US military official outlines plan to retake Iraqi city of Mosul

A U.S. military official on Thursday outlined plans to retake the key Iraq city of Mosul from Islamic State terrorists as early as April -- an unusual move that immediately drew criticism from two U.S. intelligence officers.
A senior U.S. Central Command official said that the "shaping" for the battle is currently underway. The Iraqi military hopes to begin operations in the "April, May timeframe" and retake the city before Ramadan begins on June 17.
The official, who was not authorized to discuss the operation publicly and spoke with reporters on condition of anonymity, said five Iraqi Army brigades will be used in the fight, as well as several smaller brigades, adding up to a total force of up to 25,000 Iraqi troops.
Three brigades of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters will participate as well.
But two military intelligence officers told Fox News that the decision to publicly announce the plan was counterintuitive because it "telegraphs" the timing and number of units involved. The officers said it would allow Islamic State, also known as ISIS, or ISIL, to prepare for the battle by laying improvised explosive devices.
Both officers questioned whether political considerations on the part of the Obama administration factored into the decision to announce the offensive.
ISIS militants overtook Mosul last June, as the group marched across large sections of Iraq and Syria, sending Iraqi forces fleeing. At this point, officials estimate there are between 1,000 to 2,000 ISIS insurgents in the city of Mosul. Military leaders have been talking about retaking the city for some time, but they have said they won't launch the operation until the Iraqi troops are ready.
Included in the force would be a brigade of Iraqi counterterrorism forces who have been trained by U.S. special operations forces. The brigades include roughly 2,000 troops each.
The CENTCOM official said the U.S. will provide military support for the operation, including training, air support, intelligence and surveillance. The official said there has been no decision made yet on whether to send in some U.S. ground troops to help call in airstrikes.
"But by the same token, if they're not ready, if the conditions are not set, if all the equipment they need is not physically there and they (aren't) trained to a degree in which they will be successful, we have not closed the door on continuing to slide that to the right," he said.
The official also revealed for the first time that Qatar has agreed to host a training site for coalition forces to train moderate Syrian rebels who would return to Syria to fight the Islamic State forces there. Other sites are in Turkey, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Hillary Clinton's ties to corporate donors, lobbyists while Secretary of State scrutinized

Hillary Clinton's ties to large corporations have come under more scrutiny after it was revealed that dozens of companies that have donated millions to her family's foundation also lobbied the State Department during her tenure as Secretary of State. 
The Wall Street Journal reports that the 60 companies who lobbied Clinton's State Department between 2009 and 2013 donated over $26 million to the Clinton Foundation in that period. The donors include instantly recognizable names like General Electric, Exxon Mobil, and Boeing.
The Journal also reports that at least 44 of the 60 companies participated in philanthropy projects valued at $3.2 billion set up by the Clinton Global Initiative, which is a wing of the foundation. At least 25 of the companies also contributed to 15 public-private partnerships created by Clinton and coordinated by the State Department. 
While there is no evidence that any laws were broken, the connections do raise potentially thorny ethical questions as Clinton prepares for a likely 2016 run for the Democratic presidential nomination. 
Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill told the Journal that she "did the job that every secretary of state is supposed to do and what the American people expect of them—especially during difficult economic times. She proudly and loudly advocated on behalf of American business and took every opportunity she could to promote U.S. commercial interests abroad." 
The latest report comes on the heels of the disclosure that donations from foreign governments to the Clinton Foundation have increased considerably following the removal of a self-imposed ban on such contributions during Hillary's time as Secretary of State. Experts have said that the donation ban should be immediately re-imposed until Clinton formally decides one way or another whether she will seek the White House. On Thursday, the foundation said it would consider whether to accept such contributions should Clinton decide to run, but would not commit to rejecting such donations in the future. 
The Journal report cites several examples of Clinton promoting eventual donors to the Foundation and its various activities. For example, in October 2012, she lobbied the Algerian government to contract General Electric to build power plants in that country. The following month, the Foundation approached the company about expanding a health-access initiative. An eventual partnership was formed, to which the company contributed between $500,000 and $1 million. The Algerian government awarded GE the power plant contract in September 2013. 
Other efforts were less successful. In 2010, Clinton announced cooperation between the U.S. and Poland on a scheme to develop shale gas deposits in eastern Europe. After several years of false starts, Exxon Mobil and Chevron gave up their Polish plans. 
In 2012, Clinton persuaded Bulgaria's government to issue a five-year license to Chevron allowing conventional gas exploration. That, too went nowhere. The following year, the Journal reports, Chevron donated $250,000 to the foundation. Exxon Mobil, for its part, has donated at least $18.8 million to various initiatives, including a nonprofit women's group called vital voices. 
In at least one case, a sizable corporate monetary promise was made before a Clinton overseas trip. In 2012, Wal-Mart, a company with whom the Clintons have ties going back to their days in Arkansas, pledged $12 million to various causes supporting woman in Latin America. $1.5 million of that money went toward a Clinton Foundation public-private partnership and another $500,000 went to Vital Voices.
A month later, Clinton lobbied the Indian government to reverse a ban on multibrand retailers, opening up a potentially lucrative market for several U.S. companies, including Wal-Mart. The effort was unsuccessful.

