Iraq War

NEW DAWN UNDERGROUND: NEW NOVEL BY LOCAL AUTHOR AMANDA MATTI

By Miriam Raftery

 

August 2, 2020 (El Cajon) – El Cajon author Amanda Matti’s latest novel, New Dawn Underground, is now available on Amazon and Kindle at bit.ly/NewDawnUnderground.

 

“If you'd like a signed copy, you can order those from my website at AmandaMatti.com,”says Matti, the author of three books, all set in Iraq.

 

New Dawn Underground is a counter-terrorism thriller about Elora Monro, a female CIA analyst who poses as a Washington Post journalist to infiltrate a terrorist organization in Iraq. She seeks revenge after the death of her fiance, a Delta Force member killed in a failed militant raid.


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HUNTER DRAWS FIRE FOR ADMISSIONS HE SHOT AT CIVILIANS AND POSED WITH DEAD IRAQI SOLDIERS

By Miriam Raftery

Photo:  Duncan D. Hunter, right, via Duncan D. Hunter for Congress campaign

June 2, 2019 (San Diego) – Republican Congressman Duncan D. Hunter is drawing fire for admitting that he fired at civilians in Iraq while serving combat duty with the Marines, also posing with corpses of dead enemy combatants.

Hunter has been vocal in his public support of Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward Gallagher, a San Diego-based Navy Seal charged with war crimes including shooting at civilians and fatally stabbing a young wounded prisoner, then posing with the corpse.

During a town hall meeting in Ramona over Memorial Day weekend, Hunter stated that Gallagher “did one bad thing that I’m guilty of too –taking a picture of the body and saying something stupid,” Times of San Diego reported, posting an audio recording.

Hunter doubled down on those remarks during a later taped interview with the online site Zero Blog Thirty, in which he stated, “So, I was an artillery officer and we fired hundreds of rounds into Fallujah, killing probably hundreds of civilians,” adding, “probably killed women and children if there were any left in the city when we invaded. Do I get judged, too?”

As for the charges Gallagher faces of murdering a teenage ISIS fighter who had been brought in for medical treatment, Hunter told Zero Blog Thirty, ““I frankly don’t care if he was killed. I just don’t care.” He added that even if Gallagher did stab the wounded prisoner to death, he still “deserves a break”, indicating Gallagher should not be held accountable for violating the Military Code of Justice.

Barstool Sports, which publishes the Zero Blog Thirty podcast, released a statement Sunday calling Hunter’s rhetoric “horrific.”


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IRAQ VIDEO: BEFORE THE WAR

 

East County News Service

July 2, 2014 (San Diego's East County) -- Ben Kalasho, president of the East County Chaldean-American Chamber of Commerce, has posted a video on his Facebook page to show what Iraq was like before the war and the violence currently tearing the nation apart.  He writes,

"A lot of people always ask me what IRAQ was like before U.S. intervention. I always hear the same things; Was it all desert? Was it hard to live there? Was it safe? Was it clean? Sometimes I wondered if they thought we were nomads living in tents. Perhaps even huddled on a sidewalk somewhere begging for change.

I am glad to see this video being made. For those who have never been to IRAQ pre U.S. occupation, this should serve as a great visual tool." 


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RANKING MEMBER OF HOUSE VETERANS AFFAIRS COMMITTEE AND SAN DIEGO IRAQ VETERAN CHALLENGE ROMNEY’S RECORD ON VETERANS ISSUES

 
June 4, 2012 (Washington D.C.) – Presidential candidate Mitt Romney voted to slash veterans benefits while Governor of Massachusetts and has proposed changes at the federal level that could be harmful to veterans. That’s the message sent to media this week by the Truman Project, a national security leadership organization based in Washington D.C. 

 


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AFTER EIGHT YEARS OF WAR, WHAT DO IRAQIS THINK?

 

San Diego’s East County is home to the largest population of Iraq War refugees in the U.S. and the second largest Iraqi immigrant population the nation. In a special assignment for East County Magazine, Nabil Taha interviewed local Iraqis and also translated Iraqi TV reports to learn Iraqis’ views on withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

By Nabil Taha


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BREAKING NEWS: IRAQ WAR ENDS—ALL TROOPS TO COME HOME BY YEAR’S END


President also rolls out jobs plan for returning veterans


October 21, 2011 (Washington D.C.) – It’s going to be a merry holiday season for the families of 39,000 U.S. service men and women in Iraq.

