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Liverpool swat Spurs aside
8/31/2014 12:49:09 PM
- Liverpool beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-0
- Mario Balotelli made his Liverpool debut
- He didn't score but showed glimpses of class
- Sterling, Gerrard and Moreno all on the score sheet
(CNN) -- Mario Balotelli didn't score but, once again, it was still all about him.
The Italian striker made his much anticipated reintroduction into English soccer Sunday when he started for Liverpool against Tottenham Hotspur.
Rodgers on Balotelli
Liverpool ran out comfortable 3-0 winners with goals from Raheem Sterling, Steven Gerrard and new signing Alberto Moreno.
But before, during and after the game, all eyes were on the mercurial Balotelli, who showed flashes of both his brilliance and profligacy. On any other day he might have had a hat trick, but he missed his three clear cut chances in the first half.
Rodgers impressed
Yet Balotelli's work rate and approach play on and off the ball impressed his new coach Brendan Rodgers.
"He is a good man and I think if you take away the circus around him, and the circus he invites himself sometimes, control the background noise and get him focused on his football, he'll make mistakes ... but he's going to be a real handful for defenders," Rodgers said after the game.
Rodgers also revealed that Balotelli had never defended at a corner before coming to Liverpool.
"For the first time in his life he marked at a corner," Rodgers revealed.
"Serious. International player, won three titles, and we were doing corners and I said, 'are you picking up [opposition players] at the corners'. He said: 'I don't mark at corners.' You do now."
It was almost a dream debut for Balotelli but he managed to head the ball straight at Hugo Lloris in the Tottenham goal. But Rodgers' new system, with Balotelli and Daniel Sturridge up front and Raheem Sterling playing behind, paid dividends. In fact it was Sterling who broke the deadlock when he scored at the near post following a Jordan Henderson cross from the right hand side.
A Steven Gerrard penalty and a stunning Alberto Moreno strike made sure of the points and ensured Balotelli's return to English football was a winning one.
Arsenal stutter
Later in the day Arsenal continued their indifferent Premier League form with a 1-1 draw against Leicester City. With the transfer window about to shut, Arsenal's depth of forward options had been under scrutiny before the game.
But it was one of coach Arsene Wenger's big summer signings, Alexis Sanchez, who put Arsenal ahead before Leicester City equalized through a Leo Ulloa header.
Arsenal had 24 chances during the match but couldn't break down a team who were promoted from English soccer's second tier last season. "Tough, tough," Wenger told Sky Sports after the draw.
"A draw was fair. We didn't play well enough. We lacked a bit of creativity. We've had two tough weeks, three away games. It is not an excuse, but we are a bit jaded. In the end we could have lost it."
Balotelli signs for Liverpool
What is Russia doing in Ukraine?
8/31/2014 11:49:34 AM
- Evidence Russian troops, weaponry are being used in Ukraine, despite Kremlin denials
- Russia looking to prevent Ukraine turning to West, leaving its sphere of influence
- Western leaders considering further sanctions, other ways to send message to Moscow
- Putin has warned others not to get involved: "We are a nuclear superpower."
Moscow (CNN) -- Russia's tactics in Ukraine are difficult to pin down: The Kremlin categorically denies Russian troops are fighting alongside rebels there, or that the sophisticated weaponry being used against Ukrainian government forces is supplied by Moscow.
In fact, there's mounting evidence of both.
NATO has released compelling satellite imagery -- dismissed by Moscow -- purporting to show Russian forces crossing the Ukrainian border.
Last week, the Ukrainian military even captured 10 Russian paratroopers inside Ukraine.
The Kremlin said the troops had accidentally crossed from Russia while patrolling the long, porous border that separates the 2 former Soviet states.
But while questions about Russia's tactics remain, its strategy has become more clear: The Kremlin appears to have decided to prevent Ukraine turning West and leaving what Russia regards as its sphere of influence.
That means denying Ukraine membership of Western institutions like the European Union, and NATO.
What's more, the Kremlin appears determined to achieve its goal regardless of the cost.
International sanctions imposed on Russia so far have damaged the country's economy, sending the Ruble to all-time lows against the US dollar, but have had little impact on Kremlin policy.
President Vladimir Putin continues his support of the rebels in Ukraine, even increasing it, according to Western officials.
And he continues to enjoy soaring popularity, with approval ratings of well over 85%, according to opinion polls.
How to stop Putin and prevent a descent into all-out war, then, is the central question with which Western officials are now grappling.
There's talk of further "costs and consequences" -- the words of President Obama -- but there's division on what further sanctions can achieve.
Taking the World Cup away from Russia, chosen to host the next event in 2018, is being discussed and may send a powerful symbolic message of isolation to Moscow. But few expect it would force the Kremlin to change course.
READ MORE: Six questions about the crisis in Ukraine
Further economic sanctions would be double-edged, and may work no better than similar previous measures.
NATO, the Western military alliance, is meeting this week in Wales and will examine what its response to Russia should be.
Ahead of the meeting there's talk of increased military support for Ukraine, and that may yet be delivered; but direct confrontation with a nuclear-armed Russia is regarded by member states, including the EU, as a non-starter. It's simply too risky.
President Putin himself summed it up in a speech to a pro-Kremlin youth camp outside Moscow last week, voicing what many of his Western counterparts may well be thinking.
"It's best not to mess with Russia," he said. "Let me remind you, we are a nuclear superpower."
That just leaves diplomacy, so often the last and best option.
The good news is that the Russian and Ukrainian presidents met last week for the first time since June.
The bad news is that there was only an awkward handshake at the summit in Belarus, and a refusal by either leader to compromise.
Russian wants a ceasefire to freeze the conflict, and ultimately a federal constitution in Ukraine that would grant Russian language official status and Russian-speaking areas of the country greater autonomy.
Ukraine rejects this, fearing it would mean losing effective control of its Eastern provinces for good.
That deadlock will simply have to be broken if this Ukraine crisis is going to end without further bloodshed or territorial losses.
EU officials say it's still not too late for Russia to end the crisis without losing face.
But with Moscow so clearly digging in its heels, it may be the government in Kiev and its Western backers who, despite the bluster, will be looking to do a face-saving deal.
