AUUSN 823 Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 War with Isis: 'Go have a drink. Don't pray. It's not Islam. Don't give your life up for nothing,' former militant advises would-be jihadists: "Ghaith stands furtively on a street corner in Tunis, his face masked by a hoodie, his tense eyes scanning the crowd for any hint of Isis militants. He chainsmokes as he describes the indiscriminate killing, the abuse of female recruits, the discomfort of a life where meals were little more than bread and cheese or oil. He recounts the knife held to his throat by fellow fighters who demanded he recite a particular Koranic verse on Islamic warfare to prove himself. “It was totally different from what they said jihad would be like,” said Ghaith, who did not want his whole name used. He eventually surrendered to Syrian soldiers. While foreigners from across the world have joined Isis, some find day-to-day life in Iraq or Syria much more austere and violent than they had expected. These disillusioned new recruits also soon discover that it is a lot harder to leave than to join. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Isis has killed 120 of its members in the past six months, most of them foreign fighters hoping to return home. Even if they manage to get out, former fighters are considered terrorists and security risks in their own countries. Thousands are under surveillance or in jail in North Africa and Europe. “Not everyone who returns is a budding criminal. Not everyone is going to kill – far from it,” said France’s top anti-terror judge, Marc Trevidic. “But it’s probable that there is a small fringe that is capable of just about anything.” The number of French returnees has increased, their enthusiasm dented by the reality of militant life and by the allied bombing campaign. Ghaith went to Syria for jihad to reap what he believed would be the rewards of Paradise. But he was disturbed to see female recruits forced into sex. “They couldn’t say no or they would be killed,” Ghaith said. Several others described the same. Some cited arguments in the camps over whether such treatment was permissible under Islam." http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/war-with-isis-go-have-a-drink-dont-pray-its-not-islam-dont-give-your-life-up-for-nothing-former-militant-advises-wouldbe-jihadists-10021616.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUUSN 823 Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUUSN 823 Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Concerns about Islamic Extremism on the Rise in Middle East Negative Opinions of al Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah Widespread: http://www.pewglobal.org/2014/07/01/concerns-about-islamic-extremism-on-the-rise-in-middle-east/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUUSN 823 Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Here’s What It Will Take to Defeat ISIS Before it Americanizes the conflict, the U.S. should take stock of escalating regional revulsion against the Islamic State. Suicide bombings are a terror tactic frequently associated with the more militant strains of Islam. Might the Islamic State be committing suicide in a more literal sense? ISIS unveiled perhaps its most gruesome video yet, the burning alive of a captured pilot locked helplessly in a cage. His tortured screams, flailing arms, and melting flesh leave an indelible mark on anyone who watches. Yet it’s worth noting the victim is himself a Sunni Muslim, wearing the uniform of a country that is well over 90 percent Muslim, in service of a Muslim king who is now crying out for revenge against the Islamic State. Thousands took to the streets of Jordan’s capital to denounce and protest against ISIS. The Jordanians released jihadi preacher Abu Mohammed al-Maqdesi, who denounced the pilot’s murder as “unacceptable in any religion.” Al-Maqdesi has been described in the press as a “spiritual mentor” to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a brutal former leader of al Qaeda in Iraq. He had been in prison for opposing Jordan’s airstrikes against ISIS. Now he is criticizing the terror group. Even before this latest outrage, a spring 2014 Pew Research Center poll found that Jordanian concern about Islamic extremism in their country had spiked from 54 percent to 62 percent. Pew’s Richard Wike notes, “Early in the last decade, Jordanians expressed relatively high levels of support for suicide bombing and confidence in Osama bin Laden, but this changed after the November 2005 suicide attacks on three hotels in Amman, Jordan’s capital.” These results are consistent with the organization’s polling of other Muslim populations. Islamic radicals frequently enjoy high levels of support from Muslims who view their faith and homeland as being under attack by outsiders. But public opinion changes as the Islamists inevitably start oppressing and killing other Muslims. This is especially true when the Islamists attempt to govern. Palestinian disapproval of Hamas is actually higher in Gaza, where the organization is control, at 63 percent, than in the West Bank, where only 47 percent have an unfavorable view. More than two-thirds of Israeli Arabs hold an unfavorable view of Hamas. The percentage of Pakistani Muslims who told Pew suicide bombings were justified collapsed from 41 percent in 2004 to 3 percent a decade later. At the same time, opposition to Hamas has exploded from 33 percent to 70 percent. All of this may tell us something about how best to confront ISIS, as Congress prepares to weigh an authorization of military force. (The military force is naturally already occurring before the constitutionally required congressional authorization.) The U.S. has an interest in seeing ISIS defeated and preventing vast swathes of Iraq and Syria from becoming like pre-9/11 Afghanistan. But it is possible that too large an American role in the anti-ISIS campaign, one that resembles a return of the occupation of Iraq, may backfire. Islamists feed on their image as dogged fighters against Western occupiers. They alienate local Muslim populations when they try to terrorize and rule. Yes, the matter is complicated. Iran, Hezbollah, and the Shia militias in Iraq are also aligned against