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ISIS Tag

Posted by Amy Miller on February 24, 2015 9 Comments
Yesterday, I touched a little bit on how ISIS' acts of terror have had their intended effect on people in the Middle East. Those targeted---or even existing in the blast zone---are falling apart, and it's not all due to videos released of burnings and beheadings. ISIS has a long history of rampaging through villages, destroying homes and kidnapping civilians (including women and children.) This is a tactic we've seen Boko Haram use as well; it creates an atmosphere of instability and fear, puts all the control in the hands of the terror group, and makes it much easier to gain both new territory and new members. Today, ISIS fighters continued their rampage, kidnapping "crusaders" in northern Syria and Afghanistan*. From Fox News:
ISIS' online radio station, al-Bayan, said in a report Tuesday that ISIS fighters had detained myriad "crusaders" and seized 10 villages around Tal Tamr after clashes with Kurdish militiamen. ISIS frequently refers to Christians as "crusaders." Syria's official SANA news agency reported that ISIS overran seven villages during an attack on Monday. It was not immediately clear what ISIS planned to do with the Assyrians. The militants have a long history of killing captives, including foreign journalists, Syrian soldiers and Kurdish militiamen. Most recently, militants in Libya affiliated with ISIS released a video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians. But ISIS also could use its Assyrian captives to try to arrange a prisoner swap with the Kurdish and Christian militias that it faced off against in northeastern Syria. There is a precedent: The extremists have released Kurdish schoolchildren as well as Turkish truck drivers and diplomats after holding them for months. Last year, ISIS abducted several Assyrians in retaliation for some of them fighting alongside the Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG. But most were released after long negotiations, Reuters reports.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 24, 2015 19 Comments
Sickening videos recently surfaced from ISIS showing the next generation of Islamic radicals being trained. Elsewhere in regions impacted by the group's atrocities, videos nearly as chilling are being uploaded. From Egypt comes a clip of children at play. The game? "ISIS Executions"
Children from Egypt's El Mahalla El Kubra have been video-taped “slaughtering” other children ISIS-style while playing with wooden sticks. The video raises more questions than answers on the “merits” of sharing horrific videos detailing the terror group's crimes, particularly with children. The Al Qaeda off-shoot ISIS, which has come to control larges swathes of land in Iraq and Syria, has taken great pride in releasing highly-produced videos, showcasing how they behead their captives. Despite a cat and mouse chase to remove their graphic propaganda online, many continue to share the videos, unconcerned by the damage they could cause to viewers. This El Mahalla El Kubra video may have been made after the militant group “ISIS in Libya” beheaded 21 Egyptian Coptic Christian workers who had been abducted in Libya more than a month ago. On February 15, the terrorists posted a gruesome and bloody video on YouTube that showed the beheading of the hostages, creating an uproar in Egypt, including the bombing of ISIS sites in Libya. El Mahalla Al Kubra is an industrial and agricultural city in Egypt, located in the middle of the Nile Delta on the western bank of the Damietta branch, and is home to about half a million people.
(Click HERE for Tamer Abdo Amin's Facebook page with the full video).

Posted by Amy Miller on February 23, 2015 12 Comments
They're the "next generation" of Islamic radicals, and they're being trained en masse at the Al Farouk Institute for Cubs in Raqqa, Syria---if a new video released by ISIS is indeed what the group claims it to be. From Fox News:
The 9-minute video released Monday shows about 70 camouflage-clad kids, who are reportedly the children of foreign fighters who have flocked to Iraq and Syria to join the Islamist army. An instructor states in Arabic that most of the children are in the second phase of training and that they represent the "next generation" of ISIS. The video illustrates the charge in a UN Human Rights Council report last year that determined that Islamic State “has established training camps to recruit children into armed roles under the guise of education.” “At the camps, the children recruited received weapons training and religious education,” the report stated. “The existence of such camps seems to indicate that ISIS systematically provides weapons training for children. "Subsequently, they were deployed in active combat during military operations, including suicide-bombing missions," it stated.
According to the Clarion Project's Ryan Mauro, this video serves a bigger purpose than shock value. They're showing us these training camps because they want to convince the world that they're not just committed to wreaking present havoc; it's their version of proof that they're here to stay. "ISIS is emphasizing its child recruits because it obviously makes for good footage but also to emphasize this is a generational struggle," Mauro said. "You can kill off the current leaders and fighters, but their kids will fight on. It makes it harder to celebrate ISIS' losses if you know their manpower will be replenished with brainwashed children." The authenticity of the video has not been independently verified.

