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Volume 79 Edition 198A ©SS 2021 CONTINGENCY EDITION SATURDAY, JANUARY 23, 2021 Free to Deployed Areas
stripes.com
BASEBALL
Iconic sluggerHank Aaron dead at 86Page 24
MILITARY
Air Force approveslonger braids andponytails for womenPage 3
VIDEO GAMES
Call of the Sea isa challengingpuzzle adventurePage 12
Biden ordering stopgap help as talks start on big virus aid plan ›› Page 7
KABUL, Afghanistan — Presi-
dent Joe Biden faces a choice in
the opening days of his adminis-
tration that will one day help
shape his legacy: whether to soon
withdraw all U.S. troops from Af-
ghanistan or pursue a longer mis-
sion.
The former risks undercutting
the Kabul government’s leverage
as it contin-
ues to fight
both the Ta-
liban and the
local Islamic State affiliate, analy-
sts and Afghan officials say; the
latter may stabilize the govern-
ment and protect U.S. interests,
but recharge hostilities between
the Taliban and coalition troops.
Peace negotiations between the
Afghan government and Taliban
insurgents have made little pro-
gress recently because both sides
are gauging how the new adminis-
tration will approach the war,
analysts say.
Biden’s Defense and State De-
partment nominees have both said
they want to review the deal
signed by the Trump administra-
tion and the Taliban in February
in Doha, Qatar.
The U.S. officially had 8,400
troops in Afghanistan when for-
mer President Donald Trump
JUSTIN UPDEGRAFF/AP
An AH-64 Apache attack helicopter provides security from above while CH-47 Chinooks drop off supplies to U.S. soldiers with Task Force Ironat Bost Airfield, Afghanistan, in 2017.
Drawdown dilemmaBiden inherits stalled Afghan peace process and looming troop withdrawal date
BY J.P. LAWRENCE
Stars and Stripes
ANALYSIS
SEE DILEMMA ON PAGE 5
WASHINGTON — Retired Ar-
my Gen. Lloyd Austin was con-
firmed Friday by the Senate to be
the 28th defense secretary and the
first Black man to hold the posi-
tion.
The Senate voted 93 to 2 to ap-
prove Austin’s nomination to the
job. Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and
Josh Hawley, R-
Mo., voted
against him.
Austin’s con-
firmation proc-
ess started Tues-
day with his Sen-
ate nomination
hearing. On
Thursday, the
House and Sen-
ate voted to approve a waiver that
Austin needed to override a law
that mandates ex-military officers
spend seven years out of uniform
before leading the Pentagon. Aus-
tin retired as a four-star general in
2016.
Austin is the third person to be
granted the waiver of the 1947 law,
which was intended to ensure ci-
vilian control of the military. Ge-
orge Marshall, a former five-star
Army general, was the first. He re-
ceived it in 1950 to serve as de-
fense secretary for former Presi-
dent Harry Truman during the
Korean War. The second was for
former President Donald Trump’s
first defense secretary, retired
Marine Gen. Jim Mattis, in 2017.
Some lawmakers, including
Senate
confirms
Austin to
lead DODBY CAITLIN M. KENNEY
Stars and Stripes
Austin
SEE AUSTIN ON PAGE 5
BUSINESS/WEATHER
WELLINGTON, New Zealand
— Google on Friday threatened to
make its search engine unavaila-
ble in Australia if the government
went ahead with plans to make
tech giants pay for news content.
Australian Prime Minister Scott
Morrison quickly hit back, saying
“we don't respond to threats.”
“Australia makes our rules for
things you can do in Australia,”
Morrison told reporters in Bris-
bane. “That’s done in our Parlia-
ment. It’s done by our govern-
ment. And that’s how things work
here in Australia.”
Morrison's comments came af-
ter Mel Silva, the managing direc-
tor of Google Australia and New
Zealand, told a Senate inquiry into
the bill that the new rules would be
unworkable.
“If this version of the code were
to become law, it would give us no
real choice but to stop making
Google search available in Austra-
lia,” Silva told senators. “And that
would be a bad outcome not only
for us, but also for the Australian
people, media diversity, and the
small businesses who use our
products every day.”
The mandatory code of conduct
proposed by the government aims
to make Google and Facebook pay
Australian media companies fair-
ly for using news content they si-
phon from news sites.
Silva said it was willing to pay a
wide and diverse group of news
publishers for the value they add-
ed, but not under the rules as pro-
posed, which included payments
for links and snippets.
Google threat: No web search in AustraliaAssociated Press
Bahrain67/58
Baghdad59/31
Doha73/59
Kuwait City63/40
Riyadh65/42
Kandahar53/23
Kabul45/25
Djibouti83/74
SATURDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Mildenhall/Lakenheath
37/26
Ramstein41/32
Stuttgart41/33
Lajes,Azores63/60
Rota61/58
Morón58/53 Sigonella
62/47
Naples5652
Aviano/Vicenza46/36
Pápa54/35
Souda Bay60/51
Brussels40/30
Zagan40/30
DrawskoPomorskie 35/29
SATURDAY IN EUROPE
Misawa32/23
Guam84/76
Tokyo46/42
Okinawa75/60
Sasebo59/49
Iwakuni54/46
Seoul51/34
Osan52/35
Busan55/46
The weather is provided by the American Forces Network Weather Center,
2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.
SUNDAY IN THE PACIFIC
WEATHER OUTLOOK
TODAYIN STRIPES
American Roundup ...... 11Comics/Crossword .......18Lifestyle .................... 13Movies .................... 14-15Opinion ........................ 17Sports .................... 19-24Video Games ............. 12
Military rates
Euro costs (Jan. 25) $1.19Dollar buys (Jan. 25) 0.8013British pound (Jan. 25) $1.33Japanese yen (Jan. 25) 101.00South Korean won (Jan. 25) 1074.00
Commercial rates
Bahrain(Dinar) 0.3770Britain (Pound) 1.3661Canada (Dollar) 1.2692 China(Yuan) 6.4829Denmark (Krone) 6.1110Egypt (Pound) 15.7297 Euro 0.8214Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7522 Hungary (Forint) 293.77 Israel (Shekel) 3.2748Japan (Yen) 103.79Kuwait(Dinar) 0.3029
Norway (Krone) 8.4650
Philippines (Peso) 48.06Poland (Zloty) 3.73Saudi Arab (Riyal) 3.7511Singapore (Dollar) 1.3270
So. Korea (Won) 1106.19Switzerlnd (Franc) 0.8850Thailand (Baht) 30.00Turkey (NewLira) 7.3924
(Military exchange rates are those availableto customers at military banking facilities in thecountry of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., purchasing British pounds in Germany), check withyour local military banking facility. Commercialrates are interbank rates provided for referencewhen buying currency. All figures are foreigncurrencies to one dollar, except for the Britishpound, which is represented in dollarstopound, and the euro, which is dollarstoeuro.)
INTEREST RATES
Prime rate 3.25Interest Rates Discount rate 0.75Federal funds market rate 0.093month bill 0.0930year bond 1.87
EXCHANGE RATES
PAGE 2 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, January 23, 2021
Saturday, January 23, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 3
MILITARY
Women in the Air Force can
wear a ponytail or up to two braids
with their uniform under an up-
date to grooming regulations
spurred by feedback that showed
women experienced hair loss and
migraines from the current stan-
dards.
The changes take effect next
month and are part of the Air
Force’s efforts to address diversi-
ty and inclusion in the ranks, ac-
cording to an Air Force news re-
lease sent Thursday.
“As I outlined in ‘Action Order
A: Airmen,’ this decision is a com-
mitment to supporting the airmen
we need and sustaining the cul-
ture and environment of excel-
lence that will continue to make
the Air Force an attractive career
choice for airmen and families,”
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen.
Charles Brown, said in a state-
ment. “I’m thankful for the feed-
back and research conducted
from a number of women leaders,
the Women’s Initiative Team, the
Air Force uniform board, and our
joint teammates.”
He approved the policy after
considering feedback from the
force, a uniform board recom-
mendation, and the professional
image and standards of the Air
Force and military, according to
the release.
The change allows women to
wear up to two braids or a single
ponytail so long as the width does
not exceed beyond their head and
the length does not extend below
the top of each sleeve inseam, ac-
cording to the release. In addition,
women’s bangs may now touch
their eyebrows, but not cover
their eyes.
These new changes will be ef-
fective upon publication of the
new standards in Air Force In-
struction 36-2903 in February and
will also apply to women in Space
Force.
Under previous guidance, if a
woman’s hair or ponytail was
longer than her collar, it had to be
secured with no loose ends.