Global Warming Cartoon

Where in the Hell is Al Gore?

Emails reveal sensitive info left exposed after US pullout from Yemen

Internal State Department emails reviewed by Fox News reveal that as security unraveled in Yemen, U.S. personnel were scrambling to finalize their exit plan and were so uncertain about what would happen that procedures for safeguarding sensitive information were bypassed -- with permission from Washington. 
The unclassified emails reveal staff on the ground in Yemen, as well as senior department executives in Washington, were concerned the evacuation might go bad and left a communication network running at the embassy in case staff had to return. The emails point to uncertainty on the ground amid fast-moving developments, even as the Obama administration downplayed any irregularities. 
"It wasn't hasty," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki insisted on Fox News' "The Kelly File" on Feb. 12, a day after the evacuation. 
But one email reviewed by Fox News showed genuine concern -- even panic -- in Washington, that an unclassified system exposing emails and day-to-day operations was left up and running at the embassy in Sanaa. 
"We need to quickly think about the plan for destroying/sanitizing the OpenNet data that is still in Sanaa," the email from a supervisor said. 
"I am a little worried it is still out there." 
That referred to a main communication link with Washington, known as OpenNet. The emails show that system -- at what was one of the most heavily guarded U.S. embassies in the Middle East -- was not shut down, in what was described to Fox News as a break in standard practice. 
On Feb. 8, Ambassador Matthew Tueller -- with the approval of Under Secretary Patrick Kennedy, one of the State Department's most senior executives -- ordered staff to leave the OpenNet link up, in case the evacuation plan failed and they had to return to the embassy for an indefinite period. 
But the worried email sent three days later showed the ramifications of leaving the system exposed, and it urged officials to implement a plan to destroy or clean up that data "as soon as possible." 
The U.S. joined Britain and France last week in pulling out of Yemen, closing their embassies and removing staff amid a civil war driven by Iran-aligned Shiite rebels. Yemen is also home to one of the most dangerous Al Qaeda affiliates, and the U.S. pullout has raised questions about the future of the U.S. counterterrorism program there. 
But the fact that sensitive information was left at the compound raises additional questions. 
Fox News is told that after the U.S. team fled, it took three days to remotely access and delete the remaining data. Servers containing financial information, as well as passport and visa requests with personal information, also had to be cleared. 
Tony Shaffer, a former military intelligence officer now with the London Center for Policy Research, explained how the information left unguarded at the compound could have posed problems. 
"If they are able to exploit it, that is say break it open and potentially analyze it and categorize it this will give them a great deal of information about how U.S. embassies function," he said. 
Psaki, speaking with Fox News, acknowledged that not everything went as planned. 
But, she said, "We've been planning these for weeks and everybody was following the proper protocol put in place for the advance." 
Psaki's claim that there was a long-standing plan conflicts with email traffic, just days before the evacuation, requesting further guidance and instruction on closing the embassy. 
Also, by Feb. 8, three days before the evacuation, the emails clearly show the plan was to leave on commercial air, and not a U.S. military aircraft, which would have allowed the Marines at the post to take their weapons with them. During the evacuation, military personnel had to destroy or render inoperable their weapons before boarding the aircraft. There is no evidence the State Department tried to charter out to a U.S.-controlled airbase that would have allowed the Marines to stay armed. 
Asked about the emails on Wednesday, Psaki said: "We successfully moved our personnel out. And I think that's what everybody should be focused on."

