Danny Jarman Wrote:If ISIS were the real deal they'd be attacking the Saudi's and Israel
Another CIA mob
Yeah, have to agree with that. No one ever seriously attacks them. Also noted that Saudi Arabia beheaded 17 people last week for non violent crimes including sorcery. Where is the western media baying for blood on that? US and UK still giving this disgusting family weapons.
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
By LOLITA C. BALDOR NEWPORT, Wales (AP) - The U.S. and 10 of its key allies agreed Friday that the Islamic State group is a significant threat to NATO countries and that they will take on the militants by squeezing their financial resources and going after them with military might. With the Islamic State militants spreading across eastern Syria and northern and western Iraq, President Barack Obama noted that the moderate Syrian rebels fighting both the group and the government of Bashar Assad are "outgunned and outmanned." In addition to the action pledged by fellow NATO leaders, he pressed Arab allies to reject the "nihilism" projected by the group..
The new NATO coalition will be able to mount a sustained effort to push back the militants, Obama said. The U.S. secretaries of State and Defense, meeting with their counterparts at the international gathering, insisted the Western nations build a plan by the time the U.N. General Assembly meets this month. "I did not get any resistance or pushback to the basic notion that we have a critical role to play in rolling back this savage organization that is causing so much chaos in the region and is harming so many people and poses a long-term threat to the safety and security of NATO members," Obama said at the summit conclusion. "So there's great conviction that we have to act, as part of the international community, to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL, and that was extremely encouraging."
Laying out a strategy for Iraq, Obama hinted at a broader military campaign, likening it to the way U.S. forces pushed back al-Qaida along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, taking out the group's leadership, shrinking its territory and pounding at its militant followers. To do that, the U.S. used persistent airstrikes, usually by CIA drones.
So far, U.S. airstrikes in Iraq have been largely limited to helping Kurdish forces and protecting refugees. But Obama has set a goal of dismantling and destroying the Islamic State, and said Friday that the U.S. will continue to hunt down the militants just as it did with al-Qaida and with al-Shabab in Somalia.
Secretary of State John Kerry heads to the Middle East next week, and he expects to expand the coalition beyond Western nations. Said Obama: "I think it is absolutely critical that we have Arab states and specifically Sunni-majority states that are rejecting the kind of extremist nihilism that we're seeing out of ISIL, that say that is not what Islam is about and are prepared to join us actively in the fight." The Islamic State group espouses a radical form of Sunni Islam and initially invaded Iraq to fight its Shiite government. "What we can accomplish is to dismantle this network, this force that has claimed to control this much territory, so that they can't do us harm," Obama said. He added that U.S. ground troops in Syria are not needed to accomplish the goal, but instead can work with moderate partners on the ground in the country. "They have been, to some degree, outgunned and outmanned. And that's why it's important for us to work with our friends and allies to support them more effectively," Obama said.
In a meeting with the foreign and defense ministers from the coalition countries, Kerry said leaders need a clear idea about what each country will contribute to the fight. And, while noting that many won't be willing to engage in military strikes, he said they can instead provide intelligence, equipment, ammunition or weapons. "We very much hope that people will be as declarative as some of our friends around the table have been in order to be clear about what they're willing to commit, because we must be able to have a plan together by the time we come to (the United Nations General Assembly)," said Kerry. "We need to have this coalesce."
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, sitting alongside Kerry, said the group forms a loose coalition that will be needed to face the insurgent challenge. He said the group can then be expanded. Along with the United States, the coalition comprises the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Germany, Canada, Turkey, Italy, Poland and Denmark. Later, French President Francois Hollande said France was discussing with allies what type of action might be taken. "France is ready to act, but once the political accord is there and in respect to international law," Hollande said. A senior Obama administration official said Thursday that the U.S. wanted to establish a credible ground force in Syria by training more moderate rebels before taking military action there. A $500 million request is pending in Congress.