Posted by Miriam Elman on February 22, 2015 6 Comments
One day before the terror attacks in Copenhagen, during a Friday, February 13 sermon, Hajj Saeed, the imam of the city’s Al-Faruq Mosque rejected inter-faith dialogue with Jews calling it a “malignant idea”. There can be no reconciliation with the Jews, said Saeed; it would be like trying to “reconcile Truth with Falsehood”. It’s easy to dismiss Saeed’s words as the rantings of a hater. In fact, that’s what people involved with interfaith organizations tend to do. Everyone pretends as if Muslim preachers the world over aren’t saying these things. The only problem is that they’re getting harder to ignore. These days it seems like a week doesn’t pass without hearing about some hostile imam or sheikh shouting “death to the Jews”, or some angry mob harassing Jews on the streets.

Posted by Amy Miller on February 20, 2015 11 Comments
Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and their 15 year-old friend (unnamed at the request of her family) didn't just run away from their London homes this past Tuesday. British authorities believe they boarded a Turkish Airlines flight into Istanbul with the intent of using Turkey as a jumping-off point into Syria. It defies logic. The Telegraph reports:
[Scotland Yard Commander] Mr Walton said: “We are extremely concerned for the safety of these young girls and would urge anyone with information to come forward and speak to police. "Our priority is the safe return of these girls to their families. "We are reaching out to the girls using the Turkish media and social media in the hope that Shamima, Kadiza and their friend hear our messages, hear our concerns for their safety and have the courage to return now, back to their families who are so worried about them." He added: "We are concerned about the numbers of girls and young women who have or are intending to travel to the part of Syria that is controlled by the terrorist group calling themselves Islamic State. "It is an extremely dangerous place and we have seen reports of what life is like for them and how restricted their lives become. It is not uncommon for girls or women to be prevented from being allowed out of their houses or if allowed out, only when accompanied by a guardian. "The choice of returning home from Syria is often taken away from those under the control of Islamic State, leaving their families in the UK devastated and with very few options to secure their safe return. "If we are able to locate these girls whilst they are still in Turkey, we have a good possibility of being able to bring them home to their families."

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 20, 2015 27 Comments
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has escalated his battle with ISIS in Libya by sending in Egypt's special forces, which are considered some of the best in the world.
Egyptian special forces have allegedly launched a ground attack in Libya's Islamic State-held Derna capturing dozens of Islamist militants, according to Egyptian and Libyan reports. Ansa news agency cited unnamed local sources as saying that an Egyptian commando stormed the eastern Libyan town, a stronghold of the Islamic State (Isis) there, "capturing 55 Daesh [IS] militants". The Libyan National Army wrote on its Facebook page that Egyptian forces in coordination with the local army stormed IS camp in Derna, "killing a large number of IS militants and capturing several terrorists including Egyptians, foreigners and Arabs". An Egyptian newspaper, ElWatan News, reported that several jihadists were killed in the operation.
I suspect that the only jobs program Sisi is interested in providing ISIS involves the funeral industry. You might think that such a robust response to the terror group that has threatened President Obama would be winning all sorts of support from the White House. Sadly...not so much.

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 18, 2015 13 Comments
Outgoing attorney general Eric Holder made a stunning assertion at the National Press Club yesterday by suggesting that America isn't at a time of war. The American people, who see the Islamic radicals of ISIS beheading Christians and burning people alive probably think differently. Tim Mak of The Daily Beast reported:
Eric Holder: ‘We’re Not at a Time of War’ U.S. and coalition forces have conducted nearly 2,300 airstrikes hitting more than 4,800 targets in Iraq and Syria since August 2014, as part of the ongoing campaign to defeat the so-called Islamic State. Three service members have already perished in these ongoing operations against ISIS. But according to Attorney General Eric Holder, “we're not at a time of war.” The comments, during a luncheon at the National Press Club, came just days after the White House sent Congressional leaders a draft bill that would authorize the continuation of the war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. President Obama declared an end to the ‘Global War on Terror’ in 2013, but that was before the emergence of the so-called Islamic State and the operation the president launched to fight them. Last week, the White House proposed a war authorization that set out no geographical limits on the use against ISIS and its affiliated groups, which was criticized by some of the left who said it allowed the president too much leeway to conduct military action. Holder made the remarks Tuesday while responding to a question about the Department of Justice's prosecution of journalists over national security matters.
Here's a clip of Holder's appearance. You'll notice that while Holder was agitated over questions about the administration's refusal to say radical Islam, he was quite comfortable naming their biggest perceived threat: FOX News.

