Trump’s falsehood about terror and the press; Services want $30B more in 2017; Suicide bomber hits Kabul; Russia orders more inflatable tanks; and just a bit more...
Big, beautiful ships and planes are coming to the U.S. military, if President Trump can deliver on promises made to troops yesterday at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, home of Special Operations Command and the headquarters of Central Command, both of which are very much invested in the fight against the Islamic State group throughout the violence-plagued Middle East. But the remarks that drew the most attention Monday concerned what the president sees as a deliberate effort to suppress Islamic extremists’ terrorist attacks across Europe. “All over Europe it's happening,” Trump said. It's gotten to a point where it's not even being reported. And in many cases the very, very dishonest press doesn't want to report it. They have their reasons, and you understand that.”
Said an administration official: TV “Networks are not devoting to each of them the same level of coverage they once did. This cannot be allowed to become the 'new normal.'”
The Associated Press pushed back on the remarks, writing, “Trump and his team have cited only one example of a deadly terrorist attack anywhere going unreported, the one that didn't happen in Bowling Green, Kentucky.”
That aside, “it's probably true that you haven't heard of every attack on the continent that can be tied to terrorism. Scores if not hundreds happen every year. Many don't rise to the level of an international audience because they cause no casualties, or little or no property damage, or are carried out by unknown assailants for unclear reasons.”
One very good resource, AP reports, is the Global Terrorism Database, maintained by the University of Maryland, and built on media reports. "It lists 321 episodes of suspected or known terrorism in Western Europe alone in 2015. Many are anti-Muslim attacks against mosques, not the brand of terrorism Trump has expressed concern about. Many are attacks undertaken for right-wing or left-wing causes that have nothing to do with Islamic extremism or xenophobic attacks on mosques."
A short while after Trump’s remarks at CentCom, the White House distributed an unedited “list of 78 worldwide attacks it described as ‘executed or inspired by’ [ISIS]. Most on the list did not get sufficient media attention, the White House said, without specifying which ones it considered underreported. Attacks on the list that had high death tolls were given blanket coverage, such as the Brussels bombings in March, the San Bernadino [sic], California, shootings in December 2015, and the Paris attacks in November 2015. Some with a smaller death toll, such as two attacks in Canada that killed one soldier each, also were covered at the time and well known."
Notes AP: "The White House did not point to any examples supporting Trump's contention that terrorist attacks were 'not even being reported.' Less than half of the 78 incidents the White House listed occurred in Europe." More of AP’s fact check can be found here.
Trump’s media criticism drew early fans in Egypt. Read that statement from the foreign ministry over at Reuters, here.
Services bring their wishlists to Capitol Hill: Let’s return to those big, beautiful ships and planes. AP got its hands on informal budget proposals from the Defense Department ahead of today’s testimony by the vice chiefs and the Marines’ assistant commandant on Capitol Hill. The theme of the discussion: the state of the military, sequestration, and how much more the Pentagon wants to add to the $619 billion it will already get in fiscal 2017.
On the wish list: “The Navy's request totals $12 billion in additional spending and asks for 24 F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighters, one San Antonio-class amphibious landing dock ship, and dozens more Sidewinder missiles...The Army is seeking a $8.2 billion "modernization uplift" for a force of 476,000 active-duty soldiers, which is the troop floor mandated by Congress. Nearly $2.2 billion of the total would be spent on new CH-47F Chinook heavy-lift and Apache attack helicopters and 12 Grey Eagle surveillance drones. Another $400 million would go to strengthen soldier training. The Air Force plan outlines $6.2 billion in ‘unfunded priorities.’ including money for five additional F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. The service also wants $225 million to maintain an active-duty force of 322,000 airmen.” And the Marines are requesting an additional $4.2 billion to cover weapons and training, AP reports. Read the rest, here.
And before we leave the services: filling the secretaries’ offices “could take months,” Defense News reported Monday. “Of the roughly 50 Pentagon jobs to be appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, President Trump now has one confirmed — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis — and two identified in the pipeline: Air Force secretary nominee Heather Wilson, a former Republican congresswoman from New Mexico, and Navy secretary nominee Philip Bilden, a private equity manager with dealings in Hong Kong. Both were named in late January.”
But, “complex financial holdings can slow and strain the process,” as shown by the withdrawal of Trump’s pick for Army secretary. “If history is a guide, the exit of Vincent Viola, founder of digital stock trading firm Virtu Financial and owner of the National Hockey League’s Florida Panthers, set back a process that would have already extended into April or beyond, insiders told Defense News.” More here.
From Defense One
Why Is New Jersey Grouping American 'Black Separatists' with ISIS? // CityLab’s Brentin Mock: The state's new terror-group ranking raises more questions than it answers.
