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A daily brief about the world's most dangerous places from international war correspondent Chuck Holton
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Wednesday Jan 09, 2019
Wednesday Jan 09, 2019
Americans joining ISIS in Syria...US Forces being told to leave Iraq, or else, and you might want to re-think spring break in Mexico. Coming up on this edition of the Hot Zone.
Hi everybody. I started the Hot Zone because it's the kind of news show I'd like to watch. A show that keeps a wary eye on the geopolitical forces that shape our world without wasting time on the useless tripe that fills so much of what the mainstream media reports. For example, a quick perusal of CNN's website has stories about who got snubbed at the golden globes and China's top gay dating app. I can sum that kind of news up very simply. I DON'T CARE. There are people hurting all over the world. And for the last fifteen years I've been going to see them on their worst days. And it wears on me, you know? I remember visiting a refugee camp in Congo, and eighty percent of it's inhabitants were under the age of 12. Dozens of them were dying every day from sickness and disease. It was like the daycare center from Hell.
I wanted to help, and it tore my heart out to realize that if I gave away everything I owned it would only be a drop in an ocean of misery. If I gave away the snickers bar I had in my bag to one of those children, he'd probably be dead in a minute as the other children attacked him for it. The helplessness I felt was just terrible. Then I realized there is something significant I can do to help. I can take their story to the world. If I can tell their story to enough people, maybe those people can get together and send help that will actually make a difference.
Maybe you've had that feeling too. Watching the news at night and there's a flood or a famine or a terror attack. And you just wish you could do something to fix it. To be one of the good guys.
Well, that's what the Hot Zone is all about. I'm going to go looking for people in the midst of tragedy, or hardship or sickness, and bring you their stories, and then let you help them directly and see how your generosity changes their lives.
Here's an example from the hurricane that hit Puerto Rico in 2017.
[Tina package 2 min]
People sent me money to help the people I met there, and $500 of it went to Tina, changing her life on her worst day.
Just go to patreon.com/hotzone and subscribe for as little as three bucks a month and then watch how much good we can do together. The year is kicking off - so let's do it.
Okay, let's look at some stories that aren't getting a lot of attention in the media. Syrian Democratic forces fighting the last remnants of ISIS last week captured two Americans who had gone to Syria to join the terror group. 34-year-old Warren Christopher Clark, who had been a substitute teacher in Texas, and 35-year-old Zaid Abed al-Hamid were captured along with two Pakistanis and an Irishman. These two jokers bring the total number of Americans whom we know have joined ISIS to sixteen. Which is bad, but not as bad as say England, who has hundreds of it's citizens who have gone to Syria to fight for ISIS.
I'd say the majority of the holdouts who are left fighting for ISIS in Syria are foreigners who can't go home. I reported last week that US troops are sitting on over 1100 ISIS prisoners, most of whom are not Syrian and whose countries of origin don't want them back. Understandably. But these two Americans pose a different kind of conundrum for the Trump Administration. What to do with them? They could be sent to GITMO, they could be tried as civilians...the last American who was captured while fighting for ISIS was charged in a federal court in Virginia last November. The ironic thing is that no matter which prison these guys end up in...and they will end up in prison...the living conditions will without a doubt be much better than what these guys have had the last six months in Syria. So it's almost a mercy to put them in jail. But...it's what we do.
Now the coalition the US has been a part of since 2016 when the campaign started to push ISIS out of Iraq is made up of some strange bedfellows. There are what I'll call the "coalition" forces - that is the United States and other western countries who are involved like Canada and France. Then there are the Peshmerga - the Kurds. Then you have the Iraqi army, and lastly the PMU's - those provisional military units who are mostly made up of Shia fighters, and are led by none other than officers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. If that one leaves you scratching your head, think about this: The Pesh hate the Iraqis, the PMU's hate the Americans, The Americans like the Kurds and the Iraqis, and the PMUs like the Iraqis and are okay with the Kurds too. Confusing enough? Well at least everyone was united in their hatred for ISIS. But now that ISIS is down, if not out, the conglomeration of forces arrayed against them is starting to fray. President Trump's announcement that the US would pull it's troops out of Syria, and his unannounced visit to the troops in Iraq inflamed those tensions further, and now the Iranian-led PMU's are threatening to attack US forces if they don't leave Iraq right away. Which is great. Just great.
The Iraqi government has been increasingly influenced by Iran in the last several years anyway, and has even used the Syrian crisis and it's millions of refugees as sort of a weapon against the Kurds. I reported on this earlier last year:
[OLN Kurds as weapons] https://vimeo.com/305410195/ba65c763e0
Well leading from behind is what the Obama administration was doing for eight years. Unfortunately, I see Donald Trump repeating some of Obama's mistakes in this region, but it's not too late to reverse course.
One indication our military leaders at least understand this comes from an article i read yesterday reporting that US forces in Baghdad have been sent out to patrol the streets of that city for the first time probably in years. It was an intentional show of force designed to send a message to Iran that US troops are still on the ground in Iraq and won't be intimidated by the Shiites - Baghdad is Shiite country - into leaving until we are good and ready. The troops reportedly strolled around downtown Baghdad and even had tea at a sidewalk cafe. That would have been something to see.
Disbanding the Shiite PMU's like Hashd al-Shaabi is one of the key demands the US has made of Iran in order for our sanctions of that country to be lifted. But If any PMU is actually stupid enough to attack US forces, get ready for another surge to Iraq - this time our forces may be going head to head against the very same units we've actually been supporting for the last couple years. Weird, I know.
To complicate things even further, not all PMU's are Shiite. We met one the last time I was over there that was made up of Syriac Christians. And all of the PMUs are being paid by Iraq like the regular army.
So Iraq is still a hot mess and it's going to stay that way for the foreseeable future. Not exactly the safe, stable Iraq Barack Obama was crowing about in 2014.
Okay, let's move on. Seven men were murdered in the tourist town of Playa del Carmen on Monday while drinking at a local bar. You might know Playa del Carmen as the jumping off point for the popular island of Cozumel, a very beautiful spot to go scuba diving. Playa del Carmen now joins a growing list of Mexican tourist hot spots like Cancun, Mazatlan and Acapulco that are turning into war zones as out of control Cartels battle it out for territory. All too often tourists are caught in the crossfire. So if you see a really good deal on a mexican vacation for Spring break, you might want to pass it up this year, depending on how intrepid you are. I mean, I'd go, but that's what I do. I've found doing this job that you can pretty much go anywhere you like so long as you are careful not to stand out, don't let anyone know you are coming, and leave before anyone can make plans to grab you. Couple that with what my friend John Correia calls "following the rules of stupid - don't go stupid places with stupid people at stupid times and do stupid things." Then you'll probably be all right.
Well that's all I have for today. Thanks for your support. Please like and share - No, seriously. Hit like right now while you are thinking about it. It will definitely help keep this podcast coming.
I'm Chuck Holton and I'll see you back here tomorrow on the Hot Zone.
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