortage remains problematic.

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The children attend school from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. during the week, with after-school activities running from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. each night.
"I just keep telling the kids you have to forgive. Forgiveness will lead us to so many paths. I don't want them to grow up and be after revenge and be angry," Alkhory said. "We want to make a party for them every day.
"We just want them to be happy and keep smiling," he added. "We just want the children to feel like they are at home."

Ferguson grand juror sues to be allowed to talk about case

ST. LOUIS –  A member of the grand jury that declined to indict a Ferguson police officer in the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown contends in a lawsuit filed Monday that the prosecutor in the case has wrongly implied that all 12 jurors believed there was no evidence to support charges.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of the unnamed juror, who wants to be allowed to talk publicly about the case but could face charges for doing so because of a lifetime gag order. The juror also says he or she came away with the impression that evidence was presented differently than in other cases, with the insinuation that Brown, not Officer Darren Wilson, was the wrongdoer. No grand jurors have spoken publicly about the case.
Brown, who was black, was unarmed when he was fatally shot after an Aug. 9 confrontation with Wilson, who is white. The shooting in the St. Louis suburb led to widespread unrest, including some protests that resulted in local businesses being burned and looted. Protests again turned violent Nov. 24, when St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch publicly announced that the grand jury investigating the case had decided there wasn't enough evidence to indict Wilson. Wilson has since resigned from the department.
"In Plaintiff's view, the current information available about the grand jurors' views is not entirely accurate -- especially the implication that all grand jurors believed that there was no support for any charges," the lawsuit says.
The suit was filed against McCulloch, who oversaw the investigation, because his office would be responsible for bringing charges against the juror. McCulloch's spokesman, Ed Magee, said his office had not seen the lawsuit and declined immediate comment.
"Right now there are only 12 people who can't talk about the evidence out there," ACLU attorney Tony Rothert said. "The people who know the most -- those 12 people are sworn to secrecy. What (the grand juror) wants is to be able to be part of the conversation."
The suit also contends that legal standards in the case were discussed in a "muddled" and "untimely" manner. Jurors could have charged Wilson with murder or manslaughter, but nine of 12 would have needed to agree.
The suit does not seek to allow grand jurors in all Missouri cases to be free to discuss proceedings. But it argues that the Ferguson case was unique, and that allowing the juror to speak would be valuable to the national debate about race and police tactics that followed the shooting.
"The rules of secrecy must yield because this is a highly unusual circumstance," Rothert said. "The First Amendment prevents the state from imposing a lifetime gag order in cases where the prosecuting attorney has purported to be transparent."
After the decision was announced, McCulloch took the unusual step of releasing thousands of pages of witness testimony provided in secret to the grand jury. Grand jurors usually hear a condensed version of evidence that might be presented at trial, but the Ferguson grand jury heard more extensive testimony.
The panel -- which included nine white and three black members -- met on 25 separate days over three months, hearing more than 70 hours of testimony from about 60 witnesses, some of whom provided inconsistent versions of events. McCulloch acknowledged in a radio interview last month that some of the witnesses obviously lied to the grand jury.
Rothert said the grand jury convened in May and heard hundreds of other cases before devoting its attention to the Wilson case in August. The suit contends that McCulloch's office handled the Wilson case far differently than the others, with "a stronger focus on the victim."
Jim Cohen, associate professor at Fordham University Law School and a grand jury expert, said the lawsuit will add to concerns about how the case was handled.
"Believe me, there's already more than a fair amount of skepticism about whether this process was fair, notwithstanding Mr. McCulloch's cynical attempt to pretend that it was fair," Cohen said.
Cohen believes the juror has a strong argument in the lawsuit.
"This matter has been discussed by virtually everybody in the universe with the exception of any person actually subjected to the presentation of evidence," he said.
Last month, state Rep. Karla May, a St. Louis Democrat, asked a joint House and Senate committee to investigate whether McCulloch "manipulated" the grand jury. It wasn't clear if the committee would take up that request. Messages were left Monday with May and state Sen. Kurt Schaefer, the committee's chairman.

Outspoken, diverse freshman class joins Congress -- sets sights on economy, jobs

After a Republican wave election that boosted the party's House majority to historic levels and handed them control of the Senate, dozens of new lawmakers are arriving in Washington Tuesday for the 114th Congress -- including several fresh political faces poised to make waves. 
A total of 71 new members, of both parties, arrive in Washington this week. As the new Congress prepares to tackle weighty issues ranging from immigration to the budget to the Keystone pipeline, these freshmen stand to have a big impact on the legislative debate and direction of their respective parties. 
"When the American people voted for Republican majorities in November, they really voted for people who are going to go up there and start working again," Thom Tillis, the incoming Republican senator from North Carolina, told Fox News. "Start sending legislation to the president's desk and get the economy back to a sustained recovery versus this limping along that we've been doing for the past several years." 
Tillis is one of 13 new senators, all but one of them Republican, being sworn in as the GOP takes a 54-seat majority in the chamber. The lone incoming Democrat is Michigan Rep. Gary Peters. 
Among the new House members are incoming Republican Rep. Martha McSally, who after several tries finally wrestled her southern Arizona House seat away from Democrats.
McSally touted her conservative credentials this past weekend, telling “Fox News Sunday” that her focus will be on creating jobs and securing the U.S.-Mexico border.
However, she also pointed out that her home district is full of non-Republicans whom she also must serve in Congress.
“My district is very diverse,” said McSally, a retired Air Force colonel and the first female fighter pilot to fly in combat.
“I think it does represent America, but 50 percent of the people didn't vote for me," she said, pointing to areas of shared concern. "Democrats [and] business owners can agree that they want to grow their small business. Kids graduating from college want to have job opportunities. So, those are not politically charged issues.”
The need to help boost good-paying, full-time jobs has indeed emerged again as a goal for congressional Democrats and Republicans, with leaders from both parties and chambers putting the economy at the top of their agendas.
The Republican-controlled House and Senate could vote in the first couple weeks on legislation to finish building the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which is estimated to create about 42,000 construction jobs. A Senate bill is set to be filed on Tuesday, and the House is planning a vote Friday. Though Republicans are pushing the legislation, some Democrats are expected to support it. But some also are floating amendments which could imperil a deal.  
Other priorities for Republicans include tax reform, changes to ObamaCare and legislation rolling back environmental regulations. 
The House will have 58 freshmen, including 43 Republicans and 15 Democrats, pushing the GOP majority to 246 members, the most since the Great Depression.
The incoming classes will bring new gender and racial diversity to Capitol Hill, with 104 women in the House and Senate and close to 100 black, Hispanic and Asian lawmakers.
The newcomers include the youngest woman elected to Congress, 30-year-old Elise Stefanik, a Republican from New York, and Mia Love of Utah, the first black Republican woman in Congress.
On Sunday, Love backed House Majority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., after recent revelations that in 2002 he spoke to a white supremacist group. She said Scalise, the No. 3 House Republican, showed “humility” in acknowledging he spoke to the group, though apparently unknowingly. 
“I believe he should stay in leadership,” she told ABC’s “This Week.”
Several new members expressed hope that they could ease the partisanship that often divides Washington and show the public that they really can govern.
"This election was not an endorsement of either party, it was a condemnation of, yes, the president's policies, but also of government dysfunction," said GOP Rep.-elect Carlos Curbelo, who defeated a Democratic incumbent in Florida.
Gallego says they have already discussed areas of cooperation, such as infrastructure investments and bringing down the cost of college.
"We all want the same things in the general scheme of things -- a stable country, a prosperous future,” he said. “We may not agree 100 percent on how to get there, but I think Democrats and Republicans do want to find a way." 
Stefanik, as well as Democrats Seth Moulton, of Massachusetts, and Ruben Gallego, of Arizona, are all House freshmen under 36 and Harvard graduates.
Two House newcomers are not new to Washington at all.
Debbie Dingell is replacing her husband, Michigan Democratic Rep. John Dingell, the longest-serving member of Congress, who retired after nearly 60 years.
And Virginia Republican Barbara Comstock is replacing her onetime boss Rep. Frank Wolf, whom she served as a top aide and chief counsel on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee before joining the Virginia legislature.
The House now has two black Republicans, with Love joining Will Hurd of Texas. The party also has one black senator, 10 Hispanic House members and two Hispanic senators. There are 22 Republican women in the House and six in the Senate.
A number of the new arrivals have served in the military, something that has become increasingly rare on Capitol Hill.
Moulton and Gallego both served with the Marines in Iraq, while another incoming freshman, Republican Lee Zeldin of New York, served with the Army there. 
And Republican Sen.-elect Joni Ernst of Iowa, who attracted a lot of buzz during the midterms, is an Iraq War veteran and lieutenant colonel in the Iowa National Guard.

