Thread: US reroutes $72M in aid for wages for Lebanese army, police

US reroutes $72M in aid for wages for Lebanese army, police








FILE - In this file photo from the Lebanese Army official website, Lebanese Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun, right, visits the command center for military operation against Islamic State militants, in Ras Baalbek, northeast Lebanon, on Aug. 23, 2017. The United States is rerouting $72 million of America's assistance to Lebanon to help the cash-strapped government pay wages of its soldiers and police officers, the U.S. ambassador said Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023. (Lebanese Army Website via AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)More



KAREEM CHEHAYEB
Wed, January 25, 2023 at 6:35 AM EST




BEIRUT (AP) — The United States is rerouting $72 million of America's assistance to Lebanon to help the country's cash-strapped government boost wages of its soldiers and police officers, the U.S. ambassador said Wednesday.

Washington is a key donor of the Lebanese Army and its 80,000 members, providing over $3 billion in military aid since 2006. The announcement Wednesday is the first time the U.S. is allocating funds for wages of security personnel in Lebanon.

Lebanon, a tiny Mediterranean country of 6 million people, is struggling with an unprecedented economic crisis, one that the World Bank says is among the worst worldwide since the 1850s. Three-quarters of the population live in poverty, while the Lebanese pound has lost over 90% of its value against the dollar.

Lebanese leaders, deep in political deadlock, have failed at implementing economic reforms to make the country viable again. The economic meltdown has also impoverished Lebanese soldiers and members of the police — two forces that have been rare unifiers in a country deeply divided by sectarian politics. Their inability to pay viable wages and feed their personnel has threatened Lebanon's overall security and stability.

Before the crisis, an enlisted soldier earned the equivalent of about $800 a month, but that has now dropped to just over $100 due to the devaluation of the pound. A higher-ranking officer's monthly salary is now worth around $250.

Many security personnel and troops have subsequently left the service or taken up second jobs while the Lebanese Army has resorted to unorthodox fundraising tactics to cover expenses such as offering paid helicopter rides and charging high fees for journalist permits.

The U.S. State Department notified Congress last January of its intention to redirect the funds for military and police wages. Some Republicans in Congress have called for eliminating military aid to Lebanon altogether, citing the growing political power of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

Unlike some other U.S. programs that have covered full wages of allied troops, the assistance announced Wednesday by U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea is a one-time action.

It will provide every Lebanese soldier and police officer with an extra $100 a month on top of their wages for the next six months, to soften the blow of the economic crisis. The United Nations Development Program will disburse the funds.
Shea, Lebanon army chief Gen. Joseph Aoun, police chief Maj. Gen. Imad Osman, and the UNDP's representative to Lebanon, Melanie Hauenstein, announced the aid at a press conference.

“Given these circumstances, we were forced to raise our voice, loudly, and have appealed to the international community for their support and assistance, and this is due to the lack of local solutions,” Aoun said. “The current crisis and its impact might be the most dangerous the Lebanese Army has faced to date.”

Osman admitted that the financial crisis has “impacted the performance” of security personnel.

Shea, meanwhile, renewed calls for the Lebanese government to end the ongoing political paralysis and implement economic reforms that Lebanon has agreed to with the International Monetary Fund.

“Due to the temporary nature of this assistance ... it is incumbent on Lebanon's leaders to use this time to bring to fruition an IMF program,” Shea said.

Lebanese authorities in April 2022 reached a tentative agreement with the IMF for a recovery plan conditional on a host of economic reforms and anti-corruption measures, but has been sluggish in meeting those demands.

The Lebanese army and security agencies have especially been strained since the economic crisis erupted in late 2019, from having to respond to countrywide mass protests, distribute aid following the massive Beirut Port blast in August 2020 and donate their fuel to hospitals.

“State security forces have essentially been doing more with less, above all because the currency collapse has eviscerated the value of the remuneration they all receive," said Anthony Elghossain, an advisor at the Newlines Institute think tank in Washington.


https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-rerout...113506725.html

U.S. taxpayers FORCED to boost the wages for foreign citizens!!!!


This is outrages!


What about OUR wages, our Border Patrol, our law enforcement officers!!!!


This government needs to be shut down and take away the checkbook.

We can't give our military raises but we are FORCED to "boost" the paychecks of foreign citizens!!!!



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Cash-Strapped Airman Caught Smuggling Migrants, Feds Say







Justin Rohrlich, Decca Muldowney
Wed, January 25, 2023 at 11:27 AM EST






DoD/Senior Airman Cheyenne Powers



An active-duty U.S. Air Force serviceman is facing federal charges after Border Patrol agents say they discovered half a dozen undocumented immigrants hiding in his car.

