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Video: Askar and Asef Askar talk about how they got into MMA and how they hope to destroy the negative stereotypes cast on Arabs and Muslims (Michael Bacos/Medill)

CHICAGO — Askar Askar and his brother Asef were teenagers when they came to the United States from Palestine in 2001 to reunite with their father.

They were bullied in school because of their ethnicity. So Askar’s dad enrolled him in tae kwon do in Chicago, while Asef decided to bulk up by lifting weights until he decided to take a tae kwon do class, too.

Then one day, when walking home from the class, they stumbled across an LA Boxing gym and decided to take up MMA.

“We went in and got our asses whooped the first day,” said Askar. “It was a straight-six-month period of getting destroyed.”
The brothers decided to quit, but one of the coaches berated them, inspiring them to give it another shot.

Years later, they have moved on from beating bullies.

Now, they are moving into the professional ranks.

Askar racked up a 7-2 record in the amateur MMA ranks and won his first professional fight Saturday in Michigan City, Indiana. On the same card, Asef improved to 4-0 as an amateur and retained his Hoosier Fight Club featherweight title.

Being Palestinian, Asef said, is great preparation for MMA.

“Palestinians go through wars everyday,” he said. “We’re some of the toughest people out there.”

Askar has experienced his share of racism during his first few fights for Hoosier Fight Club.

“Every time I walked out, I got booed,” said Askar. “You get that one guy that’s pretty racist and starts yelling, spitting and being judgmental against us. The biggest thing is, you ignore it and prove them wrong in the cage.

“Just because you think a guy with a long beard, long hair and a turban blows up stuff doesn’t mean it’s all of them. I want to prove everyone who thinks we’re a terrorist wrong.”

The Palestinian community in Chicago has thrown its support behind the Askar brothers –including an estimated 500-1,000  fans at their fights in Indiana.

They hope to become so popular that Palestinians will fly to the States to watch them fight.

“Sports helps you fit into American culture,” says Asef. “It shows that just because we’re Arab, we’re doing what everyone else is doing. It’s not like we stick to one thing because we’re from a certain culture or background.”

The famous front man has led the British band Pink Floyd for the past half-century. Now he’s leading a practice session in a room filled with wounded military veterans.

MusiCorps, a music rehabilitation program for recovering armed service members, is seeking to expand beyond the 50 recovering veterans now participating in the MusiCorps Wounded Warrior Band yearly.

Waters is instrumental in the group’s expansion efforts and is vocal about what needs to happen to grow the project.

“What we need,” Waters said in an interview, “is to find a George Soros or someone out there who will give MusiCorps a few million bucks to support this program because it is hugely humane and worthwhile… We ought to be devoting our resources to looking after these men and all people who need our help.”

The program’s founder, composer Arthur Bloom, said music aids wounded warriors in their recovery.

To get them back in a groove, MusiCorps holds practice sessions and performances with accomplished musicians.

Bloom said he too has greater aspirations for MusiCorps, a project that started out as “an experiment” after meeting an injured serviceman at Walter Reed.

The recovering soldier had lost his leg to a roadside bomb, and was worried that he wouldn’t be able to play the drums again.

Bloom said that moment – eight years ago – inspired MusiCorps, the project that has become his “life’s work.”

Tim Donley, a retired Marine corporal, said he’s experiencing the benefits of the program firsthand.

“I’d say something like MusiCorps is saving lives, which I guarantee it has, and I know it has, and I know it still is,” Donley said in an interview, “but that’s that one-liner and it’s corny and people don’t think you mean that.”

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Waters, a singer, songwriter and bassist, is hosting a benefit concert featuring the MusiCorps Wounded Warrior Band on Friday, Oct. 16 at Constitution Hall, to raise money for the program’s future endeavors.

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U.S. forces bombed a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz and killed more than twenty innocent people after Afghan forces called for air support. Gen. Campbell called the airstrike an accident and promises transparency as three separate investigations begin.

Taliban forces also raised concerns after the terrorist organization carried out attacks in the city of Kunduz. These issues will extend the mission as the U.S. seeks a transition into an embassy state in Afghanistan, Campbell said.

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See the full list of 2015 MRE award recipients here.

(Video by Divya J. Verma for the Medill NSJI)

View the full text of the speech here.

U.S. Navy Admiral Harry B. Harris Jr.’s Q&A session with MRE conference attendees:

MRE_Keynote_Q&A from Medill Washington on Vimeo.

