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The West’s forgotten war

WASHINGTON — As ISIS captures land and headlines and President Barack  Obama pivots toward the Pacific, it can seem understandable that the backwater state of Somalia has received less press than in years past.

As if to remind the United States —and the world— of the serious crisis still unfolding in the Horn of Africa, gunmen linked to the Islamist extremist al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab stormed a university in neighboring Kenya in early April, killing 147, after systematically determining which among the students were Christians.

It is the deadliest attack inside Kenya since the 1998 US embassy bombing carried out on the orders of Osama bin Laden, and one that has many analysts worrying about the power of Islamic extremists in this impoverished corner of the world.

Somalia has been considered a failed state since the early 1990s. Armed opposition to the rule of longtime Marxist strongman Mohamed Siad Barre eventually exploded into civil war in 1986; the situation was exacerbated by food and fuel shortages and famine, which killed hundreds of thousands. The presence of UN and African Union peacekeepers has been largely unable to quell the ongoing violence between various warlords and armed factions.

The failed nation has proved to be fertile ground for hardline Islamist groups like the Islamic Courts Union —which briefly controlled southern Somalia before being driven out by Ethiopian troops— and al-Shabaab (“The Youth”), a jihadist group founded by Soviet-Afghan War veteran Aden Hashi Farah in 2006.

Though Farah was killed by a US airstrike in 2008 —a fate shared by many of al-Shabaab’s “emirs”— the movement continues on. While no longer at the height of its power, the group continues to control wide swaths of the countryside in Somalia’s south. Recent operations —including the Westgate shopping center attack in Nairobi in 2013— indicate that even a weakened al-Shabaab is extremely dangerous.

Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow of foreign policy at the Brookings Institution’s Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence, sees in al-Shabaab an increasingly dangerous and insidious threat.

“Compared to 2009, yes, Shabaab is weaker. But when I look at the issues in terms of security, it’s stagnating and at worst deteriorating,” she said.

Even though al-Shabaab no longer controls many major cities, Felbab-Brown said, the group’s influence is still widely felt. They control many small villages and roads and raise money by extorting travelers. Assassinations continue daily as al-Shabaab seeks to undermine confidence in the weak central government.

Asked about any potential links or similarities between a resurgent al-Shabaab and the more visible Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Felbab-Brown is quick to highlight their differences. While al-Shabaab and ISIS may share some superficial similarities, she says, the Somali group has more in common with the Taliban than the Islamic State. Afghanistan, like Somalia, is a deeply tribal society, and tribal affiliations give al-Shabaab the resources it needs to thrive. And like the Taliban, al-Shabaab practices a “politics of exclusion” meant to disempower certain clans and religious minorities, a practice that suggests a preoccupation with local politics, not global jihad.

While both al-Shabaab and ISIS operate like Islamic armies, their aims and ideologies are different. According to Felbab-Brown, al-Shabaab seems to limit its horizons to Somalia specifically. Unlike the Nigerian Boko Haram, the Southeast Asian Jemaah Islamiyah and the Filipino Abu Sayyaf, al-Shabaab has not pledged allegiance to ISIS “caliph” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and shows little enthusiasm for a unified caliphate in their propaganda videos.

“They are struggling with the relationship they have with ISIS and al-Qaeda,” Felbab-Brown said.

Though there is some fear that foreign fighters trained by al-Shabaab may launch attacks in the West, such instances are few and far between, with most international jihadis flocking to ISIS. The real danger of al-Shabaab, Felbab-Brown said, is the possibility that the group will extend its reach. From bases inside Somalia, the jihadi group has ready access to East African countries —many of them US allies— that have so far been spared from the scourge of Islamist violence. Western embassies might also find themselves targeted.

As al-Shabaab regroups, the international community seeking to rebuild Somalia faces new challenges. Beside Islamic extremists, the UN and AU must contend with widespread corruption, an unpopular leadership, militant separatist groups, Ethiopian and Kenyan proxy forces and an unstable economy. For its part, the US has limited its involvement in Somalia as of late. Though the United States occasionally conducts drone strikes against al-Shabaab, fear of upsetting the delicate peace process and killing civilians means that drones are used less liberally there than in Yemen and Pakistan.

Experts like Felbab-Brown are urging the international community to take a new approach: hold Somalia accountable for governmental failures, even if that means confronting allies. Such steps are needed, they say, if ordinary Somalis are to see the government as a legitimate alternative to al-Shabaab.

“They [al-Shabaab] are not good governors. But Somalis often choose between the lesser of two evils,” Felbab-Brown said.

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Iraqi Christians forgotten as ISIS threat grows

WASHINGTON—Amid the furor currently surrounding the Islamic State group, the US has remained more or less on the sidelines. There are no coalition boots on the ground, Western, Gulf Arab or otherwise. Barrel bombs and chlorine gas have been used to call President Barack Obama’s “red line” bluff. Perhaps, as some American officials have argued, this is an Arab war, to be fought and won by Arabs. It must be this way, they say, lest ISIS and its extremist brethren use American soldiers on Arab ground as a recruiting tool.

And while all of this rhetoric plays well with non-interventionists and probably is the wisest policy route, that doesn’t mean that the decision to stand by is easy, especially when one considers the probable fate of one of the region’s oldest peoples, the Christians. Also known as Assyrians or, in some contexts, Chaldeans, many of them have been expelled from their homes in Mosul and northern Iraq.

Assyrians are a Semitic Christian people whose ancient homeland reaches from Turkey to Iran. Their mother tongue is Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus of Nazareth. Because their presence in the Near East predates the Arab settlement of the region, most Assyrians will, with irrepressible pride, tell you that they are the indigenous people of ancient Mesopotamia.

