About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 27, 2018)
TODAYS TOP HEADLINES The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Thursday, December 27, 2018 3A IRAQ Trump makes surprise US troop trip ANDREW HARNIKI Associated Press President Donald Trump kisses first lady Melania Trump during a hanger rally at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, Wednesday, Dec. 26. BY DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press AL-ASAD AIRBASE, Iraq — In a surprise trip to Iraq, President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria where they have been helping battle Islamic State militants. “We’re no longer the suckers, folks,” Trump told American ser vicemen and women at a base in western Iraq. “We’re respected again as a nation.” Trump said it’s because of U.S. military gains that he can withdraw 2,000 forces from Syria. During his first visit to a troubled region, Trump also said he has no plans to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq. “I made it clear from the begin ning that our mission in Syria was to strip ISIS of its military strong holds,” Trump told troops clad in fatigues at al-Asad Airbase west of Baghdad. “Eight years ago, we went there for three months and we never left,” he said. “Now, we’re doing it right and we’re going to finish it off.” He said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has agreed to take out “any remnants” of IS left in Syria. The U.S. presence in Syria was not meant to be “open-ended,” he said, adding that other wealthy nations should pay for rebuilding Syria. “The nations of the region must step up and take more responsibil ity for their future,” said Trump, who said there would be a “strong, deliberate and orderly withdrawal” of U.S. forces from Syria. Trump’s trip to Iraq came a week after he stunned his national secu rity advisers by announcing the U.S. troop withdrawal from Syria. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis abruptly resigned following the announcement, and Trump’s deci sion rattled allies around the world, including in Iraq. Trump’s trip was shrouded in secrecy. Air Force One flew over night from Washington, landing at an airbase west of Baghdad under the cover of darkness Wednes day evening. It is his first visit with troops stationed in a troubled region. Fifteen years after the 2003 inva sion, the U.S. still has more than 5,000 troops in Iraq supporting the government as it continues the fight against remaining pockets of resis tance by the Islamic State group. IS has lost a significant amount of territory in Iraq and Syria but is still seen as a threat. Trump, who speaks often about his support for the U.S. military, had faced criticism for not yet visit ing U.S. troops stationed in harm’s way as he comes up on his two-year mark in office. He told The Associ ated Press in an interview in Octo ber that he “will do that at some point, but I don’t think it’s overly necessary.” He later began to sig nal that such a troop visit was in the offing. Trump had planned to spend Christmas at his private club in Florida, but stayed behind in Wash ington due to the shutdown. It’s unclear whether his trip to Iraq was added after it became appar ent that the government would be shut down indefinitely due to a stalemate between Trump and congressional Democrats over the president’s demand for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Adding to the tumult, the stock market has been experiencing heavy losses over concerns about a slowing global economy, Trump’s trade war with China and the presi dent’s public slamming of the Fed eral Reserve and its chairman over interest rate hikes by the indepen dent agency. Trump’s visit comes at a time when his Middle East policy is in flux. He went against the views of his top national security advisers in announcing the Syria withdrawal, a decision that risks creating a vac uum for extremists to thrive. There are dire implications in particular for neighboring Iraq. The Iraqi government now has control of all the country’s cities, towns and villages after fighting its last urban battles against IS in December 2017. But its political, military and economic situation remains uncertain, and the country continues to experience sporadic bombings, kidnappings and assas sinations, which most people attri bute to IS. Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul- Mahdi recently said Iraqi troops could deploy into Syria to protect Iraq from threats across its borders. Iraq keeps reinforcements along its frontier to guard against infiltration by IS militants, who hold a pocket of territory along the Euphrates River. Trump campaigned for office on a platform of ending U.S. involve ment in foreign trouble spots, such as Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. The Syria decision will ultimately affect all of the approximately 2,000 troops deployed in the war-torn country. The Pentagon is also said to be developing plans to withdraw up to half of the 14,000 American troops still serving in Afghanistan. During the presidential cam paign, Trump blamed Democrat Hillary Clinton for the rise of IS, due to the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq at the end of 2011 during her tenure as secretary of state. President George W. Bush is the one who set the 2011 withdrawal date as part of an agreement with the Iraqi government to gradually shrink the U.S. footprint and slowly hand off security responsibilities to the government and Iraqi security forces. His successor, President Barack Obama, wanted to leave a residual force in Iraq to help the govern ment manage ongoing security challenges. But he ultimately went ahead with the scheduled pullout in 2011 after Iraqi’s political leaders rejected terms the U.S. sought for legal protections for the U.S. troops that would have remained. ANDREW HARNIK I Associated Press The Capitol building is visible as a man who declined to give his name picks up garbage and stacks it near a trash can during a partial government shutdown on the National Mall in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 25. President signals no end to government shutdown BY DARLENE SUPERVILLE AND JULIET LINDERMAN Associated Press WASHINGTON — A shutdown affecting parts of the federal