Iraq crisis: Cameron warns of possible IS threat to UK

Islamic State militants could grow strong enough to target people on the streets of Britain unless action is taken, David Cameron has warned.
The PM, writing in the Sunday telegraph, said a "humanitarian response" to IS was not enough and a "firm security response" was needed.
It comes as Church leaders expressed concern that the UK had no "coherent" approach to tackling Islamic extremism.
IS has seized large parts of northern Iraq and Syria over the summer.
Kurdish forces, supported by US air strikes, are currently battling to retake Mosul dam from IS fighters in northern Iraq.
There are also continuing reports of massacres of non-Muslims by the extreme Sunni group, which is seeking to build a new Islamic state spanning Iraq and Syria.
'Terrorist state'Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Cameron said: "True security will only be achieved if we use all our resources - aid, diplomacy, our military prowess - to help bring about a more stable world.
"If we do not act to stem the onslaught of this exceptionally dangerous terrorist movement, it will only grow stronger until it can target us on the streets of Britain."
He warned that if IS was able to "carve out its so-called caliphate", the UK would be "facing a terrorist state on the shores of the Mediterranean and bordering a Nato member".

David Cameron warned of the possibility of a "terrorist state" on the shores of the Mediterranean

The UK has made aid drops to people stranded in northern Iraq but the prime minister warned a "broader political, diplomatic and security response" was needed, in addition to humanitarian action.
"We need a firm security response, whether that is military action to go after the terrorists, international co-operation on intelligence and counter-terrorism or uncompromising action against terrorists at home," he wrote.
The prime minister suggested that anyone walking around in the UK with an Islamic state flag should be arrested.
Mr Cameron also made clear that he did not see this as a "war on terror" but as "a battle between Islam on the one hand and extremists who want to abuse Islam on the other".

The Yazidis are among the non-Muslims being targeted by IS

Analysis: Robin Brant, BBC political correspondentThe language is very strong - "a battle against a poisonous ideology" - and the warning is stark - "a terrorist state on the shores of the Mediterranean" - as the prime minister seeks to make the case for Britain returning to Iraq.
After a week that has seen UK military aircraft drop humanitarian aid, David Cameron makes it clear that alone is not enough to defeat IS. He talks repeatedly about Britain using its "military prowess" and military action, alongside diplomacy, to defeat the group.
The talk is tough, but Downing Street insists this is not an escalation. The Ministry of Defence has been reminding people that the UK has played no role in supporting the latest round of US air strikes on IS targets across northern Iraq.
The prime minister's message is as much about home as well as abroad. People walking around with an Islamic State flag "will be arrested", he says. That is a nod to the growing concern about Britons who have gone to fight jihad, in Syria or Iraq, returning home with the intention of carrying on the struggle.

Mr Cameron's remarks come as the Bishop of Leeds warned "many" senior clergy in the Church of England were seriously concerned about Britain's approach to the handling of the Iraq crisis.
The Right Rev Nicholas Baines has written to Mr Cameron asking about the government's overall strategy in response to the humanitarian situation and to IS.
"Behind this question is the serious concern that we do not seem to have a coherent or comprehensive approach to Islamist extremism as it is developing across the globe," he wrote, in a letter published on his website and backed by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
He criticised an "increasing silence" about the plight of tens of thousands of persecuted Christians in Iraq, and questioned whether they would be offered asylum in the UK.

'Plotting attacks'Earlier this year, Mr Cameron warned that fighters from IS - then named Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis) - were plotting terror attacks against the UK.
It is estimated the group has up to 400 recruits from the UK.
Downing Street also said 65 people suspected of Syria-related jihadist activities had been arrested during an 18-month period - including 40 in the first quarter of this year.
In late June this year, IS declared that it had created a caliphate, or Islamic state, stretching from Aleppo in Syria to the province of Diyala in Iraq.
IS-led violence has so far driven an estimated 1.2 million Iraqis from their homes.
Whole communities of Yazidis and Christians have been forced to flee in the north, along with Shia Iraqis, whom IS do not regard as true Muslims.