READ MORE: Ukraine warns of 'full-scale war' with Russia
READ MORE: Opinion - How to make Putin back down
READ MORE: Opinion - Fog lifts to show Russia at war
Kerry: Cancer of ISIS must not spread
8/30/2014 5:27:06 AM
- Secretary of State John Kerry writes an opinion piece for The New York Times
- He calls for "broadest possible coalition of nations," led by U.S., to confront ISIS
- Two GOP senators, in a competing op-ed, call for more urgent, military-centered action
(CNN) -- ISIS is a cancer that must be stamped out, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry wrote Saturday in an opinion piece for The New York Times.
Kerry called the Islamist extremist group, known for beheadings, crucifixions and terror campaigns against religious and ethnic minorities, a "unifying threat to a broad array of countries" that needs to be confronted.
His article appears in the aftermath of the political uproar that engulfed the White House this week after President Barack Obama said "we don't have a strategy" on ISIS in Syria.
Obama's no 'strategy yet' comment on ISIS in Syria sparks a political uproar
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, which calls itself the Islamic State, has grabbed headlines just as certainly as it has gobbled up territory across northern Iraq over the summer.
A companion opinion piece in the Times, co-authored by Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, concurred that ISIS poses a serious threat, but argue for an immediate response with a military plan at its center.
The ISIS threat only grows over time, and Obama must act with more urgency, the senators wrote.
"Doing too little to combat ISIS has been a problem. Doing less is certainly not the answer now," they wrote.
The next move
U.S. airstrikes against ISIS fighters have slowed their advance, and the Obama administration is weighing whether to expand the assault into Syria.
But, Kerry said, any decision will require a joint effort with international partners.
"With a united response led by the United States and the broadest possible coalition of nations, the cancer of ISIS will not be allowed to spread to other countries," Kerry wrote. "The world can confront this scourge, and ultimately defeat it. ISIS is odious, but not omnipotent."
Former CIA chief: Matter of time before ISIS tries to attack West
McCain and Graham said the next move must include a squeezing of ISIS financing, and a successful and inclusive Iraqi government that is inclusive of Iraqi Sunnis, rather than pushing them toward terrorist groups.
"But ultimately, ISIS is a military force, and it must be confronted militarily," the senators wrote.
Obama has ordered airstrikes on ISIS in northern Iraq, but "they have been tactical and reactive half-measures," McCain and Graham wrote. "Continuing to confront ISIS in Iraq, but not in Syria, would be fighting with one hand tied behind our back. We need a military plan to defeat ISIS, wherever it is."
Building a coalition
The secretary of state's message echoes that of the White House, with both the President and Press Secretary Josh Earnest calling this week for an international coalition to confront the threat.
"Airstrikes alone won't defeat this enemy. A much fuller response is demanded from the world," Kerry wrote.
To build that coalition, Kerry, along with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, will meet with European allies on the sidelines of the NATO meeting in Wales next week.
Then, it's off to the Middle East to drum up support from the region.
What can the U.S. do against ISIS in Syria -- and could it work?
"Already our efforts have brought dozens of nations to this cause," Kerry argued in the Times piece. "Certainly there are different interests at play. But no decent country can support the horrors perpetrated by ISIS, and no civilized country should shirk its responsibility to help stamp out this disease."
ISIS: The first terror group to build an Islamic state?
Are atheists 'unelectable' in U.S.?
8/31/2014 12:53:14 PM
- A Democrat is running for Congress, openly saying he is an atheist
- Carlos Moreno: Atheists are significant fraction of Americans, why not elect them?
- The prejudice facing atheists is greater than that faced by other groups, he says
- Moreno: Prejudice keeps atheists from running and discourages candor about beliefs
Editor's note: Carlos Moreno, an associate professor in the department of pathology and laboratory medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, is a Public Voices Fellow for The OpEd Project. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.
(CNN) -- This fall, for the first time in U.S. history, an openly atheist candidate is running for Congress. James Woods is fighting an uphill battle as a Democrat seeking to represent the very Republican 5th Congressional District in Arizona.
There are now no openly atheist members of Congress, even though nearly 20% of Americans report having no religious affiliation, according to the Pew Research Center, and between 5% and 10% of Americans do not believe in a supreme being.
So far, only one sitting congressman, Pete Stark of California, has ever admitted to being an atheist while in office. First elected in 1972, Stark came out of the atheist closet back in 2007, but he lost his re-election bid in 2012 after serving in the U.S. House for 40 years.
Photos: Famous atheists and their beliefs
Apparently, it is easier to be a gay member of Congress than an atheist one, since Barney Frank announced he was gay in 1987 but didn't announce he was an atheist until after leaving office in 2013. A handful of current members of Congress state that their religious affiliation is "unspecified," but none has stated publicly that he or she doesn't believe in God.
Their reticence is pure political pragmatism. The reluctance of Americans to vote for atheists is well documented. In fact, a hypothetical "well-qualified" atheist presidential candidate polls at 54%, lower than any other category -- below Muslims, gays/lesbians, Mormons, Jews, Hispanics, Catholics, women, or African-Americans.
This fundamental distrust is puzzling. When people of faith question the morality of those without faith, how do they reconcile that with the countless crimes committed in the name of religion throughout history (e.g. The Spanish Inquisition) and in modern times (e.g. ISIS)?
Not only are atheists unlikely to win elections, but they are actually banned from holding office under the constitutions of seven states (Arkansas, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas), according to the American Humanist Association, even though this clearly violates Article VI of the U.S. Constitution, which states that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."
When the views of anywhere from 5% to 20% of the American people are not part of the debate in our legislatures, the laws that are passed may not fully reflect the will of the people or, at a minimum, take into account the opinion of a sizable minority. African-Americans are about 13% of the U.S. population and have a representation of about 10% of the members of the U.S. House. Imagine how people would react today if there were no African-Americans in Congress.
That admitted atheists are virtually unelectable is a mark of prejudice against them and it impacts the ways we formally educate the future leaders of this country. Consider the fact that Tennessee recently passed a law allowing teachers to tell their students that evolution and climate change are "scientifically controversial," and that Ohio is considering passing a law that would enable the teaching of intelligent design alongside evolution.
Why is it that we require our candidates to profess a religious faith, but not that they demonstrate even minimal scientific literacy? Our representatives in Congress make critical decisions on science policy and science funding, and yet are often hostile to the entire scientific enterprise. In 2012, Rep. Paul Broun, R-Georgia, while serving on the House science committee, famously said that evolution and the Big Bang are "lies from the pit of hell."
