tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-143738642024-03-23T18:26:50.333+00:00TERRORISM NEWS<a href="http://terrorism-news.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1306/1278/400/3wisemonkeys.0.jpg" border="0" width="100%" height="170"></a>_H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.comBlogger1486125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14373864.post-27756223202717987962014-09-02T18:29:00.004+01:002014-09-02T18:31:30.134+01:00IS behead journalist Steven Sotloff<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGDosE1iXDFBshswqS4BaBEwcdz0zlRY71t8lPsxXHE6G21Dy7_D-_LRZCoMt96jreydx7tIMErrVkJq6CODCtxkFzDqBiPsScHhj1Vp-RIQTnaU2ZUbttTdEWlPhW6Be6so6R/s1600/terrorist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGDosE1iXDFBshswqS4BaBEwcdz0zlRY71t8lPsxXHE6G21Dy7_D-_LRZCoMt96jreydx7tIMErrVkJq6CODCtxkFzDqBiPsScHhj1Vp-RIQTnaU2ZUbttTdEWlPhW6Be6so6R/s1600/terrorist.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
An Islamic State video has appeared which
purports to show the beheading of Steven Sotloff, a US journalist being
held hostage by the militants.White House spokesman Josh Earnest said US officials were checking the reports.<br />
<br />
Mr Sotloff disappeared in Syria in 2013. He appeared at the
end of a video last month showing fellow US journalist James Foley being
killed.<br />
<br />
After Mr Foley's death, Mr Sotloff's mother appealed to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to save her son's life. _H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14373864.post-8782739815856890062014-08-22T11:27:00.001+01:002014-08-22T11:28:55.954+01:00Islamic state 'out of bounds' to Western media<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcRSZwaXdF-IRn6x9ETMPSgld_uy0WynCfsVH_Jb3qol_paFv6wu4Y0cLOe7LVvXaavKwNiKkb4fn9WgzGN_PYjv8kMAmUWIPINCs5GzQE4dlJQmDzsvioFArntYMOYiulmv8Q/s1600/isis2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcRSZwaXdF-IRn6x9ETMPSgld_uy0WynCfsVH_Jb3qol_paFv6wu4Y0cLOe7LVvXaavKwNiKkb4fn9WgzGN_PYjv8kMAmUWIPINCs5GzQE4dlJQmDzsvioFArntYMOYiulmv8Q/s1600/isis2.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="storyTop ">Written by </span><span class="storyTop "><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/biography/robert-fisk">Robert Fisk</a> : For centuries, governments told their soldiers
and their people to “Know Your Enemy”. The problem with the Isis
“Caliphate” – and it is a big problem for President Obama after
journalist James Foley’s murder – is that we don’t know who it is. We
are told of its butchery, cruelty, its kidnapping of women, its burying
alive, its viciousness towards Christians and Yazidis and its public
beheadings, but that is all.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="storyTop ">Foley’s ritual slaughter is enough to dissuade even the most foolhardy
of journalists from seeking an interview with al-Baghdadi. Never before
in the Middle East has so much land been out of bounds to the Western
media. So ignorant are we of this Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant –
a dark land in which the reports we see of it are their own phone
videos </span><br />
<br />
<span class="storyTop ">There are two truths that the West is going to have to face about
al-Baghdadi’s savage and dotty “Caliphate”: these executioners began
their careers – or their predecessors did – in the video-murderers of
the anti-American resistance in Iraq; and however disgusting their
activities, there are hundreds of thousands of Sunni Muslims who live in
the area of the Caliphate and who have NOT fled for their lives. This,
of course, makes unhappy reading. If the “Caliphate” is so revolting,
disgusting, gruesome in its purity-driven brutality, how come all these
people – Iraqis and Syrians – did not flee along with their Christian
brothers? Are a few thousand armed fighters really able to coerce so
many people over such a vast tract of the Middle East?</span><br />
<br />
<span class="storyTop ">Let’s go back to the months and years that followed the 2003
Anglo-American invasion. The rebels or insurgents felt able to
demonstrate extraordinary cruelty against their captives. I was once
offered a videotape in Fallujah of a man having his throat cut by hooded
men. It took me some time to realise that the victim was almost
certainly a Russian soldier and his murderers were Chechens. Someone had
brought this video to Fallujah so that the future butchers of the
resistance could learn from it. This is the epic violence which our
invasion unleashed.</span><br />
<br />
In his last weeks, Osama bin Laden was expressing his
revulsion at the sectarian nature of “Islamist” attacks – he even
received a translation from Yemen of an article I wrote in <i>The Independent</i> in which I described al-Qa’ida as “the most sectarian organisation in the world”.<br />
<br />
Things have moved on. At least when I met bin Laden, I didn’t fear for my life.<br />
<br />
Read the full article at the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/middle-east-crisis-we-know-all-too-much-about-the-cruelty-of-isis--but-all-too-little-about-who-they-are-9681873.html" target="_blank">Source</a> _H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14373864.post-89874967175499640982014-08-21T20:49:00.000+01:002014-08-21T20:52:48.343+01:00Obama: Islamic state "stand for no religion"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7-URNOlIWkAmXM1XnEQcq6wbTBBTMJdPR6b2p3bxY3-fVP-_EDFj27c3KaPEHERbGUau8W06tleJAPZAheoSPQ6XKQ2mKay4u1PTvmBDi56ixmkEc8FbOljn52aOo3W60IQ9N/s1600/obama.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7-URNOlIWkAmXM1XnEQcq6wbTBBTMJdPR6b2p3bxY3-fVP-_EDFj27c3KaPEHERbGUau8W06tleJAPZAheoSPQ6XKQ2mKay4u1PTvmBDi56ixmkEc8FbOljn52aOo3W60IQ9N/s1600/obama.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
US President Barack Obama has vowed that his country will not be
swayed from airstrikes against the Islamic State (IS) group after it
beheaded an American journalist, an act he said was proof that
the fighters stand for no religion.<br />
<br />
Obama's response on Wednesday to the execution of James Foley marked
his strongest condemnation yet of IS fighters, and he gave no sign of a
pause in US targeting of its positions in Iraq.<br />
<br />
The president's remarks to reporters covering his vacation in
Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, came shortly after the White House
announced that a video showing the beheading of Foley had been
authenticated by the US intelligence community, the Reuters news agency
reported.<br />
<br />
Obama said he had called Foley's family to express his condolences.<br />
<br />
"The United States of America will continue to do what we must do to protect our people," Obama said.<br />
<br />
"We will be vigilant and we will be relentless. When people harm
Americans, anywhere, we do what's necessary to see that justice is
done."<br />
<br />
Obama said the fighters had rampaged across cities and
villages, abducted women and children and subjected them to torture
and rape and killed Muslims, both Sunni and Shia, by the thousands.<br />
<br />
"No just God would stand for what they did yesterday and what they do every single day," he said. "Their ideology is bankrupt."<br />
<br />
US Secretary of State John Kerry later called the Islamic State group an "Ugly, savage, inexplicable, nihilistic, and valueless evil."<br />
<br />
"ISIL is the face of that evil, a threat to people who want to
live in peace, and an ugly insult to the peaceful religion they violate
every day with their barbarity," he added.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2014/08/obama-vows-fight-islamic-state-cancer-201482017348985955.html" target="_blank">Source</a>_H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14373864.post-15122696090503135342014-08-21T16:46:00.000+01:002014-08-21T16:46:02.372+01:00Isis strategists must 'crave further western military involvement'<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEWLXqVnsSHiqlaGrp23u_nb3REfKWt8e3kml-9xIQs7vemOl3iiWWJ2vhADOJEEbNscih-75LCYZxlw3ybYXAgy5J0wsBordN8tyVZgN2mHUchnRFusQKvpBb7dccFkh3wiha/s1600/isis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEWLXqVnsSHiqlaGrp23u_nb3REfKWt8e3kml-9xIQs7vemOl3iiWWJ2vhADOJEEbNscih-75LCYZxlw3ybYXAgy5J0wsBordN8tyVZgN2mHUchnRFusQKvpBb7dccFkh3wiha/s1600/isis.jpg" /></a></div>
Written by <span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name"><a class="contributor" href="http://www.theguardian.com/profile/owen-jones" itemprop="url" rel="author">Owen Jones</a> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><span itemprop="name"> </span></span>Terrorism by definition aims to spread terror to achieve its
political ends. One of the reasons Isis has outmanoeuvred its rivals is
because it has embraced social media so effectively. By publicising its
atrocities online, it tells would-be opponents what will happen if it is
resisted, and this partly explains why so many have fled rather than
confront Isis forces. The ruthless use of social media has proved
instrumental in the toppling of entire cities. This operation is being
gladly assisted by those in the west who portray Isis as a unique,
undiluted evil that needs to be bombed out of existence, granting the
militant group the mystique it clearly craves and relies on.<br />
<br />
Foley’s murder will inevitably intensify calls for further western
military involvement. Those agitating for such a course of action have a
number of questions to answer. The “war on terror” began 13 years ago.