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Texas Rep. Gohmert to challenge Boehner for House speaker post

Gohmert

Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert said Sunday that he will challenge House Speaker John Boehner for his post when Congress returns this week to Washington.
Gohmert, among the House Republican caucus’ most conservative members, made the announcement on “Fox & Friends,” saying he decided to run after Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., said Saturday that he would challenge Boehner for the chamber’s top post.
“We have heard from a lot of Republicans that said, ‘I would vote for somebody besides speaker Boehner.’ But nobody will put their name out there,” Gohmert said. “That changed yesterday with Ted Yoho.”
Gohmert also hinted that another House member will announce a challenge to Boehner on Sunday.
Boehner once again returns to Capitol Hill amid challenges to keep his post, largely from the conservative members who most recently say he caved in by agreeing last month to a $1.1 trillion temporary federal spending bill, which averted another partial government shutdown.
Group members complained in part because they think Boehner did not try to punish President Obama enough for sidestepping Congress on immigration reform.
“After the November elections gave Republicans control of the Senate, voters made clear they wanted change,” Gohmert said. “We were hopeful our leaders got the voters’ message. However, after our speaker forced through the (spending bill) by passing it with Democratic votes and without time to read it, it seemed clear that we needed new leadership."
A Boehner spokesman said Sunday that the speaker was selected in November as the House Republican Conference's choice and that "he expects to be elected by the whole House this week.”
Gohmert, during an appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity” on Friday, said his party must use its power in the House to defund Obama’s immigration plan as well as ObamaCare. He also said the GOP must stop excessive government regulation, citing the Keystone pipeline.

Huckabee leaves Fox News, says will make 2016 decision by late spring

Fox News host and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee announced Saturday that he is leaving the network after six and a half years as the host of “Huckabee,” and will make a decision on a possible 2016 presidential run by late spring.
In the Saturday edition of “Huckabee,” the former governor expressed thanks for what he called “the ride of a lifetime.”
"I have never had so much fun in my life,” Huckabee said. "But I also realize that God hasn't put me on earth just to have a good time or to make a good living, but rather has put me on earth to try to make a good life.”
Huckabee said that he would not rule out running for president in 2016, and that it is not possible for him to openly determine political and financial support to justify a race while doing the show.
“The honorable thing to do at this point is to end my tenure here at Fox.  As much as I have loved doing the show, I cannot bring myself to rule out another presidential run,” Huckabee said. “So as we say in television, stay tuned."
Huckabee served more than a decade as Arkansas' governor and ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, the year that the GOP nominated Arizona Sen. John McCain.

GOP Senate leaders say they are willing to work with Obama in new Congress, but he must 'play ball'

Senate Republicans on Sunday, just hours from taking control of the chamber, suggested a willingness to work with President Obama on job growth and other key issues but also said he must meet them halfway.
“There are a lot of areas where we can work together right out of the gate,” South Dakota GOP Sen. John Thune told “Fox News Sunday.” “You always enter a new session of Congress with high hopes…We want to see solutions for the American people. And we hope the president will meet us there.”
Thune, the incoming chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, said Republican leadership has set an early goal of trying to pass legislation with bipartisan support, such as a bill to complete the Keystone XL pipeline.
Though Senate Republicans seem optimistic about passing Keystone swiftly to perhaps set the tone for the entire session, Thune hinted that Obama and fellow Democrats might define the direction in Washington if the legislation doesn’t pass with a veto-proof majority and if the president fails to sign the bill.   
“We're going to get an indication of how this president wants to govern in the last two years and how he wants to work with Republicans in Congress,” Thune said. "We're going to find out very early, I think, whether or not the president wants to play ball."
Thune also made clear that Senate Republicans will not shut down the Department of Homeland Security, whose funding expires in February, over differences with Obama about immigration reform, particularly his use of executive action to delay deportation for millions of immigrants now living illegally in the United States.
However, he said congressional Republicans would use “the power of the purse to challenge the president."
Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also on Sunday appeared to strike a more compromising tone.
He told CNN’s “State of the Union” that voters continue to elect candidates from both parties because they want government that “gets things done in the political center, things that both sides can agree on.”
McConnell said both sides would “talk about the things where there may be some agreement.”
But he made clear that Obama is “not going to like” some of the bills that will now reach his desk -- likely including Keystone, rolling back environmental restrictions and repealing parts of ObamaCare.
He also said Americans “want us to look for things to agree on and see if we can make some progress for the country," comments similar to those he made after nearly losing a re-election bid in November.
Tennessee GOP Sen. Bob Corker told Fox News that Republicans "absolutely need (Obama) to be involved” on big issues. 
"We look forward to that opportunity," said Corker, who becomes chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
However, Corker said Congress must have a bigger role in negotiating with Iran to end its apparent pursuit of a nuclear weapon.
“This is one of the biggest issues we'll be dealing with,” he said. “And for Congress not to have a role is totally inappropriate.”
He said that without question more sanctions will be imposed on Iran if the existing deal falls apart.
Corker also said that Congress, like Obama, realizes that changes must come to the U.S. prison facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but suggested the president has only a piecemeal plan, which included transferring 28 detainees out of the facility last year.  
However, he did not say whether congressional Republicans would try to block an attempt by the president to shutter the facility.
“If he tries to close it on his own, we'll see,” Corker said.

