Posted tagged ‘Islam’

« WarSclerotic home page
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

US Pilots Confirm: Obama Admin Blocks 75% of ISIS Strikes

November 20, 2015

U.S. Pilots Confirm: Obama Admin Blocks 75 Percent of Islamic State Strikes ‘We can’t get clearance even when we have a clear target in front of us’

BY:

November 20, 2015 5:00 am

Source: US Pilots Confirm: Obama Admin Blocks 75% of ISIS Strikes

Syria air strike

A target is hit during a Russian air raid in Syria / AP

U.S. military pilots who have returned from the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq are confirming that they were blocked from dropping 75 percent of their ordnance on terror targets because they could not get clearance to launch a strike, according to a leading member of Congress.

Strikes against the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) targets are often blocked due to an Obama administration policy to prevent civilian deaths and collateral damage, according to Rep. Ed Royce (R., Calif.), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The policy is being blamed for allowing Islamic State militants to gain strength across Iraq and continue waging terrorist strikes throughout the region and beyond, according to Royce and former military leaders who spoke Wednesday about flaws in the U.S. campaign to combat the Islamic State.

“You went 12 full months while ISIS was on the march without the U.S. using that air power and now as the pilots come back to talk to us they say three-quarters of our ordnance we can’t drop, we can’t get clearance even when we have a clear target in front of us,” Royce said. “I don’t understand this strategy at all because this is what has allowed ISIS the advantage and ability to recruit.”

When asked to address Royce’s statement, a Pentagon official defended the Obama administration’s policy and said that the military is furiously working to prevent civilian casualties.

“The bottom line is that we will not stoop to the level of our enemy and put civilians more in harm’s way than absolutely necessary,” the official told the Washington Free Beacon, explaining that the military often conducts flights “and don’t strike anything.”

“The fact that aircraft go on missions and don’t strike anything is not out of the norm,” the official said. “Despite U.S. strikes being the most precise in the history of warfare, conducting strike operations in the heavily populated areas where ISIL hides certainly presents challenges. We are fighting an enemy who goes out of their way to put civilians at risk. However, our pilots understand the need for the tactical patience in this environment. This fight against ISIL is not the kind of fight from previous decades.”

Jack Keane, a retired four-star U.S. general, agreed with Royce’s assessment of the administration’s policy and blamed President Barack Obama for issuing orders that severely constrain the U.S. military from combatting terror forces.

“This has been an absurdity from the beginning,” Keane said in response to questions from Royce. “The president personally made a statement that has driven air power from the inception.”

“When we agreed we were going to do airpower and the military said, this is how it would work, he [Obama] said, ‘No, I do not want any civilian casualties,’” Keane explained. “And the response was, ‘But there’s always some civilian casualties. We have the best capability in the world to protect from civilians casualties.’”

However, Obama’s response was, “No, you don’t understand. I want no civilian casualties. Zero,’” Keane continued. “So that has driven our so-called rules of engagement to a degree we have never had in any previous air campaign from desert storm to the present.”

This is likely the reason that U.S. pilots are being told to back down when Islamic State targets are in site, Keane said, citing statistics published earlier this year by U.S. Central Command showing that pilots return from sorties in Iraq with about 75 percent of their ordnance unexpended.

“Believe me,” Keane added, “the French are in there not using the restrictions we have imposed on our pilots.”

And the same goes for Russians, he said, adding, “They don’t care at all about civilians.”

The French have been selecting their own targets since beginning to launch strikes on the Islamic State earlier this week, according to a second Pentagon source who spoke to the Free Beacon earlier this week about the strikes.

France dropped at least 20 bombs on key Islamic State targets within two days after the terror attacks in Paris that killed 129. French strikes have killed at least 33 Islamic State militants in the past several days.

In the case of the initial French strikes, the “targets were nominated by the French whose strikes against them were supported by the coalition” fighting the Islamic State, the official explained.

Any coalition member can nominate a potential target.

“Once a target is validated, great care is taken—from analysis of available intelligence to selection of the appropriate weapon to meet mission requirements—to minimize the risk of collateral damage, particularly any potential harm to non-combatants,” the official said.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 22,000 munitions were dropped on Islamic State targets during more than 8,000 sorties, according to information provided to the Free Beacon by the Defense Department.

Some experts questioned whether the administration is handing off portions of the battle to other nations.

“The French airstrikes have been billed as a significant uptick in the battle against the Islamic State, Preliminary data indicate that this is not the case,” said Jonathan Schanzer, a former terrorism expert at the U.S. Treasury Department. “It appears that the U.S. is simply allowing France to strike many of the targets that would usually be reserved for the U.S. and some of its coalition allies. In other words, this appears to be a redistribution of daily targets in the ongoing campaign, and not a significant change.”

These strikes have forced the Islamic State to evacuate at least 20 to 25 percent of the territories it held one year ago in both Iraq and Syria, according to the Pentagon.

Attacks have focused on the Islamic State’s “staging areas, fighting position, and key leaders,” as well as its “oil distribution chain,” according to the Pentagon.

Meanwhile, a poll released Thursday found that at least 70 percent of American support an expanded fight against the Islamic State, including sending U.S. troops to the region.