One prong of a Western coalition approach would be for the nations' law enforcement and intelligence agencies to work together to go after the Islamic State's financing - both in banks and more informal funding networks. But as long as the Islamic State has access to millions of dollars a month in oil revenue, it will remain well-funded, U.S. intelligence officials say. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said NATO has agreed to help coordinate assistance to Iraq. And he said NATO would consider putting together a mission to train and increase the capabilities of the Iraqi forces. NATO did training during the Iraq war. NATO also agreed to increase cooperation among nations on sharing information about foreign fighters. A number of nations, including the U.S., have noted that radicalized citizens have been traveling to Syria and Iraq to fight, raising alarms that they could return to their home countries and launch attacks.
Denmark's Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard said the effort against the militants "is not only about a military effort, it is also about stopping the financial contributions to ISIS, to coordinate intelligence, it is about stopping foreign fighters, young people from our own societies. It is decisive that we get more countries along."
"All that is necessary for tyranny to succeed is for good men to do nothing." (unknown)
James Tracy: "There is sometimes an undue amount of paranoia among some conspiracy researchers that can contribute to flawed observations and analysis."
Gary Cornwell (Dept. Chief Counsel HSCA): "A fact merely marks the point at which we have agreed to let investigation cease."
Alan Ford: "Just because you believe it, that doesn't make it so."
By LOLITA C. BALDOR NEWPORT, Wales (AP) - The U.S. and 10 of its key allies agreed Friday that the Islamic State group is a significant threat to NATO countries and that they will take on the militants by squeezing their financial resources and going after them with military might. ...
If they were really serious about dealing with ISIS they'd close the border between NATO Turkey and Syria. They haven't and they're not. They'd stop funnelling arms through there to the 'moderates' fighting against Syria.
ISTANBUL, Turkey - As ISIS has grown, it's used neighboring Turkey, a key U.S. ally, as its staging ground.
For three years, the Turkish government has allowed fighters to stream across its borders into Syria, driven by its desire to topple Syria's dictator, Bashar Al-Assad.
In 2012, CBS News interviewed Mahmoud, a bulldozer salesman from Atlanta, Georgia who returned to his homeland to join the battle against the Syrian regime.
[URL="http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/obama-u-s-mission-to-degrade-and-destroy-isis"]
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"We come in and out," he said at the time. "The Turkish they are closing eyes, when we cross."
Islamic extremists also took advantage of the Turkish turning a blind eye.
In December, CBS News filmed men crossing illegally into the war zone in broad daylight.
Many militants have been treated in Turkish hospitals, and set up safe houses in Turkish border towns. For three years, the Turkish government has allowed fighters to stream across its borders into Syria.
CBS News
And in a Turkish government refugee camp two years ago CBS News met Syrian men who said they regularly crossed back into Syria to fight, and wanted to establish an Islamic state.
The Turkish government says it's never helped ISIS, and considers it to be a terrorist group.
But Hursit Gunes, a member of Turkey's opposition, claims his government has allowed ISIS to flourish because it prefers the group to the Syrian regime.
He even accuses the Turkish authorities of ignoring the militants' lucrative oil smuggling business on Turkey's border.
"That money could be stopped," said Gunes. "The money they get from smuggling could be stopped if the Turkish government and the neighbor countries had decided that they shouldn't get a coin."
A Turkish government official told CBS News 6,000 foreigners are now banned from Turkey because of fears they could slip across the border to fight with ISIS in Syria or Iraq. But he also said that Turkey has a 500-mile-long border with Syria, and it's simply impossible to stop everyone who wants to join the cause of the Islamic extremists.
Meanwhile newspapers from the UAE (whose government amongst others funds ISIS) wax lyrical about the Islamic State. Just don't mind the beheadings too much. Or the stoning. Or the complete lack of human rights. And just forget that there was a fully functioning state there before the US let the jackals onto Syria.
Quote:In Raqqa, ISIL governs with fear and efficiency
Mariam Karouny September 4, 2014 Updated: September 6, 2014 02:40 PM
BEIRUT // In the cities and towns across north-east Syria, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant has insinuated itself into nearly every aspect of daily life.
The group known for its beheadings, crucifixions and mass executions provides electricity and water, pays salaries, controls traffic, and runs nearly everything from bakeries and banks to schools, courts and mosques.
While its merciless battlefield tactics and its imposition of its austere vision of Islamic law have won the group headlines, residents say much of its power lies in its efficient and often deeply pragmatic ability to govern.
