Wars and Rumors
"With 10,000 American soldiers patrolling the mountains and deserts of Afghanistan, thousands more deployed to Iraq, and U.S. military aircraft conducting daily strikes in both those countries and Syria, Attorney General Eric Holder claimed the nation is 'not in a time of war.'"
"The Islamic State, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), follows a distinctive variety of Islam whose beliefs about the path to the Day of Judgment matter to its strategy, and can help the West know its enemy and predict its behavior. Its rise to power is less like the triumph of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (a group whose leaders the Islamic State considers apostates) than like the realization of a dystopian alternate reality in which David Koresh or Jim Jones survived to wield absolute power over not just a few hundred people, but some 8 million."
"A Detroit man stabbed two people at a suburban bus stop after asking his victims whether or not they were Muslim, according to police. Federal authorities are now looking at the case as a potential hate crime, police said on Tuesday." Check out the crazy-eyes mug shot.
Holder said, “We spend more time, more time, talking about what do you call it, as opposed to what are you going to do about it. I mean really, if Fox News didn’t talk about this, they would have nothing else to talk about, it seems to me. Radical Islam, Islamic extremism, I’m not sure an awful lot is gained by saying it. It doesn’t have any impact on our military posture. What we call it doesn’t have any impact on the polices we put in place.”
“The terminology, it seems to me, has little to no impact on what ultimately we have to do.”
Word weaseler gotta weasel words.
Asked about the pope’s reaction in a phone call today with reporters, and asked specifically “does the administration agree” the men were killed because of their faith, Psaki said she was “not going to put new labels or — or, certainly, argue with comments of the pope.”
“But I would say that we have spoken in the past about, you know, our concerns about the, you know, targeting of — of religious groups, and we’ve seen, unfortunately, this happen in Iraq and other places,” Psaki said. “ISIL has gone after not just individuals for religious affiliation but for being a woman, for being — for even people with disabilities. And so we’ve seen the barbarity of their tactics.”
“But, you know, beyond that, obviously, this is simply a horrific attack of terrorism and one that we came out this weekend and joined many countries in the world in commending.”
No mention of the word “Christian.”
Oliver North: “President El Sisi asked for American intelligence targeting intelligence before today’s strikes and didn’t get it. King Abdullah of Jordan asked for Intelligence data on targets to respond to the murder of a Jordanian aircraft pilot. The Kurds are begging for arms and ammo from the United States, not one bullet has been delivered by the United States.” [video]
Pope: Today I read about the execution of those twenty-one or twenty-two Coptic Christians. Their only words were: "Jesus, help me!". They were killed simply for the fact that they were Christians. You, my brother, in your words referred to what is happening in the land of Jesus. The blood of our Christian brothers and sisters is a testimony which cries out to be heard. It makes no difference whether they be Catholics, Orthodox, Copts or Protestants. They are Christians! Their blood is one and the same. Their blood confesses Christ. As we recall these brothers and sisters who died only because they confessed Christ, I ask that we encourage each another to go forward with this ecumenism which is giving us strength, the ecumenism of blood. The martyrs belong to all Christians.
"Thousands of foreigners have flocked to Iraq and Syria in the past two years, mostly to join Islamic State, but a handful of idealistic Westerners are enlisting as well, citing frustration their governments are not doing more to combat the ultra-radical Islamists or prevent the suffering of innocents."
According to an investigation by Iraq Oil Report (paywall), ISIL rapidly captured one and possibly two oilfields south of Kirkuk soon after storming Iraq a month ago. The fields, in the Hamrin mountains, produce relatively small volumes—just 16,000-20,000 barrels a day. But that earns a tidy income even at the knock-down local black market rate of about $55 a barrel, according to the report. +
The description of ISIL’s smuggling route into Kurdistan continues the narrative of a ruthlessly managed, financially savvy rebel group that has emerged over the last year first in Syria and now Iraq. That includes control over Syria’s oilfields—on July 3, ISIL captured al-Omar, the country’s largest oilfield—plus some $420 million in Iraqi dinars snatched up in the June capture of Mosul. In all, ISIL may have a cache of some $1.3 billion.
BREAKING NEWS: IRAQ TELLS U.N. THAT ‘TERRORIST GROUPS’ SEIZED NUCLEAR MATERIALS. REUTERS
New Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has assigned deputies to manage everything from bank accounts to bomb attacks [War News Updates editor's comment: "The International Criminal Court in The Hague now knows who to focus their attention on when it comes to who they must charge for war crimes."]
Islamist plot to blow up Eiffel Tower, Louvre and nuclear power plant foiled, say French police - French police stumbled on terror plans after decrypting coded messages between Algerian butcher living in southern France and high-ranking members of al-Qaeda in the Maghreb
Nada Bakos, a former CIA analyst who tracked al-Baghdadi’s predecessor Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, told ABC News al-Baghdadi had forced himself to step from the shadows, even if it meant “definitely taking a risk, security-wise.”
“This would be in line with where he’s trying to take the organization,” Bakos said. “He has to present himself as a leader. This was the next step… He has to come out and declare what he, as the caliph, expects from other Muslims.”
"With heavy grief, this evening we found three bodies. All signs indicate that they are the bodies of our three abducted youths –- Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar and Naftali Frankel," Netanyahu said before the start of an emergency cabinet meeting. "They were abducted and murdered in cold blood by human animals. On behalf of the entire Jewish people, I would like to tell the dear families –- the mothers, fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, and brothers and sisters –- we are deeply saddened, the entire nation weeps with you. We will give the boys a proper burial."