“It goes back a very long time. Assyrians were at the very center of the cradle of civilization,” said Peter Bityou, director of the Assyrian Aid Society of America.

Bityou was born in Iraq and left for the United States in 1982 to look for work as an engineer. Many of his relatives —including his brother— remain in Iraq to this day and have been displaced by ISIS’s ongoing campaign. Since early 2014, Bityou and the AASA have been instrumental in delivering food, water, kerosene, clothing, medicine, gas stoves, generators, mattresses, blankets and other essentials to the refugees struggling to rebuild their lives.

The AASA and other aid groups must help, Bityou said, because no one else will. Assyrians in Iraq have been abandoned by the central Iraqi government and, in general, are not treated well by the Kurdish Regional Government in the north, he said. While the Kurdish peshmerga, or military force, allows Assyrian refugees to cross into their territory, those fleeing violence are not provided with food or other essentials.

“No one is looking out for the Assyrians. That’s why we have to do for ourselves,” Bityou said.

Martin Youmaran, an executive director of the Assyrian American National Federation, sees ISIS’s persecution of Assyrians as part of a larger pattern of racist oppression and disenfranchisement that goes back many hundreds of years.

“In Iraq, the Assyrian people have faced continuous persecution,” Youmaran said.

Historical fact largely supports that narrative. While Assyrians have peacefully coexisted with their Muslim Arab neighbors for centuries, to say that they were treated well would be a conceptual stretch. Under the Seljuqs and the Ottomans, Assyrians were given three options: convert to Sunni Islam, pay a tax (known as jizia) or face expulsion and possible death. Ottoman discrimination against Christians became so severe that, during World War I, the nationalist government killed 1.5 million Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians —all Christian subjects of the empire.

The treatment of Assyrians during the 1960s and 1970s under the Iraqi Ba’ath Party varied widely. Ba’athist ideology stressed secularism and sought to brush aside religious differences in the service of national unity; Islamic extremism was largely kept at bay. Many Assyrians ascended to high levels of power within the Iraqi government, including Tariq Aziz, a former deputy prime minister who was also one of Saddam Hussein’s closest advisors.

Assyrian expressions of ethnic pride however, met with severe repression.

“People will say that under Saddam, Assyrians were not persecuted. But Saddam hanged three Assyrian nationalists,” said Bityou, referring to the executions of Youbert Shlimon, Youkhana Esho Jajo and Yousip Hermis, who were put to death without trials in 1985.

“What can you call that other than persecution?” Bityou asked.

Saddam’s relationship with Iraq’s many ethnic and religious minorities worsened in the late 1980s, when Kurdish peshmerga forces rebelled against the government. Faced with a secession campaign, the government used conventional weapons alongside unidentified chemical agents —most likely the nerve gas sarin mixed with mustard gas— to eradicate entire villages; according to Human Rights Watch, nearly 2,000 Assyrians perished from gas alone.

Iraqi Assyrians fared even worse after the 2003 American invasion. By 2004, Islamic terrorist groups like Ansar al-Islam and al-Qaeda in Iraq were blowing up Assyrian churches and enforcing hardline sharia law on Assyrian Christian communities. Many Assyrians sought refuge in Turkey, Europe, Syria and the United States.

“In 2003, there were 1.2 million Assyrians in Iraq. Today, less than 300,000,” Bityou said.

ISIS has continued the violence instigated by its predecessors, expelling and in some cases kidnapping Assyrians along the Iraqi-Syrian border.

Due to the escalating violence, Youmaran and the AANF are more insistent than ever. Among their most pressing concerns: military intervention against ISIS.

“We want intervention not only from the US but from the UN under Chapter Seven,” Youmaran said, referring to the section of the United Nations Charter that gives the UN Security Council the power to intervene to stop crimes against humanity.

Beyond a foreign offensive against ISIS, Assyrian groups have renewed calls for an autonomous Christian homeland in Iraq’s Nineveh Governorate, known as Nīnwē to the Assyrians.

“We need an internationally protected homeland,” Youmaran said. “We demand that the international community preserve it [the Assyrian homeland in Nineveh], because the Iraqi government cannot.”

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VIDEO: The 3-D-printed arms race

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In May of 2013, the online organization Defense Distributed publicly released the blueprints for a plastic 3-D printed handgun they designed and built. Within two days, the U.S. Department of Defense ordered the group to remove this information, but it was too late. By then, over 100,000 people had downloaded the plans for the single-shot pistol, dubbed the Liberator.

The process of 3-D printing involves the layering of an additive, such as plastic, to create a model based on a digital file. This technology has the potential to revolutionize several industries and sectors, including manufacturing, medical implantation and art, but some are fearing the dangerous implications of 3-D printed firearms.

Last year, Illinois State Senator Ira Silverstein (D-Chicago) and Illinois State Representative Elgie Sims (D-Chicago) proposed respective bills in the Illinois Senate and House that would ban the production of 3-D printed firearms without a Federal Firearms License. Both proposals are active in the Illinois General Assembly.

The current federal law, the Undetectable Firearms Act, outlaws firearms that could go unnoticed by a metal detector. That means a gun must have at least a 3.7-ounce metal component.

However, gun control advocates argue that 3-D printed firearms can be built with a purely superficial metal piece that can be removed and still yield the gun operable. Furthermore, the guns tend to have a short shelf life, making them particularly dangerous.

“They’re not reliable,” said Mark Walsh, program director for the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence. “There are only a certain number of opportunities to fire a bullet before the weapon malfunctions and has the potential to injure the person using it or someone else.”

