UK Prime Minister to Raise Issue of Manchester Bombing Leaks with President Trump / NATO Meeting Update

Steve Herman - Voice of America

British Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to raise concerns Thursday with President Donald Trump over U.S. leaks to the media of investigative details of the Manchester bombing.

May is to cut short her attendance at the NATO leaders’ meeting in Brussels amid a critical-level threat of another terrorist attack in her country.

Police working on the Manchester case, who are “furious about the disclosures,” have stopped sharing information with their American counterparts, according to the BBC.

Various U.S. media outlets reported the name of the suicide bomber, attributing the information to American officials, before it was released by British officials. The New York Times subsequently published forensic photographs from the attack, which had not been officially released.

Eight in Custody

Eight men have been taken into custody in connection with Monday night’s bomb blast at an Ariana Grande concert. The explosion killed 22, including children, and wounded 64 other people.

The bomb was detonated by Manchester-born Salman Abedi, a 22-year-old from a family of Libyan origin.

Ahead of meetings this week with NATO leaders, President Donald Trump has called terrorism the No. 1 problem facing the world, and said we are “making tremendous progress” in the fight against terror.

Trump, meeting Wednesday with Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel in Brussels, said the U.S. and NATO will work on “various problems,” but Trump pointed to the suicide bombing Monday in Britain and noted that terrorism is at the top of the list.

“When you see something like that happened a few days ago, you realize how important it is to win this fight. And we will win this fight,” he said.

Trump arrived in Brussels Wednesday afternoon following talks with the pope at the Vatican in Rome. Trump said on Twitter after the meeting he is “more determined than ever to pursue PEACE in our world.”

Trump to be Tough on Allies

Aboard Air Force One, on the flight from Italy to Belgium, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Trump would be “very tough” on NATO allies Thursday and tell them “you need to make sure you’re doing your share for your security as well.”

Trump wants to “persuade NATO members to step up and fully meet their obligations under burden sharing the 2 percent of GDP is a target they all agreed to,” Tillerson told reporters.

The defense alliance is expected to give the U.S. president at least one big thing he wants: a commitment to the coalition to fight Islamic State.

“We do think that would be a really important step for them to take,” Tillerson said.

Article 5 Endorsement

Trump is likely to allay NATO members’ concerns about his administration’s commitment to the pact’s mutual assistance pledge, something that has been in doubt.

During a ceremony Thursday, Trump is expected to finally endorse Article 5, under which any NATO member agrees to come to the aid of an ally under attack. The only time it has been invoked was when al-Qaida terrorists attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.

Before Wednesday’s meeting with the pope, Trump spent several days touring the Middle East and meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, as well as other leaders in the Muslim world. While speaking to dozens of Muslim leaders in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, he called for Muslim unity in the fight against terrorism.

Tillerson said he thinks the Manchester attack will only serve to strengthen ties between the U.S. and NATO in the fight against terrorism.

“I think the horrible attack in Manchester just reminded all of us just why we have to do this,” said the secretary of state. “We have to do it, we can’t leave it for someone else to do.”

After participating in the inauguration of a new NATO headquarters and a meeting of the alliance’s leaders, the president will return to Italy, specifically the island of Sicily, for the Group of Seven summit.

Memorial Day 2017: ‘Play it Again, Uncle Sam’

Christopher Kelly

Memorial Day this year calls on all Americans with particular significance. It calls on us to look backward at our past and forward to the many uncertainties and challenges facing our nation overseas. Important anniversaries over the course of the year have served as powerful reminders of that past.

This past April, we commemorated the centennial of the American entry into World War I. President Wilson led us into the “war to end all wars,” ending America’s traditional isolationism. Over a hundred thousand Americans would be killed in World War I, a war that claimed around 17 million total victims. Wilson conceived of the League of Nations as a means of ending costly and wasteful wars, but the US Senate balked at joining the League. The harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles then created a twenty-year truce rather than a lasting peace. Appalled by the cost of war and intoxicated by the Roaring Twenties, many Americans retreated back into an isolationist attitude, embracing Charles Lindbergh and the America First movement.

But in 1939, Hitler invaded Poland, plunging the world into the costliest war in human history. Over the course of just under four years, over 16 million American men and women served in some capacity in the war. Today, fewer than a million World War II service vets are still alive.

This year, 2017, is the 75th anniversary of perhaps the most significant year in World War II, for 1942 was essentially the turning point in the war. That year featured Doolittle’s Raid on Tokyo and the battles of Midway, El Alamein, and Stalingrad. Up until 1942, the Axis was victorious on all fronts. After 1942, Axis forces were in full retreat. Where were you in ’42?

Seventy-five years ago this year, the classic film Casablanca was released. When asked about his nationality, Rick Blaine, played by Humphrey Bogart, replied, “I’m a drunkard.” But Rick could not remain neutral when confronted with the brutal reality of fascism. The premiere of Casablanca, which won the Academy Awards’ Best Picture of the Year in 1942, was rushed forward to capitalize on the American landings in North Africa in Operation Torch. Casablanca helped to explain to skeptical Americans why World War II (especially in Europe) was America’s fight.

Americans responded to the call and went overseas to fight in record numbers. Just over 400,000 mostly young Americans would never return from their duties in the Second World War. This Memorial Day, many Americans will visit cemeteries such as Arlington in Virginia, and many more around the nation and the world.

This fall will mark sixteen years that American troops have been engaged in Afghanistan fighting Al Qaeda and the Taliban – a war of unprecedented duration. There are soldiers serving in Afghanistan today who were only toddlers when the Twin Towers in New York were struck on September 11, 2001 by hijacked commercial airliners – an event that changed our world. Over two trillion dollars have been spent trying to bring a measure of stability to Afghanistan. Over 2,000 American soldiers have been killed there, and over 20,000 have been wounded.

Even as we commemorate the past, we must consider the many dangers we are confronting today and those that lie ahead. In the Middle East, we must face the challenge posed by ruthless ISIS operatives who have waged a war against the West. The Syrian civil war has claimed well over 300,000 lives and created the worst refugee crisis since World War II. Syria’s president Assad has, on at least two occasions, used chemical weapons against his own people. Putin’s Russia continues to rearm, supports the Assad dictatorship, and threatens its neighbors, including NATO members in the Baltics.  The bluster and posturing of Kim Jong-un are increasingly worrisome as the North Korean dictator attempts to gain the technology to develop intercontinental ballistic missile capable of striking our homeland. Our political and military leadership must carefully balance the dangers of action and the dangers of inaction in the “hermit kingdom.”

Memorial Day imposes a duty on all Americans to remember the sacrifice of our fallen heroes, and to reflect prayerfully on how we can best steer a course through our dangerous and turbulent world. We are compelled to remember the necessity for American engagement in the world, but also its staggering price in terms of blood and treasure.