Then the prime minister quoted Israeli poet Hayim Nahman Bialik. "'Vengeance for the blood of a small child, Satan has not yet created,'" he said. "[N]either has vengeance for the blood of three pure youths, who were on their way home to meet their parents, who will not see them anymore. Hamas is responsible –- and Hamas will pay. May the memories of the three boys be blessed."
Four villages in north-eastern Nigeria have been attacked by suspected Boko Haram militants who targeted at least one church. The bodies of at least 40 civilians and six militants have been recovered… latest assault on villages near Chibok, the town where more than 200 schoolgirls were abducted in April.
Jihadist militant group Isis has said it is establishing a caliphate, or Islamic state, on the territories it controls in Iraq and Syria. It also proclaimed the group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as caliph and "leader for Muslims everywhere".
The Islamist Abu Saffiya from Chile, shows off the spoils of war and raises the Islamic flag at a former Iraqi military base. Another Islamist mocks Obama at the end of the video: “Obama, did you prepare enough diapers for your soldiers?” [Oh, ha ha. Very droll. Eat pork and die. And not for mocking our Numbskull in Chief. That's my job.]
A former Mexican cartel soldier who turned against the narco terrorists and joined the burgeoning Mexican militia movement has been found shot and tortured along with his wife and children in the Mexican state of Michoacan.
Samarra's al-Askari Mosque contains the mausoleums of two Shia Imams, making it a key pilgrimage point and one of the most significant sites of worship for Shia worldwide. The bombing of the mosque in 2006 set off a vicious cycle of violence… ISIS follows a deeply puritanical Sunni thread of Islam that believes shrines are antithetical to Islam and should be destroyed — a practice they have carried out in areas they control in Syria. ISIS has tried to take control of Samarra. But it's been forced back by a coalition of the Iraqi Army and Shiite militias which now guard the shrine and the city. This has not stopped ISIS' from lobbing mortars at the shrine in an attempt to demolish it…. (From Jun 24)
…as part of its blitz-campaign to take over northern Iraq, ISIS found and the promptly executed Rauf Rashid Abd al-Rahman, the judge who sentenced Saddam to death: a death which to many was the crowning moment of the second US invasion of Iraq, and the confirmation of successful US foreign policy.
Since they began their blitz just over a fortnight ago, Sunni insurgents in Iraq have destroyed half of the Iraqi army and inflicted $10 billion in losses, a senior Iraqi defense official said. [War News Updates editor comments: "These loses are staggering and mind-boggling .... and I suspect that the real numbers are probably higher."]
The wars in Iraq and Syria have effectively merged into one sprawling conflict, especially in light of the massive blitz across northern and central Iraq by militant group ISIS and its affiliates. The multi-country crisis has taken on increasing complexity as Iraq and Syria fragment along sectarian and ethnic lines. … Twitter user @deSyracurse has put together a fascinating and impressively granular map of the spreading chaos throughout the two countries.
The Hatra complex, a Unesco world heritage site which features 200ft-high temples, now stands in territory claimed by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) group. There are fears the stone statues within the area could be destroyed by jihadists, who have already demolished a statue of Iraqi musician and composer Othman al-Mousuli 70 miles away in Mosul. [See pix at link]
A Royal Navy patrol ship tracked down and intercepted two Russian landing craft in the English Channel yesterday.
HMS Severn, a 1,700-tonne River-class patrol ship armed with three machine guns, headed off the two military vessels sailing east through the Channel.
The ship 'closed and tracked' the Russian craft as they, which are thought to have been moving from the Mediterranean back to their home bases.
Russia has lost contact with one of three military satellites responsible for detecting intercontinental ballistic missile launches, leaving Moscow blind to possible nuclear attacks… [War News Updates blogger comments: "This is not reassuring news to know about as tensions rise between Russia and the West."]
The Islamist group "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) is celebrating their successes against the Iraqi army, proudly displays captured military vehicles. And the terrorists mock the internet Michelle Obama (50)! They spread via Twitter and on Internet sites a photomontage of the U.S. First Lady, show it with the saying "Bring back our Humvee" (Eng. "brings back our Humvee"). Only two days ago the ISIS terrorists had spread videos in which they pose on a captured "Humvee" SUV. [Translated by Google.]
Austin, TX, United States (4E) – Two Austin, Texas men have been arrested and charged with terrorism for recruiting Americans to fight alongside jihad rebels in Somalia and Syria
From the first outbreak of the crisis in the southern city of Deraa to apocalyptic forecasts of a Middle East soaked in blood, many combatants on both sides of the conflict say its path was set 1,400 years ago in the sayings of the Prophet Mohammad and his followers.
Among those many thousands of sayings, or hadith, are accounts which refer to the confrontation of two huge Islamic armies in Syria, a great battle near Damascus, and intervention from the north and west of the country.
The power of those prophecies for many fighters on the ground means that the three-year-old conflict is more deeply rooted - and far tougher to resolve - than a simple power struggle between President Bashar al-Assad and his rebel foes.
Mohamed Elibiary… A member of President Obama’s Homeland Security Advisory Council known for controversial Twitter posts that seem to support the Muslim Brotherhood wrote Friday that it is “inevitable that ‘Caliphate’ returns.”
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