Afghanistan president suggests US 're-examine' troop withdrawal timetable

Afghanistan's president has suggested that the U.S. "re-examine" its plan to withdraw all of the American-led coalition troops from the country by the end of 2016. 
"Deadlines concentrate the mind. But deadlines should not be dogmas," Ashraf Ghani told CBS' "60 Minutes" in an interview that aired Sunday evening. 
"If both parties, or, in this case, multiple partners, have done their best to achieve the objectives and progress is very real, then there should be willingness to re-examine a deadline," he added.
When asked if he had made his view clear to President Barack Obama, Ghani said "President Obama knows me. We don't need to tell each other."
There was no immediate response from the White House, State Department, or Pentagon to Ghani's remarks Sunday night. 
The U.S. and its NATO allies marked the formal end of the U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan last week. On Thursday, 13,500 soldiers of the International Security Assistance Force, almost 11,000 of them American, transitioned to a supporting role for Afghanistan's military. 
The handover of primary responsibility for battling the Taliban represents the ultimate test for the 350,000 strong Afghan army. Critics have long questioned the local troops' morale, discipline, and competence in the face of Taliban attacks. According to a United Nations report, 2014 was the deadliest year on record for non-combatants in Afghanistan, with at least 3,188 civilians killed in the intensifying war. By comparison, at least 4,600 members of the Afghan security forces were killed by fighting last year. 
Ghani also told CBS that he was concerned about the possibility that Islamic State fighters could make their way to Afghanistan. However, that concern was refuted by ISAF commander Gen. John Campbell, who said that "This is not Iraq. I don't see [Islamic State] coming into Afghanistan like they did into Iraq. The Afghan Security Forces would not allow that."
Campbell also described the Afghan National Army as "the number one respected institution in Afghanistan. Couple years ago, I probably wouldn't have said that, but today it is."

Gitmo Free to Go Cartoon

GOP Congress aims to focus on issues, avoid slip-ups in 2015

When you fix one thing, you don’t want to break another.
House Republicans are all too aware of this axiom as members jet into Washington over the next few days to launch the 114th Congress on Tuesday.
The GOP will feature a robust, 246 seats in the House. That’s the largest Republican House majority since the Great Depression. Republicans also captured the Senate and will start the Congress with 54 seats.
A Republican-controlled House and Senate. This is precisely what the GOP asked voters for. Republicans are especially energized about these prospects to serve as a check on President Obama and his policies, which many on the right view as out-of-step with the country.
The House plans not one but two votes next week on ObamaCare. The House is also teeing up a bill to expedite construction of the Keystone pipeline. Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., says a Keystone bill is the first measure his body will tackle.
House Republicans may even try to tackle a bill this month to show how they would cut into Obama’s executive order on immigration by tightening the purse strings on the Department of Homeland Security.
In short, Republicans aim to focus on the issues and demonstrate their political bona fides. They don’t want to fumble to start the new Congress.
Just a few days ago, Republicans looked as though they may face one big headache in the new year. The issue centered on a solitary member. But it threatened to command lots of headlines and serve as a general problem for the party. But that issue resolved itself. Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., initially planned to remain in office despite his guilty plea on federal tax evasion charges just before Christmas.
Grimm’s presence on Capitol Hill at the start of the new Congress would serve as a distraction for the Republican majorities. Reporters would pursue Grimm down hallways, hounding him about whether he was fit to serve. The press would inevitably pepper GOP leaders with questions about whether they would move to expel Grimm.
After his court appearance, Grimm declared he intended to say in Congress. But a few days later, Grimm reversed himself and announced his intention to quit. Grimm’s pending resignation foamed the flames of one GOP problem. But just as Grimm agreed to step aside, another more cyclonic political storm developed.
Grimm may have been a relative backbencher. But that’s not the case for House Majority Whip Steve Scalise. Word came this week that the Louisiana Republican spoke to a white supremacist group associated with David Duke 13 years ago when Scalise served in the state legislature.
If this controversy erupted when Congress was in session, it’s possible (possible) it may have run its course by now and been laid to rest. But the Scalise story emerged over the holiday recess in the middle of a congressional information vacuum -- to say nothing of a numbingly slow news period. That means that whatever developments that may have percolated with Scalise over the past few days won’t fully form until next week.
Scalise has generally kept his head down since the news broke. He released a statement to reporters saying it “was a mistake I regret” and “wholeheartedly condemn” the views of the group. The whip declined an invitation to appear on “Fox News Sunday” to discuss the misstep. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, declared that his colleague’s decision to speak to the group “was an error in judgment.” But Boehner added he knows “Steve to be a man of high integrity and good character. He has my full confidence as our whip.”
The fact that Boehner had to tell the world that Scalise has the speaker’s “full confidence” reflects the potential volatility of this story.
It also reflects the depth of the consequences for the top echelons of the House Republican leadership. After all, this controversy touches on race -- an issue that is bathed in footlights after incidents in Ferguson, Mo., on Staten Island and the murders of two New York City cops.
Moreover, the GOP generally struggles with appealing to black voters, though they elected several Republican persons of color to congressional ranks this cycle.
Naturally, Democrats sense blood in the water and went for the jugular.
Some Republicans winced privately about Scalise’s association with the group. Other Republicans whispered about his somewhat bumpy start as the top GOP vote counter.
House Republicans elected Scalise to the job in mid-June with the presumption he would formally take over the whip post during the dormant August recess.
As the newest senior member to the House Republican leadership, the public and many in politics have barely unwrapped Scalise. Some opportunists seek to define him specifically on the race topic.
Democrats aimed to paint many Republicans in the extreme for associating with a group that is so politically radioactive.
Congress hasn’t been in session much since Scalise’s election to the leadership.
On one hand, it may seem that such a respite would enable him to develop his sea legs in the leadership. But the hiatus also has a downside. At the end of July and early August, Scalise was only partially on the job as Republicans struggled to approve their own plan to tackle the border crisis.
The GOP-plan went through several iterations before leaders rolled out the bill. Then the House appeared to lack the votes to pass the GOP plan. Congressional leaders were on the verge of sending everyone home for the August recess until they decided to rework the package yet again and hold members in Washington for an extra day-and-a-half before adopting the rejiggered measure.