PM: Our generational struggle against a poisonous ideology

Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, David Cameron warns of terrorist caliphate on the shores of the Mediterranean if Islamic State succeeds

The Prime Minister says the world cannot turn a blind eye to the creation of an extremist caliphate in the heart of Iraq













The West is embroiled in a generational struggle against a poisonous brand of Islamic extremism that will bring terror to the streets of Britain unless urgent action is taken to defeat it, David Cameron warns today.

Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, the Prime Minister says the world cannot turn a blind eye to the creation of an extremist caliphate in the heart of Iraq.

Warning that Islamic State fighters already control thousands of square miles of territory, Mr Cameron says that if these “warped and barbaric” extremists are not dealt with now, they will create a “terrorist state” on the shores of the Mediterranean.

He warns that Britain will have to use its “military prowess” to help defeat “this exceptionally dangerous” movement, or else terrorists with “murderous intent” will target people in Britain.

The Prime Minister says he fears the struggle will last “the rest of my political lifetime”.


“The creation of an extremist caliphate in the heart of Iraq and extending into Syria is not a problem miles away from home. Nor is it a problem that should be defined by a war 10 years ago. It is our concern here and now,” he says.
“Because if we do not act to stem the onslaught of this exceptionally dangerous terrorist movement, it will only grow stronger until it can target us on the streets of Britain. We already know that it has the murderous intent.”
In his article, Mr Cameron says Britain and the West need a firm security response to the crisis in Iraq and that fighters from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) cannot simply be removed by air strikes alone.




He says this must involve military action to go after the terrorists themselves, but also stresses that the Government must take uncompromising action against extremists in Britain trying to recruit fighters for jihad abroad. The Prime Minister discloses that the Government has already taken down 28,000 pieces of terrorist related material from the web, including 46 Isil videos.



He says he has also discussed the issue with Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, and pledges that anyone caught trying to recruit people in Britain – or anyone flying the black flag of Islamic State, as happened in east London earlier this month – will be arrested.



“The position is clear. If people are walking around with Isil flags or trying to recruit people to their terrorist cause they will be arrested and their materials will be seized,” he says.



“We are a tolerant people, but no tolerance should allow the room for this sort of poisonous extremism in our country.”



Last night, the Bishop of Leeds released a letter he had sent to Mr Cameron describing British policy on Islamic extremism as not “coherent or comprehensive”.


The Right Rev Nicholas Baines, who claimed to have the support of the Archbishop of Canterbury, said that he remained “very concerned about the government’s response to several issues” and poses questions to the Prime Minster about his policy towards Iraq and Syria. In the letter, published on his blog, the bishop writes of his “serious concern that we do not seem to have a coherent or comprehensive approach” towards groups such as the Islamic State, Boko Haram in Nigeria and other extremist groups.


A Lambeth Palace source told The Sunday Telegraph that while the Archbishop of Canterbury “supports the bishop posing these questions,” he also acknowledged the “major difficulties” faced by the Government in tackling extremism and called on people to pray for the government.


In his article, the Prime Minister lays bare his alarm at how the crisis in Iraq threatens European security, Mr Cameron says the first Isil-inspired terrorist acts on the continent of Europe have already taken place.


“We are in the middle of a generational struggle against a poisonous and extremist ideology which I believe we will be fighting for the rest of my political lifetime,” he says. “We face in Isil a new threat that is single-minded, determined and unflinching in pursuit of its objectives.


“Already it controls not just thousands of minds, but thousands of square miles of territory, sweeping aside much of the boundary between Iraq and Syria to carve out its so-called caliphate. It makes no secret of its expansionist aims.



“Even today it has the ancient city of Aleppo firmly within its sights. And it boasts of its designs on Jordan and Lebanon, and right up to the Turkish border. If it succeeded we would be facing a terrorist state on the shores of the Mediterranean and bordering a Nato member.”



Mr Cameron made his comments as the Ministry of Defence disclosed that Britain had deployed a spy plane as part of humanitarian efforts in Iraq. The MoD confirmed that the intelligence-gathering Rivet Joint aircraft had carried out several flights over areas in the north of country which have been targeted by advancing Islamist extremists.



It emerged last week that Britain was considering joining France and several eastern European countries and arming Kurdish forces in Iraq to help them fight Islamic State militants. In his article, Mr Cameron discloses that he is considering sending body armour and specialist counter-explosive equipment to the Kurds.