government appeared no closer to resolu tion Wednesday, with Presi dent Donald Trump and congressional Democrats locked in a hardening stand off over border wall money that threatens to carry over into January. Trump vowed to hold the line, telling reporters as he flew to Iraq that he’ll do “whatever it takes” to get money for border secu rity. He declined to say how much he would accept in a deal to end the shutdown, stressing the need for border security. “You have to have a wall, you have to have protec tion,” he said. The shutdown started Saturday when funding lapsed for nine Cabinet-level departments and dozens of agencies. Roughly 420,000 workers were deemed essen tial and are working unpaid, while an additional 380,000 have been furloughed. While the White House was talking to congressio nal Democrats — and staff talks continued on Capitol Hill — negotiations dragged Wednesday, dimming hopes for a swift breakthrough. With no deal at hand, members of the House were told there would be no votes on Thursday, assuring the shutdown would last yet another day. Lawmakers are away from Washington for the holidays and have been told they will have 24 hours’ notice before hav ing to return. The Senate is slated to come into session Thursday afternoon. Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, a Trump ally who has been involved in the talks, said the president “is very firm in his resolve that we need to secure our bor der.” He told CNN, “I don’t know that there’s a lot of progress that has been made today.” But he added of Demo crats: “If they believe that this president is going to yield on this particular issue, they’re misreading him.” The impasse over gov ernment funding began last week, when the Sen ate approved a bipartisan deal keeping government open into February. That bill provided $1.3 billion for border security projects but not money for the wall. At Trump’s urging, the House approved that package and inserted the $5.7 billion he had requested. On Friday afternoon, a Senate procedural vote showed that Republicans lacked the 60 votes they’d need to force the mea sure with the wall funding through their chamber. That jump-started negotiations between Congress and the White House, but the dead line came and went without a deal. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer of New York on Saturday said fund ing for Trump’s wall will “never pass the Senate.” “So President Trump, if you want to open the gov ernment, you must abandon the wall, plain and simple,” Schumer said. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is in lockstep with Schumer against the wall funding. If the shut down continues into 2019, she has vowed that her new Democratic majority will act quickly to pass legislation reopening the government. The shutdown has been playing out against the back drop of turmoil in the stock market, which is having a roller-coaster week. EARLY DEADLINES FOR NEW YEARS DAY Because of the upcoming New Years Day holiday The Times will alter its advertising and legals deadline as follows: Retail Display Ads Publication Date Deadline The Times Wednesday 1/2 Friday, 12/28 Thursday 1/3 Friday, 12/28 Publication Classified Line Ads Date Deadline The Times Wednesday 1/2 Friday, 12/28 @ 3pm Publication Legal Ads Date Deadline The Times Wednesday 1/2 Wednesday, 12/26 @ 5pm Thursday 1/3 Wednesday, 12/26 @ 5pm She Sfmes gainesvilletimes •com will be CLOSED Tuesday, January 1st, in observance of New Years Day Deaths of migrant children raise doubts about US border agency BY NOMAAN MERCHANT Associated Press HOUSTON — The deaths of two migrant children in just over two weeks raised strong new doubts Wednesday about the ability of U.S. border authorities to care for the thousands of minors arriving as part of a surge of families trying to enter the country. An 8-year-old boy iden tified by Guatemalan officials as Felipe Gomez Alonzo died in U.S. cus tody at a New Mexico hospital on Christmas Eve after suffering a cough, vomiting and fever, authorities said. The cause is under inves tigation, as is the death Dec. 8 of another Guate malan child, 7-year-old Jakelin Caal. “There is a real failure here that we all need to reckon with,” said incom ing Rep. Veronica Esco bar, a Democrat elected last month to represent El Paso in Congress. “We need to know how many other Jakelins and Feli pes there have been.” Felipe had been detained by U.S. border authorities for a week and moved between facilities with his father, officials said. The last place the boy was held — after the first of two visits to the hospital on the day he died — was a highway checkpoint in New Mexico. By its own regulations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection is supposed to detain people for no more than 72 hours before turning them over to other govern ment agencies responsible for long-term detention. CBP facilities are typically spar tan, with food, water and blankets but often no medi cal professionals, teachers or some of the other resources longer-term detention cen ters offer. Similarly, Jakelin was first held with her father at a small base in rural New Mexico that did not have running water, according to Democrats who visited it after the girl’s death. The U.S. government’s system for detaining migrants crossing the bor der is severely overtaxed. Authorities would not say how many children CBP is now holding. But the U.S. is seeing a sharp rise in fami lies with children. Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen on Wednes day blamed “a system that prevents parents who bring their children on a danger ous illegal journey from fac ing consequences for their actions.” Her department argues that it must detain more people to discourage other Central American families from trying to migrate. In the wake of the deaths, Nielsen asked the Coast Guard to study CBP’s medi cal programs and announced a “more thorough” assess ment of all children who enter the agency’s custody. Auto Insurance Specialist • Easy Payments • Any Driver • Any Age NEW LOCATION! 2415 OLD CORNELIA HWY., GAINESVILLE Next to Rabbittown Cafe 770-450-4500 Call Wolfman Charlie to keep you warm this winter! 835 Oak Street, Gainesville, Georgia http://lanier-hvac.net/ 678-943-1351 o LRNIER HVOC SERVICES WE STRIVE TO SERVE YOU