The Liberator, a plastic 3-D printed gun, disassembled. (Photo: Justin Pickard)

The Liberator, a plastic 3-D printed gun, disassembled. (Photo: Justin Pickard)

Julie Friedman Steele, founder and CEO of the 3-D Printer Experience, a Chicago facility that manufactures 3-D printed objects, disagrees with restrictions placed on the technology.

“The first human innovation was fire, you could either use it for good or you could be an arsonist,” Friedman Steele said. “No matter what innovation it is, you’re going to find people using it for good or using it for bad, but if you take away the ability to use it, then there is so much innovation for good that we won’t be able to access.”

Back in 2013, Philadelphia became the first U.S. city to ban the production of 3-D printed firearms. That same year, the United Kingdom passed strict legislation banning all 3-D printed guns or gun components. Violators in Great Britain could face up to 10 years in prison.

In a city like Chicago that’s no stranger to gun violence, gun control advocates are hoping for similar legislation.

(Editor’s note: This story originally appeared on Medill Reports: Chicago.)

 

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FAA considers support of commercial drone use, with exemptions

The Persistent Aerial Reconnaissance and Communications vehicle system. (Courtesy of CyPhy Works)

The Persistent Aerial Reconnaissance and Communications vehicle system. (Courtesy of CyPhy Works)

 

WASHINGTON—Drones aren’t on their way – they’re already here. But they’re not technically legal, at least not where commercial and hobbyist use are concerned. So what exactly are people hoping to do with them, and how is the government planning to regulate it?

This past February, the Federal Aviation Administration released a set of proposed rules to govern the commercial use of small unmanned aircraft systems under 55 pounds, and then opened a 60-day commentary period. That has expired, but the FAA never set a date for a final version, and experts say the waiting game could last two years, possibly longer.

Meanwhile, unmanned aircraft system technology is advancing at a rapid pace, a fact not lost on Robert Pappas, whose team coordinates Unmanned Vehicle policy for the FAA. He said his office is trying to work with various government agencies and the private sector to ensure drones are used safely, both now and once a final set of rules are released.

The agency’s current priorities, Pappas said, are improving safety requirements and streamlining certifications and exemptions. Not at the top of the list: preventing the tiny unmanned vehicles from being used for illicit surveillance purposes – or even as part of a terrorist attack.

And that’s surprising, considering recent incidents. In the early hours of January 26, an employee of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency crashed an illegal drone onto the White House lawn, completely undetected by radar. What that drone could have done – or carried with it – is something best left to the imagination.

“We’ve seen a rise in UAS operations in the national air space over the last few years,” Pappas said, referencing an existing exemption process which helps the private sector “pursue some potential relief” from the current ban. Pappas grants exemptions to the existing “no commercial use rule” on a case-by-case basis, governed by Section 333 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012.

Speaking at a discussion on civil drone policy sponsored by the Center for Strategic & International Studies in late April, Pappas said that Section 333 demand remains consistently and “remarkably high.”

Pappas said his division has issued close to 250 exemptions in the last seven months alone, and is “now issuing dozens on a weekly basis,” many of them to commercial entities so that they can use UASs for aerial photography, survey and film production.

According to Pappas, the UAS Integration Office is working internationally to develop standards, approaches and frameworks for commercial guidance in light of recent technological advances. “We continue to see new and novel applications” for drone use, Pappas said, including survey and photo capabilities in the real estate and property management sectors. He said he has received exemption requests for aircraft with unusual power sources and rotors, as well as for nighttime operations, which the proposed framework excludes for safety reasons. Permission to operate outside line-of-sight constraints, which currently require that operators maintain visual contact with their drones at all times, is also a frequent request, he said.

In theory, the potential capabilities of drones are infinite, a point made by Brian Wynne, CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, at the CSIS panel. “There are going to be as many devices as you can imagine missions going forward,” he said.

And the FAA’s response to date has been all about flexibility. In a press release timed with the release of the proposed rules, FAA administrator Michael Huerta said, “We have tried to be flexible in writing these rules. We want to maintain today’s outstanding level of aviation safety without placing an undue regulatory burden on an emerging industry.”

Drone advocate Patrick Egan, who helps manage an international organization dedicated to capturing news related to UASs, said that “flexible” doesn’t begin to describe the FAA’s proposed framework and approach. He offered a better word for it: “liberal,” as in accommodating.

Egan, a former consultant with the Space and Missile Defense Command Battle Lab where he worked on future warfare research projects said he was initially surprised by how generous the proposed rules were – even if they aren’t yet final. And from what he’s heard, the drone community feels the same way.

“As a community, we got a gift,” Egan said. “[These rules are] way, way more progressive than we could have really hoped for.” Egan said that in his opinion, the FAA may have even been more generous than they should have, in terms of not instituting formal licensing requirements and granting a weight limit as large as 55 pounds.

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Aviation lawyer: Gyrocopter stunt pilot probably ‘doing time’

WASHINGTON — It’s a balloon! It’s a kite! It’s a … gyrocopter?

The Secret Service completely mistook a blip on their radar systems for an innocent toy last month until it landed on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol. Then they saw it for what it really was: a disgruntled U.S. postal worker from Florida in a one-man flying machine. He had 535 letters with him demanding campaign finance reform – one for each member of Congress.

By then Douglas Hughes, 61, had breached three major no-fly zones, crossing through some of the most protected airspace in the country. And though he had broken federal law, he was admittedly unapologetic, alternately seen as a hero, a crank or an activist.

Last week, things suddenly got far more serious; a federal grand jury indicted Hughes on six criminal counts. Two of them are felonies – flying without a pilot’s license and failure to register an aircraft – and the other four are misdemeanors related to violating national airspace and operating a vehicle falsely labeled as a postal carrier.

Hughes holds another label: alleged criminal.