The Air Force uniform board
convened in November to discuss
ideas gathered from airmen
across the service who participa-
ted in a dress and appearance
crowdsourcing campaign. Partic-
ipants on the board included 19 di-
verse airmen of various ranks
from across the major commands
and headquarters directorates.
Thousands of women across the
Air Force provided feedback to
the Women’s Initiative Team,
which sent recommendations to
the board. Women said con-
straints of current hair-grooming
standards resulted in damage to
their hair, migraines and hair loss.
“In addition to the health con-
cerns we have for our airmen, not
all women have the same hair
type, and our hair standards
should reflect our diverse force,”
said Chief Master Sgt. of the Air
Force JoAnne S. Bass. “I am
pleased we could make this im-
portant change for our women
service members.”
The changes also support ongo-
ing efforts to address diversity
and inclusion in the ranks, accord-
ing to the release.
“We remain committed to re-
moving barriers to service,” said
Lt. Gen. Brian Kelly, Air Force
deputy chief of staff for manpow-
er, personnel and services. “In an
all-volunteer force, we want fully
qualified volunteers who are rep-
resentative of the nation to see us
as a great opportunity to maxi-
mize their talent and serve.”
The board also considered
beard regulations for men, ac-
cording to the release. However,
the board found no known health
or hair loss issues associated with
current male grooming standard
compliance and did not make
changes. Beards are permitted in
conjunction with medical excep-
tions such as shaving waivers or
for approved religious accommo-
dations.
Several other ideas from the
board remain under considera-
tion.
The Army is conducting a simi-
lar review of its grooming stan-
dards and is expected to an-
nounce changes by the end of Ja-
nuary.
USAF approveslonger braidsand ponytails
BY ROSE L. THAYER
Stars and Stripes
[email protected] Twitter: @Rose_Lori
“I am pleasedwe could makethis importantchange for ourwomen servicemembers.”
Chief Master Sgt. JoAnne S. Bass
U.S. Air Force
WASHINGTON — The com-
mander of a Tennessee-based na-
val center was fired Wednesday
after a command investigation in-
to a complaint, the Navy said.
Capt. Scott Moss, the command-
ing officer of Navy Operational
Support Center in Knoxville, was
relieved “due to a loss of confi-
dence” in his ability to command,
according to a Navy statement
Wednesday. He was fired by Capt.
Dale Maxey, commander of Navy
Region Southeast Reserve Com-
ponent Command Jacksonville in
Florida.
The firing came after a com-
mand investigation was conduct-
ed following an inspector general
complaint, Cmdr. Ben Tisdale, a
spokesman for Navy Reserve
Force, wrote Thursday in an
email. While the investigation is
complete, Tisdale stated he could
not provide more details about it
due to privacy concerns.
Moss had been in command
since September, according to
Tisdale. The support centers are
responsible for the readiness of
Reserve sailors and Marines.
He has been temporarily reas-
signed to the reserve component
command in Jacksonville, and
Cmdr. Timothy Trimble is assum-
ing his duties until a permanent
replacement is found.
Moss graduated from Maryville
College with a degree in Biology
and then in 1998 joined the Navy to
be a pilot, earning his wings in
2000, according to a Sept. 20 story
in The Daily Times newspaper in
Maryville, Tenn. Moss told The
Daily Times newspaper that he
plans to retire in the fall of 2023.
Commander of Tennessee-basednaval center fired after inquiry
BY CAITLIN M. KENNEY
Stars and Stripes
[email protected] @caitlinmkenney
KABUL, Afghanistan — Engine
failure combined with pilot error
caused the crash of an Air Force jet
in Afghanistan that killed two pi-
lots last year, a report on the acci-
dent said.
Lt. Col. Paul K. Voss, 46, and
Capt. Ryan S. Phaneuf, 30, were
the only ones onboard the twin-
turbofan Bombardier E-11A air-
craft when it went down in central
Ghazni province on Jan. 27.
Nearly two hours into their
flight, a fan blade broke in the
plane’s left engine, causing it to au-
tomatically shut down, an Air
Force accident investigation re-
port released Thursday said. The
pilots then misjudged where the
problem was and mistakenly shut
down their right engine, it added.
The crew’s failure to restart the
right engine and their decision to
try to return to Kandahar Airfield
without power — which was 265
miles away at the time of the inci-
dent — “substantially contributed
to the mishap,” the report conclud-
ed.
The plane’s cockpit voice re-
corder included a loud bang when
the fan blade broke. But the voice
and digital flight recorders stop-
ped working soon afterward,
meaning the circumstances of the
crash couldn’t be fully deter-
mined, the report said.
To compensate for the missing
data, investigators referred to a
nearly identical incident in 2006,
in which that crew reported vibra-
tions of such magnitude after their
fan engine blade separated that
they thought they had collided
with something.
The pilot later said he couldn’t
determine which engine had failed
based on the vibrations.
The overall vibrations in Ja-
nuary’s incident would have been
25% greater than those felt in 2006,
“making it more likely the [crew]
perceived the event as severe,” the
report said.
Their decision to return to Kan-
dahar — which they would have
known was well outside their glid-
ing capabilities — suggests they
were confident they’d be able to
restart one or both engines, the re-
port added. The pilots were close
enough to glide and land at either
Bagram or Kabul airports, the re-
port stated.
It’s unknown whether the crew
attempted to restart the right en-
gine, but investigators speculated
that if they thought it was dam-
aged, they may have only attempt-
ed to restart the left one.
The crew made two mayday
calls to Kabul air traffic control, in-
forming them that they had lost
both engines. One of the calls was
made just before they attempted
an emergency landing in a field,
which destroyed the aircraft and
resulted in their deaths, the report
said.
Voss and Phaneuf were both as-
signed to the 430th Expeditionary
Electronic Combat Squadron at
Kandahar Airfield and were con-
ducting a combat sortie in support
of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel,
the military said.
The 430th is the only unit in the
Air Force that operates the E-11A
with the Battlefield Airborne
Communications Node, which al-
lows different communications
systems to share and relay video,
imagery and data to ground troops.
The E-11A is a U.S. military ver-
sion of the Bombardier’s Global
Express business jet.
SAIFULLAH MAFTOON/AP
Wreckage of a U.S. military aircraft that crashed in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, on Jan. 27, 2020.
Engine failure, pilot error causedAfghan crash that killed 2 airmen
BY PHILLIP WALTER
WELLMAN
Stars and Stripes
[email protected]: @pwwellman
PAGE 4 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, January 23, 2021
WASHINGTON — Several
thousand National Guard troops
deployed to Washington to help
secure the presidential inaugura-
tion will end their mission within
the next 10 days, Guard officials
said Thursday.
Almost 26,000 Guard troops
were assigned to Washington in
the last two weeks to support local
and federal law enforcement
agencies for President Joe Biden’s
inauguration Wednesday. The
heightened security was a re-
sponse to the deadly riot Jan. 6 at
the Capitol where a mob of former
President Donald Trump's sup-
porters stormed the building.
But there were no protests or vi-
olence during the inauguration.
“The planning and process may
take several days, but arrange-
ments are being made to return
close to 15,000 troops as soon as
possible and should conclude
within a five to 10-day period,” ac-
cording to a National Guard Bu-
reau statement Thursday.
Also Thursday, The Washing-
ton Post and Politico reported that
hundreds of Guard troops were
forced out of areas of the Capitol
they had been using for rest
breaks and were relocated to a
nearby garage. Photos of the
troops in the garage drew outrage
from lawmakers.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an
Iraq War veteran, tweeted: “Just
made a number of calls and have
been informed Capitol Police have
apologized to the Guardsmen and
they will be allowed back into the
complex tonight.”
After midnight, Duckworth
tweeted an update: “Troops are
now all out of the garage. Now I
can go to bed.” Politico reported
that they had been allowed back
into the Capitol.
All week, Guard members have
been seen manning checkpoints
and standing post around the Cap-
itol grounds and streets that lead
to the building as well as the Na-
tional Mall and White House.
Sending troops home involves
“equipment turn-in and account-
ability, travel arrangements, [cor-
onavirus] screening and mitiga-
tion,” according to the Guard Bu-
reau. Some of the service mem-
bers were authorized to carry
firearms for self-defense during
the security mission.
Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson,
the chief of the National Guard
Bureau, said Tuesday during a
news conference at the Pentagon
that the reduction of troops in
Washington is “conditions based.”
“After the inauguration, we’ll
look at the conditions, and the en-
vironment and the mission set that
we’re asked to perform. And if that
is below the number of personnel
that we have, then we’ll start iden-
tifying those folks to get them
home as quickly as possible,” he
said.
Once those 15,000 troops leave
Washington, more than 10,600
Guard members will still be in the
city, according to the National
Guard Bureau.