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Comments: Be the first to comment

Beware of Islamic terrorism

November 20, 2015

Beware of Islamic terrorism, Israel Hayom, Yoram Ettinger, November 20, 2015

(Religion and its history are viewed by many in largely secular western societies as essentially irrelevant to how devout Muslims behave. Ignoring the religious foundations of their conduct is a very dangerous mistake. — DM)

All Islamic terrorists — not only the Islamic State group and al-Qaida — systematically and deliberately target civilians, stabbing their Muslim and “infidel” host countries in the back, abusing their hospitality to advance 14 centuries of megalomaniac aspirations to rule the globe in general, and to reclaim the “waqf” (Allah-ordained) regions of Europe in particular.

Emboldened by Western indifference, these destabilizing and terror-intensifying aspirations have been bolstered by the Islamic educational systems in Europe, the U.S. and other Western countries. These proclaim a supposedly irrevocable Islamic title over the eighth-century Islamic conquests of Lyon, Nice and much of France, as well as all of Spain; the ninth-century subjugation of parts of Italy; and the ninth- and 10th-century occupations of western Switzerland, including Geneva.

Europe has underestimated the critical significance of this long anti-Western history in shaping contemporary Islamic education, culture, politics, peace, war, and the overall Islamic attitude toward Europe, North America, Australia, and other “arrogant infidels.” “Infidel” France has been the prime European target for Islamic terrorists, with 11 reported attacks in 2015, despite France’s systematic criticism of Israel and support for the Palestinian Authority — dispelling conventional “wisdom” that Islamic terrorism is Israeli or Palestinian-driven.

Europe has ignored the significant impact the crucial milestones in the life of the Prophet Muhammad have had on contemporary Islamic geostrategy, such as his seventh-century Hijrah, when Muhammad, along with his loyalists, emigrated or fled from Mecca to Yathrib (Medina), not to be integrated and blend into Medina’s social, economic or political environment, but to advance and spread Islam through conversion, subversion and terrorism, if necessary. Asserting himself over his hosts and rivals in Medina, Muhammad gathered a critical mass of military might to conquer Mecca and launch Islam’s drive to dominate the world.

In 1966, this Hijrah precedent was applied by Mahmoud Abbas, Yasser Arafat and the entire Fatah leadership, which emigrated or fled from Syria to Jordan and incited the Palestinian population there, but failed in their attempt to topple the host Hashemite regime. They emigrated or fled from Jordan in 1970, and in 1976, failed in their attempt to topple the host regime in Beirut. In 1990, they collaborated with Saddam Hussein’s invasion and plunder of Kuwait, stabbing the back of the Sabah family, which had hosted them, their relatives and PLO associates after they emigrated or fled from Egypt in the mid-1950s.

On Friday morning, Nov. 13, 2015, a few hours before Islamic terrorists launched their offensive against France, French Muslim children were being taught, and French Muslim adults were hearing in French mosques, that according to the Quran, humanity must submit to Muhammad and the “infidel” must accept Shariah law; that “holy war” (jihad) must be waged on behalf of Islam; and that taking part in jihad brings the reward of the benefits of paradise. Muslims are taught that the Abode of Islam (“Dar al-Islam”) must be expanded by the sword into the Abode of War (“Dar al-Harab’) and the Abode of Infidel (“Dar al-Kufr”). They are taught that they, the believers, are prohibited from submitting to the rule of the infidel, except as a temporary tactic; and that agreements with infidels are provisional, a mere prelude to subordinating the infidel. They learn that emigration of the believers must serve the historical, supremacist goal of Islam; and that shielding the believers from infidels may require the Quran-sanctioned “taqiyya” — double-talk and deception-based statements and agreements to be ignored, contradicted and abrogated once conditions are ripe.

France and all other Western countries tolerate and fund anti-Western Islamic hate-education institutions — in Muslim states and in the West — despite the fact that they are the most effective production line of anti-Western Islamic terrorists.

Europe has failed to read the piercing, bloody writing on the wall, sacrificing long-term homeland security on the altar of short-term convenience and naive, self-destructive interpretation of human rights. Through its immoral tradition of moral equivalence, Europe has embraced Muslim immigrants who are largely ruthlessly controlled and manipulated by rogue terrorist, supremacist organizations and regimes — which use them as a Trojan horse.

In 1982, in the aftermath of Islamic/Palestinian terrorist attacks in Paris that claimed the lives of Israeli diplomat Yaacov Bar-Simantov (April 4) and six patrons of the Chez Jo Goldenberg restaurant (Aug. 9), Israeli Ambassador to France Meir Rosenne denounced the Palestine Liberation Organization but also blamed countries that legitimize and host PLO operatives and supporters for bringing the wrath of terrorism upon themselves. Rosenne was threatened with expulsion from France, but would not retract.

Have France and other Western governments come to grips with reality? Are they ready to heed Rosenne’s warning and dramatically overhaul their ideological and operational approach to counterterrorism, and realize that draining the hate-education swamps is a prerequisite for eliminating the individual mosquitoes?

Or, are they determined to learn from history by repeating — rather than avoiding — past devastating mistakes, which would condemn them, and the rest of the world, to exponentially more ravaging terrorism?