It has involved bombs raining down on Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan,
Somalia and Yemen. And with what success? Jihadism is stronger than
ever; Isis is not only more extreme than al-Qaida, but what it has
achieved surely exceeds Osama bin Laden’s wildest ambitions. Who can
deny that the west has served as a recruiting sergeant for Islamic
extremism, that it effectively helped hand large swathes of Iraq and
Libya over to such elements?<br />
<br />
Nobody is pretending that Isis is going to be defeated by a few
rousing renditions of Kumbaya. But Isis strategists must surely crave
further western military involvement. As the Norwegian terrorism expert,
Thomas Hegghammer, put it: “Isis seems to be doing everything it can
(short of attacks in the west) to draw the US into the conflict.”<br />
<br />
Read the full article <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/20/james-foley-murder-western-action-jihadism-war-on-terror-isis?CMP=twt_gu" target="_blank">here</a> _H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14373864.post-7297350095031579022014-08-21T00:43:00.000+01:002014-08-21T00:43:25.276+01:00US military 'tried to free Foley'<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOo2zPOP4xsbC9GbU7Wm6IwF-MSAxewkAdCRFzinK_KeTCZP5H5dTJeHhttGpXQrLXbdo4Ed2OYT1ISpSRo1N1Ig9mWxAxSfXmnsmcShNuflGIaQrYC0z7UqpYn2xqvg1UC357/s1600/James-Foley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOo2zPOP4xsbC9GbU7Wm6IwF-MSAxewkAdCRFzinK_KeTCZP5H5dTJeHhttGpXQrLXbdo4Ed2OYT1ISpSRo1N1Ig9mWxAxSfXmnsmcShNuflGIaQrYC0z7UqpYn2xqvg1UC357/s1600/James-Foley.jpg" height="192" width="320" /></a></div>
From the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28875827" target="_blank">BBC</a><br />
<br />
<div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1">
A US secret military
mission had "recently" tried but failed "to free a number of American
hostages held in Syria", the Pentagon has revealed. It did not say whether the US troops had also tried to rescue
US journalist James Foley, a video of whose beheading by Islamic State
appeared on Tuesday. </div>
<div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1">
<br /></div>
<div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1">
<br /></div>
However, senior US officials - speaking on condition of anonymity - said this was the case. IS said Foley's death was revenge for US air strikes on its fighters in Iraq.
<br />
<br />
US President Barack Obama condemned the killing as "an act of violence that shocks the conscience of the entire world".He compared IS militants, who control large parts of Syria and Iraq to a "cancer" and said the group's ideology was "bankrupt".<br />
<br />
The UN, UK and others have also expressed abhorrence at the video.<br />
<br />
<span class="cross-head"></span>
In a statement, the Pentagon said its operation "involved air
and ground components and was focused on a particular captor network
within ISIL" (the former name of IS).<br />
<br />
"Unfortunately, the mission was not successful because the hostages were not present at the targeted location."_H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14373864.post-83217052014930371942014-08-20T15:33:00.000+01:002014-08-20T15:34:15.571+01:00Baghdadi 'Mossad trained' ?<span class="storyDetails" id="ctl00_ContentPlaceHolder1_lblStory">
</span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU0lmGUd5gZ2glhEq1k8MRoVEIWzvSUn01AvhoGouSiVhM74JcKJPYMfeSFuDgItO3Ptso5EWSCNc8tOM0EyssebbEr65kIRgIJh88NPGtqR7aqQGQdVrtre99jjrxma851agn/s1600/baghdadi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU0lmGUd5gZ2glhEq1k8MRoVEIWzvSUn01AvhoGouSiVhM74JcKJPYMfeSFuDgItO3Ptso5EWSCNc8tOM0EyssebbEr65kIRgIJh88NPGtqR7aqQGQdVrtre99jjrxma851agn/s1600/baghdadi.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
WASHINGTON: The former employee at US National Security Agency
(NSA), Edward Snowden, has revealed that the British and American
intelligence and the Mossad worked together to create the Islamic State
of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Snowden said intelligence services of three countries created a
terrorist organisation that is able to attract all extremists of the
world to one place, using a strategy called "the hornet's nest".NSA documents refer to recent implementation of the hornet's nest to
protect the Zionist entity by creating religious and Islamic slogans.<br />
<br />
According to documents released by Snowden, "The only solution for
the protection of the Jewish state "is to create an enemy near its
borders".<br />
<br />
Leaks revealed that ISIS leader and cleric Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi took
intensive military training for a whole year in the hands of Mossad,
besides courses in theology and the art of speech..<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=381153" target="_blank">Source</a><br />
<br />
Fact or fiction ? <br />
<br />
Well if you beleive it is fiction you will find much supporting you're view <a href="http://liberalconspiracy.org/2014/08/14/the-isis-leader-was-not-trained-by-the-cia-or-mossad-and-snowden-didnt-say-it/" target="_blank">here</a> and if you believe it is not then you can find another article claiming the same <a href="http://www.abna.ir/english/service/important/archive/2014/08/07/629591/story.html" target="_blank">here.</a><br />
<br />
<br />_H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14373864.post-68258250525577641572014-08-20T13:04:00.000+01:002014-08-20T13:05:18.543+01:00British Islamic State militant 'beheads reporter'<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM1FITzpKW17-C5f6Hu38vo_Yyf3vZb6e8RGKlkahfEROBBMrmoiBJj7uLFUVt_4eluPTWpGFn8Ta6CZQ6bAH0DdDDH_w2A-9TCjr5HsaiejR8WdWHsUFoCcIvcG9XnWw6NeyE/s1600/jf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM1FITzpKW17-C5f6Hu38vo_Yyf3vZb6e8RGKlkahfEROBBMrmoiBJj7uLFUVt_4eluPTWpGFn8Ta6CZQ6bAH0DdDDH_w2A-9TCjr5HsaiejR8WdWHsUFoCcIvcG9XnWw6NeyE/s1600/jf.jpg" height="185" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1">
The Islamic State (IS)
has released a video online purporting to show the beheading of US
journalist James Foley, who went missing in Syria in 2012. The jihadist militant group said the killing was revenge for US air strikes against its fighters in Iraq</div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
In the video, titled A Message to America, a man identified as James
Foley is dressed in an orange jumpsuit, kneeling in desert-like terrain
beside an armed man dressed in black.<br />
<br />
He gives a message to his family and links his imminent death to the US government's bombing campaign of IS targets in Iraq.<br />
<br />
Clearly under duress, he says: "I call on my friends, family
and loved ones to rise up against my real killers, the US government,
for what will happen to me is only a result of their complacency and
criminality."<br />
<br />
Then the masked militant, who speaks with a British accent,
delivers a warning to the US government: "You are no longer fighting an
insurgency. We are an Islamic Army and a state that has been accepted by
a large number of Muslims worldwide.<br />
<br />
"So any attempt by you Obama to deny the Muslims their rights of
living in safety under the Islamic caliphate will result in the