Some local and federal agencies
are asking for some troops to stay
to help with additional support
and “recuperation time for their
forces to regroup,” according to
the National Guard. About 7,000
troops will stay to help through the
end of January.
Following the Capitol riot, for-
mer acting Defense Secretary
Christopher Miller approved
6,200 National Guard members to
be activated for up to 31 days in
Washington to support local au-
thorities. Hokanson said Tuesday
that they expect that activation to
last into February.
Those troops leaving will take
ground transportation such as
buses or aircraft flown by the Air
National Guard. Some troops will
travel on commercial flights as
necessary.
Nearly 15K Guard troops in DC to return homeBY CAITLIN M. KENNEY
Stars and Stripes
ZACHARY HOLDEN/115th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
Soldiers with the District of Columbia National Guard, patrol around the Capitol during the presidentialinauguration in Washington, D.C., Wednesday
The Associated Press contributed to this [email protected] @caitlinmkenney
MILITARY
Three warrant officers and
combat veterans from the New
York Army National Guard were
killed Wednesday when the
UH-60 medical evacuation heli-
copter that they were flying
crashed, the service said Friday.
Chief Warrant Officer 5 Steven
Skoda, Chief Warrant Officer 4
Christian Koch and Chief Warrant
Officer 2 Daniel Prial were all pi-
lots assigned to C Company of the
1st Battalion, 171st General Sup-
port Aviation Battalion based at
the Army Aviation Support Facil-
ity at Rochester International Air-
port, according to the New York
Army National Guard. The unit
trains to perform aeromedical
evacuation, and the crew had been
conducting night vision goggle
proficiency training in the local
training area.
An Army safety investigation
team arrived Thursday from the
Army Safety Center at Fort Ruck-
er, Ala., to begin its analysis of the
accident, according to the Guard.
The helicopter crashed in a
farmer’s field in rural Mendon,
south of Rochester, at about 6:30
p.m. Wednesday, The Associated
Press reported. Witnesses who
called 911 reported hearing the
sounds of an engine sputtering and
said the helicopter was flying very
low.
Chief Warrant Officer 5 Steven
Skoda, 54, spent 35 years serving
in the Army and the New York Ar-
my National Guard, according to
the Guard. He served in the Army
from 1985 to 1987 and then transi-
tioned to the
Guard.
In 1992, he be-
came a pilot and
began flying
UH-1 “Huey”
helicopters from
the Army Avia-
tion Support Fa-
cility in Roches-
ter. During his career, he also
learned to fly the UH-60 Black
Hawk A and L models, the OH-58
Kiowa, the AH-1 Cobra and the
AH-64 Apache attack helicopter.
Skoda deployed to Afghanistan
in 2013 and 2019, according to
Guard. He was an experienced
helicopter pilot who served as a
UH-60 senior instructor pilot and
an instrument flight instructor and
a UH-60 maintenance test pilot.
He had almost 5,000 flying hours.
Outside of his job as a pilot for
the 171st Battalion, he worked as a
full-time National Guard techni-
cian at the Army’s support facility
at the Rochester airport since
1999. A National Guard technician
is a federal employee who must al-
so serve in the National Guard as a
condition of employment.
Soldiers at the facility described
Skoda as “a friend and mentor to
all the soldiers in his unit, support-
ing the training and career pro-
gressions of hun-
dreds of air-
crews through-
out his career,”
the Guard said.
He lived in
Rochester and
was single.
Chief Warrant
Officer 4 Chris-
tian Koch, 39, served 20 years in
the New York Army National
Guard, first as an infantryman in A
Company of the 2nd Battalion,
108th Infantry, according to the
Guard. He became a helicopter pi-
lot in 2006, flying from the Army
facility at the Rochester airport.
Koch was rated to fly the UH-60
Black Hawk A and L models, as
well as the CH-47 Chinook, ac-
cording to the Guard. He had 2,350
flying hours. He held a bachelor’s
degree in mathematics from the
College at Brockport, State Uni-
versity of New York.
Koch deployed to Iraq in 2008
and Afghanistan in 2012. He
served in 2004 as part of Operation
Noble Eagle, the National Guard
security mission in the United
States after the terrorist attacks of
9/11.
Koch also served as the instru-
ment flight instructor for the unit.
In civilian life, he worked as a civil-
ian pilot for the
New York State
Police since
2016.
With the state
police, he served
on many search
and rescue mis-
sions and con-
ducted annual
training for other pilots, according
to a news release about Koch’s
death. The Red Cross of Western
New York honored Koch recently
for his role in the June 2020 rescue
of an injured 11-year-old boy.
Along with first responders on the
ground, and a state police crew in
the air, the boy was hoisted more
than 100 feet from a gorge and tak-
en for medical care.
Koch lived in Honeoye Falls
with his wife Teressa DaGama and
their four children. A Go Fund Me
page to support his family has
raised more than $43,000 from
nearly 500 donors.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Daniel
Prial, 30, graduated from the U.S.
Military Academy at West Point in
2012 and commissioned as an Ar-
my officer, according to the
Guard. He served as a medical
evacuation platoon leader with the
82nd Airborne Division’s 82nd
Combat Aviation Brigade.
He deployed to Afghanistan in
2014 and 2015 and served as an in-
structor pilot for students at Fort
Rucker, where the Army trains
helicopter pilots.
He attained the rank of captain
before accepting an appointment
as a warrant officer in the New
York Army National Guard so he
could continue to fly, according to
the Guard. He also worked as a
federal technician at the Army fa-
cility at the Rochester airport.
He was single and lived in Roch-
ester.
He was rated to fly the UH-60
Black Hawk helicopter and had
670 flying hours.
Soldiers in the unit described
Prial as “extremely humble and
family centric. He had an ability to
fit in quickly and make an immedi-
ate impact on new groups,” the
Guard said.
Three NY Guard pilots killed in helicopter crashBY ROSE L. THAYER
Stars and Stripes
[email protected]: @Rose_Lori
Skoda Prial Koch
Saturday, January 23, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 5
took office. His administration
raised that number to 14,000 in its
first year, before reducing it to
2,500 since the Doha agreement.
Under the accord, Washington
agreed to withdraw its troops in
return for Taliban concessions.
But peace talks and prisoner ex-
changes between Kabul and the
insurgents required by the deal
were met with months of delays.
“We have to look carefully at
what has actually been negotiat-
ed,” Antony Blinken, nominee for
secretary of state, said Tuesday at
his Senate confirmation hearing.
Lloyd Austin, Biden’s pick to
head the Pentagon, echoed con-
cerns by senior military leaders
about a surge of violence across
the country and whether the Tali-
ban have kept their promises.
“If confirmed, I intend to con-
sult with interagency stakehold-
ers to review the Taliban’s actions
relative to all its commitments,”
Austin said in a written statement
during his confirmation hearing
Tuesday.
The Biden administration is ex-
pected to reemphasize the need
for a “responsible” withdrawal,
but it’s hard to imagine all Amer-
ican troops withdrawing by May, a
report released last week by Inter-
national Crisis Group said.
A full withdrawal in May could
fracture an already splintered Af-
ghan government and lead to re-
newed violence, said Andrew
Watkins, senior Afghanistan ana-
lyst for the Brussels-based think
tank and an author of the report.
“How much appetite will the Bi-
den team have for adhering to the
May withdrawal deadline?” Wat-
kins said in a Twitter direct mess-
age. “With so much concern in
both Kabul and Washington that
doing so might encourage the Tali-
ban to intensify its offensives
against the government and usher
in political instability?”
While it's too soon to ascertain
the Biden administration’s wil-
lingness to change the Doha deal,
it could point to these missed
deadlines as reasons for extend-
ing the May troop withdrawal
date, said Elizabeth Threlkeld,
deputy director for South Asia at
the Stimson Center, a Washington
think tank.
“They would have a clear case if
they chose to try for a limited ex-
tension,” Threlkeld said. “A few
months extension would give ne-
gotiators more time to build mo-
mentum in Doha while maintain-
ing limited U.S. leverage over the
Taliban during a potential spring
offensive.”
A negotiator for the Afghan gov-
ernment said the Taliban feel em-
boldened because they signed a
“winning agreement,” and that
delaying the U.S. troop withdraw-
al could force the militant group to
engage in the peace talks instead
of planning for a military victory.
“The troop withdrawal, if there
is a postponement, that will pave
the way for a more mature politi-
cal settlement,” said Fawzia Koo-
fi, one of the few women taking
part in the negotiations. “The
United States should not rush
this.”
Advocates of a total withdrawal
argue delaying it would only leng-
then a war that began nearly 20
years ago.
