The fight against ISIS

[MustBeGood]

Turkey to let Iraqi Kurds reinforce Kobani as U.S. drops arms to defenders

Reuters By Gulsen Solaker and Tom Perry
1 hour ago

ANKARA/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Turkey said on Monday it would allow Iraqi Kurdish fighters to reinforce fellow Kurds in the Syrian town of Kobani, while the United States air-dropped arms for the first time to help the defenders resist an Islamic State assault.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington had asked Ankara to let Iraqi Kurds cross its territory so that they could help defend the town which lies on the Turkish frontier, adding that he hoped the Kurds would "take this fight on".

Kurdish militias in Kobani have been fighting off an Islamic State offensive since September without, until now, outside help apart from U.S.-led airstrikes on the jihadists. The town, which is besieged by Islamic State on three sides, lies on the frontline of the battle to foil the radical group's attempt to reshape the Middle East.

However, Ankara views the Syrian Kurds with deep suspicion because of their ties to the PKK, a group that waged a decades-long militant campaign for Kurdish rights in Turkey and which Washington regards as a terrorist organization.

Speaking in Indonesia, Kerry acknowledged Turkish concerns about support for the Kurds, and said the airdrop of supplies provided by the Kurdish authorities in Iraq did not amount to a change of U.S. policy.

He indicated that the battle against Islamic State, a group also known by the acronym ISIL that has seized large areas of Syria and Iraq, was an overriding consideration.

"We understand fully the fundamentals of (Ankara's) opposition and ours to any kind of terrorist group, and particularly, obviously, the challenges they face with respect to the PKK," he told reporters.

But he added: "We cannot take our eye off the prize here. It would be irresponsible of us, as well as morally very difficult, to turn your back on a community fighting ISIL."

Iraqi Kurdish official Hemin Hawrami, writing on his Twitter feed, said 21 tonnes of weapons and ammunition supplied by the Iraqi Kurds had been dropped in the small hours of Monday.

Kerry said both he and President Barack Obama had spoken to Turkish authorities before the air drops "to make it very, very clear this is not a shift of policy by the United States".

"It is a crisis moment, an emergency where we clearly do not want to see Kobani become a horrible example of the unwillingness of people to be able to help those who are fighting ISIL," he added.

Turkey has stationed tanks on hills overlooking Kobani but has refused to help the Kurdish militias on the ground, suspicious of their links to the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) and demanding broader U.S. action that would target Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as well as Islamic State.

Cavusoglu stopped short of saying whether Ankara backed the U.S. decision to air-drop the weapons.

Turkey's refusal to intervene in the battle against Islamic State has led to growing frustration in the United States. It has also provoked lethal riots in southeastern Turkey by Kurds furious at Ankara's failure to help Kobani or at least open a land corridor for volunteer fighters and reinforcements to go there.

"NOT ENOUGH TO DECIDE THE BATTLE"

The U.S. Central Command said it had delivered weapons, ammunition and medical supplies to allow the Kurdish fighters to keep up their resistance in the town which is called Kobani in Kurdish and Ayn al-Arab in Arabic.

Redur Xelil, a spokesman for the YPG, said the weapons dropped overnight would have a "positive impact" on the battle and the morale of fighters who have been out-gunned by Islamic State. But he added: "Certainly it will not be enough to decide the battle."

"We do not think the battle of Kobani will end that quickly. The forces of (Islamic State) are still heavily present and determined to occupy Kobani. In addition, there is resolve (from the YPG) to repel this attack," he told Reuters in an interview conducted via Skype.

He declined to give more details on the shipment.

The United States began carrying out air strikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq in August and about a month later started bombing the militant group in neighboring Syria.

However, the resupply of Kurdish fighters marks an escalation in the U.S. effort to help local forces beat back the radical Sunni militant group in Syria. It points to the growing coordination between the U.S. military and a Syrian Kurdish group that had been kept at arms' length by the West due partly to the concerns of NATO member Turkey.

Washington has pressed Ankara to let it use bases in Turkey to stage the air strikes, and a Turkish foreign ministry official said the country's airspace had not been used during the drops on Kobani.

Escalated U.S. air strikes on Islamic State in and around Kobani have helped to slow its progress there in the last week. The Kurds say the U.S. military has been coordinating the air strikes with them, helping to make them more effective.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the war in Syria using sources on the ground, said there had been two new air strikes on Islamic State positions after midnight.

