Chad’s Morning Brief: CDC Worried About African Economies if Flight Ban Were to Happen, ISIS Closing In on Baghdad & Other Top Stories
Here is your Morning Brief for October 17, 2014.
CDC Worried About African Economies?
Republican Congressman Tim Murphy told FOX News that the CDC is worried that a travel ban would hurt African economies and that is the real reason why there is no flight ban.
A Republican lawmaker claims the real reason the Obama administration is opposing a travel ban for Ebola-stricken African countries is that U.S. officials are concerned about hurting their economies -- a dollars-and-cents reason, the lawmaker says, doesn't make much sense.
Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., whose House subcommittee held a high-profile hearing Thursday on the Ebola virus, told Fox News that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden is the one who gave him that explanation.
"He explained to me ... the concern was that these are fledgling democracies and if we put a travel ban that that may affect their economy and harm them," Murphy said.
Murphy reiterated the concerns at Thursday's hearing, charging that public health policies may be "based upon a stated concern with cutting commercial ties with fledgling democracies rather than protecting public health in the United States."
Urging a travel ban, he said: "We do not have to leave the door open to all travel to and from hot-zones in Western Africa while Ebola ... is an unwelcome and dangerous stowaway."
The CDC's alleged explanation to Murphy about African economies would seem to conflict with what Frieden and other top health officials have said publicly about the prospect of a travel ban, which they oppose. They frequently say that halting flights would hurt the flow of medical supplies and personnel in the region -- and in turn put West Africa more at risk.
"Do no harm," Frieden told Fox News on Tuesday, when pressed on the calls for a travel ban. "If we do things that are going to make it harder to stop the epidemic there, it's going to spread."
When asked whether the government could simply rely on charter flights to send medical supplies, Frieden claimed "charter flights don't do the same thing commercial airliners do."
Murphy, though, claims that supply flights could still go in and out even if a travel ban for other flights were imposed.
Murphy's House subcommittee hosted Frieden and other top officials on Thursday. At the hearing, Frieden stressed that the CDC knows "how to control Ebola," using "tried and true measures."
He said the government will "consider any options" to protect Americans but continued to argue against a travel ban. Confronted by Murphy over his apparent desire to "protect fledgling democracies," Frieden said: "My sole concern is to protect Americans."
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also testified and confirmed that the first nurse to test positive for Ebola in Texas is being flown to the NIH facility in Bethesda, Md.
Meanwhile, Dr. Daniel Varga, the chief clinical officer and senior vice president for Texas Health Resources, said he is "deeply sorry" that "mistakes" were made at the Texas facility, and vowed to determine how the errors occurred.
I still haven't heard a good reason why a travel ban should not be in place. It's all political correctness.
You can read the full story by clicking on the link above.
ISIS in Iraq
According to the Washington Post, ISIS is gaining ground in Iraq and that is leaving many in Baghdad worried.
About 14 miles from Baghdad International Airport, a mortar shell landed with a thud. A second followed, closer, and then a third struck across the Iraqi army’s lines, as the Islamic State militants zeroed in on their target.
The volley of mortar fire outside the Baghdad suburb of Abu Ghraib this week was not unusual in itself; Islamic State fighters and the Iraqi army have regularly exchanged fire in this area for months. But now, officials worry that gains by the extremist group in neighboring Anbar province will provide momentum for an assault on the outskirts of the capital.
Mortar shells fired by the Islamic State have already fallen in central Baghdad in recent weeks, and suicide bombings have picked up pace — awave of blasts killed at least 50 people in and around Baghdad on Thursday, local media reported. While the army is holding its ground around the capital’s perimeter, Abu Ghraib is seen as a weak point, and sympathy for the radical fighters is growing here, residents say, because of the heavy-handed actions of Shiite militias.
Despite U.S. and allied airstrikes intended to crush them, the Sunni extremists have been steadily consolidating power in the majority-Sunni province to the west. Islamic State fighters continued to advance Thursday, closing in on the Anbar town of Amriyat al-Fallujah, one of the last in the province still controlled by the government. Local officials begged the government to send reinforcements, warning that the town could be overrun in a matter of hours.
As I and others have said, boots on the ground is a must if you want to defeat ISIS.
You can read the full story by clicking on the link above.
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These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show. Tune in mornings 8:30-11am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard online in our podcast section after the show at kfyo.com.
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