As one prejudice after another has fallen by the wayside and we have elected women, African-Americans, gays and lesbians, and Jewish people to represent us, we have seen that the world has not come to an end. Life continues, and our debate is enriched by the diversity of opinions. It is time to end the prejudice that keeps qualified people without faith from considering a run for public office and keeps atheist officials from being honest about their beliefs.
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Siege broken after strikes, aid drop near threatened town
8/31/2014 12:33:57 PM
- The siege of Amerli has been broken, a retired general says
- The U.S. has been dropping aid to the Iraqi town that was surrounded by ISIS
- The town of Amerli is home to many of Iraq's Shiite Turkmen
- Australia, France and the UK also participated in the aid drop
(CNN) -- Iraqi security and volunteer forces have broken the siege of Amerli and have entered the town, retired Gen. Khaled al-Amerli, an Amerli resident and member of its self-defense force, told CNN on Sunday.
Iraqi state TV also reported that the siege had been broken.
The news prompted a wave of celebrations across the town, which had been besieged by fighters from the terror group ISIS. Residents waved the Iraqi flag and fired celebratory shots into the air, al-Amerli said.
"Today is a day of victory for Iraq and the resilient people of Amerli," the retired general said.
The breakthrough came after the United States said it carried out airstrikes and dropped humanitarian aid in Amerli to protect an ethnic minority that one official said faced the threat of an "imminent massacre."
Amerli is home to many of Iraq's Shiite Turkmen.
Australia, France and the UK also participated in the aid drop.
The U.S. military conducted "coordinated airstrikes" against ISIS targets as part of an effort to support the humanitarian operation, Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said.
Video released by the Iraqi Ministry of Defense was strikingly similar to the scenes of the dire situation faced by the Yazidis, who were trapped on Mount Sinjar by ISIS earlier this month. Dozens of people crowded helicopters, hoping to be rescued. Scores more waited in the scorching summer sun for the arrival of lifesaving supplies.
ISIS fighters had surrounded Amerli, 70 miles north of Baquba, since mid-June. The town's fewer than 20,000 residents have been without power.
"Residents are enduring harsh living conditions with severe food and water shortages, and a complete absence of medical services -- and there are fears of a possible imminent massacre," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said last week.
ISIS has called the Shiite Turkmen heretics and vowed to push them out.
Turkmen are descendants of a Turkic-speaking, traditionally nomadic people, who share culture ties with Turkey. There are Sunni and Shiite Turkmen in Iraq, and they account for up to 3% of Iraq's population.
Turkmen have been subjected to violence before at the hands of Sunni extremists.
What is ISIS?
Iraqi forces under a Shiite-led regime, as well as ethnic Kurdish forces, have been battling ISIS, which this year took over large portions of northern and western Iraq and eastern Syria for what it calls its new caliphate.
Well before ISIS made gains, Iraq was beset for years by sectarian violence, with Sunnis feeling politically marginalized under a Shiite-led government since the U.S.-led ouster of longtime leader Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Kerry: 'The cancer of ISIS will not be allowed to spread'
CNN's Yousuf Basil, Raja Razek, Joshua Berlinger and Chelsea J. Carter contributed to this report.
Ferrer, Sharapova stunned in US Open
8/31/2014 3:29:05 PM
- Fourth seed David Ferrer out of US Open
- Frenchman Gilles Simon in shock 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 win
- Match played in oppressive humidity
- 26th seed now faces Marin Cilic
(CNN) -- Fourth seed David Ferrer was sent crashing out of the US Open by Frenchman Gilles Simon, the biggest scalp to be taken so far during the final grand slam of the season.
In oppressively humid conditions at Flushing Meadows, Simon and Ferrer traded the first two sets 6-3 before Simon found another level to wrap up the final two sets 6-1, 6-3
Gilles Simon
Simon, who's seeded 26th, took advantage of some sloppy play by Ferrer, who made 52 unforced errors and appeared to be struggling physically with the heat.
It was a timely victory for Simon, who had lost five of his past six meetings against the Spaniard.
"He destroyed me five times before," Simon said after the match.
"I just tried to stay loose and relaxed and enjoy myself on court. But I am tired. The weather forecast said it would be cooler today but it didn't feel like it. We ran so much and I am happy to finish in four sets because I knew that against David it would be really hard in the fifth."
Simon will play Croatia's Marin Cilic after he beat South Africa's Kevin Anderson in four sets.
"I always have a tough fight with Marin," Simon told Sky Sports after Cilic's victory. Simon has beaten Cilic in his last four encounters but is not taking anything for granted. "Yes, but did you check the scores?! It was always in five sets! We know each other well. It will be a tough fight."
Meanwhile Caroline Wozniacki put a nightmare 2014 firmly behind her by knocking out five time grand slam winner Maria Sharapova 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 and book her place in the quarter finals.
Sharapova is the reigning French Open champion and was the strong favorite at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
But the Dane dug deep to win the third set, giving her a great chance of winning her first grand slam. Of all the female players left in the draw only Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka have ever won a grand slam.
"It means so much to me," said Wozniacki after her victory/
"It's been a bit up and down for me this season ... To win today against a champion like Maria is an unbelievable feeling."
Roger Federer's bid to become the first man to win six US Open titles continues against Spain's Marcel Granollers later on Sunday.
The man who hunted bin Laden
9/1/2014 5:32:12 AM
- Peter Bergen: Adm. William McRaven stepped down as head of U.S. Special Operations Command
- He says McRaven not only led the bin Laden raid planning but wrote the book on special ops
- McRaven identified six key elements needed for success in special operations
- Bergen: Troops under his command have deployed to 92 nations
Editor's note: Peter Bergen is CNN's national security analyst, a vice president at the New America Foundation and the author of "Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for bin Laden -- From 9/11 to Abbottabad," from which this article is, in part, adapted.
(CNN) -- On Thursday in Tampa, U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel presided over a change of command ceremony during which Adm. William "Bill" McRaven handed over the reins of Special Operations Command to his successor, Gen. Joseph Votel.
As McRaven stepped down he observed, "We are in perilous times." He pointed out that U.S. Special Operations Forces are helping to fight the fast-growing Islamic State in Iraq; the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines; the militant group Boko Haram in Nigeria, and al Qaeda and the Taliban in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.
McRaven also said, "We are in the golden age of Special Operations" in which elements of the 67,000 men and women under his command have deployed to 92 countries.