SITUATION REMAINS "FRAGILE"

In a brief statement, the U.S. Central Command said U.S. Air Force C-130 aircraft "delivered weapons, ammunition and medical supplies that were provided by Kurdish authorities in Iraq and intended to enable continued resistance against ISIL's attempts to overtake Kobani," using an acronym to refer to Islamic State.

The Central Command said 135 U.S. air strikes near Kobani in recent days, combined with continued resistance against Islamic State on the ground, had slowed the group's advances into the town and killed hundreds of its fighters.

"However, the security situation in Kobani remains fragile as ISIL continues to threaten the city and Kurdish forces continue to resist," the statement said.

Obama gave advance notice to his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan of the plans to deliver arms to the Syrian Kurds.

The Turkish presidency said Obama and Erdogan had discussed Syria, including measures that could be taken to stop Islamic State's advances, and Kobani.

In a statement published on Sunday, it also said Turkish assistance to over 1.5 million Syrians, including around 180,000 from Kobani, was noted in the conversation.

In comments published by Turkish media on Monday, Erdogan equated the main Syrian Kurdish political group, the PYD, with the PKK, describing both as terrorist organizations.

"It will be very wrong for America with whom we are allied and who we are together with in NATO to expect us to say 'yes' (to supporting the PYD) after openly announcing such support for a terrorist organization," Erdogan said.

Kobani is one of three areas near the border with Turkey where Syrian Kurds have established their own government since the country descended into civil war in 2011.

How long before Turkey backs out?

 

[MustBeGood]

To save face Obama might have to send US troops.

U.S. President Barack Obama addresses more than 20 foreign defence chiefs to discuss the coalition efforts in the ongoing campaign against ISIS. (Kevin Lamarque / Reuters)

Why the ISIS mission is Obama's real 'red line'
Failure to 'degrade and destroy' ISIS would degrade America as a force for good in the world
By Joe Schlesinger, CBC News Posted: Oct 19, 2014 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: Oct 19, 2014 12:33 PM ET

The United States, the world's most powerful country, is being challenged by a motley collection of sadistic torturers and killers called ISIS with pretences of being a religious state.

As odd as it may seem, the U.S. and its allies, Canada included, have gone into this fight with one hand tied behind their backs.

They have ruled out sending in ground troops because the risk of heavy casualties would be politically unacceptable to their home constituencies.

Instead, they've limited themselves to trying to do the job with only air power and local forces — like the seemingly overmatched Iraqi army and Kurdish Peshmerga militia — to do the ground fighting.

All this is a far cry from the beginning of the 21st century when the U.S. was not just another superpower, but the world's hugely confident supreme power.

After the fall of the Soviet empire in the preceding decade there was no state, or even a combination of countries, capable of challenging America's hegemony.

The U.S dominated the world with the strength of its economy, its technological prowess, the stability and liberties of its political institutions and the supremacy of its military might.

No longer. The U.S. economy has just barely recovered from the tsunami of the 2008 recession. Its technological dominance is being nibbled at by China, South Korea and others. Its politics is mired in partisan squabbling.

As for the U.S. military, it is still by far the most powerful in the world. But the cost in lives and treasure of the disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan haunts America still.

And the memory of those losses has hog-tied the country with a lack of will.

What red line?

Washington's timidity was symbolized two years ago by President Barack Obama when he warned the Syrian regime that use of chemical weapons against its domestic opponents would cross a red line that would bring on U.S. military intervention.

But when chemical weapon rockets, apparently launched by the Syrian army, killed hundreds of civilians in a Damascus suburb, the red line disappeared as if deleted by a whitener.

The world took notice of America's reticence to use its vast power. And countries everywhere reacted by taking advantage of Washington's inertia.

Among those now thumbing their noses at America's might: Russia's Vladimir Putin. (Alexei Nikolskyi/RIA/Reuters)

China grew more aggressive in its territorial claims around the South China Sea.

Japan, South Korea and other nations looked for ways to protect themselves should the U.S. fail to live up to its commitments to underwrite their security

In Iraq, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki defied U.S. demands that he broaden his Shia-dominated government with more representative Sunni and Kurdish ministers. And the resentment of Iraq's Sunnis, who account for more than a third of the population, contributed to the rise of the Sunni ISIS movement.

In Egypt, the army defied the U.S. in overthrowing the elected government of Mohammed Morsi.

In Israel, the Netanyahu government essentially shrugged when the U.S. complained about the spread of Jewish settlements in Palestinian territory.

And Russian President Vladimir Putin brazenly took over Ukraine's Crimea, then set his sights on eastern Ukraine with arguments about a Greater Russia that have sent shudders through the region.