According to Hughes, his self-proclaimed “Freedom Flight” from Gettysburg to Washington, D.C. on April 15 was part of a longtime protest against existing campaign finance laws. A man on a mission, Hughes said he wanted to raise awareness about corruption on Capitol Hill.

“He’s going to face jail time and he’s going to do it,” said Joe Lamonaca, a Delaware-based attorney specializing in domestic and international aviation law. Lamonaca is not part of Hughes’ legal team, although he has been following the case and believes conviction is likely if it goes to trial.

The fact that Hughes intentionally flew into P-56 airspace, the designation for prohibited airspace surrounding the Capitol and White House, is without question, Lamonaca said. And that airspace belongs to the Secret Service – not the Federal Aviation Administration: “That’s the holy grail of all prohibited airspace in the country.”

“And it’s actually not restricted,” he added. “It’s prohibited – which means no flight under any circumstances.”

A gyrocopter resembles a helicopter, except that its rotating blade is propelled by air flow, rather than an engine. It’s also much lighter, smaller and incapable of hovering the way a helicopter does.

Hughes’ stunt was planned years in advance and widely discussed, and was the subject of interviews with the Tampa Bay Times and at least two Secret Service Agents months before he ever took flight.

So Hughes can’t claim that he lost control of his gyrocopter, took a left instead of a right and wound up at the Capitol, Lamonaca said. Hughes even livestreamed his journey mid-air. What he did was premeditated and that will limit his defense strategy, Lamonaca added.

“He was trying to make a statement for himself,” Lamonaca said. “But I think the government is going to make one the other way.”

With 30 years of experience as a pilot, Lamonaca said he knows why the Secret Service may have mistaken Hughes’ gyrocopter for a toy. It doesn’t have a transponder, which means that Hughes wasn’t sending out a secondary radar signal the way planes do.

“I know what it would have looked like on that radar screen, low flightpath, slow speed,” he said. “He was so low, the signature was almost nonexistent.”

But that’s no excuse, Lamonaca said. The Secret Service should be checking out every signal, using visual spotting to make up the difference: “There are so many different ways [to fly a weapon] and that’s going to require manpower.” Hughes had letters onboard, as opposed to bombs or explosives, but the potential for danger was still there. And the Secret Service either missed it entirely or let it slide – when they let it land.

“Whether it’s drones [or] gyrocopters … they’ve got to start taking them seriously,” he added, in reference to the need for federal security officials to account for new technology. Because a future incident, he said, may up the stakes significantly.

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ISIS’ media plan: Kill one, win one thousand

Journalists are on the front lines covering terrorism. We are unarmed and unprotected. We work mostly alone. We not only work in hostile areas but now we are also the targets of terrorism.

It wasn’t always this way. Richard Engel, chief foreign correspondent for NBC News, noted at a panel discussion on reporting from the frontline at the University of Chicago in May that journalists used to enjoy some protection in hostile environments.

“The rebel groups didn’t like you,” said Engel. “But back then they knew they needed me because I was there to do a story about them and what I said had some sort of impact.”

But the code of conduct has changed. A reporter no longer serves as the messenger. Terrorists can cut out the journalist and go directly to the Internet to deliver their message. Engel believes the change occured because terrorists find journalists frustrating to deal with since they often edited interviews, taking rebels’ words out of context.

We are all familiar with the fate of James Foley as Medill students. He was one of our own, part of our extended family by education and trade. He was abducted while covering the Syrian civil war by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in 2012 and very publicly beheaded in a video that went viral in 2014.

Certainly journalists who cover terrorism on the front line face risks. There is no doubt that an assignment could end up with the story being published about the writer’s death. Yet, journalists can’t allow fear to stop the stories. I’m not advocating anyone put their life in danger for death defeats a journalist’s purpose: To get the story out to others who have the power and resources to make change happen. But we must continue reporting, taking calculated risks, so the world can have a fair and unbiased report of what is truly happening, rather than accept the propaganda terrorists push out as the truth.

Some experts believe that targeting Western journalists as part of an ISIS terrorism campaign is a critical part of its marketing plan to instill fear in journalists and the public.

“Terrorism works in a similar fashion as good advertising and marketing work,” said Angi English, executive director of the Texas Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities, a part of the state’s emergency management division.

English recently graduated from the Masters program at the Naval Postgraduate School and Homeland Security where she studied national security issues. She recently wrote “The Social Influence of the ISIS Beheadings.”

Ken Aucremanne agrees. He formerly worked with the military and is a graduate researcher in social media at American University in Washington D.C. He said killing journalists is ISIS’ way of controlling its message. English adds that beheading journalists and putting the videos on social media can instill fear into the thousands of Americans that ISIS can’t reach directly because it gives them the message that their government can’t protect them.

“Kill one, win a thousand,” said English. “It’s a Chinese proverb. If it is so horrific that it jars our consciousness, our whole psyche, when you do it to one person, people get the message.”

ISIS is both symbolically and physically cutting off information to the West by cutting off journalists’ heads.

ISIS also has gotten extremely sophisticated in the way it uses video and social media. Terrorist groups used to put out shaky, grainy video but no more. ISIS has stolen video techniques from independent filmmakers and the journalists they kill.

“Terrorist organizations, for the most part, they don’t have critical infrastructure and resources to attack other nations,” said English.

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Screenshot of ISIS video on how it produces video.

Instead, they use video and social media as their tools of terror. ISIS creates and shares cinematic videos that people are drawn to, giving the terrorist group an air of credibility.

“Ten or 15 years ago if you wanted to get the whole world to see your vision, you had to send someone to flight school and target the World Trade Center, but today all you need to do is go to film school,” said Aucremanne.