Posted by Amy Miller on February 18, 2015 39 Comments
We've had several posts up dealing with the Obama Administration's stunning inability to talk about ISIS without digging itself into a rhetorical trench---and a new op-ed by Obama just made things a whole lot worse. Right now, the Administration has a budding---nay, flowering---PR problem with their Middle East policy, so it makes sense that the man himself would take to the media to attempt to explain what they're thinking with this strategy. What doesn't make sense is that the finished product would clash so fundamentally with what the American people actually need to hear. From his op-ed:
More broadly, groups like al Qaeda and ISIL exploit the anger that festers when people feel that injustice and corruption leave them with no chance of improving their lives. The world has to offer today's youth something better. Governments that deny human rights play into the hands of extremists who claim that violence is the only way to achieve change. Efforts to counter violent extremism will only succeed if citizens can address legitimate grievances through the democratic process and express themselves through strong civil societies. Those efforts must be matched by economic, educational and entrepreneurial development so people have hope for a life of dignity. Finally — with al Qaeda and ISIL peddling the lie that the United States is at war with Islam — all of us have a role to play by upholding the pluralistic values that define us as Americans. This week, we'll be joined by people of many faiths, including Muslim Americans who make extraordinary contributions to our country every day. It's a reminder that America is successful because we welcome people of all faiths and backgrounds.
There's a reason why we shouldn't elect a foreign policy novice to the position of Commander in Chief, and this is it.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 18, 2015 17 Comments
In the wake of Egypt striking ISIS targets in Libya, Pope Francis issued a somber statement regarding the death of 21 fellow Christians. The Anchoress, Elizabeth Scalia, summarizes the Pope's remarks:
“They were murdered just for the fact they were Christians,” Pope Francis said. “The blood of our Christian brothers is a witness that cries out,” said the Pope. “If they are Catholic, Orthodox, Copts, Lutherans, it is not important: They are Christians. The blood is the same: It is the blood which confesses Christ.” Pope Francis said that in remembering “these brothers who have been killed simply for confessing Christ,” Christians should encourage one another in the ecumenical goal, noting the “ecumenism of blood.”
Scalia then lists the name of the 21 slaughtered Copts, and asks these new martyrs for their prayers. If ISIS has its way, Pope Francis will be joining those sacrificed: “And we will conquer Rome, by Allah’s permission, the promise of our Prophet, peace be upon him,” stated one of the butchers. This regional map shows the location in of Sirte (the ISIS stronghold where those Egyptians were held captive) and Rome (and Vatican City that is enclaved within its boundaries). The terror group is now knocking on the doors of Europe...and its stated target is due north and not terribly distant.

Posted by Amy Miller on February 17, 2015 22 Comments
There are no words. From the BBC:
Jihadist militants from Islamic State (IS) have burned to death 45 people in the western Iraqi town of al-Baghdadi, the local police chief says. Exactly who these people were and why they were killed is not clear, but Col Qasim al-Obeidi said he believed some were members of the security forces. IS fighters captured much of the town, near Ain al-Asad air base, last week. Col Obeidi said a compound that houses the families of security personnel and local officials was now under attack. He pleaded for help from the government and the international community. The fighting and poor communications in the area make it difficult to confirm such reports.
This comes just two weeks after the world stood aghast at footage released by ISIS showing Jordanian pilot Moath al-Ksasbah locked in a cage and burned alive; and just days after another video showed the brutal beheading of 21 Coptic Christians in Iraq.