It wasn’t fair to pin the uncertainty associated with that vote on Scalise because technically, he wasn’t supposed to be on the job yet to whip the vote. But once the calendar flipped to August 1 and members were still here, fair or not, Scalise was the de facto whip and took some heat in the press.
There were also issues in mid-December when the Republican majority struggled to clear a major procedural hurdle to bring the so-called “CRomnibus” spending bill to the floor to avoid a government shutdown.
After some arm-twisting, Republicans clumsily vaulted the procedural barrier by a single vote. The GOP majority had to rely on lots of Democrats to pass the overall bill. The House went into a nearly seven-hour recess as CRomnibus supporters from both sides of the aisle tried to nail down the votes.
Again, the predicament was not all Scalise’s fault. But some GOP Scalise detractors are unimpressed with his vote-counting skills.
That criticism may be fair to Scalise. But the race controversy hits as he has a limited body of work in leadership. Scalise really hasn’t had a chance to fully ensconce himself in the leadership suite with Congress in session. Some Scalise opponents may use any excuse to come after him. And some of those adversaries are on the right.
Fair to Scalise? Not at all. But it reflects how things work in Washington. Moreover, there’s precedent for this when it comes to scandals involving congressional leaders and the race issue.
Since Congress is away, the shelf-life of Scalise’s troubles are hard to read. This may blow over very quickly or a more muscular news story may shove it aside. But keep in mind the controversy involving then-Senate GOP Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., in 2002.
Lott spoke at the 100th birthday celebration for the late-Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C. During his remarks, Lott implied that some of Thurmond’s formerly segregationist attitudes (later self-denounced) may have actually been good for the United States.
Lott’s remarks simmered quietly on a back news burner for several days before exploding as a full-blown conflagration. The tempest ultimately cost the Mississippi Republican his leadership post.
Fair to Lott? Not entirely. But this is Capitol Hill.
Before the Thurmond episode, there were also daggers out for the Mississippi Republican. Many were in senior Republican circles on Capitol Hill and in the administration of President George W. Bush. Lott adversaries viewed the leader as too conciliatory toward Democrats. They held particular contempt for Lott after he agreed to cede control of the Senate to Democrats once the late-Sen. Jim Jeffords, I-Vermont,  dropped his GOP affiliation and caucused with the other side. Jeffords’s maneuver propelled Democrats to the majority in the spring of 2001.
In early 2001, the Senate was evenly-divided 50/50. Republicans held a nominal advantage as then-Vice President Cheney could break ties. So Lott and the Democratic leader, Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.C., forged a power-sharing arrangement. Republicans would control the Senate so long as they had a majority of seats or Cheney served as tiebreaker. However, Democrats would take the helm if they added seats at some point during the Congress.
Once Jeffords abandoned the GOP, Lott’s foes increased in number. Some were incensed he relinquished control. They argued that Lott should have fought hammer and tong for Republicans to maintain the majority. They pointed out that in the mid-1950s, Republicans never turned over the majority to Democrats in the middle of a Congress -even though at one point, Democrats held more seats.
Lott’s enemies were simply looking for a reason to pounce. And when an issue as toxic as race reared its head, Lott’s antagonists shoved him out the door.
It’s unknown if such political animus lurks around the corners for Scalise. But the universe surrounding his controversy hasn’t quite formed. Granted, some Democrats, including former Sen. J. Bennett Johnston, and Rep. Cedric Richmond, Louisiana Democrats, have spoken highly of the majority whip since the scandal hit the headlines.
But back on Capitol Hill, Scalise will have to face the issue head on next week. Reporters will hound him in the hallways. Rank-and-file members from both bodies and congressional leaders will have to answer questions about Scalise.
Will the GOP bring Scalise to speak publicly at leadership events --tempting the press to ask him about the issue? Or would Scalise’s conspicuous absence fan the flames? Congressional Republicans will also be back in the same place for the first time in weeks and get the chance to mull over the issue with one another.
The holidays and break between the two Congresses deferred the usual course surrounding the Scalise story. And in a few days, we’ll know if this dies down or has legs.

Edward Brooke, 1st black elected US senator, dies at 95

Former U.S. Sen. Edward W. Brooke, a liberal Republican who became the first black in U.S. history to win popular election to the Senate, died Saturday. He was 95.
Brooke died of natural causes at his Coral Gables, Florida, home, said Ralph Neas, Brooke's former chief counsel. Brooke was surrounded by his family.
Brooke was elected to the Senate in 1966, becoming the first black to sit in that branch from any state since Reconstruction and one of nine blacks who have ever served there -- including Barack Obama.
Brooke told The Associated Press he was "thankful to God" that he lived to see Obama's election. And the president was on hand in October 2009 when Brooke was presented with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award Congress has to honor civilians. Obama hailed Brooke as "a man who's spent his life breaking barriers and bridging divides across this country."
Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recalled his first impression of the newly elected senator when McConnell was a Senate staffer and described Brooke as "a model of courage and honesty in office."
"... even from across the Senate chamber, you could sense that this was a Senator of historic importance," the Kentucky Republican said in a statement Saturday. "Indeed, he was."
A Republican in a largely Democratic state, Brooke was one of Massachusetts' most popular political figures during most of his 12 years in the Senate.
Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, the state's first black governor, remembered Brooke for his unselfish public service.
"He carried the added honor and burden of being `the first' and did so with distinction and grace," Patrick said. "I have lost a friend and mentor. America has lost a superb example of selfless service."
Brooke earned his reputation as a Senate liberal in part by becoming the first Republican senator to publicly urge President Richard Nixon to resign. He helped lead the forces in favor of the Equal Rights Amendment and was a defender of school busing to achieve racial integration, a bitterly divisive issue in Boston.
He also lent his name to the Brooke amendment to the federal housing act, passed in 1969, which limited to 25 percent the amount of income a family must pay for rent in public housing.
However, late in his second term, Brooke divorced his wife of 31 years, Remigia, in a stormy proceeding that attracted national attention.
Repercussions from the case spurred an investigation into his personal finances by the Senate Ethics Committee and a probe by the state welfare department and ultimately cost him the 1978 election. He was defeated by Democrat Rep. Paul E. Tsongas.
Tsongas' widow, U.S. Rep. Nikki Tsongas, said Saturday that Brooke's career was "as courageous as it was historic."
In a Boston Globe interview in 2000, Brooke recalled the pain of losing his bid for a third term.
"It was just a divorce case. It was never about my work in the Senate. There was never a charge that I committed a crime, or even nearly committed a crime," Brooke said.
In 2008, pioneering newswoman Barbara Walters said she had an affair with the then-married Brooke in the 1970s, but it ended before he lost the 1978 election. She called him "exciting" and "brilliant."
Brooke received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a White House ceremony in 2004. Five years later, when Brooke received the congressional honor in Washington, he cited the issues facing Congress -- health care, the economy and the wars overseas -- and called on lawmakers to put their partisan differences aside.
"We've got to get together," Brooke said, turning his eyes to Senate GOP Leader McConnell. "We have no alternative. There's nothing left. It's time for politics to be put aside on the back burner."
As Brooke sought the Senate seat in 1966, profiles in the national media reminded readers that he had won office handily in a state where blacks made up just 2 percent of the population -- the state that had also given the nation its only Roman Catholic president, John F. Kennedy.
He beat Democrat Endicott Peabody, a former governor who also supported civil rights, by a 3-to-2 margin despite predictions of a "white backlash" against him.
Commenting on Brooke's election and other developments that day, Martin Luther King Jr. commented that "despite appeals to bigotry of an intensity and vulgarity never before witnessed in the North, millions of white voters remained unshaken in their commitment to decency."
Brooke had parlayed his probes of local corruption into a successful run for state attorney general in 1962 when he became the highest ranking black elected official in the nation. He won re-election as attorney general in 1964 even though Democrats dominated other races.
Somewhat aloof from the civil rights movement of the 1960s, especially the militant wing, he said blacks had to win allies, not fight adversaries. But he also said of civil rights leaders: "Thank God we have them. But everyone has to do it in the best way he can."
He had refused to endorse Sen. Barry Goldwater for president in 1964, commenting later, "You can't say the Negro left the Republican Party; the Negro feels he was evicted from the Republican Party."
The son of a Veterans Administration lawyer, Brooke was raised in a middle-class black section of Washington, attending segregated schools through his graduation from Howard University in 1941. He served in an all-black combat unit in World War II, and later settled in Boston after graduating from Boston University Law School.
Brooke was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002 and went public the following year, saying he wanted to encourage men to perform self-examinations and advocating that insurance companies cover male mammograms.
Brooke is survived by his second wife, Anne Fleming Brooke; their son Edward Brooke IV; his daughters from his first marriage, Remi Goldstone and Edwina Petit; stepdaughter Melanie Laflamme, and four grandchildren.