Add it all up and what you have is much of the world thumbing its nose at Uncle Sam. That is bad not only for the U.S., but also the world.

Degraded and destroyed

Superpowers may not be lovable. In fact, quite a few have been evil.

But they can also be useful in setting basic rules of acceptable international behaviour, as well as protecting the weak from the strong.

That's what the Americans often did in the second half of the 20th century. Yes, the country profited from it enormously, but the U.S. also gave generously of its power and its purse.

Sometimes, of course, as in Iraq, it also blundered, as great powers will.

Now, Barack Obama is trying to reclaim that leadership role with his campaign to "degrade and destroy" ISIS.

The coalition against ISIS. From right to left: Maj.-Gen. Ghanim bin Shaheen Al-Ghanim, chief of staff of the Qatari Armed Forces; Admiral Fernando Garcia Sanchez, chief of defence of Spain; and Lt.-Gen. Ludvigsen, vice-chief of defence of Denmark. They are listening to U.S. President Barack Obama discuss the coalition efforts at Joint Base Andrews in Washington on Oct. 14, 2014. (Reuters)

However, of the 60 or so participants in the new U.S.-led coalition, only about a dozen — Canada among them — have agreed to take part in the military campaign; the rest have said they would provide humanitarian aid and political support.

Looking at the list demonstrates both the strengths and weaknesses of the coalition.

The very fact that that Washington has managed to enlist so many partners would indicate that there is still a hankering for America's global leadership.

Though there are clearly quite a few who joined merely out of fear that rebuffing Uncle Sam could cost them in their future relations with Washington.

And while they all talk to the Americans, some have been loath even to say hello to each other.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been at odds for years. The Turks will not do anything to help the Kurds, who are one of the main victims of ISIS.

Shia Iran is willing to join the fight, but is being kept on the sidelines for fear of alienating Sunni Arab coalition members.

More than a dozen coalition partners have contributed nothing more than a few polite words wishing the coalition well.

Still, for all the doubts about air power, there is a precedent of aerial bombardment doing the job. It happened in the Balkans 15 years ago during the conflicts that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia.

The Kosovo Liberation Army — the counterpart, if you will, of the Kurdish Peshmerga today — was being battered by the vastly superior forces of Serbia.

But after 10 weeks of bombardment by NATO planes, the Serbs agreed to withdraw their forces from Kosovo.

Obama can only hope that his anti-ISIS coalition can do the same.

If not, the damage would be a lot more serious than just to the president's reputation.

Failing to "degrade and destroy" ISIS would certainly degrade if not destroy the effectiveness of the U.S. superpower and its allies as a force for peace and stability.

This time around, Barack Obama has no choice but to make sure that everyone understands that the red line he has now drawn in the sands of Iraq and Syria really means STOP.

 

[MustBeGood]

Podcasat from today's NPR "All Things Considered".

Foreign Fighters A Fixture Of Conflict Throughout Modern History

http://www.npr.org/2014/10/21/35785...fixture-of-conflict-throughout-modern-history

 

[MustBeGood]

FBI: US girls may have tried to join jihadis
Associated Press By SADIE GURMAN


DENVER (AP) — Three teenage girls from suburban Denver may have been trying to join Islamic State militants in Syria after stealing their parents' money and flying to Germany, authorities said Tuesday.

The girls — two sisters, ages 17 and 15, and their 16-year-old friend — were reported missing after they skipped school Friday, but the families had no indication of where they might have gone, said Glenn Thompson, bureau chief of the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Department.

They were stopped at the Frankfurt, Germany, airport over the weekend by FBI agents and returned to Colorado where they were reunited with their families, FBI spokeswoman Suzie Payne said.

A U.S. official said the girls were headed toward Turkey en route to Syria and that investigators were now reviewing evidence, including the girls' computers.

Another U.S. official called the case "concerning" both to the community and to the country in general. The official said the evidence gathered so far made it clear that the girls were headed to Syria, though the official said investigators were still determining what sort of contacts they had in that country. The official said investigators would be trying to figure out whether there were "like-minded" friends and acquaintances in the girls' social circle.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation by name.

The Arapahoe County missing person's report contains details of the girls' movements.

They said they stayed in the Frankfurt airport for an entire day before being detained, questioned and returned to Denver, where they were further questioned by the FBI and sent home.

View galleryIslamic State extremists

Suspicion arose when the sisters' father realized his daughters were gone, along with $2,000 and their passports.