Now, after more than 3½ decades working in the world of special operations, Bill McRaven, 58, is retiring. In his next incarnation he will become chancellor of the University of Texas.
As Hagel pointed out in his speech on Thursday that celebrated McRaven's storied career, no one has written McRaven's full history, but if it ever was to be written it "would need to be heavily redacted" because so much of it took place in the "black" (secret) arena.
"Revered" is the word you often hear about McRaven in the special operations community. That's in part because even as a three-star admiral, about once a month in Afghanistan, McRaven went out with his teams on risky snatch-and-grab missions. (His predecessor as the commander of Joint Special Operations Command, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, also went out regularly on such missions and is similarly held in the highest regard.)
The book
Hagel pointed out in his Thursday speech that McRaven also has "literally written the book on Special Operations." Indeed, McRraven's 1995 book, "Spec Ops," is the standard text on the subject.
It features lucid dissections of eight decisive special operations actions, ranging from the British forces who used midget submarines to badly damage the Tirpitz, a key Nazi battleship, in 1943; to the Nazi rescue the same year of the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from his anti-Fascist captors; to the raid at Entebbe in 1976 that freed Israeli hostages held in Uganda by Palestinian terrorists.
For his book, McRaven interviewed many of the key participants in the raids that he examined, and he traveled to the sites of the operations.
After a careful investigation of each raid, he identified six common principles that had made these operations a success: repetition, surprise, security, speed, simplicity and purpose.
-- Repetition meant frequent and realistic rehearsals so that the "friction" of actual battle was reduced.
-- Surprise meant catching the enemy entirely off guard; for example, the Nazi rescuers of Mussolini crash-landed gliders on a mountain near the hotel where the Fascist leader was being held and rescued him without a shot being fired.
-- Security meant confining the knowledge of the operation to a small circle.
-- Speed meant that "relative superiority" over the enemy needed to be achieved in the first few minutes of the attack, and that the entire mission should be completed in no more than a half-hour.
-- Simplicity ensured that the goal of the operation was well understood by each of the soldiers involved -- "release the hostages" at Entebbe.
-- Purpose meant that the soldiers were completely committed to the mission.
But McRaven's influence on "spec ops" goes far beyond just the book he wrote. McRaven helped establish a curriculum at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. And after taking up a job in the White House just weeks after 9/11, he became one of the principal authors of the Bush administration's counterterrorism strategy.
During the Iraq War, McRaven led the shadowy Task Force 121, which tracked down Saddam Hussein in December 2003. Much of the public credit for Saddam's capture went to conventional army units, but it was, in fact, the Special Operations forces under McRaven's command who did much of the work to find the Iraqi dictator.
Rescue of Capt. Phillips
From the beginning of the Obama presidency, McRaven has been the key to some of the most sensitive U.S. military operations.
On the sweltering evening of April 13, 2009, several hundred miles off the coast of Somalia, as dusk deepened over the Indian Ocean, three shots rang out. All the bullets found their targets: three Somali pirates in a small, enclosed lifeboat bobbing on the darkening sea.
For the previous five days the pirates had held hostage Richard Phillips, the American captain of the Maersk Alabama container ship. President Barack Obama had authorized the use of deadly force if Phillips' life was in danger. Unbeknownst to the pirates, the USS Bainbridge warship was shadowing them, and days earlier a contingent of SEALs had parachuted at night into the ocean near the Bainbridge.
The SEALs had taken up positions on the fantail of the Bainbridge and were carefully monitoring Phillips and his captors. One of the pirates had just pointed his AK-47 at the American captain as if he were going to shoot him.
That's when the SEAL team commander on the Bainbridge ordered his men to take out the pirates. Three U.S Navy SEAL sharpshooters fired simultaneously at the pirates from a distance of 30 yards in heaving seas at nightfall, killing them all.
Obama called McRaven, then the leader of Joint Special Operations Command, to tell him, "Great job."
The flawless rescue of Capt. Philips was the first time that Obama -- only three months into his new job -- had been personally exposed to the capabilities of America's secretive Special Operations counterterrorism units, whose skills Obama would come to rely upon increasingly with each year of his presidency.
How bin Laden was found
It is, of course, the raid that killed Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011, that has ensured McRaven's place in the history books as the architect of the operation.
During the spring of 2011 McRaven formulated the plan for the assault on the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan where bin Laden was believed to be hiding.
The planning for the raid was deeply informed by the key principles he had laid out in "Spec Ops." McRaven explained, "It was a simple plan, carefully concealed, repeatedly rehearsed, and exercised with surprise, speed, and purpose."
Following extensive realistic rehearsals of the raid in both North Carolina and Nevada that included a full-scale model of the compound bin Laden was believed to be hiding in, McRaven went to the White House to give Obama his assessment of the plausibility of the mission.
When he was outlining to the President and his war cabinet the planned Abbottabad helicopter raid, McRaven said, "In terms of difficulty, compared to what we're doing on a nightly basis in Afghanistan, what we're doing in Iraq, this is not among the most difficult missions technically. The difficult part is the sovereignty issue with Pakistan and flying for a long stretch of time over Pakistani airspace."
Obama knew that the intelligence regarding bin Laden's presence at the compound was always circumstantial, but the president had confidence that McRaven and his men would be able to execute the mission successfully, whether the al Qaeda leader was in fact at the Abbottabad compound, or not.
The night of the raid, when one of the stealth helicopters carrying a SEAL team crashed inside bin Laden's compound, McRaven -- who was narrating the progress of the operation from his command post in Afghanistan to the White House -- didn't skip a beat, saying without altering his tone: "We will now be amending the mission."
Around 15 minutes after the helicopter had crashed, on his audio feed, McRaven heard a SEAL team member give the code word "Geronimo." Each step of the operation had been labeled with a letter of the alphabet, and G meant that bin Laden was "secured."
McRaven relayed the "Geronimo" to the White House. He assumed that meant bin Laden was now dead, but suddenly thought, "What if we captured him?"
So McRaven asked the SEAL ground force commander, "Is he EKIA [enemy killed in action]?" A few seconds later, the answer came back: "Roger, Geronimo EKIA."
Then McRaven announced to the White House, "Geronimo EKIA." There were gasps in the situation room, but no whoops or high fives. The President quietly said, "We got him, we got him."
What's next for special operations
On Thursday, McRaven gave his final speech as the leader of American Special Operations. In his dress whites, the famously unflappable four-star admiral concluded, his voice quavering with emotion, "It has been the greatest honor of my life to lead the men and women of Special Operations Command."