Lawsuit: Fire chief terminated because of Christian faith

The city of Atlanta fired its fire chief solely because of his religious beliefs about same-sex marriage and homosexual conduct, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court.
The lawsuit was filed by Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys on behalf of former fire chief Kelvin Cochran, one of the nation’s most decorated firefighters and a devout Christian.
Cochran was suspended for 30 days last November and was subsequently fired over a men’s devotional book he authored that included a section on biblical sexual morality.
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“Every American should be concerned about a government that thinks it can fire you because of what you believe,” ADF senior counsel Kevin Theriot said in a prepared statement. 
One of the leaders in the campaign to fire Cochran was city Councilman Alex Wan.
“I respect each individual’s rights to have their own thoughts, beliefs, and opinions, but when you’re a city employee and those thoughts, beliefs and opinions are different from the city’s, you have to check them at the door,” Wan told the Atlanta Journal Constitution last November.
In other words, if you work for the city of Atlanta and happen to be an evangelical Christian – you may want to start dusting off your resume.
The 54-page lawsuit against the city and Mayor Kasim Reed is a jaw-dropper. Cochran’s attorneys are asking for the chief to be reinstated – and they also want financial damages.
A spokesperson for the city of Atlanta told me they were not aware of the lawsuit. So I sent them a copy. They have yet to reply. You can read their previous responses to the controversy here.
Until last November, Cochran had a stellar record. He was named Atlanta’s fire chief in 2008. He served there until 2009 when he accepted a position in the Obama Administration as a U.S. fire administrator.
He returned to Atlanta in 2010 after Mayor Reed “begged” him to serve as the city’s fire chief. In 2012, Fire Chief magazine named Cochran the “Fire Chief of the Year.”
So what happened?
In the Fall of 2013 Cochran wrote a book, “Who Told You That You were Naked? Overcoming the Stronghold of Condemnation.” The book is not about sexual morality, but it does address the issue on approximately six pages.
Someone from the Fire Department had shown a few of the passages of the book to Councilman Wan, the lawsuit states. The unnamed person told Wan the passages were opposed to his beliefs on the subject.
Even though an investigation concluded that Cochran had not discriminated against anyone – he was fired.
“To actually lose my childhood dream-come-true profession – where all of my expectations have been greatly exceeded – because of my faith is staggering,” Cochran said in a statement. “The very faith that led me to pursue my career has been used to take it from me.”
I’ve had a chance to interview Chief Cochran and I have found him to be a good and honorable man. What happened to him should not happen to any other American.
“Americans are guaranteed the freedom to live without fear of being fired because of their beliefs and thoughts,” ADF senior counsel David Cortman said. “The city of Atlanta is not above the Constitution and federal law. In America, a religious or ideological test cannot be used to fire a public servant.”
Chief Cochran has some high-profile supporters – including a large portion of Georgia’s congressional delegation.
Rep. Barry Loudermilk penned a letter calling on the city to reinstate the fire chief. It was signed by six members of the delegation – including Rep. Buddy Carter, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, Rep. Tom Price, Rep. Austin Scott and Rep. Jody Hice.
“As fellow Georgians, we are extremely troubled that a capable and long-standing public servant in our state can be targeted for retaliation and dismissal solely because of his religious views,” Loudermilk wrote. “Indeed, in terminating him, the City of Atlanta itself engaged in an act of discrimination, and worse, did so on the basis of his religious beliefs.”
It sounds to me like Mayor Reed and Councilman Wan are bullies who don’t like Christian people. And I hope Chief Cochran gets his day in court – and takes the city of Atlanta for every single penny he can get.