The 16-year-old girl's father became concerned when he got a call from her high school saying she hadn't reported to class, according to the police reports.
The families reported no prior problems with the girls.

Deputies closed the missing person's case Monday after they learned the girls had been returned.

A man who answered the door at the sisters' home in the Denver suburb of Aurora identified himself as a family member but said he had no comment.

The announcement comes one month after 19-year-old Shannon Conley of Arvada, Colorado, pleaded guilty to charges that she conspired to help militants in Syria.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver declined to comment on the latest cases. It's unclear whether the girls will face charges.

Crimes committed by juveniles are treated as acts of "delinquency" in the federal system and are not handled the same way as crimes committed by adults.

Authorities have not said how they think the girls became interested in helping the Islamic State militants. In Conley's case, she told agents she wanted to marry a suitor she met online who said he was a Tunisian man fighting with the Islamic State group in Syria.

Conley said she wanted to use her American military training with the U.S. Army Explorers to fight a holy war overseas, authorities said. If she could not fight with the extremists, she told agents, she would use her training as a nurse's aide.

Agents, who had been overtly trying to stop Conley, arrested her in April as she boarded a flight she hoped would ultimately get her to Syria. She could face up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine when she is sentenced in January.

Foreign fighters from dozens of nations are pouring into the Middle East to join the Islamic State group and other terrorist organizations. U.S. officials are putting new energy into trying to understand what radicalizes people far removed from the fight, and into trying to prod countries to do a better job of keeping them from joining up.

I think these girls were running away.

 

[Little Red Wagon Repairman]

I think these girls were running away.

Whatever happened to the good old days when gals ran off to California to become actresses and also enjoyed turning tricks on the Sunset Bl?

Is the social media softening its image in certain areas to court girls like these? Romanticizing things? Young girls can be crazy whether they're Sundanese, Somali, Irish, Mexican, German, Korean, Russian, Persian, etc...

Anybody got crazy teenage daughters here that could shed some light?

 

[Johan]

To save face Obama might have to send US troops.

 

[MustBeGood]

Did not know that there are Kurds in Syria.

Syrian Kurds repulse Islamic State attack on border gate
Reuters 14 hours ago

By Dasha Afanasieva

MURSITPINAR Turkey (Reuters) - Islamic State militants tried to seize a border post in the Syrian town of Kobani on the Turkish frontier overnight but were repulsed by Kurdish fighters, Kurdish officials and a monitoring group said on Sunday.

Islamic State fighters have been trying to capture Kobani, known as Ayn al-Arab in Arabic, for over a month, pressing their assault despite U.S.-led air strikes on their positions and the deaths of hundreds of their fighters.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors violence in Syria's three-and-a-half-year-old conflict, said on Sunday it had confirmed that 815 people had been killed in the fighting for the town over the last 40 days, more than half of them Islamic State fighters.

Idris Nassan, a local Kurdish official, said Islamic State fighters had shelled Kobani's border gate on Saturday night but Kurdish fighters had pushed them back in the south and west.

"Of course they will try again tonight. Last night they brought new reinforcements, new supplies, and they are pushing hard," he said.

View galleryKurdish refugees look at their town of Kobani covered …
Kurdish refugees from Kobani watch as thick smoke covers the Syrian town of Kobani during fighting b …
To lose the border gate, the only official way for the Kurdish fighters in Kobani to cross into Turkey, would be a major blow to the fighters defending the town as well as the civilians who still remain.

On Sunday, Turkish police dispersed media and other observers from two hills overlooking Kobani, a Reuters witness said. There were two air strikes in the early afternoon and dark grey smoke hung in plumes over the city, which has been largely destroyed by the war.

Iraqi Kurdish "peshmerga" fighters are expected to arrive to reinforce the fighters in Kobani, who are mostly members of the Syrian Kurdish YPG armed group, after Turkey last week said it would allow them to pass through its territory.

The chief of staff to the president of Iraqi Kurdistan said on Sunday that the timetable for their departure was still being finalised.

The Observatory said it had confirmed that 302 YPG fighters had so far been killed in the fighting for Kobani so far, as well as 481 Islamic State fighters, 10 fighters from other groups, 21 civilians, and one volunteer bringing ammunition to YPG fighters.

Dara Abdi, a lawyer working for a human rights organization sympathetic to the PYD, said one YPG fighter had been killed and seven wounded in the fight for the border post overnight.

(Additional reporting by Kai Pfaffenbach; Writing by Alexander Dziadosz and Dasha Afanasieva; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

 

[MustBeGood]

Mother fuck being a prisoner of war.