The United States owes a real debt to McRaven and to his wife, Georgeann, who, like many other military spouses, has also served her country stoically as her husband deployed repeatedly to war zones after 9/11.
McRaven's successor General Votel, previously led the military's elite and secretive Joint Special Operations Command, which comprises units such as SEAL Team 6 and the Army's Delta Force. As a colonel, Votel led the unit that five weeks after the 9/11 attacks established the first U.S. military base in Afghanistan and is widely viewed as the right officer to succeed McRaven.
As the United States and its allies pivot away from the post-9/11 conventional wars but still face threats from jihadist militants in countries in the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa, Special Operations Forces working "by, with and through" local militaries will be a key part of future U.S. military operations.
Among his other legacies, McRaven has put in place a Global Special Operations Forces network, which in practice mean a small presence of U.S. Special Operations and Special Forces personnel in dozens of countries around the world.
The goal of that network is twofold: To be better positioned to respond to an immediate crisis, such as the attack on the U.S. facility in Benghazi in 2012, and also to build up the capacity of local militaries so they can keep the peace themselves.
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An American's gateway to jihad
9/1/2014 5:31:54 AM
- Peter Bergen: New video of American suicide bomber shows Turkey networks key in jihad
- He says Moner Abu-Salha describes how Turkey was gateway in al Qaeda connection
- He says "homegrown" terrorists a key concern in U.S., but so far none have attacked on U.S. soil
- Bergen: Turkey must step up efforts to stem flow of fighters through country to Syria, Iraq
Editor's note: Peter Bergen is CNN's national security analyst, a vice president at the New America Foundation and the author of "Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for bin Laden -- From 9/11 to Abbottabad." David Sterman is a research associate at the New America Foundation.
(CNN) -- On Wednesday, a propaganda video appeared on the Internet featuring Moner Abu-Salha, the U.S. citizen from Florida who died conducting a suicide bomb attack in Syria for al Qaeda in May.
The video -- the third in a series of al Qaeda videos about Abu-Salha--underlines the importance of militant networks in Turkey that have enabled many hundreds of fighters from the U.S. and other Western nations to travel to fight with jihadist groups in the civil wars that are tearing apart Syria and Iraq.
Abu-Salha says he travelled from the States to Turkey where he eventually connected with representatives of the Nusra Front, al Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, explaining, "From tons of research I knew that mujahideen [holy warriors] come from all around the world, they come to Istanbul. I heard that the Turkey-Syrian border is close."
Abu-Salha says that he was inspired to go to fight in the Syrian "holy war" by a lecture by the notorious Yemeni-American militant cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki who said this about traveling to jihad: "It's like a cliff, you jump off the cliff but you don't know if the water is deep or shallow. ... You just have to jump and put you're (faith) in Allah that the water is going to be deep and you won't be harmed."
As Abu-Salha tells it, he arrived in Turkey with barely enough money for a Turkish visa and no contacts, but he eventually encountered a member of al Qaeda in Turkey who was bearded, dressed all in black and was missing an arm.
The al-Qaeda fighter didn't speak English but Abu-Salha said, "I'm mujahidin, I'm mujahidin," which the man understood and he took him on a bus to meet another al Qaeda member who did speak some English. Abu-Salha recalls, "They get me something to eat. I tell them I come to fight jihad. I want to feel, die shaheed (as a martyr)."
He says that the members of al Qaeda then took Abu-Salha to a "safe house" in Turkey where he encountered two other al Qaeda fighters who had been wounded and who were recovering in the house.
Abu-Salha stayed at the safe house for a month, he says, before he was spirited across the border into Syria.
The issue of "homegrown" American extremists fighting in Iraq and Syria has raised significant concerns among counterterrorism officials. The government is tracking about 100 Americans who have fought or attempted to fight in the Syrian conflict.
Douglas McArthur McCain, who grew up in Minnesota, died while fighting for the ultra-militant Islamic State in Syria this past weekend.
In addition to Abu-Salha and McCain, eight Americans have been charged with crimes related to supporting or attempting to support militant jihadist groups in Syria and Iraq.
However, for now, no American involved in the Syrian and Iraqi conflicts has been charged with plotting an attack inside the United States. Both Moner Abu-Salha and Douglas McCain died fighting in the region rather than conducting attacks in their own country.
Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters on August 25 that there are, so far, no signs of "active plotting against the homeland" by the Islamic State.
As fears heighten of the potential threat from returning Western foreign fighters who have traveled to Syria or Iraq, restraining the flow of these fighters through Turkey must be a key objective.
A European diplomat in Turkey told Reuters, "In recent months especially we've seen a real hardening in Turkey's attitude, a recognition that this is a potential threat to their national security and a desire to take more practical steps through intelligence channels, police channels."
There are signs that Turkey's new efforts may be having an effect. One Islamic State spokesman told the Washington Post, "It is not as easy to come into Turkey anymore."
Abu-Salah's recounting of his travel illustrates the potential risks foreign fighters take when seeking to reach Syria -- which may be exploitable by security services. Of his initial attempts to connect with militants in Turkey he said: "It was very dangerous what I was doing because I could have went to jail."
If Turkey's new measures to disrupt the foreign fighter flow continue and a coalition can be built to adequately track and disrupt movement of militants into Syria and Iraq, the threat posed by Americans and other Westerners fighting with jihadist groups in the region may diminish over time.
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U.N.: 43 peacekeepers captured
8/31/2014 9:04:12 PM
- News comes a day after rebels took crossing between Syria, Israeli-occupied Golan Heights
- The U.N. says 43 peacekeepers from Fiji detained in area of Quneitra, Syria, near crossing
- An Israeli military official says the al-Nusra Front is detaining the peacekeepers
(CNN) -- An armed group detained 43 U.N. peacekeepers in Syria near the country's only border crossing with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights early Thursday, a day after militants took the crossing from the Syrian regime, the United Nations said.
Those holding the peacekeepers are members of the al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, one of the groups fighting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an Israeli military official told CNN on condition of anonymity.
"The United Nations is making every effort to secure the release of the detained peacekeepers, and to restore the full freedom of movement of the force throughout its area of operation," the U.N. said in a news release.
The 43 peacekeepers, all from Fiji, are part of a U.N. operation that has been in the Golan Heights area since 1974, charged with maintaining a ceasefire between Syrian and Israeli forces since a 1973 war, the United Nations said.
