morningfog
morningfog's JournalKirby: "We already had a couple of military deaths associated with this conflict..." (Iraq)
I missed the story or stories about a couple US military deaths in Iraq since the US entered the Iraq/Syria War.
Does anyone remember or have a link to a report?
Kirby said the training would focus on tasks such as battlefield leadership, tactical organization, logistics and intelligence matters.
The remaining 630 or so American forces would help establish "advise and assist" operations centers, adding to similar centers in existence in Baghdad and Arbil.
Kirby said many of the additional American troops would be dedicated to securing bases where training and advising would take place and cautioned that American troops still face risks.
"We already had a couple of military deaths associated with this conflict ... Nothing we do is without risk," he said.
The Pentagon said it planned to establish several sites across the country to train nine Iraqi army brigades and three brigades of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. They would be set up in northern, western and southern Iraq.
Kirby said the training would focus on tasks such as battlefield leadership, tactical organization, logistics and intelligence matters.
The remaining 630 or so American forces would help establish "advise and assist" operations centers, adding to similar centers in existence in Baghdad and Arbil.
Kirby said many of the additional American troops would be dedicated to securing bases where training and advising would take place and cautioned that American troops still face risks.
"We already had a couple of military deaths associated with this conflict ... Nothing we do is without risk," he said.
This was the first I have read of US military deaths in Iraq in 2014. I checked icasualties, and it lists 2 US deaths in Iraq in October 2014. Who were they and what were the circumstances?
http://icasualties.org/Iraq/ByMonth.aspx
Wow! US is sending 1,500 more troops to Iraq, nearly doubling total
Spigots open. The mission has crept.
The announcement of this deployment plus Obama seeking a new authorization of force does not bode well.
Might as well settle in for the long Iraq and Syrian war. And the next president will inherit Obama's war.
It's Over: Texas' Ebola Outbreak Has Ended
The Ebola outbreak in Texas has ended.
As of midnight Friday, it was 21 days since anyone got Ebola or was in contact with someone who got Ebola.
* * *
Now, three weeks later, it’s clear that no one else was infected. As predicted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and many other experts, the people at greatest risk were health care workers in close, prolonged contact with a patient who was actively having symptoms. Not even Duncan’s fiancée, Louise Troh, who cared for Duncan after he became ill and who lived in her apartment with him, became infected.
“I think it is a reinforcement of the basics of what we know about this disease,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell.
Texas state health officials say they monitored 177 people, including health care workers, household members and others, who had contact with Duncan, Pham or Vinson or with medical specimens or waste.
The last person being monitored handled medical waste on Oct. 17, the state health department said in a statement. “We’re happy to reach this milestone, but our guard stays up,” said Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Earlier this week, Ohio stopped monitoring 163 people who may have been in contact with Vinson.
* * *
The 21 days is based on the longest known incubation period for Ebola. Experts say most transmissions happen between 6 and 12 days.
They also point out that patients only transmit the virus after they’ve developed symptoms, usually vomiting or diarrhea but also — not likely but possibly — an initial fever. Vinson said she flew with a temperature of 99.5 degrees, not considered a fever.
Now, a single U.S patient remains in isolation: Dr. Craig Spencer, a Doctors Without Borders volunteer who became ill after his return from treating Ebola patients in Guinea, is being treated in New York’s Bellevue Hospital.
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/its-over-texas-ebola-outbreak-has-ended-n242931
It has been 15 days since Dr. Spencer was isolated. It is almost certain that he did not infect anyone pre-isolation. Ebola, as predicted, was contained when it arrived to the US. Unfortunately two health workers were infected, but Ebola never spread outside of a hospital in the US. It was contained.
It should be clear to everyone now that the anti-science hysterics were counter-productive and caused more harm than good. Hopefully, everyone has learned that freaking the fuck out is the wrong approach.
Last of 177 people monitored for Ebola in Texas ends observation this week (End of the line!!)
Friday night, November 7, 2014, marks the last day the last person being monitored by the state of Texas for Ebola. Three diagnosed patients will have reached their 21 days of twice-daily monitoring as required by the Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS).
This brings the total of health care workers, household contacts and others to have been monitored to 177. No additional cases of the disease have been diagnosed in Texas.
People were monitored because of their contact with at least one of the three Texas Ebola patients, specimens or medical waste. The last person being monitored Friday is a hospital worker who handled medical waste Oct. 17.
“We’re happy to reach this milestone, but our guard stays up,” said Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of the TDSHS. “We reached this point through teamwork and meticulous monitoring, and we’ll continue to be vigilant to protect Texas from Ebola.”