Posted by Mike LaChance on February 17, 2015 6 Comments
By now, you've heard that ISIS released a video featuring the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya. The White House has released a statement but you might notice some missing words:
Statement by the Press Secretary on the Murder of Egyptian Citizens The United States condemns the despicable and cowardly murder of twenty-one Egyptian citizens in Libya by ISIL-affiliated terrorists. We offer our condolences to the families of the victims and our support to the Egyptian government and people as they grieve for their fellow citizens. ISIL’s barbarity knows no bounds. It is unconstrained by faith, sect, or ethnicity. This wanton killing of innocents is just the most recent of the many vicious acts perpetrated by ISIL-affiliated terrorists against the people of the region, including the murders of dozens of Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai, which only further galvanizes the international community to unite against ISIL. This heinous act once again underscores the urgent need for a political resolution to the conflict in Libya, the continuation of which only benefits terrorist groups, including ISIL. We call on all Libyans to strongly reject this and all acts of terrorism and to unite in the face of this shared and growing threat. We continue to strongly support the efforts of the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General Bernardino Leon to facilitate formation of a national unity government and help foster a political solution in Libya.
It's astonishing how far the Obama administration will go to avoid saying those certain words: not only do they refuse to identify the attackers as Muslims, they won't identify the victims as Christians. Funny how he had no problem specifically mentioning Christians when he was talking about the crusades.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on February 17, 2015 39 Comments
State Department Spokeswoman Marie Harf is at it again. Last night, Harf sat down with Chris Matthews who had several straightforward questions about how the U.S. plans to deal with ISIS. It was one of those wonderful moments where Matthews was absolutely right. "How do we stop this? ... If I were ISIS, I wouldn't be afraid right now... nothing we're doing right now seems to be directed at stopping this [ISIS]." Matthews said. Harf: Well, I think there's a few stages here. Right now what we're is trying to take their leaders and their fighters off the battlefield in Iraq and in Syria; that's really where they flourish. Matthews: Are we killing enough of them? Harf: We're killing a lot of them and we're going to keep killing more of them. So are the Egyptians, so are the Jordanians. They're in this fight with us. But we cannot win this war by killing them. We cannot kill our way out of this war. 'So how do we defeat ISIS' you might be wondering? Don't worry, the State Department is like, totally on top of this: Harf: We need, in the medium and longer term, to go after the root causes that leads people to join these groups. Fair enough. Cut out the root; kill the plant. But, somehow I don't think this is exactly the root we're looking for... Harf: Whether it's lack of opportunity for jobs... JOBS. WE'RE GOING TO DEFEAT ISIS BY ENSURING THEY HAVE JOBS, YOU GUYS. And to ensure ISIS remains occupied enough to forget their sacred past time of lopping off heads, we must provide unrestricted access to basic human rights like free heath care, and wifi. Probably, anyway. Because at this point, why not?

Posted by Leslie Eastman on February 16, 2015 11 Comments
Egyptian warplanes have bombed ISIS strongholds in the neighboring country of Libya.
Egypt’s air force bombed ISIS targets in Libya at dawn on Monday, a day after the militant group released a video purporting to show the execution of 21 Egyptian Copts there. "Your armed forces on Monday carried out focused air strikes in Libya against Daesh camps, places of gathering and training, and weapons depots," the military said in a statement, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS. It was the first time Egypt confirmed launching air strikes against the group in neighboring Libya, suggesting President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is ready to escalate his battle against militants seeking to topple his government.
The airstrikes killed 50 militants and destroyed training bases and weapons stockpiles. Egyptian Copts featured in the video that preceded the strikes had been working in Libya and were kidnapped over the course of 2 months, then beheaded by the terror group. Shortly before the jets took off, Egypt's President Abdel el-Sisi said Cairo “reserved the right to respond in any way” to the butchery.

Posted by Amy Miller on February 11, 2015 12 Comments
President Obama's draft Authorization for use of military force (AUMF) against ISIS has been released. There are limitations to its scope, and it includes a time limit, but still...everybody hang on to something. Here we go: Authorization for the Use of United States Armed Forces in connection with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant:
TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES: The so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) poses a threat to the people and stability of Iraq, Syria, and the broader Middle East, and to U.S. national security. It threatens American personnel and facilities located in the region and is responsible for the deaths of U.S. citizens James Foley, Steven Sotloff, Abdul-Rahman Peter Kassig, and Kayla Mueller. If left unchecked, ISIL will pose a threat beyond the Middle East, including to the United States homeland. I have directed a comprehensive and sustained strategy to degrade and defeat ISIL. As part of this strategy, U.S. military forces are conducting a systematic campaign of airstrikes against ISIL in Iraq and Syria. Although existing statutes provide me with the authority I need to take these actions, I have repeatedly expressed my commitment to working with the Congress to pass a bipartisan authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) against ISIL. Consistent with this commitment, I am submitting a draft AUMF that would authorize the continued use of military force to degrade and defeat ISIL. My Administration's draft AUMF would not authorize long‑term, large-scale ground combat operations like those our Nation conducted in Iraq and Afghanistan. Local forces, rather than U.S. military forces, should be deployed to conduct such operations. The authorization I propose would provide the flexibility to conduct ground combat operations in other, more limited circumstances, such as rescue operations involving U.S. or coalition personnel or the use of special operations forces to take military action against ISIL leadership. It would also authorize the use of U.S. forces in situations where ground combat operations are not expected or intended, such as intelligence collection and sharing, missions to enable kinetic strikes, or the provision of operational planning and other forms of advice and assistance to partner forces.