They were detained Thursday morning near the Syrian town of Quneitra, the location of the border crossing that rebels had captured, according to the United Nations. In addition, 81 U.N. peacekeepers from the Philippines were being "restricted to their positions" Thursday near villages in the area, the U.N. said without elaborating.
Al-Nusra Front fighters and other Syrian rebels seized control of the Syrian side of the Quneitra crossing Wednesday -- a capture that represents a new dynamic in a war long feared not only for its deadly effects inside Syria but for threatening to widen into a destabilizing regional conflict.
Fighting appeared to continue Thursday. From the Israeli-occupied side of the Golan Heights, a CNN crew could hear intense small-arms fire coming from the old town of Quneitra around noon.
The crew also could see gunmen -- apparently rebels -- at a checkpoint on the Syrian side of the crossing. A Syrian flag that had been at the checkpoint was no longer there.
The Israeli military has closed the area it controls around the border crossing.
Cross-border shelling
During the fighting Wednesday between Syrian forces and rebels, three errant mortar rounds and some small-arms fire crossed into Israeli-controlled territory, Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said.
An Israeli military officer was moderately injured, the military said on Twitter, and Israeli forces responded by striking two Syrian military positions.
An activist in the Golan Heights, Shamil al-Jolani, said rebel fighters reached the crossing Wednesday despite bombardment by Syrian warplanes. Because of agreements with Israel, Syrian forces could not bomb the forces at the crossing, he said.
The Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiya and other rebel groups, not all of them Islamist, also were involved in the fighting, Jolani said.
The border crossing made headlines earlier this week, when the al-Nusra Front handed over American journalist Peter Theo Curtis to U.N. peacekeepers on the Syrian side of the checkpoint.
The al-Nusra Front is a fierce rival to another Sunni Muslim extremist group in Syria, ISIS, which calls itself the "Islamic State" and has been fighting in Iraq to establish an Islamic caliphate across both countries. Both al-Nusra Front and ISIS have been fighting the Assad regime and each other in Syria, opposition groups have said, with ISIS gaining control of a large portion of northern and eastern Syria.
Wednesday's fighting marked at least the second time rebels have attacked the crossing.
In June 2013, rebels and Syrian forces battled for control of Quneitra. The violence prompted Austrian troops to pull out of a United Nations peacekeeping force in the Golan Heights. Israel sent tanks and troops to the border for a time, as well.
Armed groups also detained U.N. peacekeepers in the area in March and May of 2013, but they eventually were released safely, the United Nations says.
Israel seized control of the Golan Heights during the 1967 Six-Day War and fought off an attempt by Syria in 1973 to retake the rocky plateau.
In 1981, Israel annexed the Golan Heights. It is considered to be occupied territory by the international community.
Syria rebel group's dangerous ties to al Qaeda
Who is the ISIS?
CNN's Ben Wedeman reported from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. CNN's Jason Hanna reported and wrote from Atlanta. CNN's Richard Roth and Michael Pearson contributed to this report.
Ferrer, Sharapova stunned in US Open
8/31/2014 3:48:17 PM
- Fourth seed David Ferrer out of US Open
- Frenchman Gilles Simon in shock 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 win
- Match played in oppressive humidity
- 26th seed now faces Marin Cilic
(CNN) -- Fourth seed David Ferrer was sent crashing out of the US Open by Frenchman Gilles Simon, the biggest scalp to be taken so far during the final grand slam of the season.
In oppressively humid conditions at Flushing Meadows, Simon and Ferrer traded the first two sets 6-3 before Simon found another level to wrap up the final two sets 6-1, 6-3
Gilles Simon
Simon, who's seeded 26th, took advantage of some sloppy play by Ferrer, who made 52 unforced errors and appeared to be struggling physically with the heat.
It was a timely victory for Simon, who had lost five of his past six meetings against the Spaniard.
"He destroyed me five times before," Simon said after the match.
"I just tried to stay loose and relaxed and enjoy myself on court. But I am tired. The weather forecast said it would be cooler today but it didn't feel like it. We ran so much and I am happy to finish in four sets because I knew that against David it would be really hard in the fifth."
Simon will play Croatia's Marin Cilic after he beat South Africa's Kevin Anderson in four sets.
"I always have a tough fight with Marin," Simon told Sky Sports after Cilic's victory. Simon has beaten Cilic in his last four encounters but is not taking anything for granted. "Yes, but did you check the scores?! It was always in five sets! We know each other well. It will be a tough fight."
Meanwhile Caroline Wozniacki put a nightmare 2014 firmly behind her by knocking out five time grand slam winner Maria Sharapova 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 and book her place in the quarter finals.
Sharapova is the reigning French Open champion and was the strong favorite at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
But the Dane dug deep to win the third set, giving her a great chance of winning her first grand slam. Of all the female players left in the draw only Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka have ever won a grand slam.
"It means so much to me," said Wozniacki after her victory/
"It's been a bit up and down for me this season ... To win today against a champion like Maria is an unbelievable feeling."
Roger Federer's bid to become the first man to win six US Open titles continues against Spain's Marcel Granollers later on Sunday.
Ukrainian plane crashes in Algeria
8/30/2014 7:54:43 PM
- Plane crashed three minutes after takeoff, state-run Algerie Presse Service reports
- Plane was carrying oil equipment
- Aircraft was headed from Scotland to Equatorial Guinea; had stopover in Algeria
(CNN) -- A Ukrainian cargo plane crashed shortly after takeoff in mountainous southeastern Algeria on Saturday morning, killing seven people who were aboard, Algerian state-run news agency Algerie Presse Service reported.
The Ukraine Air Alliance plane crashed about three minutes after it took off from Algeria's Tamanrasset airport, APS reported.
Rescuers reached the crash site about 15 kilometers south of the airport but found no survivors, the news service reported, citing the country's transportation ministry.
The Tamanrasset prosecutor visited the scene of the crash and has ordered police to conduct an investigation, according to APS.
The Russian-built Antonov An-12 plane was carrying oil equipment, headed from Glasgow, Scotland, to Equatorial Guinea; Tamanrasset was one of its stopovers, APS reported.
No cause of the crash has been announced.
CNN's Pierre Meilhan contributed to this report.