IS beheads 8 Syria rebels who surrendered: monitor
AFP 12 hours ago

Beirut (AFP) - Islamic State group jihadists beheaded eight Syrian rebels who had surrendered in a town on the border with Iraq last week despite pledges of an amnesty, a monitor said Monday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the men were executed and their bodies hung on makeshift crucifixes in Albu Kamal in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.

"The men surrendered in Albu Kamal because the Islamic State had offered amnesty to people who fought them if they turned themselves in," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

Instead, he said, the eight opposition fighters were beheaded and then hung from crosses in a method often employed by the jihadist group.

The monitor, which relies on a large network of sources on the ground in Syria, said the men had belonged to a group that had fought against both the Syrian regime and the Islamic State.

Meanwhile, in the city of Deir Ezzor, the provincial capital, IS jihadists decapitated another three men, also hanging their corpses from crosses, the Observatory said.

The group said it was unclear when the executions took place, adding that two of the men were accused of collaboration with the Syrian regime and the third of fighting against the Islamic State.

IS has declared a so-called Islamic "caliphate" in the territory it controls in Syria and Iraq, imposing its extreme interpretation of Islam and executing opponents.

 

[Little Red Wagon Repairman]

Weird question but I'm a little high so here goes. If you're a jihadi in Syria fighting for al-Nusra why would you not want to join Islamic State? Seems like going from AA Ball to The Bigs. The Base should only be the beginning.

 

[MustBeGood]

Weird question but I'm a little high so here goes. If you're a jihadi in Syria fighting for al-Nusra why would you not want to join Islamic State? Seems like going from AA Ball to The Bigs. The Base should only be the beginning.

True.

But from NPR's Here and Now this afternoon heard a story on how ISIS is using social media to trick 13-15 year old to become martyr. Meaning they are being sent to the big leagues to die while the coward leaders plot behind the scenes.

 

[Little Red Wagon Repairman]

True.

But from NPR's Here and Now this afternoon heard a story on how ISIS is using social media to trick 13-15 year old to become martyr. Meaning they are being sent to the big leagues to die while the coward leaders plot behind the scenes.

Let's us both join and be a couple of bosses. Be oil tycoons also. My Grandfather was Cossack. Same difference.

 

[MustBeGood]

Bump, real world problems instead of waiting for the American media to bring up another story about race to the stir the pot.

What ISIS Will Do if Baghdadi Is Killed

The Fiscal Times By Riyadh Mohammed
November 13, 2014 6:00 AM

As the world waits to learn if ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead or alive following a U.S. led air raid in Mosul, Iraq, it’s not too early to ask: What if Baghdadi is actually dead? What will happen next?

Here’s what we know so far. Last Saturday, U.S. aircraft bombed a house in the town of al-Qaem in Anbar province, near the Iraqi-Syrian border where ISIS leaders were meeting. The ISIS governors of Anbar and Euphrates were killed in the attack, among other leaders.

On the same day, another air raid targeted a convoy in Mosul, killed 72 ISIS members and leaders, Maouris Milton said. Milton, a blogger from Mosul, described the raid as the most severe blow to ISIS since the beginning of the U.S. led campaign against the group three months ago.

Rumors circulated that Baghdadi was injured in that attack. Iraq’s ministries of defense and interior both issued statements saying that Baghdadi had been hit, and the new defense minister, who is also from Mosul said on his Facebook page that he is sure that Baghdadi was injured. An alleged Twitter account of ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani reported it as well, but the account is a fake.

However, the Iraqi authorities have said before that Baghdadi was killed or injured and it turned out not to be true. They also said many times that his predecessors, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayob al-Masri were killed or arrested. Again, those claims were not true. Iraqi officials finally acknowledged that they had lied when Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and al-Masri were really killed in April 2010.

When the first leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in June 2006, his body was recovered by U.S. forces. The bodies of Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and al-Masri were recovered after they were killed in April 2010, and the U.S. also captured the body of Osama Bin Laden when he was killed in May 2011. Without Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s body, the world is waiting for ISIS to confirm or deny the news. That hasn’t happened.

Even so, there may be reason to think al-Baghdadi really has been injured or killed. ISIS has so far been strangely silence about the reports, posting nothing on its gigantic social media presence. Instead, ISIS released audio statements on Monday by five jihadist groups in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Libya, and Algeria stating their allegiance to ISIS.