Britain will also appoint a British representative to the region who will be based in the country and be able to have daily face-to-face contact with the people there, the Prime Minister says.


He adds that Britain will also use next month’s Nato summit in Wales and press for more action in the United Nations to “help rally support across the international community” for the Kurdish people, who have been fighting the Islamic State extremists in northern Iraq. The move to supply arms directly will inevitably be seen as a further risk that Britain will be drawn more into the conflict.



But Mr Cameron rules out deploying troops to Iraq, making clear that the crisis is not “a problem that should be defined by a war 10 years ago”. However, while he says this is not the “War on Terror” or a religious war, it is a struggle for “decency” and ‘tolerance” and Britain’s future prosperity.


“I agree that we should avoid sending armies to fight or occupy, but we need to recognise that the brighter future we long for requires a long term plan for our security as well as one for our economy,” he says.


“True security will only be achieved if we use all our resources – aid, diplomacy, our military prowess – in helping to achieve a more stable world. In today’s world, so immediately interconnected as it is, we cannot turn a blind eye and assume that there will not be a cost for us if we do.”


Mr Cameron adds: “This is a clear danger to Europe and to our security. It is a daunting challenge.


“But it is not an invincible one, as long as we are now ready and able to summon up the political will to defend our own values and way of life with the same determination, courage and tenacity as we have faced danger before in our history. That is how much is at stake here: we have no choice but to rise to the challenge.”


Mr Cameron also discloses that Britain is looking at leading talks with Iran to control the destabilising threat of Islamic State fighters in the region. He says Britain has to “work with countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the UAE, Egypt and Turkey and perhaps even with Iran” against this “shared threat”. “I want Britain to play a leading role in this diplomatic effort,” he says.

[SUP]Yazidi refugees fill bottles at the Newroz camp in the Hasaka province, Syria (AFP)[/SUP]
The crisis in Iraq was highlighted by reports on Saturday that up to 80 Yazidis were killed by Islamic State fighters in the biggest massacre of the Iraqi minority in the jihadists’ brutal campaign.


Kurdish and Yazidi sources reported that dozens of people in the village of Kocho, located about 15 miles from Sinjar city, had been summarily executed by jihadists after they refused to “convert to Islam”.


Hoshyar Zebari, a senior Iraqi official who said he had spoken to witnesses from the scene, said that the jihadists had “committed a massacre”.


In his article, Mr Cameron admits that he is sympathetic with people who are wary about Britain becoming more involved in the country.


He says: “After a deep and damaging recession, and our involvement in long and difficult conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is hardly surprising that so many people say to me when seeing the tragedies unfolding on their television screens, ‘Yes, let’s help with aid, but let’s not get any more involved.’

“I agree that we should avoid sending armies to fight or occupy. But we need to recognise that the brighter future we long for requires a long-term plan for our security as well as for our economy. True security will only be achieved if we use all our resources – aid, diplomacy, our military prowess – to help bring about a more stable world.

“Today, when every nation is so immediately interconnected, we cannot turn a blind eye and assume that there will not be a cost for us if we do.”


A fresh consignment of British aid was flown to Iraqis fleeing the advance of the extremists amid reports of another massacre of religious minorities late last week.

The US said its drones had destroyed two armoured vehicles reported by Kurdish leaders as being used by Islamic State forces to attack civilians near Sinjar.

Last week, the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved a resolution designed to choke off the terrorists’ funding and recruitment. It also imposed sanctions including a travel ban and an asset freeze on six prominent extremists and warned that action could be taken against anyone held responsible for aiding the cause.

Sir Mark Lyall Grant, Britain’s UN ambassador, said the resolution represented a “comprehensive rejection” of Islamic State.

But he said it was only a first step and urged the international community to be “resolved, active and creative in considering what further measures should be taken to tackle this terrorist scourge”.

Nadhim Zahawi, a Conservative MP who was visiting northern Iraq late last week, said that Islamic State fighters had been caught carrying a season ticket for Liverpool Football Club and a gym card from Ealing.

He said that local forces estimated that between “500 and 750 fighters have joined the Islamic caliphate from the United Kingdom”.