Posted by Amy Miller on February 10, 2015 11 Comments
Last week, we reported on news out of Syria that 26 year-old humanitarian aid worker and ISIS hostage Kayla Mueller was killed during a Jordanian air strike. The State Department refused to confirm the message published by ISIS, and experts were quick to point out discrepancies in the group's claim. Today, however, Kayla's family issued a statement to the media confirming the death of their daughter. They didn't reveal how specifically they knew and were convinced of Kayla's death, but a representative of the family told the press that they received additional communication from ISIS. More from NBC News:
"We are heartbroken to share that we've received confirmation that Kayla Jean Mueller, has lost her life," Mueller's parents, Carl and Marsha, and brother Eric, said in a statement. "Kayla was a compassionate and devoted humanitarian. She dedicated the whole of her young life to helping those in need of freedom, justice, and peace." President Barack Obama expressed his "deepest condolences" to Mueller's relatives. "No matter how long it takes, the United States will find and bring to justice the terrorists who are responsible for Kayla's captivity and death," he said in a statement calling ISIS a "hateful and abhorrent terrorist group." Secretary of State John Kerry said Mueller "represented everything good about the human spirit," and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said "the world is united in condemning" ISIS' "murder and imprisonment of innocents." "As we join Kayla's family and loved ones in their grief, we also celebrate her selfless dedication to helping others," he said in a statement. "Her compassionate spirit will never be forgotten."

Posted by Amy Miller on February 10, 2015 12 Comments
Berg-dog. Club Gitmo. Feeling so...ISIS right now. Every year, the city of Tampa, Florida gathers at the Gasparilla Pirate Festival to soak in a little sun, a little more music, and one too many of those gigantic frozen margaritas. Not exactly the best venue to discuss pressing issues of foreign policy, but still---you'd expect the attendees to have at least a basic awareness of the things that threaten their country at any given moment. Or would you? Maybe not after today. Fox News' Jesse Watters traveled down to Gasparilla to see just how many attendees he could coax into revealing a rudimentary grasp on current events. The results will not shock you. From Fox News Insider:
“Do you think [the administration] should keep Gitmo open or close it?”
“Open, so we can have fun.” “Club Gitmo?” “You know it!”
No. Surely not.
“Do you know what ISIS is?”
“Being alone.”
This is real. This is a thing that is real that has happened and if I have to deal with it, then so do you. Watch:

Posted by Amy Miller on February 09, 2015 22 Comments
The White House is nearly ready to send to Congress a piece of legislation that would formally authorize the use of military force against ISIS. This new legislation would expand on provisions provided in the 2002 authorization for military action in Iraq, which only covers portions of the current mission. Via CBS News:
The State Department, Defense Department, National Security Council and the White House Office of Legal Counsel have all participated in the drafting of the document, which outlines the military goals and strategy against ISIS in Iraq and Syria and would seek formal, legal authorization for the mission and other counter-terrorism operations related to the effort. This would be the first move by Congress and the White House to give legal backing to the military effort to degrade and destroy ISIS and represent the first update to US military strategy in a post-9/11 world since the authorization to use military force in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks.
This major move comes at a time when many analysts are seeing a change in how coalition forces are responding to the threat ISIS poses both in the Middle East, and across the world. Former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill believes that the "tide is turning" against ISIS.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 08, 2015 19 Comments
Hey, remember when Hamas was lobbing thousands of missiles at Israeli cities, trying to kidnap people, and killing when they got lucky? Of course you remember it. It has happened every couple of years since Hamas took over Gaza. And before that, the Palestinians strapped bombs on their loved ones and sent them to blow up restaurants, supermarkets, buses, and anything else they could sneak into. And before that .... But always the question is whether Israel's response is proportionate, like pointed out in this Al Jazeera column:
... on June 26, [2014] the UN Human Rights Council deliberated on the situation in Palestine and other Arab-occupied territories. During the deliberations, the council issued a warning to Israel that there may be serious repercussions as a result of its campaign against the Palestinian people, which constituted a continuing violation of international humanitarian law, following the abduction of three Israeli teenagers.
EU leaders on Gaza: 'Israel has right to protect itself but it must act proportionately':
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