Categories: Asylum seekers, Europe, Hijrah, Islam, Islam - the religion of war, Islamic invasion, Islamic jihad, Islamic terrorism, Israel, Middle East, Supporting Islamic terrorism
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Comments: Be the first to comment

LIVE: ‘Allah Hu Akbar’: Shooting, Hostage Situation Underway At Radisson Hotel, Mali

November 20, 2015

LIVE: ‘Allah Hu Akbar’: Shooting, Hostage Situation Underway At French Troops’ Radisson Hotel, Mali

By Breitbart London

20 Nov 2015

Source: LIVE: ‘Allah Hu Akbar’: Shooting, Hostage Situation Underway At Radisson Hotel, Mali

Gunmen have taken 170 hostages, killing three so far at the Radisson Blu hotel in Mali’s capital Bamako. The gunmen are reported to be releasing people that can recite verses from the Quran.

Automatic weapon fire was heard from outside the 190-room hotel in the city-centre where security forces have set up a security cordon, according to Agence France Presse. Security sources told AFP the gunmen were “jihadists” who had entered the hotel compound in a car that had diplomatic plates.

“It’s all happening on the seventh floor, jihadists are firing in the corridor,” one security source said.

Malian soldiers, police and special forces were on the scene as a security perimeter was set up, along with members of the UN’s MINUSMA peacekeeping force in Mali and the French troops fighting jihadists in west Africa under Operation Barkhane.

French troops are believed to have been stationed at the hotel.

 

LIVE UPDATES BELOW (GMT):

3:44PM: The French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, earlier made a statement in the French Assembly. His comments were met with applause. He said:

“This morning Bamako, Mali, a country which is resisting jihadism with so much spirit, has been attacked.

“A hostage situation is in progress. I want to express here once again France’s total support for our friends in Mali and Malian democracy.

“We are at their sides yesterday, today and always.”

3:41PM: The BBC has reported how the rescue operation unfolded.

First, Malian security forces, supported by UN troops as well as French and U.S .special forces, set up a cordon. They then entered the hotel and brought out hostages at a rate of one or two roughly every 20 minutes.

As the liberators moved from floor to floor gunfire was heard, with the attackers firing most heavily when the rescuers reached the fifth and seventh floors.

3:35PM: The Malian security minister has announced that the gunmen are “holding no more hostages”, reports AFP. The death toll may have risen to 18.

3:29PM: Besides Mali, at least nine countries have citizens among the hostages — Algeria, Morocco, Germany, Belgium, China, France, India, Turkey and America.

3:23PM: The Malian security minister has listed 89 freed hostages, excluding the six U.S. citizens freed by U.S. Special Forces. It is believed that 43 hostages remain in the building.

3:15PM: The freed hostage who said he heard attackers speaking in English as he hid under his hotel bed — Guinean singer Sakouba ‘Bambino’ Diabate — says the accents were Nigerian, according to Le Monde.

3:10PM: Seven Algerians, six of which are diplomats, and two Russian airline workers are among the freed hostages.

3:01PM: Northern Mali’s Al-Mourabitoun, a group of mostly Tuaregs and Arabs but also Algerians, Tunisians and other nationalities, has claimed responsibility on Twitter. Their claim is as yet unverified.

2:56PM: An Al-Qaeda affiliate group has claimed that they are behind today’s terror attack.

2:54PM: A military spokesman has announced that six U.S. citizens have been freed.

2:52PM: The Indian government confirms all 20 of its citizens have been freed.

2:50PM  French special forces are reported to have arrived at the hotel where an estimated 138 hostages, including 13 staff, are being held by terrorists.

2:44PM: AFP confirms US special forces are helping rescue the hostages, according to Pentagon spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Michelle Baldanza. He said:

“Special Operations Command Forward-North and West Africa personnel are currently assisting hostage recovery efforts at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako.

“US forces have helped move civilians to secured locations, as Malian forces clear the hotel of hostile gunmen.”

2:41PM: The U.S. State Department believes U.S. citizens might be present at the hotel

1:50PM: Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier has reported that two Germans have been released from hotel attack

1:28PM: The hotel has announced an information telephone line for families of potential hostages.

1:26pm: The Indian Embassy in Mali has said all the Indians who had been staying at the Radisson Blu hotel are safe. It had been reported that 20 Indians were hotel guests. An embassy official the BBC:

“They are in a block of the hotel which is slight off the main area. They are employees of a private business enterprise. We are in touch with them.”

1:19pm: US and French troops accompanied Malian forces entering the hotel, Bloomberg is reporting. The news is said to come via a local United Nations official’s e-mail.

1:03PM: 125 guests and 13 staff are reported still to be held hostage, but sources warn the numbers are “fluid”.

12:56PM: Malian journalist Moussa Konda reports security forces told him they were able to free hostages because attackers did not know the hotel layout very well.

12:53PM: There is still confusion over numbers in the siege situation. Hostage numbers are now estimated to have been between 150 to 180 and attackers numbering between two and 13. Turkish, French, Indian, Chinese and Guinean citizens were staying at the hotel which was reported to be 90 per cent occupied.

