WarSclerotic

Mattis requesting Iraqi interpreters, pilots be exempted from Trump’s travel ban, Washington Examiner, Jamie McIntyre, January 30, 2017

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has requested some broad categories of Iraqis be exempted from President Trump’s 90-day travel ban. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has requested some broad categories of Iraqis be exempted from President Trump‘s 90-day travel ban, a Pentagon official tells the Washington Examiner.

The categories would include interpreters who risked their lives alongside U.S. troops in Iraq, as well as Iraqi pilots who have been traveling to the United States to learn to fly F-16s.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the list of categories has not been finalized, said the exemption would not require any changes to the president’s memo ordering a travel ban from seven majority-Muslim countries, but rather would be in the form of implementing guidance to the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration.

The travel ban’s effect on Iraqi citizens drew particularly sharp criticism from lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

“At this very moment, American troops are fighting side-by-side with our Iraqi partners to defeat ISIL,” Sen. John McCain said. “But this executive order bans Iraqi pilots from coming to military bases in Arizona to fight our common enemies.”

Rep. Seth Moulton, a former Marine officer who worked to get his interpreter asylum in the U.S., lashed out in an appearance on ABC on Sunday.

“You know, I worked for Gen. Mattis. I know him. There is no way in hell that he is supportive of this. He relied on translators for his life, just like I did,” Moulton said.

One of the first people detained after the travel ban was enacted was Hameed Khalid Darweesh, who worked as an interpreter for the U.S military for 10 years. He was released Saturday afternoon.