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Donald Trump's "Muslim Ban" - One soldier's tweetstorm of his tour.

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I served in Iraq, as USAID's man in Fallujah. Lived alongside Marines and interpreters as they fought terrorists. I've never tweeted until now, but it seems to be the only way to get through to you. (Maybe my small following can RT this to get it going) Over 100,000 of these Iraqis risked their lives for us during the war. They bled for our country. You said, before signing "We only want to admit those into our country who will support our country, and love deeply our people." I'd like you know about some of these people: Homeboy lost his leg dragging a wounded U.S. SSgt from MN out of the field of fire. He spent 4 years being vetted before coming here. Hossam helped us build schools. When insurgents found out, in Oct '06, they left a severed dog head on his front step that said 'r ommand, died of a suicide bomb on 3/14/2008. Mohammed was Jan 2008. Ali had both his legs amputated by an IED blast while working as an helping our troops in July 2007. Omar was shot in the thigh 2x and in the scrotum while serving the United States of Ameri out after the right side of his body was blown off in an attack by terrorists in September 2006 n.' Faisal, an interpre r for the troops you rrorists, who wanted to kill the 'traitor', booby-trapped his house i ed when pr n Nov 2007. Hameed died of a gunshot wound to the head while n February 2007. Abdul bled could do this all day, sadly Hamada was tortured for helping us. Power drills to the legs and thrown out of a moving vehicle. Jassim's lung collapsed when an IED blew up nearby while out on patrol with our troops. That happened in January 2007. That same month, Riad lost both of his legs while interpreting for our troops. Ali a former colleague of mine, accidentally dropped his US Gov't badge when paying for a haircut. Ass effective interpreters that a militia leader in Baghdad put out a $50,000 bounty on their heads. They survived IEDs, sniper fire, and chlorine bombs before they finally fled. They waited years while being vetted ated on Valentine's day, 2007. Kate and Zina were such 10 years ago, I started speaking out on their behalf. I brought lists of names to the State Department. The list kept growing. Those that helped us were Christians, Muslims, Yazidis, atheists, you name it. They were our allies. When they ran to save our troops lives, they didn't think about Iraqis believed in America. They loved our country. They lost their through bipartisan legislation that opened up tens of thousands of visa slots for those who helped us ch labels. These try as a result of the choice they made to help us. Event Congress acted em was put in place to vet them. Not doubting your intelligence, but the EO you signed suggests you weren't aware of it: Even though many A rigorou of them have USG ID badges, they mu erro checked too. They undergo medical examinations. They have U.S. Marines, soldiers, diplomats, and aid workers that vouch for their service, often on official letterhead. They wait, in many cases for well over a year, for their first interview with an agent from the Department of Homeland Security. DHS interviews them about their beliefs, loyalties, friends, background, and verifies their service. In many cases, they must wait another year, for the same interview. If any answer changes, they are rejected ubmit to lengthy background checks. Their names are checked against a dozen lligence databases of knowrn They submit copies of the various awards that they r ed from our military while serving. Their eyeballs and fingerprints are s Your signature just banned them. Many were on their way. Others were planning on traveling, with valid visas, in the coming days. Those in airports had tickets ripped up in front of their fac shortly before you signed the EO. I know that your admin to find out what they were supposed to do. (These were senior people). Had they, they might have realized that there is already an extreme vetting s n place, one that has kept Ameri must be kept They were told that President Trump doesn't want them in America. I was speaking with people in the State Dept on did r con It with them. They were refreshing whitehouse.gov looking for the fi I draft afe. And you wouldn't have airports jammed by Ame s who believe that a promise made to Iraqis and refugees ask @MattisGeneral. U.S. military must now try to explain to their interpreters why they're banned. (And most of our There are nat'l sec consequen roops, by the way, do who believe this is a huge mistake. One senior military officer with extensive experience in Iraq and Afghanistan told me it was "heinous and counterprodu nobody will help u speak Arabic, so they kinda need these people). I have heard from many, many soldiers and Marines (some of extremely high rank) They won't be able to recruit anyone to help them in the fight agai t ISIS. And if America becomes the country that abando re war The discretionary authority @reince talked about today won't solve it : do you think these people "support our country, and love deeply We asked DHS about a case and they said "check with us Monday." So here's my quest our people"? so, why are you banning them?

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Top Comments

Astatine, Resident Hijab Enthusiast

Jan 31, 2017 at 05:40AM EST in reply to Charles Manson

Also, sometimes, the opposition is a terribad candidate that insults a voterbase she's supposed to win over, demonstrating in a lapse that she doesn't actually care about them.

There's an answer for this guy, but the answer is probably quite callous: while the vetting process for the Iraqis who helped you is extreme, and this ban regrettably affects them, they're not the only people trying to get into the country. Far from it. It just happened that they got caught up in this.

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Charles Manson

Jan 31, 2017 at 04:18AM EST

It's actually quite sad that people like this expect some sort of reasonable answer. The fact is Trump ran a popularity contest and he won by saying the right things. There's no other reason. Sometimes in this world power is given to the wrong people for the wrong reasons. This is the world we live in.

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