12:45PM: Amid reports that passengers were told all flights between Paris and the US have been cancelled, flight radar shows an Air France Boeing 777-200 from Paris to San Francisco performing several loops and a u-turn over the English Channel before returning to France, reports The Mirror.

U-turn: The US-bound Air France plane performed several loops over the English Channel.

12:38PM: Reuters reports a freed hostage saying the attackers spoke English before launching the attack, saying “did you load it, let’s go.”

12:18PM: Around 40-50 members of the French counter-terrorist and hostage rescue specialist GIGN anti-terror unit are en route to Mali.

12:14PM: Film footage from inside and outside the hotel recorded by Malian television has been broadcast on Sky News.

12:13PM: Air France confirms 12 of their crew who were in the hotel, two pilots and 10 cabin crew, have been “extracted” from the siege. All Air France flights to Mali have been suspended.

Malian troops take position outside the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako on November 20, 2015.

11:50AM: Images from the siege.

Malian security forces evacuate two women from an area surrounding the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako on November 20, 2015.

Malian troops take position outside the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako on November 20, 2015.

11:40AM: Air France has cancelled a flight to Mali.

11:35AM: An escaped hotel staff member says the attackers have taken the hostages underground to a basement of car parks and storage rooms which is more difficult to access than the upper floors, according to Jeune Afrique.

11:24AM: Aaron Klein at Breitbart Jerusalem points to a possible Mali connection to last week’s Paris attacks.

Last year a well-known jihadi website with ties to al-Qaida called on supporters to carry out lone wolf attacks inside France with focus on soft targets. Significantly, the al Minbar Jihadi Media Network also called for the assassination of President Francois Hollande, who was inside the soccer stadium hit by two suicide bombers during the Paris attacks.

The Al Minbar Jihadi Media Network publishes propaganda for al Qaeda affiliates, including al-Qaeda in the Maghreb. It is particularly active in Mali.

The website said its anti-France posters came in response to French military campaigns in Mali and the Central African Republic, where France has maintained 2,000 soldiers as part of a 6,000-strong African Union peacekeeping mission.

At the time, Hollande responded directly to the threats, saying, “We are extremely vigilant” and “It’s not the first time there are threats.”

The Mali branch of Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb is particularly capable and has international connections. It has been led by Algerian terrorist Mokhtar Belmokhtar, now the strongman of the group Al-Murabitoun.

Belmoktar claimed responsibility for a January 2013 attack on an Algeria gas facility in which at last 39 foreign hostages were killed during a three-day siege.

He has also been connected to the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attack.

11:21AM: The UN’s Minusma taskforce has joined the Mali security services in dealing with the siege.

11:11AM: BBC French Service’s Mamadou Moussa says that a radical Islamist militant leader in Mali had called on his followers to target French interests in the country.

11:08AM: Earlier statement from Chad’s President Idriss Déby Itno:

“There is a new terrorist attack taking place in Mali at the moment. Hostages have been taken at the Radisson hotel – a place everybody knows.

“There are men and women, citizens who are just doing their jobs and have been targeted.

“I condemn in the strongest possible way this barbaric act which has nothing to do with religion.

“I reaffirm our unending support for our brother Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (Mali’s president) and all the people of Mali.

“Nothing is very clear as yet. But we can expect blood and tears.”

11:05AM: Three Turkish airline workers have escaped from the hotel, reports Reuters.

10:57AM: Security services convinced that the attack has been launched by Al Qaeda affiliate Ansar al Dine.

10:46AM: 

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Comments: 4 Comments

1 Dead, Ten Wounded, in Gush Etzion Shooting and Ramming Attacks + Updates.

November 19, 2015

1 Dead, Ten Wounded, in Gush Etzion Shooting and Ramming Attacks

By: Jewish Press News Briefs Published: November 19th, 2015

Source: The Jewish Press » » 1 Dead, Ten Wounded, in Gush Etzion Shooting and Ramming Attacks

The Gush eztion attack area

The Gush eztion attack area
Photo Credit: Courtesy Gush Etzion Regional Council

There were one dead and ten wounded in a shooting and ramming attack on Thursday in Gush Etzion. The IDF reported that an initial inquiry reveals that the terrorist opened fire from a passing vehicle at a shuttle van at the intersection of Alon Shvut, and then carried on towards the Gush Etzion junction — where he collided with a private car. Police and army forces who arrived at the scene shot the terrorist dead.

MDA forces in Gush Etzion junction reported that after resuscitation attempts medics and paramedics determined the death of an 18-year-old on the scene. In addition, the forces provided medical care and evacuated to the Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center a 50-year-old man in very serious condition with a gunshot wound in his upper body. The man was unconscious. Four additional Israelis were lightly injured and evacuated to receive treatment at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.

 

3 killed in Etzion Bloc shooting attack, bringing day’s toll to 5

Palestinian man, young US national said among dead; at least six wounded; 2 attackers detained; earlier, Palestinian man stabs 2 people to death in Tel Aviv

http://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-november-19-2015/

3 killed, including American tourist, in terrorist shooting near Gush Etzion in the West Bank

http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Suspected-terrorist-shooting-at-Gush-Etzion-Junction-in-the-West-Bank-434692

Three people were murdered and seven wounded in a shooting and ramming attack on Thursday in Gush Etzion.