“The only course of action that
has any chance of preserving
American security — as well as
the lives and limbs of our troops —
is to end our part of this war no
matter what by May 2021,” said
Daniel L. Davis, a retired Army
lieutenant colonel and senior fel-
low for Defense Priorities, a right-
leaning Washington think tank, in
an email.
The Taliban, however, would
consider any deviation from the
May troop withdrawal deadline a
breach of the agreement, said
analysts who have spoken to the
group’s leaders.
A spokesman for the group said
in a phone interview that they ex-
pect the Biden administration to
fulfill the deal.
“The Doha agreement is a very
good document to end this war and
all sides must try to implement it,”
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah
Mujahid said.
It is also unlikely that the Tali-
ban will accept the U.S. leaving
behind a small counterterrorism
force without further negotiation
and possible concessions from
Washington. Biden has said he
would prefer to leave some forces
in the county to safeguard against
the emergence of terrorist threats
against the United States.
But in an indication of the stakes
facing the new administration,
such a decision could lead to the
Taliban withdrawing from peace
talks and returning to overt war
against U.S. troops left in the coun-
try, Watkins said.
“As president, Biden can con-
tinue to pursue a political settle-
ment to end the war in Afghanis-
tan, or he can opt for an enduring
counterterrorism mission,” Wat-
kins said. “But absent what would
be a highly unlikely about-face by
the Taliban, he cannot have both.”
Dilemma: Biden administration toassess deal before making decisionFROM PAGE 1
ZUBAIR BABAKARKHAIL CONTRIBUTED TO [email protected] TWITTER: @JPLAWRENCE3
DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
In a 2011 visit to Afghanistan, thenVice President Joe Biden listens to Afghan Brig. Gen. AmlaqullahPatyani, commander of Kabul Military Training Center. In the center is Gen. David Petraeus, then thecommander of the International Security Force. As president, Biden must determine whether to soonwithdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
MILITARY
A soldier who died in Kuwait
this week was a member of the
Texas Army National Guard’s
36th Infantry Division, the mili-
tary said Friday.
Staff Sgt. Timothy Luke Man-
chester, 34, died Wednesday in a
noncombat incident at Camp Arif-
jan, the Defense Department said
in a statement.
The Army said it was investigat-
ing the incident. Manchester had
been found unresponsive, U.S. Ar-
my Central said in an earlier state-
ment.
Manchester, of Austin, was a
member of Headquarters and
Headquarters Battalion, 36th In-
fantry Division, out of Camp Ma-
bry, Texas.
The division took over com-
mand of the Army’s Task Force
Spartan in Kuwait late last year on
a 10-month rotation.
Some 600 members of the Na-
tional Guard unit are deployed as
part of Operation Spartan Shield,
which supports military coopera-
tion, logistics and humanitarian
assistance efforts in the region.
There are also about 2,200 ac-
tive-duty personnel from all ser-
vices in Kuwait, Defense Depart-
ment quarterly data in a Septem-
ber report showed.
U.S. Central Command de-
clined to provide more up-to-date
troop numbers on Thursday, cit-
ing operational security concerns.
The U.S. bases in Kuwait serve
as hubs for troops and equipment
entering and leaving the region,
including those going to or coming
from combat operations in Iraq,
Syria and Afghanistan.
Manchester is the second sol-
dier from Texas to die in a non-
combat incident in the country
this year. Staff Sgt. Anthony Ber-
mudez, a native of a Dallas sub-
urb, was killed in a vehicle acci-
dent near Camp Buehring on Jan.
11.
Bermudez had been assigned to
Area Support Group – Kuwait and
was on his first deployment.
Two other soldiers injured in
the vehicle accident were taken to
a military hospital in Kuwait, in-
cluding the driver, who was treat-
ed and released the same day.
The Texas Military Department
did not immediately respond to an
inquiry seeking further informa-
tion about Manchester.
Soldier who died in Kuwaitwas Texas guardsman
BY CHAD GARLAND
Stars and Stripes
[email protected]: @chadgarland
Democrats, were concerned
about approving another waiver,
which is seen as a rare exemption,
so quickly after granting one to
Mattis. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-
Md., said Thursday that while he
believes Austin is qualified to be
the defense secretary and sup-
ports his confirmation, he had to
vote against the waiver.
“In order to maintain civilian
control of our military, U.S. law re-
quires a cooling-off period prior to
allowing a recently retired officer
to serve as the secretary of de-
fense. I have long supported this
cooling-off period, and have voted
previously to uphold it,” he said in
a statement.
A 1975 graduate of the U.S. Mil-
itary Academy at West Point,
N.Y., Austin commanded infantry
units from platoons up and led sol-
diers in combat in Iraq and Af-
ghanistan. He was the first Black
commander of an Army division
and corps in combat. He retired
after leading U.S. Central Com-
mand in war efforts in Afghanis-
tan, Iraq and Syria.
Austin takes over the Pentagon
while it faces numerous challeng-
es. In recent weeks, the military
completed withdrawals in combat
zones that left Biden’s administra-
tion with 2,500 troops in Afghan-
istan, 2,500 in Iraq and few, if any,
in Somalia. He told senators Tues-
day that his primary concerns in-
cluded ensuring the military pro-
vided a robust deterrent to China,
as the United States works to
check its growing power in east
Asia and ambitions worldwide.
He also vowed to increase mil-
itary support to the fight against
the coronavirus pandemic, telling
senators that he believed there
was more that the Pentagon could
do to support efforts to stop the
spread and distribute vaccines.
Austin on Tuesday committed
to ensuring civilian experts were
thoroughly involved in crafting
Pentagon policy. He told lawmak-
ers that he did not believe two ad-
ditional years outside of uniform
would change the way he thought
about military and national secu-
rity issues.
“I will uphold the principle of ci-
vilian control of the military, as in-
tended,” Austin said. “I would not
be here, asking for your support, if
I felt I was unable or unwilling to
question people with whom I once
served and operations I once led,
or too afraid to speak my mind to
you or to the president.”
Austin: Retired generalis first Black DOD chiefFROM PAGE 1
STARS AND STRIPES STAFF WRITER COREYDICKSTEIN CONTRIBUTED TO THIS [email protected]: @CAITLINMKENNEY
PAGE 6 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, January 23, 2021
WASHINGTON — Two more
service members have died from
the coronavirus, bringing the
number of deaths to 17 as military
cases surpass 130,000, according
to the Pentagon.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Abdiga-
far Salad Warsame, 52, was a Na-
vy Reserve logistics specialist as-
signed to Navy Operational Sup-
port Center in Columbus, Ohio,
when he died Jan. 8 at a local hos-
pital due to complications associ-
ated with the coronavirus, Cmdr.
Ben Tisdale, a Navy Reserve
Force spokesman, said in a state-
ment Thursday.
The other service member who
died from the virus was a member
of the New York Air National
Guard, according to the Pentagon.
Due to the wishes of the airman’s
family, the Guard will not release
any information about the service
member, said Eric Durr, a spokes-
man with the New York National
Guard.
As of Wednesday, six National
Guard members have died from
the virus, two Navy reservists and
six Army reservists. Three active-
duty service members have also
died of the virus since the pan-
demic began in March, according
to the Pentagon.
Warsame was born in Somalia
and then lived in Georgia until he
enlisted in the Navy in March of
2002, according to his service re-
cord and his Facebook page. He
was assigned to the Naval Reserve
Defense Innovation Unit in Atlan-
ta, Ga., from 2005 to 2010. He then
worked at the Naval Reserve Fleet
Logistics Center Bahrain Head-
quarters in Kearny, N.J., from
2010 to 2019. He was most recently
assigned to the Naval Reserve De-
fense Logistics Agency logistics
assistance team in Columbus,
Ohio.
As of Wednesday, the Navy has
had 27,187 cases of the coronavi-
rus and the National Guard has
had 16,759. The military overall
has had 130,484 cases, 1,277 per-
sonnel hospitalized, and 83,196
who have recovered, according to
the Pentagon.
The Army has had 46,174 cases
of the virus, the Air Force has had
23,425 cases, and the Marine
Corps has had 16,046, according to
the Pentagon.
2 moredeaths inmilitary;total at 17
BY CAITLIN M. KENNEY
Stars and Stripes
[email protected] @caitlinmkenney
TOKYO — Marine Corps bases
on Okinawa curtailed most off-
base activities indefinitely be-
cuase of a record-breaking num-
ber of new infections on the island
Friday.
“All off-base activity will be lim-
ited to physical fitness and essen-
tial services only,” Marine Corps
Installations Pacific announced
on Facebook. The Marines report-
ed no new cases Friday.
The Marines also ordered their
people on Okinawa to wear masks
“at all times when indoors on and
off base” while in the presence of
someone who is not a family mem-
ber or a roommate.