 


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BOOK REVIEW: VICTORY IN IRAQ: HOW AMERICA WON

 

Victory in Iraq: How America Won
By Duncan L. Hunter. Columbus, MS. Genesis Press. 2010. 433 pages. Illustrations, end notes, and index. $19.95

Reviewed by Walter Hall

 

“The community of America’s military folks, active and retired, are at once a national resource and a national treasure.”  --Former Congressman and Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Duncan L. Hunter

 

December 14, 2010 (San Diego's East County)--The title of this book will delight many and annoy many others – who will likely pass it by. That’s too bad. Because at heart this is a tribute book. And a timely one. The setting is Iraq, but the subject is American grit, talent, innovation, and occasionally plain, raw courage. The ham-handed title is a distraction.


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FORMER REP. HUNTER TO SIGN COPIES OF HIS NEW BOOK DEC. 18 IN LA MESA

 

December 7, 2010 (La Mesa) – Former Congressman Duncan Hunter (father of the current Congressman) is the author of a new book, Victory in Iraq: How America Won. He will be signing copies of his book on Saturday, December 18 from 3-6 p.m. at Maxwell’s House of Books at 8285 La Mesa Blvd. in La Mesa.


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LOCAL IRAQI CHRISTIANS MOURN LOSS OF THOSE KILLED IN MASSACRE AT BAGHDAD CHURCH

 

MONDAY PROTEST DOWNTOWN JOINS GLOBAL EFFORT TO HALT GENOCIDE OF 

CHRISTIANS IN IRAQ AMID ESCALATING VIOLENCE


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REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT: A SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SNAPSHOT

 

By Christine Seisun

 

As a San Diego native, I was quite surprised to discover that my hometown had just last year surpassed Los Angeles to become the nation’s number one refugee resettlement location.


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1,800 DISABLED, ELDERLY REFUGEES LOCALLY TO LOSE FEDERAL BENEFITS



Aide workers voice fears over impact of cuts on East County’s growing refugee population; San Diego’s Congressional representatives have thus far declined to take action to extend benefits

 

By Miriam Raftery

 

August 3, 2010 (San Diego) – Over 3,800 disabled and elderly refugees who came to the U.S. legally, all victims of persecution or torture, have been notified that they will lose Supplemental Security Income (SSI) on October 1st. Those slated to lose benefits include about 1,800 Iraq War refugees living in East County.

 

“They don’t have any other income. They want to find work and they can’t. They are too old and too sick,” said Joseph Ziauddin, president of the East County Refugee Center in El Cajon. Ziauddin estimates that there are around 40,000 Iraqis now living in East County.  Asked how many of East County’s Iraqis are currently refugees, he replied, “Ninety percent.”


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SURVIVOR RECALLS HARROWING ESCAPE FROM SADDAM HUSSEIN’S SECRET POLICE PRISON



By Miriam Raftery

August 4, 2010 (El Cajon ) – Joseph Ziauddin, president of the East County Refugee Center, rolls up his sleeve to reveal deep scars on his forearm acquired during a daring escape. “This saved my life,” said Ziauddin, who said he was thrown in jail and tortured daily for three months because he loaned money to a friend who opposed Saddam Hussein, then president of Iraq. “I am the only one who fled from the secret police prison.”

Today, he dedicates his life to helping fellow refugees, teaching English classes at the Refugee Center. He has funded his efforts out of his own pocket, he said, but seeks help for the growing number of refugees in East County. Many of them, like himself, have endured torture or other horrors.


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BOOK REVIEW: BAREFOOT IN BAGHDAD


Barefoot in Baghdad, By Manal M. Omar (Sourcebooks, Naperville, Illinois, 2010, 242 pages.)

 

Book Review by Dennis Moore


Barefoot in Baghdad is a Muslim American Woman’s Story of Struggle, Sisterhood, and Love in the Chaos of Iraq

 

July 29, 2010 (San Diego) -- Manal M. Omar, author of Barefoot in Baghdad, an international aid worker from an Arab and Muslim heritage, has provided valuable first-hand insights into events a world away following the 9/11 World Trade Center disaster. One of the book's major characters is now a prominent member of San Diego's Iraqi community.


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READER'S EDITORIAL: TOXIC EXPOSURE TO OUR VETERANS


"How many of our returning troops and civilians are suffering from environmentally induced cancers? Unfortunately, the VA stopped reporting cancer cases in some state registries including California..."

 

By Tracy Emblem

 

July 12, 2010 (San Diego's East County) -- The Iraq and Afghanistan wars have created toxic environments. In April, the Department of Veterans Affairs reported in an environmental hazards training directive: "Exposure to open burn pits has created significant concern among veterans and their families."


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EDITORIAL: SEVEN YEARS!

 

 

 

By Fernando Suarez del Solar

 

Seven years have passed since the darkest day of my life. On March 27, 2003, my son Jesús died in an unnecessary war against the Iraqi people.

 


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