The IDF reported that an initial inquiry reveals that the terrorists opened fire from a passing vehicle at a shuttle van at the intersection of Alon Shvut, and then carried on towards the Gush Etzion junction — where they collided with a private car. Security forces who arrived at the scene shot one terrorist dead.

http://www.jewishpress.com/news/shooting-attack-at-gush-etzion-junction/2015/11/19/

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , , ,

Comments: Be the first to comment

FBI admitted in 2013 that “dozens” of terrorists have already entered the U.S. through refugee program

November 19, 2015

FBI admitted in 2013 that “dozens” of terrorists have already entered the U.S. through refugee program

By Pamela Geller

November 18, 2015

Source: FBI admitted in 2013 that “dozens” of terrorists have already entered the U.S. through refugee program | Pamela Geller

Obama-Middle-FInger

The FBI has 900 ongoing ISIS-related investigations. And now the traitor in the White House wants to bring in at least 200,000 more “refugees,” with untold numbers of jihadis among them. Absolute madness. – See more at: http://pamelageller.com/2015/11/fbi-admitted-in-2013-that-dozens-of-terrorists-have-already-entered-the-u-s-through-refugee-program.html/#sthash.UmeZr62C.dpuf
obama fbi

FBI In 2013: ‘Dozens’ Of Terrorists In US Through Refugee Program,” by Kerry Picket, Daily Caller, November 17, 2015:

WASHINGTON — The FBI told ABC News two years ago the U.S. may have already allowed in “dozens” of terrorists as refugees. The revelation came after two al-Qaida terrorists who were admitted as refugees and lived in Bowling Green, Ky., later said they attacked U.S. military personnel in Iraq.

“We are currently supporting dozens of current counter-terrorism investigations like that,” FBI Agent Gregory Carl, director of the Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center, said in an ABC News interview at the time….

– See more at: http://pamelageller.com/2015/11/fbi-admitted-in-2013-that-dozens-of-terrorists-have-already-entered-the-u-s-through-refugee-program.html/#sthash.UmeZr62C.dpuf

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments: 1 Comment

French PM Manuel Valls Warns Of Risk Of Chemical Attack

November 19, 2015

French PM Warns Of Risk Of Chemical And Biological Attack

by Nick Hallett

19 Nov 2015

Source: French PM Manuel Valls Warns Of Risk Of Chemical Attack

manuel valls

KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP/Getty Images

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has warned that France is at risk of chemical and biological attacks from terrorists, in an address to the French parliament.

“We must not rule anything out,” Mr Valls said. “I say it with all the precautions needed. But we know and bear in mind that there is also a risk of chemical or bacteriological weapons.”

He said that “terrorism hit France, not because of what it is doing in Iraq and Syria… but for what it is.”

“What is new are the ways of operating; the ways of attacking and killing are evolving all the time,” he added.

“The macabre imagination of those giving the orders is unlimited. Assault rifles, beheadings, suicide bombers, knives or all of these at once.”

The BBC reports that Mr Valls also called on Europe to adopt new measures to share information about airline passengers. “More than ever, it’s time for Europe to adopt the text… to guarantee the traceability of movements, including within the union. It’s a condition of our collective security.”

Mr Valls’s comments come as it is reported US intelligence warned French authorities in May that Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the so-called “mastermind” behind the Paris attacks, was involved in plotting an attack.

AP reports that the Office of Intelligence and Analysis said that the plot “may indicate that the group has developed the capability to launch more complex operations in the West,” as opposed to “lone wolf” attacks.

The report identified Abaaoud as the leader of the Belgian plotters and claimed he directed operations from a safe-house in Athens.

It said that although the threat was primarily aimed at Europe, it cautioned that similar attacks could happen in the United States.

“We cannot discount the possibility for potential complex attacks here in the Homeland,” it said.

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , , ,

Comments: Be the first to comment

Qatar and Saudi Arabia ‘have ignited time bomb by funding global spread of radical Islam

November 19, 2015

Qatar and Saudi Arabia ‘have ignited time bomb by funding global spread of radical Islam’ General Jonathan Shaw, Britain’s former Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff, says Qatar and Saudi Arabia responsible for spread of radical Islam

By

10:23PM BST 04 Oct 2014

Source: Qatar and Saudi Arabia ‘have ignited time bomb by funding global spread of radical Islam’ – Telegraph

Read also : Turkey’s Erdoğan urges united Muslim front against terror

https://warsclerotic.wordpress.com/2015/11/19/turkeys-erdogan-urges-united-muslim-front-against-terror/

Gen Jonathan Shaw is a former commander of British forces in Basra

General Shaw told The Telegraph that Qatar and Saudi Arabia were primarily responsible for the rise of Wahhabi Salafism, the extremist Islam that inspires Isil terrorists Photo: EPA

Qatar and Saudi Arabia have ignited a “time bomb” by funding the global spread of radical Islam, according to a former commander of British forces in Iraq.

General Jonathan Shaw, who retired as Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff in 2012, told The Telegraph that Qatar and Saudi Arabia were primarily responsible for the rise of the extremist Islam that inspires Isil terrorists.