ISIS also organized a parade of teenagers with AK-47s in Mosul to celebrate this news and boost their members’ morale after three days of U.S. air raids that destroyed their training, storage, bomb making, prisons, and investigation locations.

As we wait for further word on Baghdadi, the question becomes, ‘What if he really has been killed?’ ‘What kind of blow would that represent to ISIS?’

With all the three of the leaders mentioned earlier, their deaths never were the end of their organizations. In almost each case, revenge attacks were launched. In this case, too, ISIS is likely to pick a new leader and continue its campaign of bloodshed and terror, according to Hisham al-Hashimi, a leading authority on the group.

Choosing a new leader would follow a set process involving ISIS’s existing leadership councils. The various councils are likely to look for a leader who meets specific military and religious criteria. He would need to be considered a descendent of the Prophet Muhammad and be steeped in radical religious studies. Age would be a consideration, too. In theory, the new leader would have to be older than 15, but in practical terms, the older the better. ISIS would also look for someone with no mental illness and no physical or health problems.

ISIS’s second in command, Abu Muslim al-Turkmani (whose given name is Fadhil al-Hiyali), is most likely to succeed Baghdadi, Hashimi said. Al-Turkmani is a former Iraqi army lieutenant colonel and Baghdadi’s current deputy in Iraq. Like Baghdadi, he spent some time at the Camp Bucca prison in southern Iraq. He was one of the main voices behind ISIS’s decision to defect from al-Qaeda under Ayman al-Zawahiri, Hashimi added.

Other candidates have been mentioned, too, and at least three other Iraqi leaders would be competing with al-Turkmani: his counterpart in Syria, Abu Ali al-Anbari, also a former Iraqi army officer; Abdullah al-Ani, ISIS theorist, a 51-year old engineer who wrote ISIS doctrine; and Younis al-Mashhadani, ISIS current head of the Shura council that advices al-Baghdadi.

“If any of those three are appointed, it would be likely to [result in] an ISIS-al-Qaeda merger,” said al-Hashimi.

No matter who the new leader might be, though, experts expect ISIS wouldn’t die even if its leader has.

In bold: Really fucked up how children and teenagers are being used to advance the elders hiding political/religious views.

 

[MustBeGood]

Video claims ISIS militants have beheaded American hostage Peter Kassig

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/16/world/meast/isis-kassig-killing-images/index.html

 

[MustBeGood]

More hot air.

Kerry: US 'not intimidated' by Islamic militants

Associated Press By MATTHEW LEE and LARA JAKES

LONDON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry issued a warning Monday to Islamic State militants that "we are not intimidated" after another American hostage was killed.

Kerry said the brutality of the Islamic State group and its potential spread worldwide was a key reason, among many, that the United States must remain deeply engaged in the Mideast.

His comments came right before he headed overseas for nuclear talks with Iran as a November 24 deadline for a deal looms.

"We are obviously entering in a key period with negotiations regarding Iran's nuclear program," Kerry said at an annual policy forum in Washington, hosted by the publisher of Foreign Policy magazine.

But the bulk of his comments sought to underline the case for deep U.S. involvement in the Mideast. "We have to be deeply engaged — deeply engaged — in this region, because it is directly in the interest of our national security and our economy, and it is also in keeping of who we are," Kerry said.

He added: "The United States does not go in search of enemies in the Middle East. There are times, however, and this is one, when enemies come in search of us."

A day earlier, the White House confirmed the death of U.S. aid worker Peter Kassig, a former soldier who tried to help wounded Syrians caught in their country's civil war but ended up dying himself at the hands of Islamic State. The militant group that controls much of northern Syria and Iraq has now killed five Westerners it was holding.

Left unchecked, Kerry said that the Islamic State group could grow worldwide. Already, he said, the IS has seized more land and resources "than al-Qaida ever had on its best day of its existence."

IS "leaders assume that the world will be too intimidated to oppose them," Kerry said. "But let us be clear: We are not intimidated."

Immediately after the speech, Kerry headed to London, where he will hold talks with European and Mideast officials on volatile situations in the Mideast, as well as on the Iran negotiations, which are set to expire next week. Kerry also plans to meet with the Egyptian and Emirati foreign ministers as well as the foreign minister of Oman.

Oman appears to have emerged as a key player in the Iran talks outside the formal negotiating group of the U.S., Britain, China, France, Russia and the European Union, known as the P5+1.

Oman, which has close ties with Iran, was the site of secret talks between American and Iranian diplomats in March 2013 and hosted the last round of high-level talks earlier this month in Muscat. On the heels of those talks, Oman's foreign minister paid a visit to Tehran over the weekend, according to Iranian media reports.

