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US Troops Aren’t Reporting Iraqi Human Rights Abuses
Extrajudicial killings of suspected ISIS members at the hands of Iraqi security forces in Mosul are no secret. But US troops embedded with Iraqi forces have reported only a handful of possible human rights violations, none as serious as what human rights groups and news reports say have taken place.
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At Least Sean Spicer Held Briefings. His Pentagon Counterpart Hasn’t.
In the six months of the Trump administration, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has appeared before television cameras in the Pentagon briefing room only twice. It’s just another sign of the decreasing information available on US war efforts.
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Sean Spicer Has Resigned
And Trump just hired a new communications director, Anthony Scaramucci.
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The US Is Furious Turkey Published Location Of US Troops In Syria
A senior State Department official tells BuzzFeed News that the US has raised “strong concerns” to senior Turkish officials after a report details the location and numbers of US troops in Syria.
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Trump Administration "Paralyzed" Over Russia
The problem isn’t only whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia, but how the US government wants to deal with Russia — as a friend or as a foe. Until that’s clear, fixing a strategy is all but impossible.
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Looking For Details On Syria Ceasefire? Don’t Ask US Military.
President Trump hailed the new US–Russia ceasefire in Syria as a success on Sunday. But Pentagon officials on Monday said they knew nothing about how the ceasefire was being monitored or enforced.
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Iraq’s Prime Minister Has Declared The "Liberation" Of Mosul From ISIS
Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been displaced and traumatized in the nine-month operation to retake the city.
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The War In Afghanistan Just Got Harder To Follow In Real Time
The US commander in Afghanistan will no longer issue an initial statement within hours of a US combat death. Instead, deaths will be announced by the Pentagon 24 hours after family members have been notified.
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It’s Too Soon To Declare Victory Over ISIS. Iraq Did It Anyway.
The Iraqi government’s declaration that ISIS had been expelled from Iraq goes against both the current situation on the ground in Mosul and the experience other Iraqi cities freed have gone through.
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Why Does The Syrian Government Keep Looking To Use Chemical Weapons?
Deir Ezzor and the suburbs of Damascus are among the areas the Pentagon and outside observers believe would be prime targets should Assad defy the White House’s warning.
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The White House’s Warning To Syria Was Kept Close — But Not From Russia
The Trump administration has yet to make clear whether the late night warning to Damascus was part of a new policy on chemical weapons use.
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White House Says Syria May Be Preparing Another Chemical Attack, Warns Assad Will "Pay A Heavy Price"
On Tuesday, a Pentagon spokesperson said that there was evidence the regime was possibly preparing to use chemical weapons. But many in the department were left in the dark ahead of the White House statement.
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The US Military Probably Won’t Meet Its Deadline To Fully Integrate Transgender Troops
The Army and Air Force want two more years before they fully include transgender recruits in their ranks, BuzzFeed News has learned. The Marine Corps wants another year.
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Tillerson And Mattis Say China Needs To Do More Than “Try” On North Korea
The secretaries of state and defense had tougher words than their boss following a meeting with their Chinese counterparts in Washington on Wednesday.
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The US Says It Doesn’t Want To Fight Syria — But It Keeps Fighting Syria Anyway
The US and its allies used to fight against ISIS in eastern Syria in relative isolation. Now the Syrian government, Russia, and Iran are all pressing in closer, raising the chance of a miscalculation.
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Russia Says It’s Killed ISIS’s Leader, But The Pentagon Isn’t So Sure
A claim from the Russian military that it killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi two weeks ago has been met with intense skepticism inside the Pentagon.
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Trump Has Handed The Keys To Afghanistan Over To The Pentagon
Critics worry that the new authority given to Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis shows a president with very little interest in actually commanding his armed forces.
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The Pentagon Doesn’t Expect Qatar To Revoke Access To A Base That Hosts 10,000 US Troops
“They need us as much as we need them,” a US official told BuzzFeed News.
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The Big Showdown Over ISIS’s Capital Probably Won’t Be The Final Battle
Capturing the Syrian city of Raqqa, ISIS’s self-declared capital, has been the US military’s goal for years. But as the battle begins, the strategic importance of the city may not be what it once was.
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Infighting Is Plaguing The Anti-ISIS Coalition
Donald Trump tried to bring US allies together in his trip to the Middle East. Now the Saudis, Egyptians, Qataris, Emiratis, Turks and Germans can’t stop fighting.