Long-shot Republican candidates weigh spicing up 2016 race

The 2016 Republican presidential field could be bigger than any in recent memory – thanks to a growing second tier of potential contenders.
While several prominent politicians already have insinuated themselves into the mix, from Ted Cruz to Rand Paul to Chris Christie to Jeb Bush, a number of under-the-radar names are now flirting with a 2016 candidacy. 
They may be the long shots, but could shake things up -- by playing the spoiler in key primaries, positioning themselves as a potential running mate for the eventual nominee or even becoming a dark horse competitor in the final stage. 
"It is definitely a new phenomenon," Ronald Reagan biographer Craig Shirley said of the increasingly crowded fields. (The 2008 and 2012 GOP contests were a political demolition derby.) "I don't think this has anything to do with the growth of the United States, you just have more people who are convinced they are qualified to run for president." 
Some potential candidates are hardly new to the game, including Rick Santorum and others. 
Longtime Republican pollster Glen Bolger said the lure is especially strong for pols who have inhabited that spotlight. "They figure, Barack Obama can come out of nowhere," he said, referring to the president's leap from one-term senator to president. "They think, 'I can be different, I can break the mold and get the nomination'." 
He added: "[But] it's like catching lightning in a bottle. I won't say it can't be done, but that's what a lot of these candidates are relying on." 
Here's a look at a few of them:

• 1. George Pataki

  

  AP
  
  George Pataki, the three-term former New York governor, has said he's weighing a 2016 run, and he seems to be taking the idea seriously. He launched a super PAC called Americans for Real Change, which produced an ad this fall timed with appearances in New Hampshire. His message: fiscal responsibility, with a populist twist. 
  "Big government benefits the rich and powerful. They can afford to play the game -- you can't," he says in his televised ad. "It's time for a new America, with much smaller federal government. Washington can't run the economy, and shouldn't try to run our lives." 
  Asked about a possible bid, Pataki told Fox Business Network in November: "I'm thinking about it." 
  Some analysts consider him a long shot, however. Once a shining light of the Republican revolution in 1994 -- the first year he was elected governor of New York -- his support for gun control and gay rights could cause problems with the conservative base. 
  "It helps to be known, it helps to be supported by some key element of the base and it helps to raise money," Bolger said. "I'm not sure he fits in any of those categories, much less all three."

• 2. Rick Santorum

  

  AP
  
  Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum remains popular among social conservatives, particularly evangelicals who support his position on abortion issues. And during the crowded 2012 race, he enjoyed a brief period as the "it" candidate.
  So would he run again?
  After The Washington Post in early December declared that he, indeed, would run, Santorum told Fox News the report might be "hyperbole."
  But he acknowledged he's thinking about it.
  "No announcements, but we're working at it right now and we are calling people in those [early primary] states ... and we'll make a decision sometime later next year," Santorum said.
  The former senator is a divisive figure in politics, but said a "blessing" of his career is that "we've always been underestimated."
  Meanwhile, Santorum continues to stay visible in the media as a voice on conservative issues, and has been making the rounds at conservative gatherings, including the Values Voter Summit, where he came in fourth in the straw poll (Cruz won with 25 percent).
  According to the Des Moines Register, which is tracking candidate visits to Iowa, Santorum has been there nine times for events since 2012.

• 3. Carly Fiorina

  

  REUTERS
  
  Ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina has maintained a political profile since leaving HP. She worked on John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign and ran for Senate, unsuccessfully, in California in 2010.
  The Hoover Institution's Bill Whalen noted in a recent op-ed that Fiorina is so far the only woman showing an interest in the GOP nomination. He also called her the only potential candidate with "serious business experience."
  She hasn't said she is in, but Fiorina is actively exploring the possibility, according to The Washington Post, which reported she has been talking privately with potential donors and recruiting staffers and grassroots activists. 
  On Friday, Republican National Committee spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores also announced she was going to work for Fiorina's Unlocking Potential PAC. Flores previously did consulting work for Mitt Romney in 2012. 
  Fiorina made a stop in the New Hampshire on Dec. 5, delivering remarks at a breakfast hosted by the state's Independent Business Council. She touched on her role as a woman in Republican politics. "Parties need to look as diverse as the nation and speak to people about issues that matter to them," she said.
  She, too, hit an anti-big government message. "People who succeeded in bureaucracies want to preserve status quo because it benefits them," she said. "I could be talking about Washington or HP ... we need to think about reform in Washington, which is desperately needed in a systematic way." 