Aucremanne believes ISIS is using video because cameras and equipment are inexpensive and unrestricted in ways that weapons are not. The second video in this Daily Mail article shows ISIS’ behind the scenes video production techniques. Jon Lee Anderson, a correspondent for the New Yorker, said during the frontline reporting panel at the University of Chicago rebels now need fewer tools to be terrorists.

Screenshot of ISIS video on how it produces video.

Screenshot of ISIS video on how it produces video.

“All that is needed to be a terrorist or commit global terrorism is an iPhone, knife and a victim, with that you have your battlefield,” he said. “You have tens of millions of people who are going to see that and be terrorized by it.”

The West focuses on the gruesome and graphic beheading videos, but those are only a small portion of the videos ISIS is releasing. Aucremanne said there are plenty of other videos designed to show ISIS fighters as heroes and instill Pan-Arabic pride that are being distributed through private social media channels.

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First Time on the Front Line: A Rookie’s Guide to Reporting in Ukraine

PHOTOS + TEXT BY JAMES SPRANKLE FOR THE MEDILL NATIONAL SECURITY JOURNALISM INITIATIVE

  • 12/25: A Ukrainian soldier at a checkpoint near Debaltseve. Note the tourniquet next to the radio. He is also wearing a plate carrier with no Kevlar. (Photo Credit: James Sprankle)
    12/25: A Ukrainian soldier at a checkpoint near Debaltseve. Note the tourniquet next to the radio. He is also wearing a plate carrier with no Kevlar. (Photo Credit: James Sprankle)

KYIV, UKRAINE — For the last three months, I have been living in Ukraine and covering the war in Donbass as a photojournalist.

In 2014, after seven years in cable news in Washington, I decided to leave D.C. and start documenting the stories that I was interested in. So, I flew to Juba, South Sudan, with a writer buddy and spent the next two months working around the country. I was hooked.

Upon my return to the states, I got to work on planning a trip to Ukraine. I bought a new professional camera and body armor, and spent hours talking to friends and editors about how I was going to take this next step. I arrived in Kyiv on December 10. So far, my time in Ukraine has taught me a tremendous amount about … well, all sorts of things. It’s fair to say that I am a beginner in the conflict zone, but even though I’m new to this line of work, I think I’ve learned a few things that could prove valuable to others considering their first trip to a war zone.

PLANNING AHEAD

Before you decide to fly to a conflict zone, it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with where you are going. I started by creating Google News alerts for Ukraine, Russia, Donbass and Donetsk. I get them once a day around noon, but you can customize it to get them every five minutes if you are enthusiastic.

I also reached out to friends in the news business to see if they had any contacts in the region. Those contacts gave me guidance on who to follow on Twitter and what English-language local publications to read because I can’t speak Ukrainian or Russian.

Facebook is one of the best resources for a journalist new to an area. It seems that every country or region has a Facebook group for foreign journalists. Usually, in a private group, people post everything from carpool offers to fixer recommendations. Some are better than others. but Ukraine’s is very helpful.

Learning the history of an area is really important, as well. It makes things much clearer when you’re in the field because people love to explain why what’s happening now is because of something that happened 200 years ago.

WHEN YOU ARRIVE

It has been interesting to see the different types of journalists who come to Ukraine. Some will come for a few days or a few weeks, while the news is hot or if they are on an assignment. Others have apartments in Kyiv or near the front lines and have no idea when they will leave. I have actually met a few people who used to live in Moscow and, now that they’ve been in Kyiv since the 2013-2014 Euromaidan demonstrations (which ousted former President Viktor Yanukovych) have decided to make it their new base of operations.

I chose to rent a cheap apartment in Kyiv. It only costs about $10 to take the train from Kyiv to towns near the front. It can be hard to find places, but if you know anybody on the ground or are a member of a local journalist social networking group, you likely can get help.

WORKING IN THE WAR ZONE

Accreditation:

Before you cover anything, it is prudent to get all of the official media accreditation you can. To work in East Ukraine, which the government has labeled the ATO or Anti-Terrorist Operation zone, you need to first be accredited through the state security office, the SBU. After that, the government requires anyone going into the ATO to have an ATO card.

The same goes for the pro-Russian self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk (DNR) and Luhansk (LNR). They both require journalists to apply for press credentials before covering anything. I have yet to travel to Luhansk, but the DNR press office is located in the Regional Administration building in Donetsk city center. It’s a painless process that only takes about 15 minutes. When I was working in Donetsk in January of this year, I was stopped many times at checkpoints and would have been detained if I didn’t have my DPR press credentials.

Also keep in mind that they require a separate military press credential needed to cover any stories involving the military. Always check with the other journalists about which credentials are required for what.

Getting there:

I knew where I wanted to go, but didn’t know how to get there. My first trip to the ATO zone was a week after I arrived in Kyiv. A Ukrainian friend helped me get on a Ministry of Defense press trip to Debaltseve. Things were relatively calm at that point, and the military wanted to show off to the press how well it was maintaining a ceasefire. We traveled in armored personnel carriers and were only let out and allowed to photograph for about 30 minutes at a time. All in all, it was not a very enlightening trip, but it was a nice way to ease into it.

The second time was about a week later. I had met a British journalist who had been living in Kyiv and covering the political situation there since the Euromaidan demonstrations. We planned what were supposed to be a few day-long excursions that ended up being three weeks. Along with a Polish writer and a Ukrainian videographer, we made the 10-hour drive to the East. I would again be visiting the town of Debaltseve, but, this time, I could see everything and stop to photograph anything I’d wanted.

The last time I went out, I hitched a ride with Ukrainian volunteers who were distributing supplies and medical aid to military units all along the front line.

I now feel comfortable enough to travel on my own, but for the first few times, it was a good idea to convoy with others who were more familiar with the area. It also makes the travel cheaper.