bloodshed of your people."<br />
<br />
After he speaks, the militant appears to start cutting at his captive's neck before the video fades to black.His body is then seen on the ground.<br />
<br />
Another captive, identified as American journalist Steven
Sotloff, is shown at the end, with the warning that his fate depends on
President Barack Obama's next move.<br />
<br />
Mr Sotloff was abducted a year ago in northern Syria, close to the border with Turkey.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28862268" target="_blank">Source</a>_H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14373864.post-59754905257804422542014-08-19T19:01:00.000+01:002014-08-19T19:01:58.090+01:00Fear brings the enemies of Isis together<div class="widget storyContent article widget-editable viziwyg-section-507 inpage-widget-8099193 articleContent voicesArticleLayout">
<span class="storyTop ">
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<span class="storyTop "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjST5xKvHSeM2LNjdyRHCipxDmY7vyBg4V__vzr4L9ee52e1LxzZaUVsI9RKDtsxVJHvw73Mi46EpTfg11_8jszIrN6wPfH6SJsO8ePNmJ3MKKOIq4OgpAsvQn1MLNyG4Mna4hM/s1600/isis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjST5xKvHSeM2LNjdyRHCipxDmY7vyBg4V__vzr4L9ee52e1LxzZaUVsI9RKDtsxVJHvw73Mi46EpTfg11_8jszIrN6wPfH6SJsO8ePNmJ3MKKOIq4OgpAsvQn1MLNyG4Mna4hM/s1600/isis.jpg" /></a></span></div>
<span class="storyTop ">
<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/fear-brings-the-enemies-of-isis-together-at-last-9673644.html" target="_blank">The Independent </a>Fear of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis, who now refer
to themselves the Islamic State) is the new uniting factor for states
in the Middle East and beyond who normally hate each other. The sudden
emergence of Isis's still expanding caliphate, with its terrifying blend
of brutality, bigotry and military effectiveness, provides a common
enemy for the US, Iran, EU states, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and, in Iraq,
Shia, Kurds and anti-Isis Sunni.<br />
</span></div>
<div class="widget storyContent article widget-editable viziwyg-section-507 inpage-widget-8099193 articleContent voicesArticleLayout">
<span class="storyTop "><br />
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<span class="storyTop "><br />
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It was the capture of Mosul by Isis on 10 June which ended
the eight-year rule of Nouri al-Maliki, who withdrew his candidacy for a
third term as prime minister last Thursday. A diversity of Iraqi
politicians and parties, intermittently supported by foreign powers,
have been trying to get rid of him for years, but they failed because of
their disunity and his control of the Iraqi state. It was Isis gunmen
in their captured Humvees patrolling the roads an hour's drive from
Baghdad that created the determination to finally get rid of Mr Maliki.<br />
<br />
However
deep the differences between Washington and Tehran, they were equally
horrified by the prospect of Isis advancing on Baghdad and Erbil. Saudi
Arabia has openly or covertly opposed Iran and Shia Islam since the
overthrow of the Shah in 1979, but is seriously threatened by Isis,
whose ideology is not much different from Saudi Wahhabism but challenges
the legitimacy of the house of Saud. Last Friday in Mecca, the
influential imam and preacher at the Grand Mosque, Sheikh Abdul-Rahman
al-Sudais, called for a code of conduct to stop leaders, scholars and
young people supporting violence and "terror". An implication of this is
that Saudi Arabia will suppress pro-jihadi propaganda on the internet
and satellite television which it has previously encouraged.<br />
<br />
The
Iranians are also facing a more menacing future as Isis fighters
tighten their grip on Diyala province in Iraq, which is on the Iranian
border. A year ago a senior member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps explained how necessary it was for Iranian security to fight in
Damascus although it is 870 miles from Tehran; but last week Isis, which
considers Shia to be heretics worthy of death, captured the town of
Jalawla, 25 miles from Iran. No wonder Iran was willing to say goodbye
to Mr Maliki, whom it had so long defended, to end the political crisis
in Baghdad.<br />
<br />
The realisation of the danger posed by Isis
did not come immediately with the fall of Mosul and Tikrit. In Baghdad,
and abroad, there was wishful thinking that Isis was the fanatical
shock-troop of an insurgent Sunni community in Iraq; and that once Mr
Maliki was gone and reforms acceptable to the Sunni were implemented,
then traditional tribal and non-Isis military leaders would reassert
themselves and get rid of the dangerous zealots.<br />
<br />
It was
always a dubious argument, with much evidence to the contrary. Isis,
after its experience in 2006 and 2007 when the Americans did succeed in
splitting the Sunni insurgency, is wary of another stab in the back. It
has taken precautions such as demanding a pledge of allegiance to the
caliphate and, according to one account from Mosul, has seized 300
former Baathists and army officers as hostages. The lesson from Iraq and
Syria is that in places it has conquered, Isis only shares power as
long as it has to. So far, the chances of a counter-insurgency against
it in Sunni provinces look bleak.<br />
<br />
But
this does not mean that Isis has not created a host of enemies for
itself, and it is losing the advantage of its opponents' disunity.
Within Iraq, relations between Erbil, the Kurdish capital, and Baghdad
were "poisonous", the Iraqi foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, told me in
early July. But the victorious Isis attack on Kurdish-held territory in
August has made the Kurds less over-confident and more willing to
cooperate with the Iraqi central government against the jihadis. Among
the Kurds themselves there was a closing of the ranks as experienced
fighters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) raced to help the Iraqi
Kurdish forces with whom they had previously had hostile or very frosty
relations.<br />
<br />
With both the Shia and the Kurds feeling
vulnerable, the US has restored much of its former influence in Iraq
with a few air strikes. In contrast with American ignorance and
arrogance in 2003, Washington is now much more knowledgeable and warier
of the Iraqi quagmire. As states such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran
find ferocious and battle-hardened Isis fighters on their borders, they
are more likely to cooperate with each other and the US. In the words of
Hillaire Belloc's poem, they're keeping "a-hold of Nurse, For fear of
finding something worse."<br />
<br />
This coming together of old rivals and enemies in opposition
to Isis is happening in Iraq, but not yet in Syria where the US,
Europeans, Turks, Saudis and Qataris continue with their old bankrupt
policy. This is to get rid of or least weaken President Bashar al-Assad
by backing a moderate military opposition that is supposedly going to
fight both Mr Assad and Isis. Unfortunately, this group scarcely exists
except as a propaganda slogan and a consumer of subsidies from the Gulf.