Beheadings in ISIS camp for children
8/31/2014 7:49:53 PM
- CNN interviews 13-year-old boy who went to ISIS camp for children in northern Syria
- The children at the camp witnessed lashings, stonings and crufixion, the boy says
- The boy's father was told he would be beheaded if he didn't allow his son to attend the camp`
(CNN) -- The little boy looks barely old enough to walk, let alone understand the dark world he's now inhabiting.
He should be toddling around a playground with his friends. But instead, he wears a black balaclava, crouched down in a desolate street with his tiny hands clenched around an AK-47.
He pulls the trigger and the recoil of the shot knocks him back, his limbs unable to control the rifle. An adult takes the weapon from the boy's hands as he stands up and steps away, casting a blank glance into the camera.
It's just one of the many videos that ISIS -- the Sunni terror group that has declared an independent Islamic state stretching from northern Syria to central Iraq -- has produced to boast of its youngest "recruits."
And as the radical Islamist group strengthens its hold on this huge swath of land in the heart of the Middle East, it is cramming its warped ideas into minds that are often too young to understand.
Mohammed, whose name has been changed out of fears for his safety, was one of them. He has now fled to safety in Turkey, but was just 13 when ISIS said he should attend one of their children's camps in northern Syria.
"My friends and I were studying at the mosque, and they taught us that we should enrol in jihad with the [Islamic State]," Mohammed told CNN. "I wanted to go, but my father did not allow me to."
When ISIS found out that Mohammed's father had prevented him from attending, the militants sent a patrol to their house.
"[They told me] 'if you prevent Mohammed from coming to the camp, we will cut off your head,'" his father, who declined to be named for this story, told CNN.
So off Mohammed went to the camp.
"For 30 days we woke up and jogged, had breakfast, then learned the Quran and the Hadith of the Prophet," Mohammed says. "Then we took courses on weapons, Kalashnikovs and other light military stuff."
Some of the militants at the camp were kind, joking and laughing with the younger recruits. Others made the boys watch hideous things.
"They used to bring young [kids] to the camp to lash them," Mohammed says. "When we go to the mosque, they order us to come the next day at a specific time and place to [watch] heads cut off, lashings or stonings."
"We saw a young man who did not fast for Ramadan, so they crucified him for three days, and we saw a woman being stoned [to death] because she committed adultery."
Mohammed says he understood some of the lessons taught at the camp -- like the importance of prayer and fasting -- but didn't understand words like "infidels," and why he should fight them.
The boys would take oaths of allegiance to ISIS' leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and were considered ready to fight once they completed the religious and military courses taught at the camp.
Mohammed's father, terrified for his son, tried to visit him several times, but was turned back by guards who told him that the boy wasn't there, or on patrol somewhere else.
"He is only a child, they might make him a suicide bomber and [convince him] that will be in paradise and stuff like that," he said. Despite his fears, Mohammed's father expressed doubt that the militants' lessons would truly stick in his son's mind.
"How can a child like that be convinced? Where is the conviction in that? He is a child, it's not possible," he said. "He just saw his friends and kids his age went to the camp, so he wanted to go with them for entertainment. They thought war and guns were entertainment."
Mohammed's father was eventually able to pull him out of the camp, and the family fled to Turkey.
Now Mohammed doesn't know what to do. He doesn't want to go back to school -- he thinks he's too old for that now -- and thinks he might like to learn the trade his father practiced before they were forced to flee their home, fearful of what ISIS militants would make him do.
Mohammed says one of his friends at the camp has been killed on the front lines of ISIS' war with more moderate rebel groups fighting to topple the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
"He was martyred in Deir Ezzor when he fought the Free Syrian Army with ISIS," Mohammed says. "He was my age, 13 or 14 years old."
ISIS may preach absolute fealty to Islam, but Mohammed doesn't recognize the militants' message in his own understanding of his religion.
"I love my religion because I am a Muslim," he said. "And I used to go with my father for the prayers before ISIS came. But my father has taught me that religion is not about fighting, but it is about love and forgiveness."
Mohammed and his family are safe now. But as ISIS spreads its tentacles across the region, an increasing number of Syrians have nowhere to hide -- and the group's murderous drive to convert everyone they encounter knows no age limits.
READ MORE: Does Britain have a jihadi problem?
OPINION: Why ISIS is immune to "naming and shaming"
READ MORE: Mom's plea to ISIS militants holding her son
Beijing says no to open elections in Hong Kong
9/1/2014 1:07:34 AM
- Beijing says only candidates approved by a nominating panel can run to lead Hong Kong
- The city's current leader insists it's a step in the right direction
- Hong Kong's pro-democracy Occupy Central movement says it's a move that stifles democracy
- Protesters take to the streets in Hong Kong and vow more civil disobedience
Hong Kong (CNN) -- It's a decision thousands of protesters feared.
China's powerful National People's Congress Standing Committee voted Sunday to change the way Hong Kong picks its chief executive, ruling that only candidates approved by a nominating committee will be allowed to run.
A top Chinese official made clear the candidates all must "love the country and love Hong Kong."
The city's current leader insists it's a step in the right direction.
"The majority of Hong Kong citizens, namely, the 5 million qualified voters of the selection of chief executive in 2017, will be able to cast their votes to select the chief executive," said Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying.
But that's not how Hong Kong's pro-democracy Occupy Central movement sees it. The group has vocally pushed for elections in which any candidate can run for chief executive. For weeks, protesters have taken to the streets.
In a statement on its website, the group slammed Beijing's decision as a move that stifles democracy and blocks people with different political views from running for office.
"Genuine universal suffrage includes both the rights to elect and to be elected," the statement said. "The decision of the NPC Standing Committee has deprived people with different political views of the right to run for election and be elected by imposing unreasonable restrictions, thereby perpetuating 'handpicked politics.'"
Freedoms eroded
Under the "one country, two systems" policy, the 7 million residents of Hong Kong -- defined as a "Special Administrative Region" of China -- are afforded greater civil liberties than those in the mainland.
This reflects an agreement reached between China and the United Kingdom before the handover, which promised Hong Kong a "high degree of autonomy" for 50 years after its return.
But the decision to change the way Hong Kong picks its leader comes amid increasing fears that those freedoms are being eroded.
Currently, Hong Kong's leader is chosen by an election committee selected mostly by Beijing loyalists.
Beijing brushed aside demonstrators' demands for a fully open election in 2017, saying the decision to change the system is in line with Hong Kong's basic law. Protesters demands are self-serving, one top official said.