Checkpoints:

Military and police checkpoints are a ubiquitous part of covering the conflict in Ukraine. They are usually made of concrete slabs and detritus, and manned by national border guards, the military or some iteration of police. The closer you drive = to the front lines, the more of them you’ll have to go through.

First off, they are usually nothing to worry about. Do you have your government accreditation? OK. Did you stash the opposing side’s credentials in your backpack? Cool, nothing to worry about. Your best tools for success are usually a good attitude and some cigarettes.. A little football talk in broken Russian doesn’t hurt either.

If you do get detained for some reason, don’t freak out. It’s really important to remain calm and not be combative. There are also ways you can gauge how much trouble you are in. If they let you use the toilet or offer you tea or cigarettes, I wouldn’t sweat it. There are a lot of eyes on Ukraine, and both sides consider receiving international attention for the torture or death of a foreign journalist as bad for the cause. But that’s not to say that it couldn’t happen.

Another useful thing to know about checkpoints is that they are targets. They do get shelled, and the closer they are to the front line, the more likely that is. Of course, the probability changes according to the ebb and flow of fighting, but this is something you need to keep in mind. Prepare yourself mentally for that possibility. I wear my body armor whenever I travel from one front line to the other.

Money:

There are banks everywhere, and most of those banks have ATMs. As long as you are on the Ukrainian side of the front lines, you should be able to withdraw money. Ukraine and the separatist regions are, for the most part, cash economies. You’ll be paying your fixers, drivers and roadside babushkas selling pastries in cash.

A few things to keep in mind about having enough cash: In Kyiv, this is no problem, but when you are outside of the big city ATMs will sometimes run out of cash over the weekend. Make sure you withdraw as much as you will need to get you through the weekend.

Watch the currency fluctuations! The value of the Hryvnia changes all the time. When I arrived in December, the exchange rate was about 15 Hryvnia to the dollar. At one point in February, it jumped up to about 35 to the dollar, and, now, it seems to have leveled off at around 25. Watching these rate changes can save you a considerable amount of money.

Some places you will travel to will not have a legitimate financial system. There are no working ATMs or banks in the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. Bringing in dollars or euros isn’t a bad idea because you will get the most bang for your buck.

Fixers and drivers:

Even a great journalist needs a fixer or driver sometimes. They are an indispensible asset on your quest for good stories and access. Fixers can be very expensive, but prices fluctuate according to demand, and you can always negotiate a rate. Drivers can be a bit cheaper and usually know all the back roads, as well as how to talk to checkpoint soldiers. Sometimes, you can use you driver as a fixer if the task is not too difficult. Again, one of the best resources for finding these people was using a journalist Facebook site.

When you’ve hired your fixer or driver, it is really important to consider his or her safety when going into a combat zone. Most do not own body armor, and their cars are their only source of income. It is important that you discuss exactly what you want to do and whether they are comfortable doing it. I have run across fixers and drivers who suddenly wanted to head back because they didn’t feel safe. These boundaries are usually determined ahead of time, but you need to respect their safety concerns and either go back or figure out another way to travel. In a way, they are your responsibility. On the other hand, I had a driver who weaved through land mines and dodged unexploded ordinance, all with a smile on his face.

PERSONAL SAFETY

Body Armor:

Purchasing body armor, also known as bulletproof vests and ballistic helmets, was one of the most important things I did before I left for Ukraine. They should be a requirement for any journalist wanting to work on the front lines. There are many different ways of obtaining armor. Sometimes, an employer will provide you with a set. There are also organizations that rent them out to journalists. I decided to purchase my own because I knew exactly what kind of set-up I wanted and that I would be using it for a long timeIt cost me around $800. If you decide to purchase some, I recommend that it not be camouflaged so that you won’t look like a fighter through a sniper’s scope.

Not all body armor is created equal. Some vests only contain a material called Kevlar, others are called plate carriers and some are plate carriers with Kevlar.

What does all this mean and what do they do?

A Kevlar vest is your typical bulletproof vest. It is tried and true, but only rated to stop less-powerful projectiles like pistol rounds and possibly shrapnel, flying bits of metal.

A plate carrier, which I wear, is a vest with a large pouch in the front and another in the back. In these pouches go either metal or composite plates that can be rated to stop more powerful projectiles like AK-47 rifle rounds or larger, faster shrapnel. The best thing to have for Ukraine – since most of the fighting involves things like mortars, artillery and rockets that produce these horrid little shards of shrapnel – is a combination vest with rifle plates on the front and back and Kevlar bits around the neck, groin and sides. It will better protect your heart from big stuff and the other important things from errant bits of flying metal. Don’t leave home without it.

Ballistic helmets are another must-have on any combat journalist’s list. Usually made of some kind of durable composite, they can protect your cranium from all kinds of nasty things. They normally cannot protect against a direct hit from heavy shrapnel or a rifle round, but they can save your life from indirect hits and smaller stuff. Slap a press sticker on it and you are set.

Medical Kits:

Another thing not to leave home without is a medical kit. This little bag, which you can usually fasten to your belt loop or backpack, should contain everything you need to treat a stomach ache or stabilize a gunshot wound. I pack antibiotics, alcohol and iodine wipes, gauze, compression bandages, stool softener, stool hardener and Celox blood coagulant.

A tourniquet is arguably the most important thing in your kit. It is intended stabilize arterial bleeding in a leg or arm by putting so much pressure on the area that blood is no longer able to flow to the wound – or anywhere else, for that matter. I carry two tourniquets. One is in my satchel bag and the other is velcroed to my body armor. It’s important that they are readily accessible and easy to detach. If you or someone with you is wounded in a leg or arm, you will need to apply pressure as soon as possible to prevent further blood loss.