Isis dominates the Syrian opposition and that domination grew greater
last week as it captured the towns of Turkmen Bareh and Akhtarin, 30
miles from Aleppo.<br />
<br />
The Sunni rebellion in Syria may soon
be an Isis controlled project as it already is in Iraq. Given that Syria
is 60 per cent Sunni Arab, compared to 20 per cent in Iraq, it is
easier for Isis to increase its strength there. Any attempt to
counter-attack Isis that focuses solely on Iraq is likely to fail
because the caliphate straddles the two countries' border.<br />
<br />
The
present US policy of leaving Mr Assad (backed by Hezbollah, Iran and
Russia) to battle Isis alone poses high risks, says Anthony Cordesman,
the national security analyst at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies in Washington. He writes that US policy only works
so long as the Assad forces do not lose territory and key cities to
Isis and the caliphate "does not make major economic, military,
political and religious gains". He adds that the present stance of the
US and its Arab allies assumes the existence of a moderate Sunni
resistance not dominated by Isis. If Isis is able to maintain its
"sanctuary" in eastern Syria, the caliphate will be able to reinforce
its "capabilities in Iraq and steadily increase the threat to Lebanon,
Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and other neighbouring states".<br />
<br />
In
practice, none of the conditions for a successful US policy in Syria
have been met. Since Isis expanded its caliphate to cover almost all of
eastern Syria, its neighbours have every reason to be frightened. The
nascent unity and cooperation of the opponents to Isis forged by the
Iraq crisis may be too little and too late.<br />
<br />
<i>'The Jihadis Return: Isis and the New Sunni Uprising' by Patrick Cockburn, published by OR Books, is available at <a href="http://orbooks.com/" target="new">orbooks.com</a></i> <span class="orangeFullstop"></span> _H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14373864.post-4714935023607414352014-08-18T22:20:00.000+01:002014-08-18T22:20:59.824+01:00Obama: Mosul dam recaptured from militants<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu5r6qsr3XdzawZFu8T1WbTXKc8YdxOWO3C8pFfxcdOP4GyhppJOrpWpyynbbrrpzCoSMXFRyKP5xSeYi6rk856HvMPbdapdn1KxsNbxwZJl1UTL-SuOAOqZhMk1uqsNv_g8ZQ/s1600/532289556.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu5r6qsr3XdzawZFu8T1WbTXKc8YdxOWO3C8pFfxcdOP4GyhppJOrpWpyynbbrrpzCoSMXFRyKP5xSeYi6rk856HvMPbdapdn1KxsNbxwZJl1UTL-SuOAOqZhMk1uqsNv_g8ZQ/s1600/532289556.jpg" height="198" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1">
Kurdish Peshmerga
fighters and Iraqi troops have retaken Mosul dam from Islamic State (IS)
militants, US President Barack Obama has said.</div>
<div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1">
<br /></div>
Mr Obama said the US helped in the operation. Air strikes targeted IS around the dam, Iraq's largest.The statement followed Iraqi claims that the dam had been "fully cleansed", but IS said it was still in control.
<br />
<br />
<br />
Separately, Pope Francis said military action to stop IS attacking religious minorities should be agreed by the UN. He said intervention should not be carried out by "one nation alone".<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28833519" target="_blank">Source</a>_H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14373864.post-36772041797604903612014-08-18T21:56:00.000+01:002014-08-18T21:56:49.176+01:00'Witch hunt' against Israel's war critics<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfco31z6YWjwqtECstpcnSaX4ToZLBFAcv7fSjYL9wFhdISLOzNETiiOkKYl7hwMv8HMBShJfYBtXbIu5IPlp73vQS_N1EHWxxB9wm3WH-9uU1dYfDiW1A-29rO39PDwxJzjov/s1600/propeace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfco31z6YWjwqtECstpcnSaX4ToZLBFAcv7fSjYL9wFhdISLOzNETiiOkKYl7hwMv8HMBShJfYBtXbIu5IPlp73vQS_N1EHWxxB9wm3WH-9uU1dYfDiW1A-29rO39PDwxJzjov/s1600/propeace.jpg" height="204" width="320" /></a></div>
Jerusalem (AFP) - In Israel, dissent against the war in Gaza is bitterly
quashed. The few who speak out complain of being harassed, intimidated
or even sacked. The once mighty left has disappeared.<br />
<br />
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1408394184945_1403">
It has been Israel's deadliest
conflict in years. More than 1,960 Palestinians were killed and 64
Israeli soldiers died fighting what some see as an unwinnable war.</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1408394184945_1403">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1408394184945_1403">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1408394184945_1411">
And
yet the only significant protest in Israel so far saw thousands late
Thursday demand an end to Hamas rocket attacks, dissatisfied with the
status quo after ground troops pulled out and a ceasefire was extended.</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1408394184945_1411">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1408394184945_1690">
Liberal
newspaper Haaretz decried Friday what it called a "witch hunt" against
leftists and civil rights organisations after the director of the
national service administration, Sar-Shalom Jerbi, told rights group
B'Tselem it was being blacklisted as an employer. "I
feel obligated to exercise my power and stop the state assistance
provided to an organisation that works against the state and against
soldiers who are heroically giving their very lives to protect the
safety and well-being of all citizens," Jerbi wrote in a letter.</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1408394184945_1690">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1408394184945_1684">
He
accused B'Tselem of disseminating lies and slander, endangering the
state and publishing information that encourages Israel's enemies and
leads to violent anti-Semitic acts against Jews around the world.The
rights group denounced the move as an attack on Israeli democracy, and
asked supporters to sign an online petition to support freedom of
expression and democracy.</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1408394184945_1684">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1408394184945_1688">
Yizhar
Beer of the Keshev Centre for the Protection of Democracy in Israel
says it has never been more difficult to voice dissent in a country
which prides itself on being the only democracy in the Middle East.</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1408394184945_1688">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1408394184945_1709">
<b>- Overwhelming support for war -</b></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1408394184945_1709">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1408394184945_1413">
Israeli
public opinion has overwhelmingly supported the war. A poll carried out
by The Israel Democracy Institute last month said 95 percent of Israeli
Jews believed the offensive was just.</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1408394184945_1713">
In a country with compulsory national conscription, almost everybody has a friend or relative in the army.Hamas
rocket attacks have tormented millions of Israelis, inflicting fear and
panic in border communities, regardless of the fact that hundreds are
shot down and just three civilians have been killed since July.</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1408394184945_1713">
<br /></div>
In
Israel, as in most countries during time of war, the local media have
been patriotic champions of the offensive, uniting behind their boys on
the frontline, sending them presents, highlighting the suffering of
Israeli citizens and downplaying suffering on the other side.The few who have spoken out of line have been threatened or denounced as traitors.<br />
<br />
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1408394184945_1719">
After
Haaretz commentator Gideon Levy accused air force pilots of
perpetrating "the cruelest (and) most despicable deeds" against Gaza's
weakest and most helpless," his employer hired him bodyguards.Readers cancelled their
subscriptions, people stopped in the street to insult him and government
whip Yariv Levin denounced him as a liar, a "mouthpiece of the enemy"
who should be put on trial for treason.</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1408394184945_1719">
<br /></div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1408394184945_1725">
"I
have never faced such aggressive reaction, never," Levy told AFP in his
cramped office at Haaretz in Tel Aviv, away from the coffee shops where