The order applies to service
members, civilian employees and
family members, according to the
post.
Kadena Air Base, also on Okina-
wa, had 13 people test positive
over the previous week, according
to a Facebook post Friday.
Okinawa reported 103 new
cases and one death due to coro-
navirus complications Friday, a
prefectural health official told
Stars and Stripes by phone.
Gov. Denny Tamaki on Wednes-
day declared a local emergency on
the island prefecture until Feb. 7.
He asked Okinawans to stay home
as much as possible and business-
es to close by 8 p.m.
Overall, U.S. military bases in
Japan reported 64 new infections
Friday.
Yokosuka Naval Base, 35 miles
south of central Tokyo, said 33
new coronavirus cases have ap-
peared since Tuesday, according
to a Facebook post Friday.
The base has 166 patients under
observation. So far this month, 238
people have contracted the virus
at Yokosuka.
Yokota Air Base, the headquar-
ters of U.S. Forces in Japan in
western Tokyo, had 13 people test-
ed positive for the virus between
Jan. 15 and Friday, according to a
Facebook post.
Yokota has 15 patients under ob-
servation and has reported 56
cases so far this month.
Naval Air Facility Atsugi, 24
miles southwest of central Tokyo,
reported two new patients Friday,
base spokesman Sam Samuelson
told Stars and Stripes by phone.
Misawa Air Base, 400 miles
north of Tokyo, had three people
test positive, according to a news
release Friday.
Okinawa Marines ban most off-base activitiesBY JOSEPH DITZLER
Stars and Stripes
AKIFUMI ISHIKAWA/Stars and Stripes
Two girls wear masks while enjoying a sunny day near Sagami Bay inChigasaki, Japan, on Tuesday.
Stars and Stripes reporter Aya Ichihashi contrib-uted to this report.
Public health experts Thursday
blamed COVID-19 vaccine short-
ages around the U.S. in part on the
Trump administration’s push to
get states to vastly expand their
vaccination drives to reach the
nation’s estimated 54 million peo-
ple age 65 and over.
The push that began over a
week ago has not been accompa-
nied by enough doses to meet de-
mand, according to state and local
officials, leading to frustration
and confusion and limiting states’
ability to attack the outbreak that
has killed over 400,000 Ameri-
cans.
Over the past few days, author-
ities in California, Ohio, West Vir-
ginia, Florida and Hawaii warned
that their supplies were running
out. New York City began cancel-
ing or postponing shots or stopped
making new appointments be-
cause of the shortages, which
President Joe Biden has vowed to
turn around. Florida’s top health
official said the state would deal
with the scarcity by restricting
vaccines to state residents.
The vaccine rollout so far has
been “a major disappointment,”
said Dr. Eric Topol, head of the
Scripps Research Translational
Institute.
Problems started with the
Trump administration’s “fatal
mistake” of not ordering enough
vaccine, which was then snapped
up by other countries, Topol said.
Then, opening the line to senior
citizens set people up for disap-
pointment because there wasn’t
enough vaccine, he said. The
Trump administration also left
crucial planning to the states and
didn’t provide the necessary
funding.
“It doesn’t happen by fairy
dust,” Topol said. “You need to
put funds into that.”
Last week, before Biden took
over as president, the U.S. Health
and Human Services Department
suggested that the frustration was
the result of unrealistic expecta-
tions among the states as to how
much vaccine was on the way.
But some public health experts
said that the states have not been
getting reliable information on
vaccine deliveries and that the
amounts they have been sent have
been unpredictable. That, in turn,
has made it difficult for them to
plan how to inoculate people.
“It’s a bit of having to build it as
we go,” said Dr. George Ruther-
ford, an epidemiologist at the Uni-
versity of California, San Francis-
co. “It’s a front-end supply issue,
and unless we know how much
vaccine is flowing down the pipe,
it’s hard to get these things sized
right, staffed, get people there, get
them vaccinated and get them
gone.”
State health secretaries have
asked the Biden administration
for earlier and more reliable pre-
dictions on vaccine deliveries,
said Washington state Health Sec-
retary Dr. Umair Shah.
Dr. Marcus Plescia of the Asso-
ciation of State and Territorial
Health Officials was also among
those who said opening vaccina-
tions to senior citizens was done
too soon, before supply could
catch up.
“We needed steady federal
leadership on this early in the
launch,” Plescia said. “That did
not happen, and now that we are
not prioritizing groups, there is
going to be some lag for supply to
catch up with demand.”
Supply will pick up over the
next few weeks, he said. Deliver-
ies go out to the states every week,
and the government and drug-
makers have given assurances
large quantities are in the pipe-
line.
The rollout has proceeded at a
disappointing pace. The U.S. gov-
ernment has delivered nearly 38
million doses of vaccine to the
states, and about 17.5 million of
those have been administered, ac-
cording to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
About 2.4 million people have
received the necessary two doses,
by the CDC’s count.
Experts blamevaccine scarcityon rapid growth
Associated Press
SHOLTEN SINGER, THE HERALDDISPATCH/AP
Joanna Rolfe of Ona, right, receives a COVID19 vaccine fromMarshall University student nurse Angie Bush, left, during a drivethruclinic Thursday, outside of the St. Mary's School of Nursing inHuntington, WVa.
VIRUS OUTBREAK
Saturday, January 23, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 7
About 450 miles of border wall
were completed under the Trump
administration, though much of
that involved renovation of al-
ready established border bar-
riers. About 338 miles were under
AUSTIN, Texas — The Army
Corps of Engineers has directed
contractors building the U.S.-
Mexico border wall to stop work
following an executive order by
President Joe Biden to end con-
struction and review how money
allocated for the project could be
diverted.
The order was one of 17 signed
by Biden on Wednesday during
his first day as president and halts
a key piece of former President
Donald Trump’s immigration pol-
icy. Estimated to cost about $15
billion, the border wall’s construc-
tion was under management of
contracts awarded through the
Army Corps of Engineers and
used funds pulled from Defense
Department accounts associated
with countering drugs and mili-
tary construction, as well as from
other government agencies.
“Only construction activity that
is necessary to safely prepare
each site for a suspension of work
will occur over the next few days,”
Lt. Col. Chris Mitchell, a Pentagon
spokesman, said Thursday. “As
we pause this program, we will
work closely with the Department
of Defense and Department of the
Army to ensure public safety and
a responsible use of taxpayer dol-
lars.”
Biden’s order states while
America has the right to secure its
borders, “building a massive wall
that spans the entire southern bor-
der is not a serious policy solution.
It is a waste of money that diverts
attention from genuine threats to
our homeland security.”
Biden also rescinded the nation-
al emergency that Trump de-
clared at the border in February
2019 and recertified in his final
five days as president.
But Biden’s executive order
does not impact the deployment of
about 3,600 troops serving at the
border to assist the Department of
Homeland Security, Mitchell said.
Up to 4,000 troops are authorized
to stay at the border through the
end of September under an order
signed in June by former Defense
Secretary Mark Esper.
It is unclear Thursday what will
happen to the money redirected
from the Pentagon to build the
border wall. Biden’s action calls
for “a careful review of all re-
sources appropriated or redirect-
ed to construct a southern border
wall.”
construction as of October, ac-
cording to the Department of
Homeland Security.
Army contractors stop work onborder wall; troops stay for now
BY ROSE L. THAYER
Stars and Stripes
MATT YORK/AP
Crews construct a section of border wall in San Bernardino NationalWildlife Refuge, on Dec. 8 in Douglas, Ariz.
[email protected] Twitter: @Rose_Lori
BALTIMORE — President Joe
Biden planned to take executive
action Friday to provide a stopgap
measure of financial relief to mil-
lions of Americans while Con-
gress begins to consider his much
larger $1.9 trillion package to help
those affected by the coronavirus
pandemic.
The two executive orders that
Biden was to sign would increase
food aid, protect job seekers on un-
employment and clear a path for
federal workers and contractors
to get a $15 hourly minimum
wage.
“The American people cannot
afford to wait,” said Brian Deese,
director of the White House Na-
tional Economic Council. “So
many are hanging by a thread.
They need help, and we’re com-
mitted to doing everything we can
to provide that help as quickly as
possible.”
Deese emphasized that the or-
ders are not substitutes for the ad-
ditional stimulus that Biden says
is needed beyond the $4 trillion in
aid that has already been ap-
proved, including $900 billion this
past December. Several Republi-
can lawmakers have voiced oppo-
sition to provisions in Biden’s plan
for direct payments to individuals,
state and local government aid
and a $15 hourly minimum wage
nationwide.
Most economists believe the
United States can rebound with
strength once people are vaccinat-
ed from the coronavirus, but the
situation is still dire as the disease
has closed businesses and schools.