From London, Kerry will travel to Vienna, where the next round of nuclear talks is set to begin on Tuesday and continue through the week, the State Department says.

World powers have for years sought to strike a deal with Tehran to limit its nuclear program to a point where it cannot produce an atomic weapon. In return, the West would ease sanctions on Iran's oil and financial sectors that have crippled the Islamic Republic's economy.

Such an agreement would mark an unprecedented victory after a generation of mutual distrust and between Iran and much of the rest of the world. But a senior State Department official on Monday voiced skepticism about a final deal, and said there are no plans to extend the talks past the Nov. 24 deadline.

"We still have gaps to close, and we do not yet know if we will be able to do so," said the official who was not authorized to brief reporters by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Kerry may not take part in all the negotiating sessions in Vienna, and other stops are possible, officials said Monday.

 

[MustBeGood]

Fell asleep before this ended but the story of ISIS leader Khaled Sharrouf.

 

[MustBeGood]

Air strikes are working:

Islamic State fighters admit defeat in Syrian town of Kobani
Associated Press By BASSEM MROUE
21 hours ago

BEIRUT (AP) — The Islamic State group has acknowledged for the first time that its fighters have been defeated in the Syrian town of Kobani and vowed to attack the town again.

In a video released by the pro-IS Aamaq News Agency late Friday, two fighters said the airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition were the main reason why IS fighters were forced to withdraw from Kobani. One fighter vowed to defeat the main Kurdish militia in Syria, the People's Protection Units known as the YPG.

On Monday, activists and Kurdish officials said the town was almost cleared of IS fighters, who once held nearly half of Kobani.

An Associated Press video from inside the town showed widespread destruction, streets littered with debris and abandoned neighborhoods. The video also showed a new cemetery with fresh graves.

The town's famous Freedom Square, with a statue of an eagle spreading its wings, stood intact in the middle of the destruction. The square is near the so-called Kurdish security quarter — an eastern district where Kurdish militiamen maintained security buildings and offices, and which was occupied by IS fighters for about two months until they were forced out earlier in January.

In the newly released IS video, the militant fighters acknowledged that they have been driven from the town.

"A while ago we retreated a bit from Ayn al-Islam because of the bombardment and the killing of some brothers," said one masked fighter, using the group's preferred name for Kobani. He spoke Arabic with a north African accent.

The failure to capture and hold Kobani was a major blow to the extremists. Their hopes for an easy victory dissolved into a costly siege under withering airstrikes by coalition forces and an assault by Kurdish militiamen.

The United States and several Arab allies have been striking IS positions in Syria since Sept. 23. The campaign aims to push back the jihadi organization after it took over about a third of Iraq and Syria and declared the captured territory a new caliphate.

Now Kurdish officials are hailing the retaking of Kobani as an important step toward rolling back the Islamic State group's territorial gains.

"Kobani Canton is a representative of the resistance against terrorism in the world," said senior Syrian Kurdish official in Kobani, Anwar Muslim. "We hope that the world will support us to come through our struggle against IS."

Meanwhile the IS fighters vowed that their defeat in Kobani will not weaken them.

"The Islamic State will stay. Say that to (U.S. President Barack) Obama," said the fighter, pointing his finger toward destruction on the edge of Kobani.

The fighters both laid blame for their defeat on the coalition air campaign, seemingly downplaying the role played by Kurdish militiamen — whom they refer to as "rats."

Another IS fighter, also speaking in Arabic, said while standing on a road with a green sign with "Ayn al-Islam" sprayed on it: "The warplanes did not leave any construction. They destroyed everything, so we had to withdraw and the rats advanced."

"The warplanes were bombarding us night and day. They bombarded everything, even motorcycles," the fighter said.

IS launched an offensive on the Kobani region in mid-September capturing more than 300 Kurdish villages and parts of the town. As a result of the airstrikes and stiff Kurdish resistance, IS began retreating a few weeks ago, losing more than 1,000 fighters, according to activists.

More than 200,000 Kurds were forced from their homes. Many fled to neighboring Turkey.

Earlier this week, Kurdish officials said YPG fighters have launched a counterattack to retake some of the surrounding villages around Kobani, many of which remain in IS hands.

 

[MustBeGood]

Good grief now the parties flip flop 12 years later trying to clean up the mess caused by Donald Rumsfeldt's bad war planning to take out the Iraq equal of a Nazi leader Saddam's regime.