he fears being insulted."Nobody cares here about the suffering of Gaza. More than this, if you dare to express empathy you are a traitor," he said.</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1408394184945_1725">
<br /></div>
<b>- Intimidation kept people away -</b><br />
<br />
Some Israelis who criticised the offensive, even on private Facebook pages, complained of being ostracised.An Arab Israeli nurse was briefly suspended then reinstated. Other Arab Israelis also complained of being sacked.<br />
<br />
"There's
a whole level of intimidation that's kept a lot of people away," said
Steven Beck of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel when asked why
there had not been more protests.He likened the atmosphere to
the period directly preceding the assassination of prime minister and
Nobel peace laureate Yitzhak Rabin, shot dead by a Jewish extremist in
1995.<br />
<br />
"Things that were shocking back then, really, really
shocking have become common place... now the needle is moving to a whole
new level to the extreme," Beck said."The question is, is it going to boil over into something or will it dissipate."<br />
<br />
<b>Explanations are complex.</b><br />
<br />
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1408394184945_1427">
For
Beer, it is rooted in the growth of the religious right and
ultra-Orthodox communities, the powerful Jewish settler movement and the
ongoing occupation of the West Bank."The extremist section of Israeli society has kidnapped the state of Israel," he said.</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1408394184945_1427">
<br /></div>
<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/witch-hunt-against-israels-war-critics-134302477.html" target="_blank">Source</a>_H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14373864.post-87964037456679659152014-08-16T15:37:00.002+01:002014-08-16T15:41:20.563+01:00Jewish Chronicle apology for allowing Gaza crisis appeal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhximcl0xKS2C_ipPriWV3MLJVwhKubWh2e7Wwg7u8yUQaZwjMsxZJ8CkhrOP3K5-jzFxKpHDNUESU_S0TIpNT-2Dq7uL00hoHYogEI5QopExNaonbopP-rMUAO5MrITEvljQ7X/s1600/gaza-israel-bombing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhximcl0xKS2C_ipPriWV3MLJVwhKubWh2e7Wwg7u8yUQaZwjMsxZJ8CkhrOP3K5-jzFxKpHDNUESU_S0TIpNT-2Dq7uL00hoHYogEI5QopExNaonbopP-rMUAO5MrITEvljQ7X/s1600/gaza-israel-bombing.jpg" height="179" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1">
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28812983" target="_blank">BBC</a>: The Jewish Chronicle has
apologised to readers who complained after it ran an advert for the
Disasters Emergency Committee's Gaza crisis appeal.</div>
<br />
The weekly newspaper said running the advert was "meant as a purely humanitarian gesture".When it launched the appeal, the DEC said the latest conflict
had made half a million people in Gaza homeless and warned of a
"humanitarian emergency".<br />
<br />
<br />
After a DEC advert featured in this week's Jewish Chronicle (JC), a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/We-demand-a-full-apology-from-the-Jewish-Chronicle/1470243036566558">Facebook page</a> was set up calling on readers to boycott the title until it issued a "full apology". It accused the newspaper of "ignoring the sensitivity of this
conflict which is having a day to day impact and effect on the Jewish
community here". "We have nothing against giving aid to people caught up in a
conflict" it said, but accused the Hamas rulers of Gaza of using aid in a
campaign of violence against Israel.<br />
<br />
A message posted on the paper's own <a href="https://www.facebook.com/jewishchronicle">Facebook page</a> pointed out that the advert was "not an expression of the JC's view".It added: "We have received complaints from readers angry at the decision. We apologise for the upset caused." It said it would give space in the next issue to readers wanting to object to the advert.<br />
<br />
One reader replied: "Maybe you should donate the money you
received from this diabolical advert to a pro Israel cause too. Utterly
disgraceful." <br />
<br />
Others supported the decision to run the DEC advert, however, saying it was the "right thing to do". <br />
Writing on the <a href="http://www.thejc.com/node/121492">JC website</a>,
editor Stephen Pollard said: "It is a critical part of our editorial
independence that we do not allow advertisers to have any influence at
all on the paper.<br />
<br />
"The ad was approved by the chairman of the JC, who has no
involvement in editorial decisions, as an ad for humanitarian aid which
nowhere makes political or partisan points."<br />
<br />
In a <a href="http://www.dec.org.uk/appeals/gaza-crisis-2014/press-release/dec-raises-concerns-regarding-tone-debate-over-gaza">statement on the DEC's website</a>
on Thursday, addressing the "tone of the debate over Gaza", chief
executive Saleh Saeed said: "The DEC's launch of a public appeal in
response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has been wrongly interpreted
in some quarters as a political statement.<br />
<br />
"It is nothing of the sort. Giving aid is not taking sides."_H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14373864.post-76408766774496524312014-08-15T18:25:00.001+01:002014-08-15T18:25:22.497+01:00 The REAL World Map - You are being lied to<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/AhFuy38shSI" width="420"></iframe><br />_H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14373864.post-7401532506808101982014-08-15T17:06:00.001+01:002014-08-15T17:07:58.006+01:00Are Israel arming the Syrian rebels?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgswyT8FQKt_oJR4fA8EJPcrRsCxJY-rolbI4zoASUL_ElYr5MUEuiv92ekpS43hr_adoKS1wO2jYweXqfeRkKvlXywi3vLkJQfwZTxnsCSZOMofI_vDuiklVpJg2DI9Nwfu1pB/s1600/zetalabs_RPG7_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgswyT8FQKt_oJR4fA8EJPcrRsCxJY-rolbI4zoASUL_ElYr5MUEuiv92ekpS43hr_adoKS1wO2jYweXqfeRkKvlXywi3vLkJQfwZTxnsCSZOMofI_vDuiklVpJg2DI9Nwfu1pB/s1600/zetalabs_RPG7_01.jpg" height="228" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/syrian-rebel-commander-says-he-collaborated-with-israel/" style="text-decoration: none;">Times
Of Israe</a>l - A Free
Syrian Army commander, arrested last month by the
Islamist militia Al-Nusra Front, told his captors
he collaborated with Israel in return for medical
and military support, in a video released this week. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> </span>
<br />
<div itemprop="articleBody">
</div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">In
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J1p6HR20_I">
a video</a> uploaded to YouTube Monday by the
Executive Sharia Council in the eastern Daraa
Region, an Islamic court established by Al-Nusra in
southern Syria, Sharif As-Safouri, the commander of
the Free Syrian Army’s Al-Haramein Battalion,
admitted to having entered Israel five times to meet
with Israeli officers who later provided him with
Soviet anti-tank weapons and light arms. <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/syrian-al-qaeda-fighters-flee-southward-toward-israel-border/">Safouri
was abducted by the al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra
Front</a> in the Quneitra area, near the Israeli
border, on July 22. </span></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">“The
[opposition] factions would receive support and send
the injured in [to Israel] on condition that the
Israeli fence area is secured. No person was allowed
to come near the fence without prior coordination
with Israel authorities,” Safouri said in the video.</span><br />
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Israel has
never admitted to arming moderate Syrian rebels, who
have been engaged in battle against the Assad regime
and its allies since March 2011. In June, Brig. Gen.
Itai Brun, head of Military Intelligence research,
told the Herzliya Conference that
<a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/80-of-syria-rebels-are-islamist-senior-idf-officer-says/">
80 percent of Syria’s oppositionists are Islamists
of various shades</a>, indicating that Israel was
reluctant to collaborate with them.</span><br />
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Thousands of
al-Qaeda-linked rebels
<a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/syrian-al-qaeda-fighters-flee-southward-toward-israel-border/">
reached southern Syria over the past month</a>,
fleeing the Islamic State which had captured large
swaths of land in northern and northeastern Syria.