• 4. Bobby Jindal

  

  AP
  
  The son of Indian immigrants, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal was once considered a rising star in the party. After he gave the Republican rebuttal to President Obama's 2009 State of the Union address -- and got mixed reviews -- his star dimmed.
  But he's kept his hand in national politics, and though he has not said whether he will run, he's been making all the moves. He's taken four trips to Iowa since 2012, according to the Des Moines Register, and has been hitting the conservative gatherings hosting 2016 hopefuls over the last year.
  "He's an undervalued stock," top aide Timmy Teepell told the Washington Examiner in October. The paper noted that pundits were skeptical of Jindal's chances, especially since he only had a 33 percent approval rating among his own constituency in Louisiana as of November. "Fortunately D.C. pundits don't get to decide elections," Teepell quipped.
  Jindal came in third in September's Values Voter straw poll, indicating he still has a strong appeal to the social conservative base. Most recently, he gave a rare foreign policy speech at the conservative Foreign Policy Initiative. When asked on "Fox News Sunday" about his low ratings among presidential contenders, Jindal said he was substance over style. "This isn't about politicians [who are] popular by kissing babies and cutting ribbons."
  "I was at less than two percent when I ran for governor," he said, and since, "we have transformed our state."

• 5. Robert Ehrlich

  

  AP
  
  Robert Ehrlich, a former Maryland governor, has been giving speeches and keeping his name out there -- even if he's rarely mentioned alongside the Jeb Bushes and Ted Cruzes of the world.
  "It all started pretty organically. I got invited to go to New Hampshire this summer and from that, been back a couple more times," Ehrlich told a Baltimore CBS affiliate. Ehrlich said he doesn't know how far he might go as a potential presidential candidate.
  While he served as a Republican governor of a very blue state from 2003 to 2007, Ehrlich's name recognition beyond Maryland is lacking, and doesn't even register in the preliminary polling, political experts say. 
  While he hasn't formalized any exploratory apparatus, he told The Baltimore Sun in early December "there's been some discussion in the last week or so with some people who count."

• 6. John Kasich and Mike Pence

  

  AP Photo
  
  John Kasich and Mike Pence, the current governors of Ohio and Indiana, respectively, also have been mentioned as possible GOP nominees but neither has said whether he will run. Kasich is a former congressman whom pundits say might have trouble with the party due to his support for a Medicaid expansion under ObamaCare.
  Pence, also a former congressman, is popular with Tea Party activists and Christian conservatives -- and has been giving speeches outside his home state.
  He also got an endorsement from Steve Forbes at his Reinventing America summit in Indianapolis in November.

Israel 'mulls war crimes suits against top Palestinians'

Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel is considering filing war crimes suits overseas against Palestinian leaders in response to their application to join the International Criminal Court and press such charges against the Jewish state, an official source said Saturday.

Legal proceedings at courts in the United States and elsewhere are being weighed against Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, his Palestinian Authority and other senior officials, the source close to the government told AFP.

He said that the basis of the complaints would be that Abbas's partnership in a Palestinian consensus government with Hamas makes him complicit in the militant Islamist group's rocket attacks from Gaza against civilians inside Israel.

"In recent days officials in Israel stressed that those who should be wary of legal proceedings are the heads of the PA who cooperate within the unity government with Hamas, a declared terrorist organisation which like the Islamic State (jihadist group) carries out war crimes -- it fires at civilians from within population centres."
The source, who declined to be identified, did not detail precisely where or when such proceedings could be launched.
The Palestinians formally presented a request to the United Nations on Friday to join the International Criminal Court (ICC), a move firmly opposed by Israel and the United States.

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Palestinian Fatah movement fighters parade during a rally marking the 50th anniversary of the moveme …

The move is part of a shift in strategy for the Palestinians, who are seeking to internationalise their campaign for statehood and move away from the stalled US-led negotiation process.
The US has branded the move to seek ICC membership "counterproductive" and warned it would only push the sides further apart.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is to review the so-called instruments of accession and notify state members on the request within 60 days.
The Palestinian national consensus government took office in June following a reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Abbas's Fatah movement, ending seven years of rival administrations in the West Bank and Gaza.

Hamas remains the de facto power in the Gaza Strip and fought a bitter summer war with Israel, which took the lives of 73 people on the Israeli side and of nearly 2,200 Palestinians, mostly civilians.

According to Israeli government figures, Hamas fired 4,562 rockets during the fighting in July and August, reaching as far as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Gitmo Cartoon

Israel police say Jewish settlers stone US consular officials during West Bank visit

Thank you King Obama.

JERUSALEM –  Jewish settlers attacked American consular officials Friday during a visit the officials made to the West Bank as part of an investigation into claims of damage to Palestinian agricultural property, Israeli police and Palestinian witnesses say.
The incident is likely to further chill relations between Israel and the United States, already tense over American criticisms of Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, and Israeli perceptions that President Barack Obama is only lukewarm in his support of Israeli diplomatic and security policies.
Settlers have often spoken against what they call foreign interference in their affairs, but this is the first known physical attack against diplomatic personnel.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that a small number of settlers threw rocks at officials who had come to an area near the Jewish settlement outpost of Adi Ad in two consular vehicles to look into Palestinian claims that settlers uprooted scores of Palestinian olive trees the day before.
He said that after the rock barrage began, the vehicles left the area, adding that police had opened an inquiry following the filing of an official complaint.
Another police official, spokeswoman Luba Samri, said that the American security personnel did not use their weapons during the attack.
Awad Abu Samra, who owns the land in the village of Tormousyya where the damage to the olive trees allegedly took place, said he accompanied the officials with two relatives. He described the officials as security personnel who had arrived in the village in advance of a larger party from the American consulate in Jerusalem, which was scheduled to arrive in the village later that afternoon.
"There were six security guards from the consulate riding in two cars," Abu Samra said. "When they got out of the cars they were attacked by young settlers from the outpost who were carrying clubs and axes. They struck the cars with clubs but the security guards did not respond with their weapons."
Abu Samra said that after the attack began the American security guards returned to their vehicles and drove away, explaining that they were under strict instructions not to engage the settlers in any way. He said that the planned visit of the additional officials from the consulate was called off after the incident.
Abu Samra said that last spring he and his family planted some 10,000 olive tree saplings on land the family owns in the village, but that since then, settlers have uprooted most of them.
Peter Galus, a spokesman at the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem, confirmed that American consular personnel were pelted by rocks thrown by settlers. He denied reports in some Israeli media outlets that the Americans had deployed and aimed their weapons at the stone throwers, adding that the United States was cooperating with Israel in investigating the incident.
U.S. State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke in Washington said his government was "deeply concerned" by the attack.
"The U.S. government follows economic and political issues in the West Bank very closely," Rathke said. "We are working with Israeli authorities in their investigation of the incident, including by offering to provide video footage taken during the incident. We take the safety and security of U.S. personnel very seriously. The Israeli authorities have also communicated to us that they acknowledge the seriousness of the incident and are looking to apprehend and take appropriate action against those responsible."
The United States is by far Israel's most important foreign ally, providing the country with some $3 billion in annual aid and supporting its positions in international forums, despite frequent criticism.
Washington has long opposed Israeli settlement construction and maintains teams at diplomatic facilities in Israel that regularly monitor the settlements and their growth.