Senior Airman Dejion Daviece Nicholas was arrested near Eloy, Arizona last Saturday, according to a criminal complaint obtained by The Daily Beast. Nicholas is a senior airman with the 355th Force Support Squadron at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, and enlisted in April 2013, the Air Force Personnel Center told The Daily Beast. The count against Nicholas, transportation of illegal aliens, is a felony which carries a sentence of up to five years in prison.

Nicholas, 28, said he did it because he needed extra cash to make ends meet, the complaint states. An airman of Nicholas’ rank and experience level earns basic pay of roughly $35,000 a year. Nicholas has received one award during his service, the Air Force Achievement Medal, according to an Air Force spokesman.

Davis-Monthan is home to some 11,000 airmen, playing host to, among other things, three A-10C squadrons providing close air support to U.S. forces worldwide.

The base is approximately 50 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, and was used as a hub by troops sent to the area in 2018 by ex-President Donald Trump as part of an effort to repel a migrant caravan reportedly making its way to America. It was also where former First Lady Melania Trump landed that June for a tour of U.S. immigration detention facilities for children.


Nicholas’ case is one of a handful of instances in recent years involving an active member of the armed forces and charges over illegal immigration.

In July 2019, two active-duty Marines were nabbed by the Border Patrol shortly after picking a trio of Mexican nationals in Jacumba Hot Springs, California. The arrests of Lance Cpls. Byron Darnell Law II and David Salazar-Quintero, who were stationed at Camp Pendleton, about an hour north of San Diego, quickly led to 16 more, with all 18 being kicked out of the Corps with less-than-honorable discharges in February 2020.

In December 2019, an unidentified Marine based in California was arrested for allegedly smuggling undocumented immigrants through the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

Last March, three active-duty U.S. Army soldiers in Texas were busted for smuggling undocumented immigrants—while in uniform, which they reportedly believed would help them evade arrest.

Nicholas, who helps manage and maintain Davis-Monthan’s athletic and foodservice facilities, was arrested in the early morning hours of Jan. 21, after a Pinal County sheriff’s deputy clocked a black Chevy Impala doing 91 mph on Interstate 10, which has a 75 mph speed limit, the complaint states.

When the deputy pulled the car over, he found Nicholas behind the wheel, along with “multiple subjects in the vehicle who were wearing camouflage and attempting to hide,” the filing goes on. The deputy then realized he was dealing with a probable “human smuggling event,” according to the complaint, and summoned Border Patrol.

The responding Border Patrol agents determined that the six people in the car, one of whom was an unaccompanied minor, were citizens of Mexico and Guatemala and had entered the United States without proper immigration paperwork. One man had previously been deported in 2018, the complaint states. All six were arrested, along with Nicholas, whose car was seized and towed to the Casa Grande Border Patrol Station.

Under questioning by agents, Nicholas identified himself as an active member of the Air Force, having just this month started a side job at the University of Arizona.

“Nicholas said he is short on money, and when he was discussing this with a female acquaintance, she said that she would put him in touch with some people she knew,” the complaint states.

The unnamed woman passed along Nicholas’ contact info, and someone subsequently contacted him about picking up some people and driving them to North Phoenix, he told the agents. The first time they got in touch, Nicholas was busy and couldn’t do it, according to the complaint. But when they contacted him again, Nicholas had room on his schedule and said he was promised a fee of $120 per passenger.






U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona

In order to do the job, Nicholas told the agents, he borrowed a car belonging to his child’s mother. He was then sent a GPS pin location via WhatsApp, which brought him to a trailer, “and that is when six people got into his vehicle,” the complaint states.

The agents asked Nicholas, who stood to make a total of $720 for the run, if he realized the people were undocumented, according to the complaint.

“Nicholas stated that he did not at first, but once he saw the people, he realized what was going on,” it continues. “Nicholas stated he was given a pin location somewhere in the north Phoenix area, and that is where he was heading when he was pulled over.”

Nicholas was released on a personal recognizance bond and is not allowed to travel outside the state without the court’s permission. He was ordered to surrender his passport and is barred from drinking alcohol or using any drugs while out on pretrial release. Nicholas must also participate in a mental health treatment program and maintain weekly contact with his defense attorney, according to the judge’s order.

Bobby Odell Thrasher Jr., Nicholas’ court-appointed lawyer, did not respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment on Tuesday, It is unclear if Nicholas will face Air Force disciplinary charges in addition to the federal count.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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https://www.yahoo.com/news/cash-stra...162720272.html