While Al-Nusra and the Free Syrian Army have
collaborated in the battlefield against the Assad
regime, friction has intensified as the Islamists
began to implement their stringent version of Islam
in the area, establishing local Sharia courts.</span><br />
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">In the edited
confession video, in which Safouri seems physically
unharmed, he says that at first he met with an
Israeli officer named Ashraf at the border and was
given an Israeli cellular phone. He later met with
another officer named Younis and with the two men’s
commander, Abu Daoud. In total, Safouri said he
entered Israel five times for meetings that took
place in Tiberias.</span><br />
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Following the
meetings, Israel began providing Safouri and his men
with “basic medical support and clothes” as well as
weapons, which included 30 Russian [rifles], 10 RPG
launchers with 47 rockets, and 48,000 5.56
millimeter bullets.</span><br />
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">While
opposition websites denied that Safouri was a
collaborator, claiming his entries into Israel were
for medical purposes alone, regime media celebrated
Safouri’s confession as proof of the Free Syrian
Army’s treachery. On August 1, dozens of
demonstrators took to the streets of the village of
Hayt, Safouri’s hometown near Syria’s borders with
Jordan and Israel, to protest his abduction,
condemning Al-Nusra Front for the act.</span><br />
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">No Israeli
comment was available at time of publication.</span></div>
<div itemprop="articleBody">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">© 2014
The Times of Israel, All rights reserved.</span>
</span>_H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14373864.post-52751261281593081562014-08-14T21:14:00.000+01:002014-08-14T21:22:23.782+01:00BREAKING: Maliki to step down<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihp3T9pqCiaMRl_-S884I139WPPTDVOyHXUlacgfqbRxKbE8wF5wbbobUU_RTz1EdkVPT59ptf5EBvb-0721za1Yikdcxl5X8K-JkKdIcdVOsyHSAhlvSoZUmCz-ksfF4g0_nT/s1600/Maliki.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihp3T9pqCiaMRl_-S884I139WPPTDVOyHXUlacgfqbRxKbE8wF5wbbobUU_RTz1EdkVPT59ptf5EBvb-0721za1Yikdcxl5X8K-JkKdIcdVOsyHSAhlvSoZUmCz-ksfF4g0_nT/s1600/Maliki.jpg" height="199" width="320" /></a></div>
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has decided to
step aside, ending the political deadlock in Baghdad as the government
struggles against insurgents. His successor, Haider al-Abadi, has been asked by Iraq's president to form a new government. Mr Maliki was under immense pressure to make way for Mr Abadi, a deputy speaker of parliament..<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Mr Maliki's spokesman, Ali Mussawi, told AFP news agency that the
outgoing Shia Muslim prime minister would drop his bid to remain in his
post.<br />
<br />
"Maliki will withdraw the complaint against the president and will back the prime minister designate," he said.<br />
<br />
The move, also confirmed by Shia Muslim members of parliament to AP news agency, was announced by state TV._H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14373864.post-8526895829441377642014-08-14T19:35:00.000+01:002014-08-14T19:35:24.091+01:00SAS already deployed to Iraq<span id="articleText"><span class="focusParagraph"></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDvi3baEBQ64cI7DIrUmyTEJi2nvpO3W0Xzq1fqUf1g6CIoVPx0CiYKxTUt8rOdK6qMZibuxHYvfOBj4FNoXlAl9eiMeYW5ViWS6P9om5nVxSWsPIC-QHQosU11wQVH8cqhqLa/s1600/sas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDvi3baEBQ64cI7DIrUmyTEJi2nvpO3W0Xzq1fqUf1g6CIoVPx0CiYKxTUt8rOdK6qMZibuxHYvfOBj4FNoXlAl9eiMeYW5ViWS6P9om5nVxSWsPIC-QHQosU11wQVH8cqhqLa/s1600/sas.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
Britain has deployed SAS special forces in northern <span class="mandelbrot_refrag">Iraq</span>
where thousands of civilians are trapped on a mountain by Sunni
militant fighters, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on Thursday.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_0"></span>Citing Britain's trade envoy to <span class="mandelbrot_refrag">Iraq</span>,
Emma Nicholson, the paper said that officers from the Special Air
Service (SAS), the army's special forces regiment, were working with
U.S. troops to gather intelligence and had been in Iraq for about six
weeks.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_1"></span>When asked about
the newspaper report, a spokesman for Britain's Ministry of Defence said
it did not comment on special forces operations._H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14373864.post-21736281128363736822014-08-12T19:36:00.002+01:002014-08-12T19:38:44.624+01:00 UN names Gaza war crimes probe panel<span id="articleText"><span class="focusParagraph"></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Sk01uu36Vb5rzkWG-6mse2TjumocBEwPY5cPLfIGu7FbglbYbyY-KAPcGKvyTP0qGOGRVlF22y7Qj7_J-vnjD3jx-o1oGgK3EDQ8aDNq7mTloGYZs2kqaFgaDdre8JY4SYcd/s1600/UN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Sk01uu36Vb5rzkWG-6mse2TjumocBEwPY5cPLfIGu7FbglbYbyY-KAPcGKvyTP0qGOGRVlF22y7Qj7_J-vnjD3jx-o1oGgK3EDQ8aDNq7mTloGYZs2kqaFgaDdre8JY4SYcd/s1600/UN.jpg" height="250" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/08/11/mideast-gaza-un-inquiry-idINKBN0GB1R820140811" target="_blank">(Reuters)</a> - The
United Nations on Monday named experts to an international commission of
inquiry into possible human rights violations and war crimes committed
by both sides during Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip.<br />
<br />
Israel, however, dismissed the inquiry as a U.N. Human Rights Council "kangaroo court".William
Schabas, a Canadian professor of international law, will head the panel
whose other members are Doudou Diene, a Senegalese veteran U.N. human
rights expert.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_3"></span><br />
<span id="midArticle_3"></span><br />
A U.N.
statement said Amal Alamuddin, a British-Lebanese lawyer engaged to be
married to Hollywood actor George Clooney would take part though
Alamuddin later denied she would participate in the inquiry.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_4"></span>"I
am honored to have received the offer, but given existing commitments -
including eight ongoing cases - unfortunately could not accept this
role," she said in a statement.<br />
<br />
It was not clear who would replace Alamuddin on the panel.<br />
<br />
<span id="articleText"><span id="midArticle_6"></span></span><br />
The
U.N. statement said the independent team will investigate "all
violations of international humanitarian law and international human
rights law ... in the context of the military operations conducted since
13 June 2014."<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_7"></span>A month of
war, marked by Israeli air strikes on Gaza and rockets fired by Hamas
militants into Israel, has killed 1,938 Palestinians and 67 Israelis
while devastating wide tracts of densely populated Gaza.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_8"></span>The
panel is to report by March 2015 to the U.N. Human Rights Council.
Israel has long accused the 47-member state forum of bias against it.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_9"></span>Navi
Pillay, the top U.N. human rights official, said on July 31 she
believed Israel was deliberately defying international law in its
military offensive in Gaza and that world powers should hold it
accountable for possible war crimes.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_10"></span>Israel
has attacked homes, schools, hospitals, Gaza's only power plant and
U.N. premises in apparent violation of the Geneva Conventions, said
Pillay, a former U.N. war crimes judge.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_11"></span>Hamas
militants in Gaza have violated international humanitarian law by
firing rockets indiscriminately into Israel, Pillay said.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_12"></span>Israeli
and Palestinian negotiators resumed indirect talks mediated by Egypt on
Monday on ending the war, Egypt's state news agency said, after a new
72-hour truce appeared to be holding.<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_13"></span>In
a statement, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor issued a
statement dismissing the inquiry. He cited Israel's view that "the Human
Rights Council had long ago turned into the 'terrorist rights council'
and a kangaroo court, whose 'investigations' are pre-determined."<br />
<br />
<span id="midArticle_14"></span>Hamas
Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri in Gaza said "Hamas welcomes the decision to
form an investigation committee into the war crimes committed by the
occupation (Israel) against Gaza and it urges that it begin work as soon