Playing defense: Jeb’s family problem, Hillary’s man problem

Here’s the state of play for the 2016 presidential campaign:
Jeb says he’s not a clone of his brother and father, and Hillary is surrounding herself with … men.
Let’s face it, the press has pretty much decided — for this week at least — that we’re looking at a general-election contest between the third Bush and second Clinton to seek the White House. Yes, we will spill endless barrels of ink on Rand and Ted and Scott and Marco and Mike and Chris, and one of them could catch fire and win the GOP nomination. Bush is stuck at 10 percent in the latest poll in Iowa, tied with Rand Paul, with less than half the support of Scott Walker, at 24 percent.
But media expectations are critical in the framing of a contest this early, and Bush is widely seen as the man to beat. His team showed its savvy by sending reporters excerpts of his big Chicago speech Wednesday, making this the obvious lead:
“I love my father and my brother. I admire their service to the nation and the difficult decisions they had to make. But I am my own man – and my views are shaped by my own thinking and own experiences.”
That sounded a heckuva lot better than Jeb ducking a question about Iraq by saying he’s not going to “relitigate” the past. Iraq and ISIS loom too large in this campaign for that kind of dodge to work.
Bush went on to bash the Obama team’s foreign policy — always a safe bet for a Republican — with such language as “with grandiosity, they announce resets and disengage. Hashtag campaigns replace actual diplomacy and engagement.”
Jeb’s hashtag here would be #I’mNotEitherGeorge.
He did go there in a Q&A session, saying “there were mistakes made in Iraq, for sure,” but offering this balancing sentiment: “My brother's administration through the surge which was one of the most heroic acts of political courage.” Another way in which the Iraq war will loom over his campaign is Jeb’s decision to tap foreign policy advisers who worked for the Bushes — though that would be somewhat hard to avoid, since those were the last two Republican administrations.
His family lineage, obviously, is both his greatest strength and greatest weakness. Jeb was a two-term Florida governor, but it’s his family that gives him instant credibility and access to a vast fundraising and political network — along with the baggage of a brother who invaded Iraq and presided over a massive financial crisis.
Jeb’s ability to convince voters that 45 would not be like 43 or 41 — that he is, in fact, his own person — is the first major test of his candidacy.
One sign that the press views Jeb as formidable is this tweet from Bloomberg’s Mark Halperin: “I'm not predicting this or putting out odds, but it is now not impossible that Jeb effectively locks up his nomination before Hillary does.” Another is this How He Did It piece in Politico about the Bush camp’s last year:
“Their strategy was to publicly downplay his interest in the race and avoid media attention, while quietly laying the groundwork for a launch that would catch much of Washington  —  and many of his potential rivals  —  flat-footed. While the much of the political world focused on Chris Christie, Rand Paul and even Bush’s fellow Floridian Marco Rubio, Bush was quietly collecting political chits, developing a cohesive platform, and preparing for a fundraising blitz intended to grab the front-runner’s chair, scare potential competitors like Mitt Romney and Christie, and put Bush on such a firm financial footing that he could devote more time to retail politics when it really counted.”
Meanwhile, Hillary (who has her own asset and liability in Clinton 42) is keeping a low profile, but that hasn’t stopped the pundits from analyzing and opining on the makeup of her rapidly growing campaign staff. Which led to this question in the Daily Beast:
“Does Hillary Clinton need binders full of women?”
Yes, the Beast is worried that the woman who would shatter the ultimate glass ceiling hasn’t hired enough chicks and could be running a “white dude fest.” Unlike in 2008, when the likes of Patti Solis Doyle and Maggie Williams were in charge, the top strategists so far include the likes of John Podesta, Robby Mook, Joel Benenson and on and on. (There are some female members of the inner circle, such as Huma Abedin and Mandy Grunwald, and Obama aide Jennifer Palmieri just signed on as communications director.)
The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank makes the most of this:
“This surely wasn’t Clinton’s intent, but her decision to re-brand Obama’s frat house as her own puts out a message quite at odds with her candidacy: that women can’t run a presidential campaign…
“From what I’ve heard, Clinton lieutenants were surprised by the reaction to the early slate of male hires. They say they blundered in putting out the names of several men at once and were not making a fundamental shift from the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuit to the Obama towel snappers …
“The woman who would be the first of her gender to reach the presidency has decided that it takes a whole lot of testosterone to win the White House.”
This is silly-season stuff. A more important issue, in my view, is the Wall Street Journal reporting that donations from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Austria and Germany are flowing to the Clinton Foundation now that it’s lifted a ban on accepting money from foreign governments.
The average voter doesn’t care who’s working in Hillaryland. But she and Jeb are are going to draw flyspecking coverage as long as the media handicappers see them as leading the field.