ISIS. Perhaps the coalition will fragment along Shiite and Sunni lines. Nor should we mislead ourselves that the growing regional revulsion against Islamist attacks on Muslims signals a widespread acceptance of Western-style liberal values in the Middle East or the broader Muslim world. Americans who see footage of ISIS’s evil deeds and tire of the president’s haughty lectures about the Crusades may lack the “strategic patience” the administration recommends. But we must ask if a re-invasion of Iraq is precisely the war the barbarians of ISIS want and hope to provoke. If it is, then denying them that war as their coreligionists begin to turn against them may be a key to victory. ISIS has succeeded in murdering and terrorizing. When it comes to providing a quality of life the residents of a meaningful nation-state will want to endure, the organization will always fail. We cannot turn a blind eye to ISIS. Neither can we ignore what actually seems to have an actual impact in curtailing ISIS’s support in the Muslim world. http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/heres-what-it-will-take-to-defeat-isis/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icanthearyou 4,462 Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Kurdish forces backed up by US-led air strikes have recaptured territory from Islamic State jihadists near the strategic city of Mosul in northern Iraq, the American military said Monday. The advance is the latest push by Kurdish forces around Mosul, considered a crucial battleground for an eventual major counteroffensive against the IS group by Iraqi government troops and the Kurds. "Security forces from the Kurdish region seized three bridgeheads on the west bank of the Tigris River, north of Mosul in formerly held Daesh (IS) areas," the US military command overseeing the air war said in a statement. It said the assault was backed up by four "precise and effective" air raids by the US-led coalition between Friday and Sunday. (AFP) Find more news-related pictures in our photo galleries and follow us on Tumblr. Question for USN: At some point, will we have to hold the Kurds back? If they advance too far, will it create resentment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUUSN 823 Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Kurdish forces backed up by US-led air strikes have recaptured territory from Islamic State jihadists near the strategic city of Mosul in northern Iraq, the American military said Monday. The advance is the latest push by Kurdish forces around Mosul, considered a crucial battleground for an eventual major counteroffensive against the IS group by Iraqi government troops and the Kurds. "Security forces from the Kurdish region seized three bridgeheads on the west bank of the Tigris River, north of Mosul in formerly held Daesh (IS) areas," the US military command overseeing the air war said in a statement. It said the assault was backed up by four "precise and effective" air raids by the US-led coalition between Friday and Sunday. (AFP) Find more news-related pictures in our photo galleries and follow us on Tumblr. Question for USN: At some point, will we have to hold the Kurds back? If they advance too far, will it create resentment? I really don't think the Peshmerga will advance beyond their own territory. Their goal is to hold back any movement into their territory and protect the oil fields. We have advisors in Irbil to coordinate their actions and the Iraqi Army advance on Mosul in preparation of the Spring initiative to retake that city. Our main concern is the Shia Militia. They are a whole new animal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
japantiger 4,051 Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Just surprised how you and your buddy can be so ignorant on a topic; and still try to pretend you have any idea what you're talking about. You are also both adept at not facing up to questions/statements that expose your ignorance...like above....by trying to deflect to something else. Look, I'm sure there are topic you guys know a lot about; this just happens to not be one of them. So why wouldn't you be mature enough to admit it; or just not way-in? When I am either disinterested or ignorant on a topic; I just don't comment...you guys double down on snark. So, yeah, Momma's boys seems appropriate. While Homer is arguably susceptible to that remark, I've seen no obvious response in any thread where ICHY was. Snark is not is his MO. Well, if you pile onto a snarky quote; then you get snark on you. However, I can see that I could be viewed as unfairly tarring Ichy with the snark brush; so I apologize. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
autigeremt 6,569 Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Kurdish forces backed up by US-led air strikes have recaptured territory from Islamic State jihadists near the strategic city of Mosul in northern Iraq, the American military said Monday. The advance is the latest push by Kurdish forces around Mosul, considered a crucial battleground for an eventual major counteroffensive against the IS group by Iraqi government troops and the Kurds. "Security forces from the Kurdish region seized three bridgeheads on the west bank of the Tigris River, north of Mosul in formerly held Daesh (IS) areas," the US military command overseeing the air war said in a statement. It said the assault was backed up by four "precise and effective" air raids by the US-led coalition between Friday and Sunday. (AFP) Find more news-related pictures in our photo galleries and follow us on Tumblr. Question for USN: At some point, will we have to hold the Kurds back? If they advance too far, will it create resentment? I really don't think the Peshmerga will advance beyond their own territory. Their goal is to hold back any movement into their territory and protect the oil fields. We have advisors in Irbil to coordinate their actions and the Iraqi Army advance on Mosul in preparation of the Spring initiative to retake that city. Our main concern is the Shia Militia. They are a whole new animal. Well stated! The Peshmerga is our greatest ally in the region and in my opinion the most trusted of the bunch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.