as possible."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://terrorism-news.blogspot.co.uk/2005/07/comment-rules.html" target="_blank">Please read our comment rules before posting </a>_H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14373864.post-70022882315148981622014-08-12T11:37:00.000+01:002014-08-12T11:37:46.494+01:00Egyptian massacre: "a crime against humanity"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSLjeaLCahUN0Wx8AuE-1_HE6lnNEuCIga3cauyNCnGZcROJHT65rfvpgeXihofN6yN0FZv3yqMZyWpGDCJPejh2nhAbKe5oLHjykjQkUTA0HXu_LsgoswjGoR3J9hPTAud_K0/s1600/massacre.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSLjeaLCahUN0Wx8AuE-1_HE6lnNEuCIga3cauyNCnGZcROJHT65rfvpgeXihofN6yN0FZv3yqMZyWpGDCJPejh2nhAbKe5oLHjykjQkUTA0HXu_LsgoswjGoR3J9hPTAud_K0/s1600/massacre.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1">
The killings of at least
817 people by Egyptian security forces last year probably amount to a
crime against humanity, Human Rights Watch says. A reort by the US-based group says 1,000 or more people probably died in one day around Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque. </div>
<div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The deaths came during demonstrations broken up by Egyptian security forces.Executive director Kenneth Roth said the deaths were "one of
the world's largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent
history".<br />
<br />
Mr Roth and a colleague were stopped from entering Egypt on Monday.They were due to launch the new report at a press conference
in the Egyptian capital, but were deported after being held for 12 hours
at Cairo International Airport.<br />
<br />
The group's year-long investigation focused on six
demonstrations in July and August 2013 that were forcefully broken up by
security forces, then under the command of now-President Abdul Fattah
al-Sisi.<br />
<br />
Read the full details <a href="http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/egypt0814_ForUpload_0.pdf" target="_blank">Here</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://terrorism-news.blogspot.co.uk/2005/07/comment-rules.html" target="_blank">Please read our comment rules before posting </a> _H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14373864.post-79882706758200650682014-08-12T00:38:00.000+01:002014-08-12T00:38:41.447+01:00Robin Williams dead<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh__N5jphMRY3lX4aAzEMkFnXbb_znim69Q3t6T1tlxDVq2VOCv-L-9wxDw_Lyrq2_tTmIN2QNh2UZiNHRPLIgqlGFKFYPLPZ_LYfl0ZYF-XUyfJFM1Fccac6FhJw_RZAeghDm6/s1600/robin-williams.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh__N5jphMRY3lX4aAzEMkFnXbb_znim69Q3t6T1tlxDVq2VOCv-L-9wxDw_Lyrq2_tTmIN2QNh2UZiNHRPLIgqlGFKFYPLPZ_LYfl0ZYF-XUyfJFM1Fccac6FhJw_RZAeghDm6/s1600/robin-williams.jpeg" height="171" width="200" /></a></div>
Not related to Terrorism but I have been touched by the sad news that Robin Williams has passed away tonight and decided to post it here anyway. Robin was very political in his life and has been a left wing icon throughout his career.<br />
<br />
His support of the Democratic Party goes into six-figure territory,
with his political donations to the party and left-leaning special
interest groups totaling over $150,000.<br />
<br />
<br />
His liberalism extends into criticisms of Republicans and
conservatives with the full weight of his comedic and critical genius
going to former U.S. president George W. Bush. For example, when Obama
was elected he said:<br />
<blockquote>
<i>It’s the end of the reign of George the 2nd. The reign of
error is over. America is officially out of rehab…He’s a gift to
comedy, though, he’s a comedy pinata. I’m going to miss him.</i></blockquote>
Aren’t we all.<br />
<br />
RIP Robin<br />
_H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14373864.post-29108631784785523912014-08-11T13:36:00.001+01:002014-08-11T13:46:51.218+01:00Israel Doesn't Get a Free Pass, but Anti-Semitism Doesn't Either<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUN5FTYDS58MbLBXtMs1bTGPBLHvBm5hskHRrV_iX0pbv1sDxJ1UeOfhBM-sPW6hY-PO_QmwTuOONIaItJP3aHAT-lOUjQ0j4c0OKHEjaBUecGSmAzxfWDxXcqiolulFNJmzZe/s1600/israelpalestine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUN5FTYDS58MbLBXtMs1bTGPBLHvBm5hskHRrV_iX0pbv1sDxJ1UeOfhBM-sPW6hY-PO_QmwTuOONIaItJP3aHAT-lOUjQ0j4c0OKHEjaBUecGSmAzxfWDxXcqiolulFNJmzZe/s1600/israelpalestine.jpg" height="163" width="320" /></a></div>
From the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/" target="_blank">Huffington Post</a><br />
<br />
For some, criticizing Israel is equated with being an anti-Semite.
Just the other day, someone on my social media called the world
"anti-Semitic" and claimed that rather than paying attention to what
Israel is doing, people should focus on Bashar Al-Assad in Syria and the
Islamic State in Iraq. This rhetoric is not uncommon.<br />
<br />
<br />
What's
going on in Iraq and Syria is not only deplorable, but shouldn't be
ignored either. Nonetheless, just because horrific things are taking
place in other parts of the Middle East as well doesn't give Israel <i>carte blanche</i> to do as it pleases.<br />
<br />
The
reason much of the world is captivated by Gaza is because one of the
most advanced armies in the world is engaged with guerilla forces and
not an actual army, a discrepancy that is resulting in humanitarian
devastation on the Palestinian side<br />
<br />
<b>The Right To Criticize<br />
</b><br />
The irony of being labeled an "anti-Semite" for criticizing Israel is
that it calls itself a democracy and one of the most fundamental ideals
of having that title is freedom of expression. If anything, it is
imperative to be critical of a state's action. By doing so, you point
out its flaws with the hope it will improve its standing in the world
and the conditions of its people. <br />
<br />
Journalist Laurie Penny says it <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/2014/07/israel-s-assault-gaza-intensifies-it-not-anti-semitic-say-not-my-name" target="_hplink">best</a>, <br />
<blockquote>
<i>"It
is not anti-Semitic to suggest that Israel doesn't get a free pass to
kill whoever it likes in order to feel 'safe'. It is not anti-Semitic to
point out that if what Israel needs to feel 'safe' is to pen the
Palestinian people in an open prison under military occupation, the
state's definition of safety might warrant some unpacking. And it is not
anti-Semitic to say that this so-called war is one in which only one
side actually has an army."</i></blockquote>
Penny takes it a step further:<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>It
is not hate speech to reiterate the wild disparity in casualties... To
speak of proportionality is not to call, as at least one silverback
columnist has claimed, for 'more dead Jews'.</i><br />
<br />
<u><b>HOWEVER</b></u><br />
<br />
While criticizing Israel certainly isn't anti-Semitic, it is
important to note there is a fine line to cross when some begin equating
Zionism -- a nationalistic movement -- with Judaism -- an Abrahamic
religion -- in an effort to show support for Palestine and specifically
Gaza during this politically charged time.<br />
<br />
As we speak, there are
solidarity with Gaza protests taking place in various parts of the
world. However, there is an aspect of these protests that needs to be
carefully assessed. If you're out protesting the Gaza war and chanting
"Jews to the gas chambers" or "death to the Jews" and resorting to
violence towards any Jewish person -- essentially unable to
differentiate between Zionism and Judaism -- I hate to break it, but
you're an anti-Semite and horrible human being.<br />
<br />
By targeting
members of the Jewish community -- regardless of their stance on Israel
-- demonstrates one's ignorance of history and current events. You're
not only resorting to anti-Semitism, whether you are verbally or
physically hurting the Jewish people, but you're taking it a step
further by dragging those who are against the war on Gaza with you. This
is one of the most destructive things to the Palestinian struggle than
anything else. By being hateful and ignorant, you're hurting the
Palestinians and their supporters. It is these very actions the public
points to obstruct support for the Palestinian people.<br />
<br />
Criticize Israel all you want, but don't resort to anti-Semitism to express your frustration at Israel's wrongdoings.<br />
<br />
Read the full article at the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/holly-dagres/israel-doesnt-get-a-free-_b_5666150.html?utm_hp_ref=world&ir=WorldPost" target="_blank">Source</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://terrorism-news.blogspot.co.uk/2005/07/comment-rules.html" target="_blank">Please read our comment rules before posting </a> _H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14373864.post-7999044119491567232014-08-11T00:20:00.000+01:002014-08-11T00:32:56.322+01:00Kurds ask the world for military hardware<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ1Hp_1oqSf_leH1fqXU327FMlYvtab7Jlv38ARvdARcyosJEvxkUZTLwxsNHKhE9Cw1EfXGLSOhWvAH_H6g2O_i3gvS-OuD3JXSr82hgpOSY4vuH1BrtvYnA7xEnL7iFwFl9b/s1600/Massoud-Barzani.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ1Hp_1oqSf_leH1fqXU327FMlYvtab7Jlv38ARvdARcyosJEvxkUZTLwxsNHKhE9Cw1EfXGLSOhWvAH_H6g2O_i3gvS-OuD3JXSr82hgpOSY4vuH1BrtvYnA7xEnL7iFwFl9b/s1600/Massoud-Barzani.jpg" height="192" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1">
The political leader of
Iraq's Kurds, Massoud Barzani, has appealed for international military
aid to help defeat Islamist militants.The plea came as the US launched a fourth round of air
strikes targeting Islamic State (IS) fighters near Irbil, the capital of
Iraqi Kurdistan.