Reid suffers broken ribs, facial bones in exercising accident

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid broke several ribs and facial bones when a piece of exercise equipment snapped at his Nevada home Thursday, causing the lawmaker to fall. 
In a statement issued Friday, Reid's office said the 75-year-old senator was hospitalized overnight at University Medical Center in Las Vegas as a precaution and was released on Friday. His security detail had initially taken Reid to St. Rose Dominican Hospital near his home in Henderson, Nevada. 
The accident happened when an elastic exercise band broke, striking Reid in the face and causing him to fall, said spokesman Adam Jentleson. Reid struck some equipment as he fell, breaking multiple bones near his right eye. 
As he hit the floor, he broke several ribs, Jentleson said. 
Tests found no internal bleeding, Jentleson said, and his vision should not be affected. 
"Senator Reid will return to Washington this weekend and be in the office Tuesday as the Senate prepares to reconvene," his office said. "His doctors expect a full recovery." 
Jentleson said Reid is likely to have severe facial bruises. 
Reid, majority leader since 2007, will hand over the top job in the Senate next week to Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky after Democrats lost their majority in November's midterm elections. Reid faces a potentially tough re-election campaign in 2016. 
In May 2011, Reid dislocated a shoulder and suffered a contusion above his left eye when he slipped after an early morning run in the rain. He fell when he leaned against a parked car. 
In October 2012, Reid suffered rib and hip contusions in a chain-reaction car crash. 
Reid has run marathons and was a boxer as a young man.

Iraq's Peshmerga desperate for US arms in fight against ISIS

MOSUL, Iraq –  Under a gloomy late November sky that dumped cold rain on their frontline fighting position overlooking Mosul Dam, some 16 Peshmerga fighters mustered around a small hut – the only visible means of protection from enemy fire – while others hovered around a small campfire for warmth.
Just hours earlier, the road leading into the Kurdish army's base was hit by artillery from Islamic State – or “Daesh” as it is known in the Middle East, forcing some closures. But the fighters were calm and collected – sharing jokes and cigarettes ahead of another long and cold night protecting their cherished land in the northern part of this embattled land.
“Now we know their key points and from where they try to attack us. It’s weather like now – the fog – over them that allows them not to be seen by the planes,” one high-ranking Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) official, who left an office job to fight on the frontlines with the Peshmerga, told FoxNews.com in reference to the war against the jihadist army. “When it is raining, it is a good time for them to start attacking. At the beginning, the villages in Iraq were communicating and helping them attack, they shot at us front and back. But the villagers soon realized that these people were not good. They were not human.”

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The back side of the Peshmerga fighting position, near Mosul Dam. (FoxNews.com)

The Peshmerga fighters don a mishmash of camouflage clothes, and wield whatever guns they can get their hands on. Their formal training is limited, and their best attributes are instinct and will.
“We have principles. We were brought up on those principles and an innate drive to serve. We treat Kurdistan like our second mother,” explains the official, who is a high-value target and thus asked to remain unnamed. “If you do something day after day you learn and we learn how to fight very fast.”
The Peshmerga – whose name literally translates to “those who face death” – began as something of a mountain militia in the 1920s when the push for Kurdish independence began. In recent decades, they faced unrelenting persecution from the Ba'ath loyalists of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. One Peshmerga fighter told FoxNews.com they don’t suffer from “psychological issues” pertaining to combat because they have grown up around fighting and have developed an early understanding that it is “just what we have to do.” While the issue of possible PTSD garners little – if any – mainstream attention, one daughter of a retired Peshmerger fighter said at least in her experience growing up, she witnessed the mental anguishes of battle.
The Peshmerga soldiers range from around 18 to over 70 years old, with many coming out of retirement in the quest to defeat the ISIS threat. During days of intense conflict, the Peshmerga are lucky to return to their base for two or three hours of sleep and a quick bite to eat, before returning to their fighting locus. As it stands, a majority of fighters are not soldiers but what they call “security advisors.” They don’t take a salary and have volunteered simply out of devotion.

“If ISIS is an existential threat as the Iraqis claim; and if it really threatens U.S. interests abroad and its security at home then more must be done to arm the Peshmerga.”- Kurdish military official

“There is a Special Forces that has been arranged for these people that have come in, they don’t register their names and don’t sign contracts. They just want to serve Kurdistan,” the official said.
Due to a limited supply of weapons, volunteers often have to bring their own firearms – usually a basic AK-47 – with the M4 and M16 rifles, BKC—an Iraqi clone of the Soviet PKM machine gun – and the DshK heavy machine gun, called the “doshka” in Iraq, being the staple weapons used in the battle against much better equipped opponents.
Despite their lack of advanced technology, the Peshmerga remain acutely aware of precisely how many Islamic State fighters they take out each night at battle, and exactly where in the close vicinity those dead bodies lay even days after the fact – subject to the elements and hungry wild dogs. Although they are outgunned, the Kurdish fighters keep their wits about them, a tactical advantage over the enemy. One Peshmerga soldier explained how Islamic State commanders often drug young fighters with “special tablets” that leave them disoriented and shooting wildly, sometimes taking several rounds before they go down.
“For those who survive, when they realize what they have done they sometime regret,” acknowledged the official.
The Peshmerga also rely on a growing intelligence-gathering network that supplies logistical support to those who battle in the field. 
“We have secret service inside ISIS-controlled villages in Mosul and other places passing information, some are even living with ISIS and they don’t know,” the official said.
U.S. airstrikes are said to have helped Kurdish and Iraqi government forces seize control of the critical Mosul Dam in late August after Islamic State seized the area weeks earlier. Before Islamic State, the Tigris River dam was operated and controlled by around 1,200 Iraqi families. Just more than half have since returned, amid fears the almost two-mile long dam could be deliberately blown up to flood Mosul, some 30 miles downstream, and even Baghdad.
Built exclusively for Hussein in the early 1980s, the dam, according to a 2006 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report is particularly dangerous and “constructed on a very poor foundation,” and U.S. authorities subsequently spent tens of millions on interim fixes.
Much of the Kurdish population now view the United States of America as their only dependable ally in the ongoing war against the terrorist organization – and their desperation to be supplied with American equipment and weapons remains the eclipsing message.
“The airstrikes are good, but we need weapons,” stressed the official, dismissing the notion that U.S. ground troops are the ultimate answer. “We already have military on the ground, but we’re fighting an enemy that has acquired all the sophisticated U.S. weapons that went to the Iraqis and now ISIS has them. This isn’t a balanced fight.”
Due to internal conflict over oil exports between the semi-autonomous KRG and the Iraqi Central Government, the Kurds have not received the billions of dollars in military supplies since the 2003 U.S. invasion. The Kurdish region is legally entitled to 17.5 percent of the Baghdad budget, but for almost a year, it has not received its portion. Kurds do not control their air space and not allowed to purchase their own weapons and supplies without approval from the Central Government.