Nearly 10 million jobs have been
lost since last February, and near-
ly 30 million households lack se-
cure access to food.
One of Biden’s orders asks the
Agriculture Department to con-
sider adjusting the rules for food
assistance, so that the government
could be obligated to provide
more money to the hungry.
Children who are unable to get
school meals because of remote
learning could receive a 15% in-
crease in food aid, according to a
fact sheet provided by the White
House. The lowest-income house-
holds could qualify for the emer-
gency benefits from the Supple-
mental Nutrition Assistance Pro-
gram. And the formula for calcu-
lating meal costs could become
more generous.
The order also tries to make it
easier for people to claim direct
payments from prior aid packages
and other benefits. In addition, it
would create a guarantee that
workers could still collect unem-
ployment benefits if they refuse to
take a job that could jeopardize
their health.
Biden’s second executive order
would restore union bargaining
rights revoked by the Trump ad-
ministration, protect the civil ser-
vice system and promote a $15
hourly minimum wage for all fed-
eral workers.
The Democratic president also
plans to start a 100-day process for
the federal government to require
its contractors to pay at least $15
an hour and provide emergency
paid leave to workers, which could
put pressure on other private em-
ployers to boost their wages and
benefits.
These orders arrive as the Bi-
den White House has declined to
provide a timeline for getting its
proposed relief package through,
saying that officials are beginning
to schedule meetings with law-
makers to discuss the proposal.
White House press secretary
Jen Psaki said at a Thursday brief-
ing that the proposal has support
ranging from democratic socialist
Sen. Bernie Sanders to the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce.
But not all components of the
package are popular among Re-
publicans, and that could delay
passage in ways that could injure
the economy. Psaki stressed that
Biden wants any deal to be biparti-
san and that the process of meet-
ing with lawmakers to talk
through the plan is just beginning.
Biden must balance the need for
immediate aid against the risk of
prolonged negotiations. Psaki told
ABC’s “Good Morning America”
on Friday that Biden is “not going
to take tools off the table” as he
looks to bring Republicans to the
table, and she argued that the
back-and-forth is “exactly how it
should work.”
“We’ll figure out what the sau-
sage looks like when it comes out
of the machine,” she said.
Neil Bradley, chief policy offi-
cer at the Chamber, told reporters
Thursday that Congress should
act fast to approve the roughly
$400 billion for national vaccina-
tion and reopening schools and
other elements of the plan with bi-
partisan support, rather than drag
out negotiations.
“We’re not going to let areas of
disagreement prevent progress
on areas where we can find com-
mon ground,” Bradley said. “We
cannot afford six months to get the
vaccination process working
right. ... We can’t even wait six
weeks to get vaccinations distrib-
uted and schools reopened.”
Biden orders stopgap relief; talks beginBY JOSH BOAK
Associated Press
JOHN RAOUX/AP
A sale sign is displayed near the entrance of a Hallmark store Jan. 12, in Orlando, Fla.
NATION
PAGE 8 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, January 23, 2021
NATION
WASHINGTON — Senate Re-
publican leader Mitch McConnell
is proposing to push back the start
of Donald Trump’s impeachment
trial to February to give the for-
mer president time to prepare and
review his case.
House Democrats who voted to
impeach Trump last week for in-
citing the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot
have signaled they want to move
quickly to trial as President Joe
Biden begins his term, saying a
full reckoning is necessary before
the country — and the Congress —
can move on.
But McConnell in a statement
Thursday evening suggested a
more expansive timeline that
would see the House transmit the
article of impeachment next
week, on Jan. 28, launching the
trial’s first phase. After that, the
Senate would give the president’s
defense team and House prosecu-
tors two weeks to file briefs. Argu-
ments in the trial would likely be-
gin in mid-February.
“Senate Republicans are
strongly united behind the princi-
ple that the institution of the Sen-
ate, the office of the presidency,
and former President Trump him-
self all deserve a full and fair proc-
ess that respects his rights and the
serious factual, legal, and consti-
tutional questions at stake,” espe-
cially given the unprecedented
speed of the House process,
McConnell said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck
Schumer, D-N.Y., is reviewing the
plan and will discuss it with
McConnell, a spokesperson said.
The two leaders are also negotiat-
ing how the new 50-50 Senate will
work and how they will balance
other priorities.
A trial delay could appeal to
some Democrats, as it would give
the Senate more time to confirm
Biden’s Cabinet nominees and de-
bate a new round of coronavirus
relief. Democratic Sen. Chris
Coons of Delaware, a key ally of
the president’s, told CNN that
Democrats would consider a de-
lay “if we are making progress on
confirming the very talented, sea-
soned and diverse team that Presi-
dent Joe Biden has nominated.”
The ultimate power over timing
rests with House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi, who can trigger the start of
the trial at any point by sending to
the Senate the charge of incite-
ment of an insurrection. The Cali-
fornia Democrat has not yet said
when she will do that.
“It will be soon. I don’t think it
will be long, but we must do it,”
Pelosi said Thursday. She said
Trump doesn’t deserve a “get-out-
of-jail card” just because he has
left office and Biden and others
are calling for national unity.
Facing his second impeach-
ment trial, Trump began to assem-
ble his defense team by hiring at-
torney Butch Bowers to represent
him, according to an adviser. Bow-
ers previously served as counsel
to former South Carolina Govs.
Nikki Haley and Mark Sanford.
McConnell seeks to push impeachment trialAssociated Press
WASHINGTON — Seven Dem-
ocratic senators on Thursday
asked the Senate Ethics Commit-
tee to investigate the actions of Re-
publican Sens. Ted Cruz and Josh
Hawley “to fully understand their
role” in the Jan. 6 insurrection at
the Capitol by supporters of for-
mer President Donald Trump.
Thousands had gathered that
day as Congress voted to formally
certify President Joe Biden’s vic-
tory over Trump
in November.
Hawley and
Cruz led objec-
tions in the Sen-
ate to Biden’s
victory, despite
the widespread
recognition that
the effort would
fail.
In the end, Congress certified
Biden’s Electoral College victory,
but not before thousands marched
to the Capitol at Trump’s urging,
overwhelmed security and inter-
rupted the proceedings. In the
end, the violence led to five
deaths, injured dozens of police of-
ficers and caused extensive dam-
age to the Capitol.
The Democratic senators said
the question for the Senate to de-
termine is not whether Cruz and
Hawley had the right to object, but
whether the senators failed to put
loyalty “to the highest moral prin-
ciples and to country above loyalty
to persons, party, or Government
department.” They also said the
investigation should determine
whether Cruz, of Texas, and Haw-
ley, of Missouri, engaged in “im-
proper conduct reflecting on the
Senate.”
“Until then, a cloud of uncer-
tainty will hang over them and
over this body,” the Democratic
senators wrote in a letter to the
leaders of the Senate Ethics Com-
mittee.
The Democratic senators said
Cruz and Hawley announced their
intentions to object even though
they knew that claims of election
fraud were baseless and had led to
threats of violence.
“Their actions lend credence to
the insurrectionists’ cause and set
the stage for future violence. And
both senators used their objec-
tions for political fundraising,” the
Democratic senators said in their
letter.
Cruz and Hawley have con-
demned the violence on Jan. 6.
Cruz called it a “despicable act of
terrorism.” Hawley said those
who attacked police and broke the
law must be prosecuted.
Cruz helped force a vote on Bi-
den’s victory in Arizona, while
Hawley helped force one on Bi-
den’s victory in Pennsylvania.
“Joe Biden and the Democrats
talk about unity but are brazenly
trying to silence dissent,” Hawley
said in a prepared statement.
“This latest effort is a flagrant
abuse of the Senate ethics process
and a flagrant attempt to exact
partisan revenge.”
“It is unfortunate that some con-
gressional Democrats are disre-
garding President Biden’s call for
unity and are instead playing po-
litical games by filing frivolous
ethics complaints against their
colleagues,” said a Cruz spokes-
person, Maria Jeffrey Reynolds.
Those Democrats requesting
the investigation are Sens. Shel-
don Whitehouse of Rhode Island,
Ron Wyden of Oregon, Tina Smith
of Minnesota, Richard Blumen-
thal of Connecticut, Mazie Hirono
of Hawaii, Tim Kaine of Virginia
and Sherrod Brown of Ohio.
Democrats ask ethicspanel to investigateSens. Cruz, Hawley
Associated Press
Cruz
WASHINGTON — Testing
wristbands are in. Mask-wearing
is mandatory. Desks are socially
distanced.
The clearest sign that there’s a
new boss at the White House is the
deference being paid to coronavi-
rus public health guidlines.
It’s a striking contrast to Donald
Trump’s White House, which was
the epicenter of no less than three
separate outbreaks of COVID-19,
their true scale not fully known
because aides refused to discuss
cases publicly.
While the Trump administra-
tion was known for flouting safety
recommendations, the Biden
team has made a point of abiding
by the same strict guidelines
they’re urging Americans to fol-
low to stem the spread of the virus.
It’s part of an overall effort from
President Joe Biden to lead by ex-
ample on the coronavirus pan-
demic, an ethos carried over from
his campaign and transition.
“One of the great tragedies of
the Trump administration was a
refusal to recognize that many
Americans model the behavior of
our leadership,” said Ben LaBolt,
a former press secretary to Presi-
dent Barack Obama who worked
on the Biden transition.
“The Biden administration un-
derstands the powerful message
that adhering to their own guide-
lines and modeling the best public
health behavior sends, and knows
that that’s the best path to climb-
ing out of this until we can get a
shot in the arm of every Ameri-
can.”
To that end, most of Biden’s
White House staff is working from
home, coordinating with col-
leagues by email or phone. While
the White House aims to have
more people working onsite next
week, officials intend to operate
with substantially reduced staff-
ing for the duration of the pan-
demic.
When hundreds of administra-
tion staffers were sworn in by Bi-
den on Wednesday, the ceremony
was virtual, with the president
looking out at team members dis-
played in boxes on video screens.
The emphasis on adhering to
public safety guidelines touches
matters both big and small in the
White House.
Jeffrey Wexler is the White
House director of COVID-19 oper-
ations, overseeing the implemen-
tation of safety guidelines
throughout the administration, a
role he also served during the
transition and campaign. During
her first press briefing, White
House press secretary Jen Psaki
suggested those working in the of-
fice would receive daily testing
and N95 masks would be manda-
tory.
EVAN VUCCI / AP
President Joe Biden adjusts his face mask as he signs his first executive orders in the Oval Office of theWhite House on Wednesday in Washington.
Coronavirus guidelines nowthe rule at the White House
Associated Press
Saturday, January 23, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 9
NATION
YOSEMITE NATIONAL
PARK, Calif. — Yosemite Nation-
al Park will remain closed through
the weekend after high winds that
battered much of California
knocked down two giant sequoias
and caused millions of dollars in
damage.
The park hoped to reopen Tues-
day except for areas south of Yo-
semite Valley, including one en-
trance, that will remain shut to vis-
itors, the park said Thursday.
High winds that began Monday
swept through the state, toppling
trees and power lines and knock-
ing out electricity to about 300,000
homes and businesses. Utilities al-
so intentionally blacked out tens of
thousands of customers to prevent
fires erupting from damaged or
downed electrical equipment.
The winds eased Tuesday in the
northern and central areas and
Wednesday in the south.
Yosemite was struck Monday
night. Two giant sequoias in the
lower grove of Yosemite’s Mari-
posa Grove of Giant Sequoias
were among trees that fell, park
spokesman Scott Gediman told
the Sacramento Bee.
Trees also crushed trucks and
damaged buildings, including em-
ployee homes. Also crushed were
a boardwalk and bathroom in-
stalled during a $40 million resto-
ration that was finished in 2018,
Gediman said.
Crews were working to repair
downed electrical lines, especially
in the Wawona community, a
south park area that remained
without power on Thursday, Gedi-
man said.
Among the areas closed until
deemed safe was the Tunnel View,
a scenic viewpoint on State Route
41 in the Wawona area that offers
sweeping views of such icons as
Half Dome and Bridalveil Fall.
The park is only open to day vis-
itors. Campgrounds and lodges
have been closed for several
weeks because the park is trying
to reduce the chances of visitors
spreading the coronavirus.
Yosemite remainsclosed followingdamaging winds
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK/AP
An incensecedar lies in a house in Wawona, Calif., after the Mono wind event on Tuesday. YosemiteNational Park will remain closed through the weekend after high winds that battered much of Californiaknocked down two giant sequoias and caused millions of dollars in damage.
Associated Press
KEY WEST, Fla — Feral chick-
ens run free in Key West, just one
of those things that keep the
Southernmost City charmingly
weird.
But what’s delightful here and
there becomes a nuisance when
they’re everywhere. With the pop-
ulation getting out of hand, city
commissioners are taking action
— not by hunting down the fixings
for a massive tailgate party, but by
going after their human enablers.
They’re making it illegal to feed
the free-roaming birds.
An ordinance unanimously ap-
proved on a first reading Wednes-
day said the Florida city’s feral
chickens can “carry and spread
diseases, destroy property, and
cause copious amounts of fecal de-
posits on public property.”
People who feed them would be
punished with fines of $250 per
day for a first violation and $500
per day for repeat offenders under
the ordinance, which now awaits a
second vote, the Miami Herald re-
ported.
These chickens are fat, with lit-
tle trouble finding meals. Tourists
feed them popcorn or french fries,
and some locals buy huge bags of
bird feed for them.
“The fowl have a feast,” said
City Commissioner Clayton Lo-
pez, who sponsored the measure.
“They can pick and choose better
than we can what they eat off their
plate.”
Patricia Eables, an assistant
Monroe County attorney, said her
neighbor feeds them several times
a day, resulting in droppings on
the stairs, handrails, cars and oth-
er surfaces, the Herald reported.
“We have done everything we
can as neighbors to try to get her to
stop doing it,” Eables said. “We
started reaching out to code and
learned there was no ordinance.”
Charles Malta said his street
has been invaded by chickens.
“The population has literally ex-
ploded,” Malta said. “They’re be-
ing fed and when you ask anybody
to stop it’s like you’re asking them
for their first-born. It’s a heated
thing on both sides.”
The city’s wild chickens don’t
need help finding food, Tom
Sweets, executive director of the
Key West Wildlife Center, told the
newspaper. The island is a bug-
rich environment for them.
“Nothing is worse for the chick-
ens than feeding them,” Sweets
said. “I’ve never seen a skinny
chicken in Key West unless it’s
sick or injured. There’s really not
a need. They’re quite capable of
taking care of themselves.”
The roaming chickens are fear-
less when it comes to approaching
people, said City Commissioner
Mary Lou Hoover.
“They’re becoming more ag-
gressive by the day,” Hoover said.
In her district, people have report-
ed that when they go to put dog fe-
ces in the trash, chickens come up
and attack them, thinking it might
be food.
Key West wants to bar peoplefrom feeding roaming chickens
Associated Press
WILFREDO LEE/AP
Key West, Fla., is considering alaw that would make it illegal tofeed the chickens, like this one,that freely roam the nation'sSouthernmost City.
OAKLAND, Calif. — The mas-
ter tenant of a cluttered, dilapidat-
ed San Francisco Bay Area ware-
house where 36 people perished in
a late-night fire in 2016 is sched-
uled to plead guilty Friday to the
deaths, avoiding a second trial af-
ter the first ended in a hung jury.
Families of several victims told
the East Bay Times last week that
prosecutors told them Derick Al-
mena, 50, will plead guilty to 36
counts of involuntary manslaugh-
ter in exchange for a nine-year
sentence. Almena may serve little
or none of that term because of
time already spent behind bars
and credit for good behavior.
Alameda County prosecutors
say Almena was criminally negli-
gent when he illegally converted
the industrial Oakland warehouse
into a residence and event space
for artists dubbed the “Ghost
Ship,” stuffing the two-story
building with flammable materi-
als and extension cords. It had no
smoke detectors or sprinklers.
The Dec. 2, 2016, fire broke out
at the warehouse during an elec-
tronic music and dance party,
moving so quickly that victims
were trapped on the illegally con-
structed second floor. Prosecutors
said the victims received no warn-
ing and had little chance to escape
down a narrow, ramshackle stair-
case.
The case has been emotionally
wrenching for family and friends
of the victims, many who packed a
courtroom for months in 2019, on-
ly to see a jury split on whether to
convict Almena, who leased the
building. The jury also found co-
defendant Max Harris, who was
the Ghost Ship’s “creative direc-
tor” and would collect rent, not
guilty at the same trial.
Colleen Dolan, mother of victim
Chelsea Faith Dolan, told the East
Bay Times that families were not
informed of the plea deal possibil-
ity before last Wednesday.
“My heart dropped, especially
when I heard it was going to be a
slap on the wrist. I want my
daughter back; we want to be with
our family members who died. He
gets to be with his family,” she
said.
Almena had been jailed since
2017 until he was released in May
because of coronavirus concerns
and after posting a $150,000 bail
bond. He is on house arrest with
an ankle monitor in the city of Up-
per Lake, where he lives with his
wife and children.
Man to plead guilty afterdeaths of 36 partiers in fire
Associated Press
PAGE 10 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, January 23, 2021
WORLD
BAGHDAD — The Islamic
State claimed responsibility for a
rare suicide attack that rocked
central Baghdad, killing 32 peo-
ple and wounding dozens.
The bombing targeted "apos-
tate Shiites," the group said in a
statement on an ISIS-affiliated
website late Thursday.
At least 32 people were killed
and over 100 people wounded in
the blasts on Thursday. Some
were in severe condition. Accord-
ing to officials, the first suicide
bomber cried out loudly that he
was ill in the middle of the bus-
tling market, prompting a crowd
to gather around him — and
that’s when he detonated his ex-
plosive belt. The second detonat-
ed shortly after.
The U.S.-led coalition recently
ceased combat activities and is
gradually drawing down its troop
presence in Iraq, sparking fears
of an ISIS resurgence. The group
has rarely been able to penetrate
the capital since being dislodged
by Iraqi forces and the U.S.-led
coalition in 2017.
The attack was the first in
nearly three years to hit the cap-
ital.
Elsewhere, in northern Iraq
and the western desert, attacks
continue and almost exclusively
target Iraqi security forces.
An increase in attacks was
seen last summer as militants
took advantage of the govern-
ment’s focus on tackling the coro-
navirus pandemic and exploited
security gaps across disputed ter-
ritory in northern Iraq.
Islamic State claims responsibility for deadly twin blasts in Baghdad Associated Press
MOSCOW — The Kremlin on
Friday welcomed U.S. President
Joe Biden’s proposal to extend the
last remaining nuclear arms con-
trol treaty between the two coun-
tries, which is set to expire in less
than two weeks.
Russian President Vladimir Pu-
tin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov,
said that Russia stands for extend-
ing the pact and is waiting to see
the details of the U.S. proposal.
The White House said Thurs-
day that Biden has proposed to
Russia a five-year extension of the
New START treaty.
“We can only welcome political
will to extend the document,” Pes-
kov said in a conference call with
reporters. “But all will depend on
the details of the proposal.”
The treaty, signed in 2010 by
President Barack Obama and
Russian President Dmitry Med-
vedev, limits each country to no
more than 1,550 deployed nuclear
warheads and 700 deployed mis-
siles and bombers, and envisages
sweeping on-site inspections to
verify compliance. It expires on
Feb. 5.
Russia has long proposed to
prolong the pact without any con-
ditions or changes, but President
Donald Trump’s administration
waited until last year to start talks
and made the extension contin-
gent on a set of demands. The talks
stalled, and months of bargaining
have failed to narrow differences.
“Certain conditions for the ex-
tension have been put forward,
and some of them have been abso-
lutely unacceptable for us, so let’s
see first what the U.S. is offering,”
Peskov said.
Mikhail Ulyanov, the Russian
ambassador at the international
organizations in Vienna, also
hailed Biden’s proposal as an “en-
couraging step.”
“The extension will give the two
sides more time to consider possi-
ble additional measures aimed at
strengthening strategic stability
and global security,” he tweeted.
Biden indicated during the
campaign that he favored the
preservation of the New START
treaty, which was negotiated dur-
ing his tenure as U.S. vice presi-
dent.
The talks on the treaty’s exten-
sion also were clouded by tensions
between Russia and the United
States, which have been fueled by
the Ukrainian crisis, Moscow’s
meddling in the 2016 U.S. presi-
dential election and other irrita-
nts.
Despite the extension proposal,
White House press secretary Jen
Psaki said Biden remains commit-
ted to holding Russia “to account
for its reckless and adversarial ac-
tions,” such as its alleged involve-
ment in the Solar Winds hacking
event, 2020 election interference,
the chemical poisoning of opposi-
tion figure Alexei Navalny and the
widely reported allegations that
Russia may have offered bounties
to the Taliban to kill American sol-
diers in Afghanistan.
Asked to comment on Psaki’s
statement, Peskov has reaffirmed
Russia’s denial of involvement in
any such activities.
After both Moscow and Wash-
ington withdrew from the 1987 In-
termediate-Range Nuclear
Forces Treaty in 2019, New
START is the only remaining nu-
clear arms control deal between
the two countries.
Arms control advocates have
strongly called for New START’s
preservation, warning that its
lapse would remove any checks on
U.S. and Russian nuclear forces.
Last week, Russia also declared
that it would follow the U.S. to pull
out of the Open Skies Treaty al-
lowing surveillance flights over
military facilities to help build
trust and transparency between
Russia and the West.
Russia welcomesproposed nuketreaty extension
Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s capital
and major cities plunged into
darkness in recent weeks as roll-
ing outages left millions without
electricity for hours. Traffic lights
died. Offices went dark. Online
classes stopped.
With toxic smog blanketing
Tehran skies and the country
buckling under the pandemic and
other mounting crises, social
media has been rife with specula-
tion. Soon, fingers pointed at an
unlikely culprit: Bitcoin.
Within days, as frustration
spread among residents, the gov-
ernment launched a wide-ranging
crackdown on Bitcoin processing
centers, which require immense
amounts of electricity to power
their specialized computers and to
keep them cool — a burden on
Iran’s power grid.
Authorities shuttered 1,600 cen-
ters across the country, including,
for the first time, those legally au-
thorized to operate. As the latest in
a series of conflicting government
moves, the clampdown stirred
confusion in the crypto industry —
and suspicion that Bitcoin had be-
come a useful scapegoat for the
nation’s deeper-rooted problems.
Since former President Donald
Trump unilaterally withdrew in
2018 from Tehran’s nuclear ac-
cord with world powers and re-
imposed sanctions on Iran, cryp-
tocurrency has surged in popular-
ity in the Islamic Republic.
For Iran, anonymous online
transactions made in cryptocur-
rencies allow individuals and
companies to bypass banking
sanctions that have crippled the
economy. Bitcoin offers an alter-
native to cash printed by sover-
eign governments and central
banks — and in the case of Iran
and other countries under sanc-
tions like Venezuela, a more stable
place to park money than the local
currency.
“Iranians understand the value
of such a borderless network
much more than others because
we can’t access any kind of global
payment networks,” said Ziya
Sadr, a Tehran-based Bitcoin ex-
pert. “Bitcoin shines here.”
Iran’s generously subsidized
electricity has put the country on
the crypto-mining map, given the
operation’s enormous electricity
consumption. Electricity goes for
around 4 cents per kilowatt-hour
in Iran, compared to an average of
13 cents in the United States.
Iran is among the top 10 coun-
tries with the most Bitcoin mining
capacity in the world — 450 mega-
watts a day. The U.S. network has
a daily capacity of more than 1,100
megawatts.
On Tehran’s outskirts and
across Iran’s south and northwest,
windowless warehouses hum with
heavy industrial machinery and
rows of computers that crunch
highly complex algorithms to ver-
ify transactions. The transactions,
called blocks, are then added to a
public record, known as the block-
chain.
“Miners” adding a new block to
the blockchain collect fees in bit-
coins, a key advantage amid the
country’s currency collapse.
Iran’s rial, which had been trading
at 32,000 to the dollar at the time of
the 2015 nuclear deal, has tumbled
to around 240,000 to the dollar
these days.
Iran’s government has sent
mixed messages about Bitcoin. On
one hand, it wants to capitalize on
the soaring popularity of digital
currency and sees value in legiti-
mizing transactions that fly under
Washington’s radar. It authorized
24 Bitcoin processing centers that
consume an estimated 300 mega-
watts of energy a day, attracted
tech-savvy Chinese entrepre-
neurs to tax-free zones in the
country’s south and permitted im-
ports of computers for mining.
EBRAHIM NOROOZI/AP
Air pollution blankets a mountain range in Tehran, Iran, in December.
Iran, pressured by blackoutsand pollution, targets Bitcoin
Associated Press
Saturday, January 23, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 11
AMERICAN ROUNDUP
FBI locates stolenarmored military vehicle
CA LOS ANGELES — Amilitary Humvee sto-len from a National Guard facility
in a Los Angeles suburb was found
Wednesday morning, the FBI
said.
A search continues for the per-
son or persons who stole the ar-
mored vehicle Jan. 15 from the Na-
tional Guard Armory in the city of
Bell, the bureau said.
The four-door vehicle painted a
green camouflage is worth about
$120,000. Officials did not say
where or how it was located.
A theft from a military facility
carries a statutory maximum sen-
tence of 10 years in federal prison,
the FBI said.
Officials say javelina was unlawfully killed
AZ TUCSON — The Arizo-na Game and Fish De-partment is offering a $1,500 re-
ward for information leading to an
arrest in the unlawful killing of a