The Excerpt podcast: Biden directs airstrikes against Iranian-backed groups in Iraq

On today's episode of The Excerpt podcast: President Joe Biden directed airstrikes against Iranian-backed groups after three US troops were wounded in an attack. USA TODAY Pentagon Correspondent Tom Vanden Brook has the latest. Officials are investigating threats on Colorado Supreme Court justices. Patients cared for in hospitals owned by investors, as opposed to public hospitals or those owned by universities or charitable organizations, are more likely to catch infections and suffer falls. USA TODAY Travel Reporter Zach Wichter looks at how airlines damage thousands of mobility devices every year. Ye, the rapper known as Kanye West has apologized for antisemitic behavior.

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

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Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Wednesday, December 27th, 2023. This is The Excerpt.

Today we have the latest from the Middle East where President Joe Biden directed airstrikes on Iranian backed groups. Plus, officials are investigating threats against Colorado Supreme Court justices after their Trump ruling. And we look at how airlines are destroying thousands of disability devices every year.

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President Joe Biden directed airstrikes in Iraq this week against Iranian-backed groups after three United States, service members were wounded by a one-way attack drone on Monday at the Erbil Air Base. I spoke with USA Today Pentagon correspondent, Tom Vanden Brook for more.

Tom, thanks for hopping on.

Tom Vanden Brook:

Taylor, good to be here.

Taylor Wilson:

Tom, what happened with this drone attack on US service members and who's responsible?

Tom Vanden Brook:

Taylor, there have been probably close to 80 of these sorts of attacks since October 7th when Hamas attacked Israel, and they're principally done by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria. And they're using drones that are jerry-rigged with explosives to fly into bases where US troops are located in both Iraq and Syria.

Taylor Wilson:

And do we know anything about the status of these soldiers as of now, Tom? How severe were their injuries?

Tom Vanden Brook:

Well, there was one soldier... If it was a soldier, we're not certainly exactly who it was. What branched the service was critically injured by this, but I am hearing that this soldier's expected to survive. Others were injured, but have returned to Duke.

Taylor Wilson:

And President Joe Biden, after he was briefed on the situation, directed a series of airstrikes in Iraq. Where exactly did these take place, Tom? And what's the US strategy behind these?

Tom Vanden Brook:

There's been a number of these retaliatory strikes in the past, Taylor, after some of these attacks, and generally, they go after the sites where these missiles and rockets and drones are stored. This time, they went after militants, and several of them, according to their estimates, were killed.

Taylor Wilson:

And as you mentioned, we've seen this series of militant attacks on bases with US troops in recent weeks and months. How intense have these been, Tom, and what's behind this surge?

Tom Vanden Brook:

It goes back to the October 7th attack by Hamas on Israel. And these Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria have been ramping up their attacks on US facilities in Iraq and Syria. Iran is also backing Hezbollah in Lebanon and they've had attacks on Israel. So the United States is hoping to contain the war to Gaza and not see a regional conflagration here. So that's part of it. We're also seeing in the Red Sea, again, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have been attacking commercial shipping. And over the weekend, they fired drones at commercial ships and US destroyer as well. All the drone attacks that were mounted against the destroyer were shot down. One commercial ship was hit, however. So there's just this increased tension in the release in general, and it's expressed with these attacks on US [inaudible 00:03:10].

Taylor Wilson:

Tom Vanden Brook covers the Pentagon for USA Today. Tom, happy New year and thanks for making the time.

Tom Vanden Brook:

Happy New Year, Taylor. Thank you.

Taylor Wilson:

Meanwhile, as Israel continues its bombardment of Gaza elsewhere in the region, an advisor to Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, met with US officials yesterday about the conflict there. Netanyahu vowed again this week to continue the war until Hamas is defeated. But what that looks like is unclear. His administration shelled a refugee camp this week, killing between 70 and 100 people according to various estimates. And Israeli forces yesterday expanded their ground offensive into several urban refugee camps. Nearly 21,000 Palestinians have been killed, including massive amounts of civilians, and nearly 2 million people have been displaced. At least 156 Israeli troops have been killed, and some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the October 7th Hamas attacks in Israel, while hundreds more were taken hostage.

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Officials are investigating threats on Colorado Supreme Court justices after their decision to disqualify former president Donald Trump from the 2024 Presidential Primary Election. Online posts about violence toward the justices spread rapidly in the 24 hours after the decision was announced, according to an analysis by nonpartisan research group, Advanced Democracy, and reported by NBC News. The state Supreme Court decided earlier this month that Trump's actions leading up to the January 6th Capitol riot meant that he engaged in insurrection, disqualifying him from holding office under the 14th Amendment. A Denver Police Department spokesman told USA Today that the department is increasing patrols near justice's homes and will provide additional support if needed.