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Two soldiers stand guard at the entry to the Peshmerga base near the Kurdistan/Iraq border. (FoxNews.com)

“We tried to buy weapons from the outside, from places like Russia and America but the Foreign Ministry wouldn’t allow it,” the official explained. “The Iraqi government hasn’t even given us one single bullet.”
Earlier this fall, an agreement between the two Iraq-based governments was announced, stating that the KRG should send 250,000 barrels of oil per day to the central government and in turn receive its budgetary share as part of the Iraqi defense system, but according to one official very close to KRG President Masoud Barzani, funds have not been disbursed.
Western powers view the Kurds as a crucial safeguard against further Islamic State advances, but in order to take the offensive, the Peshmerga say they need more help.
“The United States really needs to think about the message it is sending,” added the KRG official. “If ISIS is an existential threat as the Iraqis claim; and if it really threatens U.S. interests abroad and its security at home then more must be done to arm the Peshmerga.”

NYPD commissioner warns officers not to make political statements at wake

Mourners of a New York Police Department officer killed with his partner in an ambush shooting plan to gather at a funeral home on Saturday for his wake.
Officer Wenjian Liu will be remembered at the Aievoli Funeral Home in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn. His funeral is scheduled for Sunday with a Chinese ceremony led by Buddhist monks to be followed by a traditional police ceremony with eulogies led by a chaplain. Burial will follow at Cypress Hills Cemetery.
Liu was killed Dec. 20 along with his partner, Officer Rafael Ramos, as they sat in their patrol car on a Brooklyn street. Their shooter, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, had made references online to the killings of unarmed black men at the hands of white police officers and had vowed to put "wings on pigs."
Investigators say Brinsley was an emotionally disturbed loner who started off his rampage by shooting and wounding an ex-girlfriend in Baltimore. He later killed himself.
The police killings ramped up emotions in the already tense national debate over police conduct. Since Ramos and Liu were killed, police in New York have investigated at least 70 threats made against officers, and more than a dozen people have been arrested.
At Ramos' funeral, hundreds of officers turned their backs to TV monitors displaying Mayor Bill de Blasio's remarks to show their frustration for what police union officials have said is the mayor's role in creating an environment that allowed the killings.
In a message to be read to officers on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, NYPD Commissioner William Bratton said that act "stole the valor, honor, and attention that rightfully belonged to the memory of Detective Rafael Ramos's life and sacrifice."
"I issue no mandates, and I make no threats of discipline, but I remind you that when you don the uniform of this department, you are bound by the tradition, honor and decency that go with it," Bratton said.
Liu, 32, had been on the police force seven years and had gotten married two months before he died. His widow, Pei Xia Chen, gave a tearful statement days after the shooting.
Ramos was buried Dec. 27 amid tens of thousands of officers and mourners who went to pay their respects at a church in Queens. Liu's funeral arrangements were delayed so his relatives from China could get travel documents to the U.S. and fly to New York.
The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, a charity created after Sept. 11, 2001, has said it will pay off the home mortgages of the two slain officers.

Libyan on trial for US embassy bombings dies

A member of Al Qaeda with ties to Usama Bin Laden died in New York Friday while awaiting trial to face charges of planning the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people.
The Department of Justice confirmed  Abu Anas al-Libi's death citing "long-standing medical problems."
Al-Libi, 50, was captured by the U.S. Army's Delta Force in Tripoli, Libya on Oct 5, 2013 and brought to New York where he was due to stand trial. He had been wanted for more than a decade and there was a $5 million reward for his arrest. 
U.S. forces raided Libya in 2013 and seized al-Libi on the streets of the capital, Tripoli. He was brought back to America to stand trial in New York. 
His wife, Um Abdullah told the Associated Press he died of complication from liver surgery.
"I accuse the American government of kidnapping, mistreating, and killing an innocent man. He did nothing," Abullah said.
Al-Libi was once on the FBI's most wanted terrorists list for his alleged involvement in the bombings. He pleaded not guilty to any involvement.
In December 2013, Bernard Kleinman, an attorney for al-Libi, said his client was only accused of participating in visual and photographic surveillance of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, in late 1993 and researching potential sites for other attacks with members of Al Qaeda in 1994.
Abdullah told the Associated Press she spoke with her husband Thursday stating that he was in bad condition.

DHS FAILING TO KEEP US SAFE? Department's role needs refocusing

U.S. Senator Tom Coburn released his final oversight report on the Department of Homeland Security, which has found major problems in the branch.
The report finds that Homeland Security is not successfully executing any of its five main missions.
“Ten years of oversight of the Department of Homeland Security finds that the Department still has a lot of work to do to strengthen our nation’s security,” Coburn explained.  “Congress needs to review the Department’s mission and programs and refocus DHS on national priorities where DHS has a lead responsibility.”
Homeland Security spent $50 billion over the past 11 years on counterterrorism programs, but the Department cannot demonstrate if the nation is more secure as a result.
Coburn also found that 700 miles of the nation’s southern border remain unsecured. The DHS is not effectively administering or enforcing the nation’s immigration laws, while only 3 in 100 illegal immigrants will ever face deportation.
The report also found that the DHS spends more than $700 million annually to lead the federal government’s efforts on cybersecurity, but struggles to protect itself, federal and civilian networks from the most serious cyberattacks.
The Department has spent $170 billion for natural disasters since 2002 because of an increased federal role in which the costs of small storms are declared “major disasters.”
Even with the grim findings, Coburn expressed optimism about the Department’s future if Congress acts swiftly to address the problems in the report.
“I am confident that Secretary Jeh Johnson is leading the Department in the right direction,” Coburn commented.  “One of the biggest challenges that Sec. Johnson and DHS face is Congress and its dysfunctional approach to setting priorities for the Department.  Congress needs to work with the Department to refocus its missions on national priorities and give Secretary Johnson the authority to lead and fix the Department.”
Coburn served his final day as senator. He thanked his fellow members of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.

Obama Golf Cartoon