Syria's eastern province of Raqqa provides the best illustration of their methods. Members hold up the province as an example of life under the Islamic "caliphate" they hope will one day stretch from China to Europe.
In the provincial capital, a dust-blown city that was home to about a quarter of a million people before Syria's three-year-old war began, the group leaves almost no institution or public service outside of its control.
"Let us be honest, they are doing massive institutional work. It is impressive," one activist from Raqqa who now lives in a border town in Turkey said.
In interviews conducted remotely, residents, ISIL fighters and even activists opposed to the group described how it had built up a structure similar to a modern government in less than a year under its chief, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi.
The group's progress has alarmed regional and Western powers - the UAE on Wednesday called on a clear strategy from the international coumminty to fight ISIL, saying the group "aims to kill, terrorise and displace civilians, ransack property, and demolish historic and religious sites".
The fight against ISIL will take a group effort as it has embedded itself so thoroughly into the fabric of life in places like Raqqa that it will be all but impossible for US aircraft - let alone Iraqi, Syrian and Kurdish troops - to uproot them through force alone.
Last year, Raqqa became the first city to fall to the rebels fighting to overthrow Bashar Al Assad. They called it the "Bride of the Revolution".
A variety of rebel groups ranging from hardline Islamists to religious moderates held sway in the city, although Islamists clearly dominated. Within a year, ISIL had clawed its way into control, mercilessly eliminating rival insurgents.
Activists critical of the group were killed, disappeared, or escaped to Turkey. Alcohol was banned. Shops closed by afternoon and streets were empty by nightfall. Communication with the outside world, including nearby cities and towns, was allowed only through the ISIL media centre.
Those rebels and activists who stayed largely "repented", a process through which they pledge loyalty to Al Baghdadi and are forgiven for their "sins" against the ISIL, and either kept to their homes or joined the group's ranks.
But after the initial crackdown, the group began setting up services and institutions - stating clearly that it intended to stay and use the area as a base.
"We are a state," one commander in the province said. "Things are great here because we are ruling based on God's law."
Some Sunnis who worked for Mr Al Assad's government stayed on after they pledged allegiance to the group.
"The civilians who do not have any political affiliations have adjusted to the presence of ISIL, because people got tired and exhausted, and also, to be honest, because they are doing institutional work in Raqqa," a Raqqa resident opposed to ISIL said.
Since then, the group "has restored and restructured all the institutions that are related to services," including a consumer protection office and the civil judiciary, the resident said.
In the past month alone, ISIL fighters have broadcast images of themselves beheading US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff as well as captive Kurdish and Lebanese soldiers, and machine-gunning scores of Syrian prisoners wearing nothing but their underwear.
But the group's use of violence has not been entirely indiscriminate. The group has often traded with businessmen loyal to Mr Al Assad when it has suited its interests, for instance.
According to one fighter, a former Assad employee is now in charge of mills and distributing flour to bakeries in Raqqa. Employees at the Raqqa dam, which provides the city with electricity and water, have remained in their posts.
The group's willingness to use former Assad employees displays a pragmatism residents and activists say has been vital to its success holding onto territory it has captured.
They have been helped by experts who have come from countries including in North Africa and Europe. The man Al Baghdadi appointed to run and develop Raqqa's telecoms, for instance, is a Tunisian with a doctorate in the subject who left Tunisia to join the group.
Reflecting ISIL's assertion that it is a government - rather than simply a militant group that happens to govern - Al Baghdadi has also separated military operations from civilian administration, assigning fighters only as police and soldiers.
Instead, Al Baghdadi has appointed civilian deputies called walis, an Islamic term describing an official similar to a minister, to manage institutions and develop their sectors.
Administrative regions are divided into waliyehs, or provinces, which sometimes align with existing divisions but, as with the case of the recently established Al Furat province, can span national boundaries.
Fighters and employees receive a salary from a department called the Muslim Financial House, which is something like a finance ministry and a bank that aims to reduce poverty.
Fighters receive housing, including in homes confiscated from non-Sunnis or from government employees who fled the area, as well as about US$400 (Dh1,470) to $600 per month, enough to pay for a basic lifestyle.
One fighter said poor families were given money. A widow may receive $100 for herself and for each child she has.
Prices are also kept low. Traders who manipulate prices are punished, warned and shut down if they are caught again.