IS, formerly known as Isis, has seized swathes of territory in northern Iraq.Kurdish forces said they had regained control of two towns in Nineveh province after heavy fighting.</div>
<div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1">
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28730618" target="_blank">Source</a> </div>
<div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1">
<br /></div>
<div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1">
Oh, what a complicated web we have weaved. How would Turkey respond to weaponry being given to the Kurds ? How would the Kurds survive without such weaponry ?</div>
<div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1">
<br /></div>
<div class="introduction" id="story_continues_1">
Its no surprise that Washington has yet to decide how to respond to the request, which has been in their inbox for months.<br />
<br /></div>
<a href="http://terrorism-news.blogspot.co.uk/2005/07/comment-rules.html" target="_blank">Please read our comment rules before posting </a>_H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14373864.post-26228269695996035592014-08-10T20:56:00.002+01:002014-08-10T20:56:21.689+01:00Israel and Palestinians agree new truce<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVZkTKWxrWsxUvJqCEyLjSnfCsKTJ6MdO3zHsL9HfXZncoObfd03YlSiU08F9TywXvmXytDZbybj_OwbKmINjK9uuVu1i47vZuru0lLzCG2Mcq1bZpzbHhB1qYqOkhJBRQBMGL/s1600/palestinian-israel-conflict.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVZkTKWxrWsxUvJqCEyLjSnfCsKTJ6MdO3zHsL9HfXZncoObfd03YlSiU08F9TywXvmXytDZbybj_OwbKmINjK9uuVu1i47vZuru0lLzCG2Mcq1bZpzbHhB1qYqOkhJBRQBMGL/s1600/palestinian-israel-conflict.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a></div>
Israel and Palestinian have agreed to a new 72-hour ceasefire. Egypt brokered a similar truce last week, but fighting soon resumed. It is hoped the latest ceasefire, due to begin at 21:00 GMT, will enable all parties to agree on a longer truce.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The following is from the BBC...<br />
<br />
"Israel has accepted Egypt's proposal for a 72-hour ceasefire," a senior Israeli official told the BBC.<br />
The official added that Israel would send negotiators to Cairo on Monday if the truce holds.<br />
<br />
Izzat al-Reshiq, a Hamas negotiator in Cairo, told Reuters
news agency: "In light of Israel's acceptance of the truce and their
return without pre-conditions, we will inform the Egyptian brothers of
our positive response."<br />
<br />
In a statement, Egypt's foreign ministry urged both sides to
resume indirect negotiations and "work towards a comprehensive and
lasting ceasefire agreement".<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28732928" target="_blank">Source</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://terrorism-news.blogspot.co.uk/2005/07/comment-rules.html" target="_blank">Please read our comment rules before posting</a> _H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14373864.post-27637588231169479072014-08-10T17:31:00.003+01:002014-08-10T17:40:03.204+01:00Bush legacy: Opening the gates of Hell<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhecJCpETiBzmVpsV_zAM_3Ima4U9z7unJYuYQ2Gonr9r_lwDwTAQLpif9_bVNzIzc2RRiZbVk2bDyXWupz8Z8nq8Tc4pCE2bvbYRG4PULY4B2MmRL9k9o2kxmofhoW4EPLFP9F/s1600/hell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhecJCpETiBzmVpsV_zAM_3Ima4U9z7unJYuYQ2Gonr9r_lwDwTAQLpif9_bVNzIzc2RRiZbVk2bDyXWupz8Z8nq8Tc4pCE2bvbYRG4PULY4B2MmRL9k9o2kxmofhoW4EPLFP9F/s1600/hell.jpg" /></a></div>
<h4 class="entry-meta">
An opinion article by <a href="http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/author/stockdav/" rel="author" title="Posts by David Stockman">David Stockman</a> </h4>
<h4 class="entry-meta">
The ISIS terrorists are winning against the hapless Iraqi military
and even the formidable Kurdish peshmerga fighters—using some of
the most lethal arms that the US military-industrial complex could
concoct.</h4>
Yes, that wasn’t supposed to happen. During the bloody years after
George W. Bush declared “mission accomplished” the Iraqi’s were
ostensibly provided the arms and training to provide for their own
defense. The American “occupation”, therefore, was really not all
that. Instead, it was actually an exercise in “nation-building”
that would bequeath to the people Washington had “liberated” a
self-governing democracy equipped with the means to insure internal
order and external security. Washington politicians—including President
Obama—gave endless speeches about that. You can look them up!<br />
<br />
Except…except….Iraq was never a nation. At least the Ottomans knew
that you don’t put Shiite’s, Sunni and Kurds in the same parliament or
police force, and most certainly not the same army!<br />
<br />
By contrast, it was the British and French foreign offices which in
1916 drew the Sykes-Picot boundaries and created the historical illusion
that a nation called Iraq actually existed. And it was their successors
in the west which installed a series of corrupt and brutal rulers,
including kings, generals and Saddam Hussein himself, who maintained an
always tentative and frequently blood-soaked semblance of governance
within these artificial borders.<br />
<br />
Then came the neo-cons who for no discernible reason of national
security could not leave well enough alone. By god, they were going to
have regime change, a stable supplier of 6 million barrels of oil per
day, and a stalwart ally armed to the teeth on the very doorstep of the
Axis-Of-Evil; that is, the Iranian Shiite theocracy which happened to be
religious kin to the single largest block of the Iraqi population.<br />
<br />
What these fools did was to open the gates of hell...<br />
<br />
Read the full article at the <a href="http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/washington-opened-the-gates-of-hell-in-iraq-now-come-the-furies/" target="_blank">Source</a><br />
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<a href="http://terrorism-news.blogspot.co.uk/2005/07/comment-rules.html" target="_blank">Please read our comment rules before posting </a> _H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14373864.post-29597502793515521412014-08-10T13:15:00.000+01:002014-08-10T13:16:17.085+01:00ISIS murder 500 Yazidi, many buried alive<span id="articleText"><span class="focusParagraph"></span></span><br />
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(Reuters) - Islamic State militants have killed at least 500 members of Iraq's Yazidi minority in northern <span class="mandelbrot_refrag">Iraq</span>, burying some of their victims alive and kidnapping hundreds of women, a Baghdad government minister said on Sunday.<br />
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Iraq's
human rights minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani told Reuters that he had
evidence that the Sunni militants had thrown the Yazidi dead into mass
graves, adding that some of those buried alive were women and children.
About 300 women had been forced into slavery, he said.<br />
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<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/10/us-iraq-security-idUSKBN0G808J20140810" target="_blank">Source</a><br />
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<br />_H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14373864.post-22002034593769780082014-08-10T12:47:00.000+01:002014-08-10T12:49:51.599+01:00Palestine aim 'to take Israelis before the International Criminal Court for war crimes'<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki on Saturday said his government would soon try to haul Israelis before the International Criminal Court for war crimes.<br />
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<i>"We will go to the ICJ, and put
our signature on it. Very soon we will be a (sovereign) state. That is
enough for the court to start an investigation,"</i> Malki said to the AFP</div>
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<i>"And I asked the ICJ to start an official investigation, to see if what
Israel has done in the past 33 days reaches the level of war crimes," </i>He added.</div>
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Palestinians in November 2012 obtained non-member observer
status at the United Nations, opening the door for an ICC investigation.</div>
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<a href="https://uk.news.yahoo.com/palestinians-want-icj-probe-gaza-194554460.html#qVhxmTq" target="_blank">Source</a><br />
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_H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14373864.post-72276984953423860832014-08-10T00:44:00.000+01:002014-08-10T00:44:35.159+01:00Breaking: US carries out four more military strikes against ISIS<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The US military says it has carried out four new air strikes on militants to defend civilians in northern Iraq. US Central Command said jet fighters and drones had destroyed armoured carriers and a truck that were firing on civilians. Thousands of civilians fled into mountains after the Islamic State (IS) overran the town of Sinjar a week ago.<br />
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This is the third round of US air strikes since they were authorised by President Barack Obama.<br />
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<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28729361" target="_blank">Source</a>_H_http://www.blogger.com/profile/17403477140341222403noreply@blogger.com0