UCLA says 179 people were exposed to 'superbug', 7 infected

UCLA reported Wednesday that nearly 180 patients were exposed to a potentially deadly "superbug" on contaminated medical instruments that infected seven patients and may have contributed to two deaths. 
A total of 179 patients at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center were exposed to antibiotic-resistant carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, during endoscopic procedures between October and January, the university said in a statement. The patients who may have been infected are being sent home-testing kits, which the university will analyze.
Similar outbreaks of CRE have been reported around the nation. They are difficult to treat because some varieties are resistant to most known antibiotics. By one estimate, CRE can contribute to death in up to half of seriously infected patients, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The bacteria can cause infections of the bladder or lungs, leading to coughing, fever or chills. CRE infections have been reported in every state except Idaho, Alaska and Maine, according to the CDC.
UCLA said infections may have been transmitted through specialized endoscopes used during the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic and bile-duct problems. The instruments are inserted into the patients' throats. The outbreak was discovered late last month during tests on a patient. 
The two medical devices may have carried the bacteria even though they were sterilized according to the manufacturer's specifications, UCLA said.
The devices have been removed, and decontamination procedures upgraded, the university said.
"We notified all patients who had this type of procedure, and we were using seven different scopes. Only two of them were found to be infected. In an abundance of caution, we notified everybody," said Dale Tate, a University of California, Los Angeles spokeswoman.
A similar outbreak occurred in Illinois in 2013. Dozens of patients were exposed to CRE, with some cases apparently linked to a tainted endoscope used at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital. The hospital later changed its sterilization procedures.
A Seattle hospital, Virginia Mason Medical Center, reported in January that CRE linked to an endoscope sickened at least 35 patients, and 11 died, although it was unclear whether the infection played a role in their deaths.
Experts say the cases represent a disturbing surge.
"This bacteria is emerging in the U.S. and it's associated with a high mortality rate," Dr. Alex Kallen, an epidemiologist in CDC's Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, told the LA Times. "We don't want this circulating anywhere in the community."

Obama says world should address ‘grievances’ that terrorists exploit

WASHINGTON –  President Obama defended his administration’s approach to the terror threat at a White House summit Wednesday, standing by claims that groups like the Islamic State do not represent Islam -- as well as assertions that job creation could help combat extremism.
Obama, addressing the Washington audience on the second day of the summit, said the international community needs to address “grievances” that terrorists exploit, including economic and political issues.
He stressed that poverty alone doesn’t cause terrorism, but “resentments fester” and extremism grows when millions of people are impoverished.
“We do have to address the grievances that terrorists exploit including economic grievances,” he said.
He also said no single religion was responsible for violence and terrorism, adding he wants to lift up the voice of tolerance in the United States and beyond.
Obama’s address came as Republican lawmakers and others criticized the administration for declining to describe the threat as Islamic terrorism.
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf has also come under fire for suggesting several times this past week that more jobs could help address the terrorism crisis.
On Tuesday, Rob O'Neill, former Navy SEAL Team 6 member who claims to have fired the shot that killed Usama bin Laden, told Fox News: "They get paid to cut off heads -- to crucify children, to sell slaves and to cut off heads and I don't think that a change in career path is what's going to stop them."
Obama also called on Muslim leaders to “do more to discredit the notion that our nations are determined to suppress Islam, that there is an inherent clash in civilizations.”
Obama acknowledged that some Muslim-Americans have concerns about working with the government, particularly law enforcement, and that their reluctance “is rooted in the objection to certain practices where Muslim-Americans feel they’ve been unfairly targeted.”
He said it was important it make sure that abuses stop and are not repeated and that “we do not stigmatize entire communities.” He also said it was vital that “no one is profiled or put under a cloud of suspicion simply because of their faith.”
Although Obama called for a renewed focus on preventing terrorists from recruiting and inspiring others, some thought his message seemed to miss the mark.
“He was meandering, unfocused and weak,” said Richard Grenell, former U.S. spokesman at the United Nations during the George W. Bush administration and a Fox News contributor. “He was talking about isolating terrorists. He doesn’t understand the threat that we face… People are being burned in cages and he’s talking about more investments?” 
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in an interview with Fox News, called Obama an "apologist for radical Islamic terrorists." And he mocked the president for recently comparing modern-day atrocities to those committed during the Crusades. 
"I don't think it's too much to ask the president to stay in the current millennia," Cruz said, describing the rhetoric as "bizarre politically correct double-speak."
Leaders from 60 different countries traveled to Washington for the summit.
Community leaders from Boston, Minneapolis and Los Angeles were also in attendance and discussed how their cities could help empower communities to protect themselves against extremist ideologies.