Passengers identified to be on one of the Dallas to Cleveland flights that carried a Dallas health care worker later diagnosed with Ebola were recently declared free of the disease.
http://www.examiner.com/article/last-of-177-people-monitored-for-ebola-texas-ends-observation-this-week
The people in Duncan's home, the vomit washers, the health workers, the passengers on Vinson's flight, the cruise ship, etc, etc, etc. No new infections. No deaths other than Mr. Duncan. So much necessary and ignorant hysteria.
Nurse (Vinson) Who Caught Ebola Says More Training Needed
A nurse who was infected with Ebola after treating a sick patient said she didn't have enough training beforehand on how to protect herself.
"The first time that I put on the protective equipment, I was heading in to take care of the patient," Amber Vinson told NBC's "Today" show in an interview broadcast Thursday.
Vinson was one of the more than 70 medical personnel who were involved in the care of Thomas Eric Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. After being sent home from the emergency room Sept. 26, Duncan returned two days later and was quickly diagnosed with the virus. He died Oct. 8.
"We didn't have excessive training where we could don and doff, put on and take off the protective equipment, till we got a level of being comfortable with it," Vinson said. "I didn't have that, and I think that's very important for hospitals across the nation, big and small."
Vinson flew Oct. 13 on a commercial jet from Cleveland to Dallas, one day before feeling the first symptoms of her virus. She said in the interview Thursday that she monitored her temperature and checked in with health officials before flying. She said reports that she felt sick while traveling were false.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta has acknowledged that Vinson wasn't stopped from flying. CDC Director Tom Frieden later said that was a mistake on the agency's part.
"I would never go outside of guidelines or boundaries or something directly from the CDC telling me I can't go (or) I can't fly," Vinson said in the interview.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/dallas-nurse-caught-ebola-im-careless-26728272
Ebola has not mutated, it is not airborne. Had she been properly trained, she likely would not have been infected. Remember out of the 70 or so who treated Duncan, only two were infected. This suggests they did something wrong, but not that they were at fault.
Obama to Seek Congressional Backing for Military Campaign Against ISIS
President Obama said on Wednesday that he would seek specific authorization from Congress for the military campaign against the Islamic State, opening the door to a lengthy, potentially contentious debate over the nature and extent of American engagement in Iraq and Syria.
Mr. Obama’s announcement, at his post-election news conference, was not wholly unexpected. But it represented a significant shift from his earlier position that while he would welcome congressional backing, he had legal authority to take military action under existing statutes.
Administration officials said Mr. Obama still believed he had that authority, but with the elections over, he concluded that the time was right to petition Congress for more explicit authority.
“The world needs to know we are united behind this effort and that the men and women of our military deserve our clear and unified support,” Mr. Obama said, adding that he would begin a dialogue with congressional leaders when they come to the White House on Friday.
* * *
The president was guarded about the progress of the military operation against the Islamic State. He said it was too soon to say whether the United States and its allies were winning, noting that it would take a long time to upgrade Iraqi forces to the point where they could reclaim territory now held by the militants. He was even more circumspect about Syria.
“Our focus in Syria is not to solve the entire Syria situation, but rather to isolate the areas in which ISIL can operate,” he added, using an alternative name for the Islamic State.
That statement appeared somewhat at odds with a recent memo sent to the White House by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, in which he criticized the administration’s Syria policy for failing to connect the campaign against the Islamic State to the broader struggle against President Bashar al-Assad.
Mr. Hagel wrote that unless the United States clarified its intentions against the Assad regime, it would fail to enlist allies like Turkey and France for the battle against the Islamic State in Syria, since those countries are intent on ousting Mr. Assad. Other officials said that in internal debates, Mr. Hagel has not advocated taking a strong line against Mr. Assad, and in fact has echoed the Pentagon’s resistance to going to war with the Syrian government.
Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story
Continue reading the main story
That will be one of the issues likely to come up in a congressional debate over authorization. Before the election, Congress passed limited authorization to pay for the training and equipping of Syrian rebels. Now the White House is seeking an authorization to use military force that would be tailored to a prolonged fight against ISIS.
Until now, the White House had justified its airstrikes in Iraq and Syria under two existing laws: a 2001 authorization passed after the 9/11 attacks, which Mr. Obama has invoked to carry out drone and missile strikes against suspected terrorists in Yemen and Somalia, and a 2002 authorization sought by President George W. Bush for the Iraq war.
“The idea is to right-size and update whatever authorization Congress provides to suit the current fight rather than previous fights,” Mr. Obama said. “We now have a different type of enemy.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/06/world/middleeast/obama-to-seek-congressional-backing-for-military-campaign-against-isis.html?_r=0
There is a reason he is now asking for authorization. Either he feels he doesn't have the legal cover to wage the war as it is being waged now, or he feels he doesn't have the legal cover to expand the war as it will be. This will lead to more troops and, like the AUMF, a decade of war. This authorization will also be what the next president operates the Iraq/Syrian war under. Let's hope congress roundly refuses to authorize an expansion of this war.