Lawmakers expect resistance to granting Obama war powers

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress will face some resistance in a vote to authorize President Barack Obama's war against Islamic State militants despite international outrage over video of militants beheading their captives and burning one alive.

War authorizations are among the most difficult issues confronting members of Congress. Several Democrats will be reluctant to approve new war powers unless there is a clear deadline or some way to pay for the military operation. Some Republicans, strong foes of the president, will object to giving Obama the authority.

Obama is poised in coming days to ask Congress for new authority to use U.S. military force against IS, the White House said Thursday. But the top House Republican warned it won't be easy to pass the measure. Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said it will be up to the president to rally support from lawmakers and the public.

"His actions are going to be an important part of trying for us to get the votes to actually pass an authorization," Boehner said Thursday. "This is not going to be an easy lift."

In the U.S. battle against IS, Obama has been relying on congressional authorizations that President George W. Bush used to justify military action after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Critics say the White House's use of post-9/11 congressional authorizations is a legal stretch, at best.

Obama has insisted that he had the legal authority to send U.S. troops to train and assist Iraqi security forces, and to launch airstrikes since September against targets in Iraq and Syria. Now, the administration wants to get a new so-called Authorization for the Use of Military Force, or AUMF, with bipartisan support from Congress.

"The president believes it sends a very powerful signal to the American people, to our allies, and even to our enemies, that the United States of America is united behind this strategy to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.

Republicans generally want a broader authorization of military action against the militants than Democrats have been willing to consider. Obama has said he does not intend to deploy U.S. combat troops, though many Republicans believe that option ought to be available.

"I have always believed that when it comes to fighting a war that Congress should not tie the president's hands," Boehner said.

Earnest declined to discuss specific provisions being considered, such as how long the authorization will last, what geographical areas it will cover and whether it will allow for ground troops. He said details were still being worked out with lawmakers from both parties.

Top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi of California said talks with the administration are focusing on an authorization that would last three years, with other issues still being debated. Pelosi told journalists it will be a challenge for Democrats, the White House and Republicans to forge an agreement, but that she ultimately expects one to be reached.

"I'm not saying anybody's come to an agreement on it," Pelosi said. "I think it's going to be a challenge, but we will have it."

Pelosi said she hopes Congress will repeal the 2002 congressional authorization for the war in Iraq but retain the 2001 authorization for military action in Afghanistan. Earnest said the White House also supports repeal of the Iraq authorization replaced by the new authorization.

Late last year, Secretary of State John Kerry said whatever new authorization Congress passes should not limit U.S. military action to Iraq and Syria or prevent the president from deploying ground troops if he later deems them necessary. He also said that if the new authorization had a time limit, there should be a provision for it to be renewed.

Islamic State militants released a grisly video this week of a Jordanian Air Force pilot being burned alive inside a cage. Pelosi said that the U.S. should "move quickly" to steer military aid to Jordan, which has stepped up a campaign against the militants, including a series of airstrikes in Syria.

California Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence panel, already introduced authorization legislation rather than wait for Obama's version. His bill would authorize the use of force against IS in Iraq and Syria for three years, but prohibit the use of ground forces in a combat mission in either nation. He has said if the president later decided to deploy ground troops, he could return to Congress to ask for new authority.

"It is my hope that the administration will be willing to accept important limits in a new authorization as well as the sunset or repeal of the old AUMFs, as this will be necessary to ensure strong bipartisan support and meet the goals the president set last summer of refining and repealing the prior authorizations," Schiff said in a statement Thursday.

Joke politics in America. Please like last time grilled for not voting in the midterms by I can't remember. Why on a joke two party system using two cable media outlets to slam each other with dis-information instead of compromise. It is all about which party gets credit.

 

[Supafly]

Air strikes are and can not work in regards of destroying any form of opposition like IS. Unless the whole IS crowd is in single plaves, without any bystanders or civilians, airstrikes will just do what the former warfare in this area have done: Worsen the situation and fire up people to join the cause of IS.

Yes, we can make the IS back down if some innocents are on a mountain, and they need to be defended from closing in IS forces, but if you want to attack IS, I believe that you need a massive force of soldiers on the ground and classic land warfare.

 

[knowone]

Kurds have taken a critical point in the only road ISIL has to move men & supplies from Syria and Iraq. Dropping supplies and providing air support to them is practical there.

 

[Supafly]

Kurds have taken a critical point in the only road ISIL has to move men & supplies from Syria and Iraq. Dropping supplies and providing air support to them is practical there.

That is the role we can play. Supply the people who fight against IS.