The two Gulf states have spent billions of dollars on promoting a militant and proselytising interpretation of their faith derived from Abdul Wahhab, an eighteenth century scholar, and based on the Salaf, or the original followers of the Prophet.

But the rulers of both countries are now more threatened by their creation than Britain or America, argued Gen Shaw. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) has vowed to topple the Qatari and Saudi regimes, viewing both as corrupt outposts of decadence and sin.

So Qatar and Saudi Arabia have every reason to lead an ideological struggle against Isil, said Gen Shaw. On its own, he added, the West’s military offensive against the terrorist movement was likely to prove “futile”.

“This is a time bomb that, under the guise of education, Wahhabi Salafism is igniting under the world really. And it is funded by Saudi and Qatari money and that must stop,” said Gen Shaw. “And the question then is ‘does bombing people over there really tackle that?’ I don’t think so. I’d far rather see a much stronger handle on the ideological battle rather than the physical battle.”

Gen Shaw, 57, retired from the Army after a 31-year career that saw him lead a platoon of paratroopers in the Battle of Mount Longdon, the bloodiest clash of the Falklands War, and oversee Britain’s withdrawal from Basra in southern Iraq. As Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff, he specialised in counter-terrorism and security policy.

All this has made him acutely aware of the limitations of what force can achieve. He believes that Isil can only be defeated by political and ideological means. Western air strikes in Iraq and Syria will, in his view, achieve nothing except temporary tactical success.

When it comes to waging that ideological struggle, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are pivotal. “The root problem is that those two countries are the only two countries in the world where Wahhabi Salafism is the state religion – and Isil is a violent expression of Wahabist Salafism,” said Gen Shaw.

“The primary threat of Isil is not to us in the West: it’s to Saudi Arabia and also to the other Gulf states.”

Both Qatar and Saudi Arabia are playing small parts in the air campaign against Isil, contributing two and four jet fighters respectively. But Gen Shaw said they “should be in the forefront” and, above all, leading an ideological counter-revolution against Isil.

The British and American air campaign would not “stop the support of people in Qatar and Saudi Arabia for this kind of activity,” added Gen Shaw. “It’s missing the point. It might, if it works, solve the immediate tactical problem. It’s not addressing the fundamental problem of Wahhabi Salafism as a culture and a creed, which has got out of control and is still the ideological basis of Isil – and which will continue to exist even if we stop their advance in Iraq.”

Gen Shaw said the Government’s approach towards Isil was fundamentally mistaken. “People are still treating this as a military problem, which is in my view to misconceive the problem,” he added. “My systemic worry is that we’re repeating the mistakes that we made in Afghanistan and Iraq: putting the military far too up front and centre in our response to the threat without addressing the fundamental political question and the causes. The danger is that yet again we’re taking a symptomatic treatment not a causal one.”

Gen Shaw said that Isil’s main focus was on toppling the established regimes of the Middle East, not striking Western targets. He questioned whether Isil’s murder of two British and two American hostages was sufficient justification for the campaign.

“Isil made their big incursion into Iraq in June. The West did nothing, despite thousands of people being killed,” said Gen Shaw. “What’s changed in the last month? Beheadings on TV of Westerners. And that has led us to suddenly change our policy and suddenly launch air attacks.”

He believes that Isil might have murdered the hostages in order to provoke a military response from America and Britain which could then be portrayed as a Christian assault on Islam. “What possible advantage is there to Isil of bringing us into this campaign?” asked Gen Shaw. “Answer: to unite the Muslim world against the Christian world. We played into their hands. We’ve done what they wanted us to do.”

However, Gen Shaw’s analysis is open to question. Even if they had the will, the rulers of Saudi Arabia and Qatar may be incapable of leading an ideological struggle against Isil. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is 91 and only sporadically active. His chosen successor, Crown Prince Salman, is 78 and already believed to be declining into senility. The kingdom’s ossified leadership is likely to be paralysed for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile in Qatar, the new Emir, Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, is only 34 in a region that respects age. Whether this Harrow and Sandhurst-educated ruler has the personal authority to lead an ideological counter-revolution within Islam is doubtful.

Given that Saudi Arabia and Qatar almost certainly cannot do what Gen Shaw believes to be necessary, the West may have no option except to take military action against Isil with the aim of reducing, if not eliminating, the terrorist threat.

“I just have a horrible feeling that we’re making things worse. We’re entering into this in a way we just don’t understand,” said Gen Shaw. “I’m against the principle of us attacking without a clear political plan.”

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments: 1 Comment

Turkey’s Erdoğan urges united Muslim front against terror

November 19, 2015

Turkey’s Erdoğan urges united Muslim front against terror

ISTANBUL – Agence France-Presse

Source: Turkey’s Erdoğan urges united Muslim front against terror – POLITICS

He still dreams of a new ottoman empire !

DHA photo

DHA photo

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Nov. 19 called for a united front by Muslim leaders to fight extremism after the Paris attacks, warning that otherwise jihadists will commit further atrocities.

Erdoğan warned that “calamities will happen again” if the rise of radical Islam is not halted in Europe, after the Paris attacks on Nov. 13 claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group which killed 129 people and suicide bombings in Ankara that left 103 dead in Oct. 10.