The group has also imposed Islamic taxes on wealthy traders and families.
"We are only implementing Islam, zakat is an Islamic tax imposed by God," said a militant in Raqqa.
Analysts estimate that ISIL also raises tens of millions of dollars by selling oil from the fields it controls in Syria and Iraq to Turkish and Iraqi businessmen and by collecting ransoms for hostages it has taken.
Posted: 09/09/2014 12:10 am EDT Updated: 09/09/2014 12:59 am EDT
Steven Sotloff, the American journalist murdered by Islamic State militants last week, was sold to the terrorist organization by supposedly moderate rebels in Syria, a family spokesman told CNN on Monday night.
"For the first time, we can say Steven was sold at the border. Steven's name was on a list that he had been responsible for the bombing of a hospital," Barak Barfi said on "Anderson Cooper 360." "This was false, activists spread his name around."
"We believe that these so-called moderate rebels that people want our administration to support, one of them sold him probably for something between $25,000 and $50,000 to ISIS, and that was the reason he was captured," Barfi told Cooper.
Barfi credited "sources on the ground" for providing the information, including details of the capture.
"Somebody at the border crossing made a phone call to ISIS and they set up a fake checkpoint with many people and Steven and his people that he went in with could not escape," he said.
Barfi also described relations between the Sotloff family and the Obama administration as "strained," and railed against what he called "inaccurate statements" put out by the U.S. government.
"We know that the intelligence community and the White House are enmeshed in a larger game of bureaucratic infighting and Jim and Steve are pawns in this game and that's not fair and if there continues to be leaks the Sotloff family will have to speak out to set the record straight," he said.
"Jim" refers to James Foley, an American photojournalist also murdered by Islamic State militants. Islamic State is sometimes referred to as ISIS or ISIL.
Both Foley and Sotloff were beheaded by the terrorists, who released videos of the killings online.
See the full interview in the clip above.
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
As Turkey Refuses To Join "Anti-ISIS" Coalition, John Kerry Comes Begging
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 09/12/2014 08:23 -0400
It appears the 'broad coalition' that President Obama so confidently described just two days ago is crumbling faster than the Iraqi army. First UK and Germany deny support for airstrikes in Syria and now Turkey refuses to allow a U.S.-led coalition to attack jihadists in neighboring Iraq and Syria from its air bases, nor will it take part in combat operations against militants, a government official. US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Ankara this morning to 'build the coalition' but, as AFP reports, Turkish officials have already made their position clear, "Turkey will not be involved in any armed operation but will entirely concentrate on humanitarian operations." Their 'excuse': "our hands and arms are tied because of the hostages," but follows PM Erdogan's recent shunning of Obama.
US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Ankara Friday for talks aimed at building a coalition against Islamic State jihadists, a visit that comes after Turkey said it would not allow its air bases to be used for strikes on the extremists.
The top US diplomat, touring the Middle East to establish a coalition of more than 40 countries, is to meet with Turkey's leaders including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks on measures to defeat the militants in Iraq and Syria.
Turkey, a NATO member and Washington's key ally in the region, is reluctant to take part in combat operations against Islamic State militants, or allow a US-led coalition to attack jihadists from its territory.
On the eve of the visit, a Turkish official told AFP: "Our hands and arms are tied because of the hostages."
The official added that Turkey will "not be involved in any armed operation but will entirely concentrate on humanitarian operations."
IS militants hold 49 Turks hostage, including diplomats and children, abducted from the Turkish consulate in Mosul in Iraq in June.
Turkey is the only Muslim country in a coalition of 10 countries who agreed to fight ISIS at the NATO summit in Newport.
Turkey can open Incirlik Air Base in the south for logistical and humanitarian operations in any U.S.-led operation, according to the official who stressed that the base would not be used for lethal air strikes.
"Turkey will not take part in any combat mission, nor supply weapons," he said.
* * * This is not an entire surprise given Erdogan's shunning of Obama and the decision echoes the country's refusal to allow the U.S. to station 60,000 troops in Turkey in 2003 to invade Iraq from the north, which triggered a crisis between the two allies.
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx
"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
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For three years, the Turkish government has allowed fighters to stream across its borders into Syria.