U.S. readying plan to send advisers to Iraqis fighting ISIS in Anbar (combat zone)
Pentagon officials are readying a plan that would deploy U.S. military advisers to the volatile Iraqi province of Anbar to advise and assist Iraqi security forces in a region currently dominated by ISIS militants.
"To be clear, this is not a change in mission nor is it a combat role, as they will be operating in the same advisory role as the other locations," Col. Edward Thomas, spokesman for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CNN.
U.S. advisers currently operate in areas around Baghdad and Irbil in the north of the country. The new proposal would put U.S. troops in the middle of some of the most violent situations in Iraq.
Thomas said the plan is still "under development."
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/31/us/us-iraq-anbar-advisers-plan/
New York doctor with Ebola improves (serious but stable condition), hospital says
New York health officials announced Saturday the condition of the doctor suffering from Ebola has improved to "stable."
The upgrade — from "serious but stable" — was based on Dr. Craig Spencer's "clinical progress and response to treatment," according to a statement from the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.
Spencer, who tested positive for the virus nine days ago after returning from treating Ebola patients in West Africa, is still not out of the woods.
"The patient will remain in isolation and continue to receive full treatment," said the HHC, which runs the Bellevue Hospital Center where Spencer is being treated.
But the news is more hopeful than last Saturday, when the HHC said his infection had progressed, and he was suffering from abdominal symptoms.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/11/01/new-york-doctor-ebola/18319967/
US Ebola infection/incubation timeline 11.1.14
Although the incubation period is up to 21 days, the incubation period of this strain is 7-10 days in most people who become infected.
Duncan-Dallas Line
It has been 24 days since Duncan's death (Oct. 8). There were 76 people who provided care to Duncan before his death. Only two nurses, Nina Pham and Amber Vinson, were infected. Both recovered. No new infections have been reported. All of Duncan's contacts, pre-isolation and post-isolation have survived the incubation period.
Days since Pham was isolated (Oct. 10).....22 days -- The one person being observed as Pham's contact has passed through the incubation period. Pham is now Ebola-free.
Days since Vinson was isolated (Oct. 14)......18 days -- Vinson flew on a commercial flight (with some 100 other passengers) from Cleveland to Dallas with a temperature of 99.4 degrees. She was quarantined and transferred to Emory. Vinson is now Ebola-free. Her pre-isolation contacts will conclude the incubation period in 3 days. No new infections have been reported.
Days since Vinson reported Ebola-free (Oct. 23)......9 days.
Days since Pham confirmed Ebola-free (Oct. 24)......8 days.
Spencer-NYC Line
Days since Dr. Spencer was isolated (Oct. 23).....9 days. Dr. Spencer reported a slight fever, at 100.3, on the night of October 22 and was isolated on the morning of October 23. Dr. Spencer, like Pham and Vinson, was isolated quickly and before he had any symptoms other than a slight fever of 100.3. Any pre-isolation contacts who were infected would likely have shown symptoms by now, or would very soon. However, there is little to no chance that he infected anyone prior to isolation.
______________________________________________________
The above is what I have kept track of based on dates of news reports. Below is a link to the CDC "Cases of Ebola in the US" page. In includes the Dallas contact tracing. According to the CDC, as of October 31, 2014, 10 out of 11 direct contacts to one of the Ebola patients (Duncan, Pham, and/or Vinson) have completed monitoring without infection. There is one still under surveillance.
Of the "possible contacts," 90 of 166 have completed surveillance, with 76 left. The CDC does not give a time line of when surveillance will end, or when it began for any of the numbers. I would assume (could infer) that many of the 76 left are pre-isolation possible contacts of Vinson, but m not sure.
http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/united-states-imported-case.html
Maine Judge Eases Ebola Isolation Orders on Nurse Hickox
Nurse Kaci Hickox is free to leave her home in Northern Maine but must submit to active monitoring for Ebola symptoms by state health officials, a judge said, easing restrictions he placed on her yesterday.
Today’s order from Maine District Court Chief Judge Charles C. LaVerdiere removes prohibitions on her being in public places or within 3 feet (0.9 meters) of other people. The state hasn’t proved that further curbing Hickox’s movements is necessary to protect others from the dangers of infection, the judge said.
“The court is fully aware that people are acting out of fear and that this fear is not entirely rational,” the judge said. “However, whether that fear is rational or not, it is present and it is real. Respondent’s actions at this point, as a health care professional, need to demonstrate her full understanding of human nature and the real fear that exists. She should guide herself accordingly.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-31/nurse-hickox-ordered-to-follow-ebola-quarantine-rules-ap-says.html
As expected, she won this battle.
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