“We are at a crossroads in the fight against terrorism after the Paris attacks,” Erdoğan told a meeting of the Atlantic Council think-tank in Istanbul.

“I strongly condemn the terrorists, who believe in the same religion as me, and I am calling on all leaders of Muslim countries to put up a united front,” he said.

“If not, those who knocked on our door in Ankara, will knock on your door elsewhere, as they did in Paris.”
Erdoğan, a pious Muslim whose Justice and Development Party (AKP) spearheaded the rise of political Islam in Turkey, has long angrily dismissed suggestions that Ankara colluded with ISIL in the Syrian civil war.

Turkey has supported rebel groups throughout the over four years of conflict in Syria in the hope they can help oust President Bashar al-Assad from power.

But Erdoğan lashed out at any notion “that all Muslims are terrorists,” saying: “Bad people can be Muslims as well as Christians and Jews.”

“Those who demonise Islam by  looking at Daesh are making a big mistake,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL.

“Daesh has nothing to do with Islam.”

With momentum building after the Paris attacks in the long-stalled bid of the world powers to find a solution for Syria, Erdoğan made clear Turkey would not budge from its insistence that Assad must leave power.

He accused Assad of supporting ISIL — which is ostensibly fighting the Damascus regime — and buying oil from the group.

“You would be blind not see it.”

“The chief reason for the humanitarian crisis and the rise of terrorism in the region today is Assad… Assad is waging state terrorism,” said Erdoğan.

International efforts to find common ground on Syria have so far been thwarted by disputes with Russia, which has long insisted the Syrian people alone should decide the fate of Assad, a Kremlin ally.

Turkey, however, has argued there can be no solution in Syria unless Assad leaves power.

November/19/2015

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments: Be the first to comment

Hollande to tell Obama Europe can’t wait for US war of attrition with ISIS to succeed

November 19, 2015

Hollande to tell Obama Europe can’t wait for US war of attrition with ISIS to succeed

report Published time: 19 Nov, 2015 10:36

Source: Hollande to tell Obama Europe can’t wait for US war of attrition with ISIS to succeed – report — RT News

French President François Hollande is to call for the US to review its strategy in fighting terrorist group Islamic State, arguing that Europe cannot wait for America’s long war of attrition with the jihadists to work, the Guardian reports.
Trends France terror attacks, Russian anti-terror op in Syria

Hollande is to meet US President Barack Obama on Tuesday next week before going to Russia for a visit. The French leader intends to make Obama aware of the extent of damage done to Europe by the developing refugee crisis and the rising threat of terrorist attacks, a European diplomat told the British newspaper.

“The message that we want to send to the Americans is simply that the crisis is destabilizing Europe,”said the diplomat, who did not wish to be named. “The problem is that the attacks in Paris and the refugee crisis show that we don’t have time. There is an emergency.”

The source said that’s the reason why the French president will visit Washington on Tuesday before flying to Moscow.

According to the diplomat, Paris’ position is that the Europeans cannot afford to wait for years for the war of attrition that the US-led coalition is waging on Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in Iraq and Syria, to take effect. There is an impression in Europe that the US doesn’t fully comprehend the urgency of the issue because it doesn’t have to take the bulk of the refugees fleeting Middle East and pouring into Europe in the biggest movement of people since World War II.

Hollande earlier called on the US and Russia, both of which lead a separate effort to eradicate IS, to join forces. Moscow said a broad coalition was needed to defeat the terrorists, but Washington said it would only agree if Russia shared its goals in Syria.

READ MORE: Russian warplanes disrupt ISIS oil sales channels; destroy 500 terrorist oil trucks in Syria

The White House insists that the Syrian conflict can only be resolved if President Bashar Assad steps down.

“Bottom line is, I do not foresee a situation in which we can end the civil war in Syria while Assad remains in power,” Barack Obama told reporters in Manila on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

The Kremlin sees the Syrian government as the most viable force in the country that can provide ground troops to battle terrorist groups. Russia says Assad’s political future should be decided by the Syrian people, but the US insists he should not be part of a political settlement.

The Pentagon on its part wants to rely on “moderate rebel forces” and Kurdish militias to attack terrorists on the ground in Syria. So far the strategy wasn’t effective. Kurds fought IS militants when they attacked Kurd-controlled territories, but are reluctant to go on offensive. The empowerment of Kurdish forces in Iraq and Syria also puts the US-led coalition at odds with NATO member Turkey, which has been fighting Kurdish insurgency for decades.

As for the program to train and arm moderate rebels, it proved to be a failure with the Pentagon reporting in September just a handful of US-prepared soldiers actually fighting IS.

IS strategy has become one of the major campaign issues for the upcoming presidential election in the US. Republican candidates like Jeb Bush and Donald Trump have been criticizing the Obama administration for being too soft on terrorists.

Voices calling for the Obama administration to reconsider its ‘Assad must go’ mantra are coming from intelligence professionals as well.

“I think it’s now crystal clear to us that our strategy, our policy vis-à-vis ISIS is not working and it’s time to look at something else,” former CIA deputy director Michael Morell told CBS. “The question of whether President Assad needs to go or whether he is part of the solution – we must look at it again. Clearly he is part of the problem but he may also be part of the solution. An agreement, where he stays for a while and the Syrian army supported by the coalition takes on ISIS may be give us the best result.”