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Patients cared for in hospitals owned by investors as opposed to public hospitals or those owned by universities or charitable organizations are more likely to catch infections and suffer falls. That's according to a paper published yesterday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Surgical site infections doubled, even though fewer surgeries were performed, at 51 hospitals bought by private equity investment groups compared with 259 hospitals that were not. Bloodstream infections associated with central line catheters jumped by 38% in the same three years after a private equity purchase, despite a decline in the placement of those tubes, and foals rose by 27% in the same time span. Overall, the study found that patients receiving Medicare at private equity-owned hospitals experienced 25% more dangerous events during their hospital stays. Another coauthor published a paper this summer showing that the cost of care also increases after hospitals are purchased by private equity groups.

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According to the Department of Transportation, there were more than 8,600 reported mobility device damage incidents across air travel as of September this year. And there were similar numbers in 2022. That can account for well over 1% of the total number transported. That puts a massive stress on disabled travelers. I spoke with USA Today travel reporter, Zach Wichter, to learn more.

Zach, thanks for making the time.

Zach Wichter:

My pleasure. Thanks for having me on.

Taylor Wilson:

Zach, you spoke with some of these disabled travelers who have had their mobility devices damaged during airline travel. What did they say about their experiences? Just how devastating is this?

Zach Wichter:

That's exactly the right word that you used, devastating. It really is devastating to the people who have been through these kinds of incidents. Over the course of 2023, I spoke to more than 30 travelers whose devices had been damaged by airlines. And even the ones whose damage was relatively easy to fix, something that they may have been able to do themselves, it really throws their whole life out of balance until that repair gets made. And in more severe cases, it can mean that someone may be homebound for weeks or months at a time. If their wheelchair is totally unusable and they don't have a backup, they can't go anywhere or really do anything or live their life until they get their replacement. And that can take sometimes six months or more. The phrase that people used over and over again is it's like having their legs broken and that if airlines were routinely breaking the legs of their able-bodied passengers, that would be something that would be talked about nonstop.

Taylor Wilson:

Zach, is this an issue for the Department of Transportation to deal with, or what kind of oversight exists to prevent this from happening?

Zach Wichter:

The Department of Transportation tracks this data and does have some enforcement role here. The thing is, it's a little difficult. Right now, there aren't a whole lot of regulations about what airlines need to do in these cases. They're typically handled on a case by case basis. And like I said, many times, especially in the case of severe damage, the mobility device is eventually replaced at the airline's expense. However, the people who I spoke to who had it happen to them really said that it can take so long that it's unacceptable. And I had a chance to speak to DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg for this story. And he also said that any number greater than zero when it comes to these kinds of incidents is unacceptable. So the DOT is looking for ways to improve accessibility in air travel generally, and specifically to address this issue.

One thing that they're considering as a new rule for the department is allowing travelers whose devices are damaged to sue airlines directly. Travelers currently don't have that right. The most that they can do is file a complaint with DOT, which can then do its own enforcement. But the secretary basically said that if they're able to get that rule to change and travelers are able to sue airlines directly, he expects that that kind of economic incentive will push airlines to handle these things with a little more care.

Taylor Wilson:

As for the airlines themselves, Zach, how do they respond to some of this criticism and are they initiating any changes on their own?

Zach Wichter:

I spoke to a lot of airlines over the course of this project pretty much across the board. All of the airlines say that they understand that these incidents are really devastating and that their goal is to have everyone get to their destination safely and with all of their stuff and their mobility devices intact. They also defend their record by pointing out that even though 10,000 mobility device damage incidents a year is a large number, it's about 1.5% of the total number of devices that they carry. So they point out that, as a proportion, it's relatively small. A lot of the advocates say that when it comes to wheelchairs and mobility devices, the key is better training for luggage handlers. But other airlines are working on improving things like bathroom accessibility. United Airlines introduced braille placards to help with low vision and blind passengers in their ability to navigate the aircraft.

So airlines are aware that this is an issue. They're working on improving accessibility broadly, and there is interest across the board in finding ways to make travel easier and more accessible to those who rely on mobility aids.

Taylor Wilson:

All right, Zach Wichter reporting work here. You cover consumer travel for USA Today. Thanks for making the time. I appreciate it.

Zach Wichter:

Yeah, thank you for having me on.

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Taylor Wilson:

Ye, the rapper known as Kanye West, took to Instagram yesterday writing in Hebrew to apologize for antisemitic behavior. He wrote, "I sincerely apologized to the Jewish community for any unintended outbursts caused by my words or actions. It was not my intention to offend or disrespect, and I deeply regret any pain I may have caused." Ye's apology follows consistent acts of antisemitism. Vultures, a track on his album that debuted on streaming last month, drew backlash for his lyrics about sleeping with Jewish women. Earlier this month, he attended a listening party for the album Miami Clad in a black Ku Klux Klan like hood according to Forbes. You can read more on usatoday.com.

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Be sure to stay tuned to The Excerpt this afternoon, beginning at 4:00 PM Eastern, when my colleague Dana Taylor looks back at the year in music with USA Today music reporter, Melissa Ruggieri. You can find the episode right here on this feed. And thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio. And if you use a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA Today.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The Excerpt podcast: Biden directs airstrikes in Iraq