Welcome to Tuesday’s edition of The D Brief by Ben Watson and Bradley Peniston. On this day in 1962, President John F. Kennedy banned U.S. trade with Cuba. (Got a tip? Let us know by clicking this link to email us: the-d-brief@defenseone.com.)
Airstrikes have pounded northwestern Syria’s Idlib province, leaving more than two dozen dead in “some of the heaviest raids in three months,” Reuters reports. “Around eight attacks by what witnesses believed to be Russian jets wounded scores of people and leveled several multi-storey buildings in residential areas of the northwestern city,” witnesses and rescue workers said.
The “White Helmets” of Syria’s Civil Defense emergency response units posted imagery of some of the aftermath, and you can find those here.
“Separately,” Reuters writes, “at least four people were killed in air strikes by unknown jets in the town of Arbin in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta, northeast of the capital [where] The Syrian army and pro-government militias have been seeking in recent days to gain new ground.” More here.
After weeks of rumors he was in ill health, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad shared his tepid enthusiasm to the new Trump administration’s desired aggressive approach toward ISIS, calling it “promising.” But, he added, “it's too early to expect anything practical,” SANA state news reported this morning.
Asked about the status of the ceasefire, he said "it's not dead, and it's natural in every cease-fire anywhere in the world, in every war, in any conflict, to have these breaches." That from AP, here.
PsyOps on the cheap in Mosul: “the Iraqi army has no intention of burying [killed] jihadists and hopes as many people as possible will get a good look at their blackened bodies, torn apart by bombs and bullets,” Reuters reported from Mosul Monday. “Iraqi citizens don't seem to mind the gory sight of the bodies,” with people walking past them every day as Mosul begins the work of rebuilding entire neighborhoods pulverized by Islamic State car bombs and U.S.-led air strikes.”
Aside from avoiding a particularly disgusting job, why leave the bodies to the flies on the street? "To stamp out any sympathy that residents may have for the group...as Iraqi forces prepare to expand their offensive against Islamic State from east to west Mosul." Read on here.
The (medical) profiles of ISIS. A trove of ISIS documents recovered in Mosul reveals the group to be not terribly dissimilar from conventional militaries in at least one sense: Troops trying to sham out of combat with doctors’ notes, the Washington Post reports this morning. But that’s not all: “A Belgian militant had a medical note saying he had back pain and would not join the battle. A fighter from France claimed he wanted to leave Iraq to carry out a suicide attack at home. Several requested transfers to Syria. Others just simply refused to fight,” writes Loveday Morris and Mustafa Salim, reporting from Irbil.
"The documents on 14 'problem' fighters from the Tariq Bin Ziyad battalion — made up largely of foreigners — were found by Iraqi forces after they took over an Islamic State base in a neighborhood of Mosul last month...The forms in the file are marked with the year 2015 but appear to have been filled out later as they specify the dates that some of the militants joined, which stretch into 2016. In addition to each militant’s name, country of origin, country of residency, date of birth, blood type and weapons specialties, the documents list the number of wives, children and ‘slave girls’ each had. A photo is also included.”
Notes the Post: “It was not possible to verify the personal information, but Iraqi officers who found the file said they believe it is genuine.” Catch the full story, here.
A suicide attack in the capital of Afghanistan killed at least a dozen people and wounded another 10 this morning, AP reports from Kabul. “The explosion took place near a side door, which is used by the court's employees to leave the building, and not the main entrance. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in the Afghan capital but Taliban insurgents have attacked the top court and its employees in the past, as well as court buildings in the other provinces.”
What damaged that Saudi warship off Yemen on Jan. 30? A video clip obtained by Al Arabiya seems to show that it was a small suicide boat, as Riyadh had said, and not an anti-ship missile, as Iran had claimed. Watch the clip, via Business Insider, here.
Trump hasn’t spoken with China’s leader since becoming president, Quartz notes: “The communication gap has raised eyebrows among China watchers, particularly as tensions between the world’s two biggest economies are mounting over issues including the South China Sea, Taiwan, and trade.”
Meanwhile, Beijing is still reacting to revelations that senior White House advisor Steve Bannon predicted last year that the two nations would go to war in the next decade. China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, said, “Any sober-minded politician, they clearly recognise that there cannot be conflict between China and the United States because both will lose, and both sides cannot afford that.”
Lastly today: The Russian military has reportedly ordered more inflatable weapons, suggesting an increased focus on disguise and deception. The company taking the orders: Rusbana. More, though not a lot (in Russian), here.
For what it’s worth: Defense One’s Patrick Tucker reported in October of the U.S. military’s awareness of these inflatable tanks and jets. The short take: They’re unlikely to fool American satellites—but they could tie up surveillance resources long enough to make a difference on the battlefield. That, here.