Jerusalem News
(January 13, 2020, 16 Tevet 5780)
Contents:
1. Trump: We killed Soleimani because he was plotting to blow up a US embassy
2. Israeli intelligence helped US eliminate Soleimani, NBC reports
3. Australia's indigenous people have a solution for the country's bushfires. And it's been around for 50,000 years
By Leah Asmelash, CNN
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1. Trump: We killed Soleimani because he was plotting to blow up a US embassy
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/274347
US President reveals reason he authorized drone strike on top Iranian general, nature of attack Soleimani planned against the US.
Gary Willig, 09/01/20 22:20
US President Donald Trump revealed the attack Iranian Quds Force Qassem Soleimani had been planning which led to the decision to take out the General.
Soleimani had been plotting to blow up an American embassy, Trump told reporters at a press briefing Tuesday.
'We killed a man who killed many, many Americans and many, many people, thousands and thousands of people,' Trump said. 'We caught a total monster and we took him out and that should have happened a long time ago. We did it because they were looking to blow up our embassy.'
'We also did it for other reasons that were very obvious, somebody died, one of our military people died, people badly wounded, just a week before, and we did it,' Trump added. 'And we had a shot at him and I took it and that shot was pinpoint accurate and that was the end of a monster. Really, that was the second attack. We didn't start it, they started it by killing one of our people and wounding badly other of our people. That you call retribution.
'Iran went in and they hit us with missiles. Shouldn't have done that,' the president said. 'Fortunately for them, nobody was hurt, nobody was killed, nothing happened. They landed. Very little damage, even, to the base. They landed. But we had a chance to take out a monster, we took him out and it should have been done a long time ago.'
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2. Israeli intelligence helped US eliminate Soleimani, NBC reports
https://worldisraelnews.com/israeli-intelligence-helped-us-eliminate-soleimani-nbc-reports/
January 12, 2020
Extracts:
Reports related to the assassination of Qassem Soleimani acknowledge the assistance of Israeli intelligence, in addition to 'a network of spies inside Baghdad Airport involved in leaking sensitive security details' about the Iranian general's arrival.
By World Israel News and JNS
According to a Sunday report by NBC News, Israeli intelligence played a role in the U.S. drone strike during which Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani was killed.
The report regarding Israeli intelligence arrived on the heels of news regarding a network of informants in Damascus and Baghdad international airports who allegedly collaborated with the U.S. military as part of the strike that killed Soleimani, head of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Abu Mahdi Muhandis, deputy head of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an exclusive report by Reuters revealed on Thursday.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
3. Australia's indigenous people have a solution for the country's bushfires. And it's been around for 50,000 years
By Leah Asmelash, CNN
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/12/world/aboriginal-australia-fire-trnd/index.html
(CNN) The fires in Australia have been burning for months, consuming nearly 18 million acres of land, causing thousands to evacuate and killing potentially millions of animals.
Extracts:
They're showing minimal signs of slowing down. The Australian state of New South Wales, where both Sydney and Canberra are located, declared a state of emergency this week, as worsening weather conditions could lead to even greater fire danger.
But a 50,000-year-old solution could exist: Aboriginal burning practices.
Australi's deadly wildfires are showing no signs of stopping. Here's what you need to know
Aboriginal people had a deep knowledge of the land, said historian Bill Gammage, an emeritus professor at Australian National University who studies Australian and Aboriginal history. They can feel the grass and know if it would burn well; they knew what types of fires to burn for what types of land, how long to burn, and how frequently.
"Skills like that, they have but we don't know," Gammage said.
Aboriginal techniques are based in part on fire prevention: ridding the land of fuel, like debris, scrub, undergrowth and certain grasses. The fuel alights easily, which allows for more intense flames that are harder to fight.
The Aboriginal people would set small-scale fires that weren't too intense and clear the land of the extra debris. The smaller intensity fires would lessen the impact on the insects and animals occupying the land, too, as well as protect the trees and the canopy.
And though current fire fighters on the ground still use some fuel control and hazard reduction techniques, Gammage said it's not enough.
"Some of it is being done, but not skillfully enough," he said. "We don't really take into account plants and animals that might be endangered by fire. And secondly, we don't really know what's the best time of year, how much burn, how to break up a fire front."
It's not like they know nothing, Gammage said, especially the firefighters on the ground. But he said it's not enough to make Australia safe.
Why Aboriginal techniques are so difficult to implement
Setting smaller, low-intensity fires to prevent larger bushfires may sound like common sense. In practice, though, it's really hard.
It comes down to knowledge, Gammage said. When do you a start a fire? What time of the year? What time of day? How long you want it to burn? What plants are there? What's the weather like? is there a drought like now?
"You have to have a lot of local skill," Gammage said.
He cited an example. In Australia, fires that are too hot actually allows the flammable undergrowth to germinate more. When early Europeans tried to copy Aboriginal techniques by lighting fires, they made the fires too hot, and got even more of the flammable scrub. So, they tried again. And again.
"Even though people can see the Aboriginese doing the fire control, and could see the benefits, they couldn't copy it," he said.
Now, the juxtaposition is clear.
"Where the Aboriginal people are in charge, they're not having big fires," Gammage said. "In the south, where white people are in charge, we are having the problems."
As climate change worsens, so will the fires
The bushfires in Australia are never going to go away but will get worse. That's according to Justin Leonard, a researcher dedicated to understanding bushfires and land management. Bushfires are ignited both naturally and by humans, but Leonard called them "inevitable."
Climate change only worsens the conditions for fires, he said. Droughts and hotter weather only make for more intense fires and longer fire seasons,changes that are already being observed, he said.
Under worsening conditions, fires are harder to put out: They grow too big to get to safely, and even aerial suppression isn't necessarily possible because of the wind.
So, what does that mean for indigenous fire techniques?
They'll still help, Leonard said. Areas that have undergone preventative burning lead to less intense fires. But the problem is, under the worst of conditions, the fire will still be able to burn straight through the land, despite any preventative measures.
What Australians should really learn from the Aboriginal people is custodianship over the land, Leonard said. The way Aboriginal people deeply know and care for the land is something Australians should ponder and embrace.
Gammage pointed to an incident on Tuesday, when a local fire brigade managed to steer a bushfire around their community, despite being told their town was "undefendable," according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
The brigade, using their knowledge of the land, stayed behind while others evacuated. And rather than burn right through their town, the brigade was able to save houses and prevent deaths.
It just shows the importance of knowing local fire conditions, Gammage said. Knowing the land -- just as the Aboriginal people do.