As U.S. steps up air war in Libya, Italy braces for retaliation

As Europe struggles to find relative peace during a tense summer of terror, Italy has remained oddly outside the fray.

But Italians are now afraid that’s about to change, and with reason, according to the Daily Beast.

For years now, the country has been one of the most threatened targets on the so-called Islamic State’s published target lists. As far back as 2014, on the cover of its propaganda magazine Dabiq, ISIS featured St. Peter’s Square with its black jihadi flag flying atop the obelisk there. And last month, ISIS again featured Italy in one of its propaganda videos, with a photo of Piazza Navona in Rome and other Italian tourist attractions, renewing its threats of conquest.

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Once feared by Saddam Hussein as a Zionist plot, Pokemon are now popping up in Iraq again. U.S. troops and veterans, among others, have joined in the hunt to “catch ’em all,” even on the front lines of the fight against the Islamic State group, according to Stars and Stripes.

The popular Japanese children’s cartoon about pocket monsters and their human trainers was suspected by Hussein and his security service to be a tool of international Zionism. Iraqi intelligence thought the name “Pokemon” meant “I’m Jewish,” according to a 2001 memo U.S. troops captured.

Now, a new wave of cartoon monsters is invading the country thanks to the immensely popular “Pokemon Go” smartphone app, a virtual scavenger hunt in which users try to catch the creatures.

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Agence France Presse is reporting the U.S. government has released a once-secret policy document dubbed “the playbook” that shows how officials select drone targets in areas outside war zones and the key role the president has in the process.

The 18-page Presidential Policy Guidance (PPG), published Saturday by the American Civil Liberties Union, provides more details than the government had previously revealed on how drone strikes are approved.

“Actions, including lethal action against designated terrorist targets, shall be as discriminating and precise as reasonably possible,” the PPG states.

President Barack Obama typically must personally sign off on plans to strike terror suspects who are located outside war zones in which America is officially fighting, such zones include Pakistan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.

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The Justice Department is urging a federal judge to shut down a bid by filmmaker Mark Boal to block military prosecutors from subpoenaing unaired outtakes of 25 hours of interviews Boal conducted with Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who is facing a court-martial on charges he deserted a U.S. base in Afghanistan, according to Politico.

Boal’s talks with Bergdahl became the staple of the second season of the celebrated podcast “Serial,” but the bulk of the recorded conversations were never made public.

After nearly three months of negotiations with military prosecutors, Boal — known for writing the films “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” among others — tried to preempt a subpoena by filing suit last month in a civilian federal court in Los Angeles.

However, in a filing late Friday, the Justice Department urged U.S. District Court Judge George King not to interfere in potential proceedings before the military court-martial, set to begin in February at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

This story was originally published August 9, 2016 at 9:30 AM with the headline "As U.S. steps up air war in Libya, Italy braces for retaliation."