(Videos by Divya J. Verma for the Medill NSJI)

On August 14, almost 50 Afghan-Americans gathered outside the Pakistani embassy in Washington, D.C. to protest what they say is Pakistan’s ongoing support of terrorist organizations operating in Afghanistan. The protesters called for the United States Congress to stop funding the Pakistani government and for the Pakistani government to stop supporting terrorism networks operating in Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON — Roughly 50 demonstrators rallied in front of the Pakistani embassy Friday in Washington, D.C., many demanding that Congress stop U.S. financial support of Pakistan, a country that they and others accuse of supporting the Taliban.

“I object to any kind of military support going to Pakistan when they have shown a pattern of behavior that has put American lives in danger by supporting the Taliban either directly or indirectly,” said Bilal Askaryar, an Afghan-American graduate student at American University and the protest’s primary organizer.

The protest’s impetus was the Afghan government’s announcement in late July that the Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, died in a Pakistani hospital in April 2013, according Askaryar. It is almost certain that Omar had lived in hiding in Pakistan, like Osama bin Laden, according to multiple reports.

The protesters, many of whom were Afghan-Americans, also wanted to highlight recent terrorist attacks in Kabul and the recent civilian death toll in Afghanistan.

“[It] is increasingly baffling that we are sending billions of dollars of aid to Pakistan,” Askaryar said.

But a State Department spokesperson in an email noted that the Pakistani military in December successfully targeted Adnan Shukrijumah, a senior al-Qaida leader who was accused of plotting to blow up the New York subway. They also detained and deported to the U.S. Muhanad Mahmoud Al Farekh, an American citizen who was charged with providing material support to terrorists, earlier this year.

The U.S. shares a “common enemy” and a “common cause,” and “stands in solidarity with the people of Pakistan and all who fight the menace of terrorism,” the spokesperson said.

As he stood outside the Pakistani embassy, and in an earlier phone interview, Askaryar argued that Pakistan’s intelligence agencies and military academies are “incompetent” when it comes to dealing with the Taliban. In some cases, he said, he believes officials are complicit with the Taliban because they might know where the Taliban are located, for example, yet do nothing to stop them.

“So instead of the Taliban getting weaker, they manage to retreat across the border and come launch their attacks against U.S. troops and innocent Afghan civilians,” he added.

According to a New York Times report, Pakistan promised Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani that Omar’s successor would not be named on Pakistani soil. Days later in Quetta, however, a new Taliban leader – Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour – was named. Mansour’s deputy comes from the Haqqani network, which is closely linked to ISI, Pakistan’s military intelligence service, according to .

Attacks over a four-day span in the Afghan earlier this month left close to 70 people dead, sparking Ghani to ask Pakistan officials to attack the Pakistan’s Taliban havens.

The United Nation’s mid-year report on Afghanistan found that within the first six months of 2015, the Taliban was responsible for nearly 5,000 civilian casualties, including more than 1,500 deaths.

Pakistan is a top beneficiary of U.S. aid. According to a May 2015 Congressional Research Service report, Pakistan has received more than “$20 billion in economic, security and humanitarian aid, and military reimbursements.”

The U.S., under both the Bush and Obama administrations, has considered a relationship with Pakistan vital to combating terrorism.

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WASHINGTON – Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno holds a press briefing Aug. 12 at the Pentagon before he retires from service.

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President Barack Obama defended the Iran Deal at American University in Washington, D.C. Wednesday. “Now, we have before us a solution that prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon without resorting to war,” he said.

Former Marine P.J. Kellogg is bringing together Crossfit athletes to remember 31 U.S. service members who lost their lives in 2011 when their Chinook helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan.

Kellogg is the general manager of Crossfit MetroCenter in Washington and organized the “31 Hero W.O.D” on Aug. 1 for Uprise Fitness’ three Crossfit gyms. He was inspired to bring the commemorative workout to his own gym after realizing the event honored a mission in which his friend had been killed.

“After losing a friend in the actual happening of the 31 Heroes, I had no idea that there was actually a workout that other gyms and affiliates completed and raised donations for,” Kellogg said. “It means a lot to me because I understand it on a personal level.”

The Boeing CH-47 helicopter was transporting a group of quick-reaction troops, including members of the Navy SEALS, Naval Special Operations personnel, Air Force Special Tactics airmen, National Guard and Army Reserve, when it was shot down. Everyone on board was killed.

“They knew what they were doing when they did it, and they’re heroes for doing it,” Kellogg said. “They didn’t want any recognition. They would probably hate how much they’re missed today because they feel like what they did, even though they lost their lives, was something that’s meaningful to them.”

Athletes who completed the workout remembered these troops, as well as loved ones who had served, to keep them motivated through the 31-minute workout. Kellogg plans to continue hosting the event annually.

“As someone who has been in that field and seen guys selflessly risk their lives for complete strangers is just awe-inspiring,” Kellogg said. “I never will have an excuse not to try my best to participate in these workouts and try to get as many people involved as well.”

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