I also carry a chemical blood-clotting compound called Celox. This product is touted as having the ability to clot arterial wounds and is used by militaries and medical professionals all over the world. The stuff is kind of like a glue, which you squirt into a wound with a syringe or pack as a gauze, that will clot any bleeding in the area. A New York Times medical liaison explained to me that a tourniquet cuts off all blood supply to the area, while Celox allows for blood in the undamaged veins and capillaries to keep flowing. What this means is that if you get hit, apply the Celox and stop the arterial bleeding, you might still have the ability to walk or run because the leg is receiving blood. As wonderful as this product is, it should not replace your tourniquet. Just get both.

Close to the Fight:

Journalists covering a war will more than occasionally find themselves in close proximity to explosions and gunfire. Most of my experience with combat centers around being close to mortars, artillery and rocket fire. Of course, I’m always wearing my armor. I also make a point to scope out the scene for any kind of fortification that could protect against shrapnel during a strike. But there’s really not much you can do other than get flat and take cover behind something hard.

Knowing the battle space:

I believe that it’s very important to learn as much as possible about the different weapons systems being used in a particular theatre of war. Not only will that knowledge help you write more accurate news pieces and captions, but weapons can tell a person a lot about battlefield dynamics.

For instance, some weapons, like the T-72b3, have never been operated by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Learning the identifying features of this vehicle and how those features differ from a regular T-72 (which is operated by both sides) can tell a person that there is Russian Federation military equipment in Donbass (H/T Bellingcat).

Knowing the kinds of mortars, rockets systems and artillery pieces being used and a little about blast patterns can give you an idea about from where an attack may have been launched.

Each little bit of information can help a journalist make more sense of the fog of war. I suggest sites like armamentresearch.com and Bellingcat.com. Additionally, if you can get yours hands on a Jane’s Ammunition Handbook or Armour and Artillery, those are wonderfully detailed references.

Similar to many conflicts, Ukraine has its fair share of semi-autonomous volunteer paramilitary groups and militias. On the Ukrainian side, some of the armed groups like the far-right Right Sector were mobilized in the East after taking part in the street fighting of the Euromaidan demonstrations. Similar types of groups exist on the pro-Russian side, as well. Learning about who’s who and their back story can tell a journalist about what certain folks are fighting for and what or who motivates them.

Official Information:

I think the hardest thing for a journalist to deal with in Ukraine is the unreliability of information from government sources. It’s almost impossible to trust the “official” facts and figures about a particular news event. An article by Oliver Carroll writing for The Independent describes this situation perfectly. In January, mortar or artillery rounds landed near a bus stop in the Leninsky Raion (district) of Donetsk city. Donetsk People’s Republic authorities on the ground blamed the attack on pro-Ukraine partisans operating within the city. They never provided any evidence. Later, the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic stated that there had been an artillery strike. But this was contradicted by an American military analyst cited by Carroll who said the blast craters were most likely associated with 120mm mortar bombs. In the end the only thing journalists could be sure of was that civilians had been killed and many of the citizens of Donetsk were furious with the Ukraine government.

Another example is the ongoing propaganda circus surrounding the July 17, 2014, shooting down of Malaysian Airlines flight 17 over east Ukraine. Russia and pro-Russian separatists have blamed the Ukrainian government, while most of the international community has assigned blame to a Russian BUK anti-aircraft missile system operating in separatist held territory. Bellingcat.com has worked to decipher the conspiracy theories and fabricated claims by providing in-depth analysis of open sourced information from places like Facebook, Twitter and VKontakte (Russian Facebook) and cross-checking them using satellite imagery.

For more on James Sprankle, visit his website or follow him on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

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Twentynine Palms: The Best Training (But the Worst Social Life)

  • Pfc. Ryan May on the right with Pfc. Jonathan Saldivar taking a break from heavy artillery training. (Niccole Kunshek/MEDILL)
    Pfc. Ryan May on the right with Pfc. Jonathan Saldivar taking a break from heavy artillery training. (Niccole Kunshek/MEDILL)

 

TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. – Getting stationed in California should sell itself: Sun, sand and mountains. But that’s not the case for some Marines assigned to Twentynine Palms Marine Air Ground Task Force Training Command and Combat Center — an hour northwest of Palm Springs in Southern California.

The base is centrally located between the mountains, ocean, Las Vegas, San Diego and Los Angeles, but all are several hours away. The nearby town of Twentynine Palms – population 26,000 — offers few entertainment options, especially for young Marines without a car.

Some Marines describe Twentynine Palms as a “difficult duty” station because of the limited free-time activities. Others see the isolation as a tradeoff to get the exceptional training offered at the base.

“I did not pick it, but you know you’ll be the best if you go here,” said Pfc. Ryan May, who works with heavy artillery. “So, you can’t really be mad about it.”

May and others said the opportunities to hone their training are almost as boundless at Twentynine Palms as the base itself. It is slightly bigger than Rhode Island, offering Marines the chance to do live fire exercises daily.

“That’s what the Marines like to do: Make things go boom,” said Mike King, a former Marine who served 15 of his 20 years at Twentynine Palms. “You can’t do the things we do here on this base anywhere else so it’s practical application of what they’ve been trained to do.”

The U.S. government created Twentynine Palms in 1949 because more live-fire ranges were needed for training. Many Marines not stationed there often cycle through it for training. The Integrated Training Exercise is a month long program focusing on warfare maneuvers for global operations. Currently, the base is used for pre-deployment training for missions in the Middle East. The desert terrain at Twentynine Palms mimics conditions troops will face in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. Exercises also are conducted in a mock Middle Eastern village on the base.