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Comments: Be the first to comment

The Indonesian Jihad on Christian Churches

November 19, 2015

The Indonesian Jihad on Christian Churches The most “moderate” Muslim country is looking more like ISIS by the day.

November 19, 2015

Raymond Ibrahim

Source: The Indonesian Jihad on Christian Churches | Frontpage Mag

Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center.

Originally published by the Gatestone Institute.

In compliance with Islamic demands, Indonesian authorities in the Aceh region have started to tear down Christian churches. Their move comes after Muslim mobs rampaged and attacked churches. At least one person was killed; thousands of Christians were displaced.

On Friday, October 9, after being fired up during mosque sermons, hundreds of Muslims marched to the local authority’s office and demanded that all unregistered churches in Aceh be closed. Imams issued text messages spurring Muslims from other areas to rise up against churches and call for their demolition.

On Monday, October 12, authorities facilitated a meeting with Islamic leaders and agreed to demolish 10 unregistered churches over the course of two weeks.

Apparently this was not fast enough to meet Muslim demands for immediate action. On the following day, a mob of approximately 700 Muslims, some armed with axes and machetes, torched a local church, even though it was not on the list of churches agreed upon for demolition.

The Muslim mob then moved on to a second church, an act that led to violent clashes. One person, believed to be a Christian, died after being shot in the head. Several were injured, as Christians tried to defend their church against the armed mob.

Approximately 8,000 Christians were displaced; many fled to bordering provinces. Their fears were justified: Islamic leaders continued issuing messages and text messages saying, “We will not stop hunting Christians and burning churches. Christians are Allah’s enemies!”

Instead of punishing those who incited violence and took the law into their own hands by torching and attacking churches, local authorities demolished three churches (a Catholic mission station and two Protestant churches) on October 19. In the coming days, seven more churches are set to be demolished; in the coming months and years, dozens more.

Authorities had originally requested of church leaders to demolish their own churches. “How can we do that?” asked Paima Berutu, one of the church leaders: “It is impossible [for us to take it down] … Some of us watched [the demolition] from afar, man and women. It was painful.”

The situation in Aceh remains tense: “Every church member is guarding his own church right now,” said another pastor.

As for the displaced Christians, many remain destitute, waiting for “desperately needed clean water, food, clothes, baby food, blankets, and medicines.” As Muslim militants were reportedly guarding the border with an order to kill any Christian crossing the line, reaching the displaced Christians is difficult.

Many Muslims and some media try to justify this destruction by pointing out that the churches were in the wrong for not being registered. In reality, however, thanks to Indonesia’s 2006 Joint Decree on Houses of Worship, it is effectively impossible to obtain a church permit. The decree made it illegal for churches to acquire permits unless they can get “signatures from 60 local households of a different faith,” presumably Muslims, as well as “a written recommendation from the regency or municipal religious affairs office” — that is, from the local sheikh and council of Muslim elders, the same people most likely to incite Muslims against Christians and churches during mosque gatherings. Christian activists say there are many mosques that are unregistered and built without permits, but the authorities ignore those infractions.

Others try to justify these recent attacks on churches by pointing out that they took place in Aceh, the only region in Indonesia where Islamic law, or Sharia, is officially authorized, and where, since 2006, more than 1,000 churches have been shut.

Yet in other parts of Indonesia, where Islamic law is not enforced, even fully registered churches are under attack. These include the Philadelphia Protestant Church in Bekasi — nearly 1,500 miles south of Sharia-compliant Aceh. Even though it had the necessary paperwork, it too was illegally shut down in response to violent Muslim protests. On December 25, 2012, when the congregation assembled on empty land to celebrate Christmas, hundreds of Muslims, including women and children, continued to persecute the church-less congregation by throwing rotten eggs, rocks, and plastic bags filled with urine and feces at the Christians. Police stood by and watched.

A church spokesman stated, “We are constantly having to change our location because our existence appears to be unwanted, and we have to hide so that we are not intimidated by intolerant groups. … We had hoped for help from the police, but after many attacks on members of the congregation [including when they privately meet for worship at each other’s homes], we see that the police are also involved in this.”

Bogor is another area where Islamic law is supposedly not enforced. Yet the ongoing saga of the GKI Yasmin Church there illustrates how Islamic law takes precedence over Indonesian law. In 2008, when local Muslims began complaining about the existence of the church, even though it was fully registered, the authorities obligingly closed it. In December 2010, the Indonesian Supreme Court ordered the church to be reopened, but the mayor of Bogor, refusing to comply, kept it sealed off.

Since then, the congregation has been holding Sunday services at the homes of members, and occasionally on the street, to the usual jeers and attacks by Muslim mobs. On Sunday, September 27, the church held its 100th open-air service.

The Indonesian jihad is taking place in varying degrees all throughout the East Asian nation and is not limited to Sharia-compliant zones such as Aceh. The “extremist” behavior one would expect of the Islamic State (ISIS) — hating, attacking, and demolishing churches — is apparently becoming the norm for the country once hailed as the face of “moderate Islam.”

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: , , , , ,

Comments: Be the first to comment

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »