Mattis Influence Shows as Trump Travel Ban May Drop a Country
AP Photo/Susan Walsh
President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary James Mattis walk into the Pentagon, Friday, Jan. 27, 2017.
By Saagar Enjeti Published on March 1, 2017
President Donald Trump’s new order suspending travel from terror-rife countries will reportedly not include Iraq, in a nod to Secretary of Defense James Mattis’s past requests.
Trump’s original Jan. 27 ban included Iraq and six other countries that were temporarily prohibited from entering the U.S. Mattis reportedly implored Trump to at least grant exceptions to Iraqis fighting with the U.S. against the Islamic State, even before the ban was struck down by a federal court.
Mattis previewed the likely change to the executive order in a Feb. 20 visit to Baghdad, telling reporters, “I am assured that we will take steps to allow those who have fought alongside us, for example, to be allowed in to the United States.”
https://stream.org/mattis-influence-shows-trump-travel-ban-may-drop-country/