The size of the base allows Marines to do more than just shoot large guns. The desert space also gives tank units room to practice moving their machines, which can be limited on other bases. Fewer space restrictions give the Marines more opportunity to see how the tanks perform, move and break down.

Tank mechanic Staff Sgt. Adam McPherson chose to be stationed at Twentynine Palms because of the hands-on experience it would provide.

“The tanks get used a lot,” he said. “We go to the field quite often out there and mechanics get that first-hand experience fixing them.”

McPherson believes because there are so many field exercises at the base he has more knowledge about his vehicle than a Marine who has not been stationed at Twentynine Palms.

The base also features the largest urban warfare training center, Range 220, in the Department of Defense, not just the Marine Corps, according to King.

“When you’re talking Range 220 here in Twentynine Palms, 1,500 buildings compose the size of about downtown San Diego. There’s no other place on the planet you can get this type of training.”

But after the training ends, the boredom begins – at least for some Marines. Most are males between the ages of 19 and 24, according to King. About 7,000 of the 10,500 Marines are single, said Capt. Justin Smith, the base’s public affairs officer. Drive around the city of Twentynine Palms and you will find many tattoo parlors and barbers, but you will not see any of the strip parlors that cater to many other military bases.

“Twentynine Palms, the city itself, is more family-oriented,” said King.

With limited entertainment options round the base, boredom can drive Marines to extremes. There is a saying at Twentynine Palms: Marines either become drinkers, gym rats or find religion.

Capt. Jonathan Zarling admitted single Marines can struggle with their social lives.

“You’ve got to travel to it,” he said. “Single guys on the weekend are usually wondering, ‘What do I do?’”

“We have each other out here to hang out with,” said Cpl. Jacob Evans. “We’ll just hang out at each other’s houses and grill, have a few drinks.”

For some, the desert has advantages for entertainment.

“I actually enjoy it because I’m a dirt bike rider,” said Sgt. Ricky Bajo. “There are a lot of dirt places here.”

Bajo has spent six years at Twentynine Palms and rides his dirt bike almost every weekend. Other Marines said they found the seclusion of the desert and base comforting.

“I like it here because I come from a small town where I was already isolated,” said McPhearson, who also has spent six years on the base. “The quiet is nice. I don’t like the hustle and bustle of the city, so for me it’s OK.”

The base offers discount entertainment options. There is a movie theater where Marines can see first run movies, restaurants, a fitness center, clubs, concerts, sporting events, stories, classes and seminars. Different commands throughout the Marine Corps also host various functions depending on the amount of recreational funds they receive, including day trips to popular destinations said Smith.

King advises young Marines to save money to buy a reliable car so they can take advantage of the ocean, mountains and big cities all a few hours’ drive from the base.

“If you cannot find something to do, you’re not trying hard enough,” he said.

 

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On Memorial Day: Remembering those who die from suicide

SAM

(Courtesy of the GI Film Festival)

Both of Saturday’s back-to-back films were inspired by the epidemic-level suicide rate among veterans, with 22 returning veterans taking their own lives each day, according to a February 2013 Veterans Affairs Department report. About 11 percent of Afghanistan and 20 percent of Iraq veterans have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the report. Symptoms include flashbacks, nightmares and emotional separation from others.

The first film, “SAM,” an artistic short, shows rather than tells about veteran suicide through the life of a young man returning from service in Afghanistan to find nothing has changed except himself. Based on a short story by Juan Garcia and directed by Alexis Garcia Rocca, the film seeks to raise awareness about the debilitating and sometimes deadly effects of PTSD.

“That was one of the main characteristics of the theme that we were trying to put across in the film — that there are not enough people caring about it,” said Juan Garcia in an interview. “But we’re starting to come together.”

“It was to put a face to the statistic, because a lot of people don’t have a military connection,” Garcia Rocca said. “I come from a military family, and that’s what brought me to the issue, and this was kind of made for everyone else — to be made aware that this exists.”

The second film, “Project 22,” follows two combat-wounded veterans, directors Scott Hansen and Doc King, on a 6,500-mile motorcycle ride to raise awareness about veteran suicide. They reveal their own story of struggle and recovery as they meet with advocates, program directors and researchers along the way. Many veterans they speak to open up about their struggles and the painful reality of life with PTSD and even suicide attempts.

Some audience members knew the difficulties of reintegrating into society and finding support.

“This country is absolutely not doing enough for these guys when they come back,” said veteran Beaux Watson, who watched “Project 22.”

“[When] we went to Vietnam, we went for one tour. You could ask for another tour … but you didn’t have to come again if you didn’t want to. But these guys, they’re going back three and four times.”

Members of the motorcycle club Men of War — one of its members rode with “Project 22” on a leg of the journey — attended the fest to support their friends’ film. The club’s mission is to help veterans with depression, anxiety, PTSD and separation anxiety.

“All of us suffer from PTSD, so the movie is very special to us,” said Tommy Caldwell, a Men of War member. “On top of it, it’s Memorial Day, and all of us know someone who has died or taken their own life.”

Joe Robert, national sergeant at arms for the club, put post-traumatic stress in context with today’s holiday.

“I feel like Memorial Day is rough because everyone remembers the ones who were lost in the theater, and everyone forgets about the ones who are lost here,” Robert said.

For those service members who return at risk of suicide, the men said that with support, there’s hope for regaining a normal life.

“There’s a lot of stuff out there,” Caldwell said. “But a lot of people don’t know.”

Published in conjunction with Military Times Logo

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VIDEO: GI Film Fest fans name their all-time favorite military films

Medill News Service reporters interviewed red carpet attendees at the GI Film Festival, including military film icon R. Lee “Gunny” Ermey, about their favorite military films of all time.

Published in conjunction with Military Times Logo

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