"Those people's so-called international standards are tailored for themselves," said Li Fei, deputy secretary general of the National People's Congress Standing Committee. "They are not the international standards, but their personal standards."
Civil disobedience
Throngs of pro-democracy protesters rallied in central Hong Kong on Sunday to condemn Beijing's decision and promised there would be more protests.
The threat of civil disobedience "is our bargaining power," Benny Tai, the organizer of Occupy Central, told CNN earlier this month. "They take us seriously, though they will never admit that."
Global Times
After a massive rally calling for democracy in the Chinese territory in July, hundreds of demonstrators -- including prominent lawmakers -- were arrested.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators protesting Occupy Central marched in Hong Kong earlier this month. Local media swirled with reports of marchers getting paid or bused in to attend the pro-government march.
The march's organizer said he took the accusations seriously and would investigate but maintained that no laws were broken.
'Paper tiger'
But a commentary published Monday by the state-controlled Global Times dismissed this opposition and suggested Hong Kong's political reforms had come to a "foregone conclusion."
"The radical opposition camp is doomed to be a paper tiger in front of Hong Kong's mainstream public opinion and the firm resolution of the central government," it said.
"These radicals could indeed incite a group of people to rally with them but they are facing a powerful will and a strong legal framework that Hong Kong must remain stable. They will definitely be called to account if they resort to illegal confrontation. And if they raise objections in a legal way, their efforts will end in vain."
Meanwhile, Fernando Chui Sai-on has been re-elected uncontested as Macau's chief executive. Like nearby Hong Kong, Macau is a "Special Administrative Region" of China, following its transition from Portuguese control in 1999.
The territory has itself faced calls for greater democracy, though its constitution makes no mention of universal suffrage. A recent unofficial poll on this question was shut down by police and several pro-democracy organizers were arrested for allegedly breaching privacy laws.
CNN's Catherine E. Shoichet, Tim Hume, Zoe Li, Radina Gigova and Wilfred Chan contributed to this report.
Sand collapse kills girl at U.S. beach
8/31/2014 7:38:57 PM
- Isabel Grace Franks, 9, died Friday, buried in sand at an Oregon beach
- "We heard screaming," a witness says
- Franks is at least the third person to die in beach sand in the United States this summer
(CNN) -- When you think of potentially fatal threats at the beach, you probably think of sharks or riptides. You probably don't worry about the sand. But that unexpected killer has now claimed at least three lives in the United States this summer.
Nine-year-old Isabel Grace Franks died at a Lincoln City, Oregon, beach on Friday, when a hole she was digging in the sand caved in and buried her, authorities said.
"We heard screaming," Tracey Dudley, who was staying at a nearby hotel, told CNN affiliate KATU. "At first we thought, you know, it was just kids. But it was like screaming and screaming and screaming."
"Her and her siblings were digging a big hole in the sand," Lincoln City police Sgt. Brian Eskridge said. "She was sitting inside, and the hole collapsed. We believe she was under the sand around five minutes."
Franks, her family and friends were visiting the beach from Sandy, Oregon.
Police and firefighters dug her out. She was unconscious and not breathing. Emergency crews performed CPR on her and transported her to a hospital, where she was declared dead.
Mourners left flowers, candles and notes near where she died.
Before the emergency workers arrived, beachgoers had frantically tried to dig her out, but the sand kept collapsing back into the hole, Eskridge said.
That's a common problem when someone gets buried at the beach, Tom Gill of the United States Lifesaving Association said Sunday.
"Once the sand starts collapsing, digging out becomes a technical rescue," Gill said. "It's difficult because the sand keeps collapsing back into the hole, and the more people gathering around, the more difficult it is."
"It's not unusual for kids to build holes and sandcastles in the sand, but a lot of people don't understand it can collapse," Eskridge said. "It's difficult for people to understand how hard it is to get people out."
Dry sand weighs 100 pounds per square foot, and wet sand weights 120 pounds per square foot, according to a 2004 study from the Mayo Clinic, entitled "Accidental Burials in Sand: A Potentially Fatal Summertime Hazard."
"Dry sand burial can totally engulf and compress a person... with no air pocket for breathing," the report said. "Depending on the age and strength of the child, just 1 foot of sand may overwhelm respiratory and diaphragmatic force,"
But according to the Mayo study, airway obstruction is an even bigger concern than sand stifling lung and diaphragm expansion.
"Although accidental sand burial has its own set of clinical problems, clearing the airway is the main focus of treatment. Airway management at the scene of the incident may be crucial and lifesaving," the Mayo report said.
The hole containing Franks was big enough for a crouching adult to fit in, witnesses told KATU.
Gill said no national standards exist to restrict the depth of holes, though local jurisdictions often set their own rules. For example, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, the USLA's home base, beach visitors aren't supposed to dig holes deeper than knee-level, even for small children, Gill said.
There's also no national database of fatal sand collapses, Gill said.
They don't happen often, Gill said, "but often enough that we try to make people aware."
Articles in scholarly journals over the past decade, including the Mayo report, have called for public health and safety officials to be more aware of sand dangers.
In June 2007, the New England Journal of Medicine published a letter to the editor entitled "Sudden Death from Collapsing Sand Holes," from Dr. Bradley Maron of Harvard Medical School. Maron counted "52 documented fatal and nonfatal cases, occurring primarily in the past 10 years, in which persons were submerged after the collapse of a dry-sand hole excavated for recreational purposes." He said 31 of those 52 people died, and "the other 21 survived by virtue of timely rescue involving extrication from the sand; many of them required cardiopulmonary resuscitation, performed by a bystander."
Maron's study concluded that collapses were inadvertently triggered by a variety of circumstances, including digging, tunneling, jumping, or falling into the hole.
Young children like Isabel Franks aren't the only age group at risk. The two sand-related fatalities earlier this summer were both grown men.
A 49-year-old Virginia man died on the beach at North Carolina's Outer Banks on June 23, according to CNN affiliate WTVR. David Frasier of Fredericksburg, Virginia, had to be extracted from a hole approximately 5 to 6 feet deep. A bystander tried to revive him, but was unsuccessful.
And on July 21, in Half Moon Bay, California, Adam Jay Pye was buried alive while tunneling under the sand, CNN affiliate KRON reported. Fire officials said Pye was standing in a 10-foot-deep pit when the sand rushed in around him.
CNN's Mayra Cuevas contributed to this report
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