Rory Stewart MP, the Tory chairman of the defence select committee who was also in Iraq, said Islamic State was now a “significant threat”.

He added: “We have been complacent. This has been developing a long time. In some ways these people have been in Mosul for two and a half years and we worked up to it about two and a half months ago.

“We ignored them when they were developing in eastern Syria, we ignored them when they took Fallujah in January.

“This is a huge and growing problem and some of those people are very, very clear in every interview they give that they want to come back and do jihad elsewhere.”

Islamic State Militants Execute 700 People from Syrian Tribe
The Islamic State militant group has executed 700 members of the al-Sheitaat tribe it has been battling in eastern Syria during the past two weeks, the majority of them civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday. Reliable sources reported beheadings were used to execute many of the tribe. An activist in Deir al-Zor said that 300 men were executed in one day in the town of Ghraneij. (Reuters)


Islamic State Fighters Kill 84 Yazidi Villagers
Islamic State militants in Iraq on Friday killed 84 men and detained more than 300 women in the Yazidi village of Kocho, Yazidis and Kurdish officials said Saturday, following a week-long siege in which the IS demanded that residents convert to Islam or face death. (Washington Post)

REALLY hate these cocksuckers. Fucking Pieces of Subhuman Shit!

[h=1]Iraq crisis: Mosul dam recaptured from militants - Obama[/h]
Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and Iraqi troops have retaken Mosul dam from Islamic State (IS) militants, US President Barack Obama has said.
Mr Obama said the US helped in the operation. Air strikes targeted IS around the dam, Iraq's largest.
He said the move was a "major step forward", and the US had begun a long-term strategy to defeat the militants.
The statement followed Iraqi claims that the dam had been "fully cleansed", but IS said it was still in control.
Separately, Pope Francis said action to stop IS attacking religious minorities should be agreed by the UN.
He said intervention should not be carried out by "one nation alone".
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US President Barack Obama says IS militants are "a threat to all Iraqis and the entire region"

BBC Rome correspondent Alan Johnston says that up until now the Pope has taken a resolutely pacifist view, but on this occasion he seemed a little less emphatic in his opposition to a more muscular approach.
Christians have been among religious groups persecuted by IS since the militants captured a swathe of north-western Iraq.
The Pope said he was considering a visit to the region to show solidarity with its Christians.

At the scene: Paul Wood, BBC News, near the Mosul DamWe drove towards the dam, following a path cleared by the Kurdish forces. Until a few days ago, the road, and the villages either side were in the hands of Islamic State. There were several burnt-out vehicles and blackened buildings, evidence of the fighting, and that the jihadists did not leave easily.
We reached a Kurdish forward artillery position. The jihadists were just two miles (3km) away from the battery, the soldiers said. They fired a Grad rocket launcher to push them back still further.
A plume of smoke of the horizon was a village burning, set alight by the jihadists as they retreated, a Kurdish special forces officer told me. He was confident they had Islamic State was on the run. Shortly after he told us this, a mortar shell came in, landing about 50m (160ft) away in the soft earth.
"Don't worry, they're running out of ammunition," said the officer. Five minutes later, another round landed. We decided to leave.
Still, the Kurds are making progress - assisted by American air power overhead. The fight for the city of Mosul itself will, of course, be much, much harder. And the Mosul dam is just one of many battlefronts against Islamic State throughout Iraq.

Air strikes against IS positions appeared to continue on Monday

Kurdish officials said Islamic State fighters had put up stiff resistance, slowing the Peshmerga's advance

The US has said its deployment of air power in support of the Kurdish forces will be limited
'Long-term strategy'Speaking to journalists on his return from holiday, Mr Obama praised the joint operation to recapture the dam, saying that if it had been breached it could have had catastrophic consequences.
The mission had also demonstrated that Iraqi and Kurdish forces were capable of working together, and they had "performed with courage and determination".
He said that the US had provided urgent assistance to the Iraqi forces, and air strikes had stopped the militant advance.
"We will continue to pursue a long-term strategy to turn the tide against [the militants] by supporting the new Iraqi government and working with key partners in the region," he said.
The dam, captured by IS on 7 August, is located on the River Tigris about 50km (30 miles) upstream from the city of Mosul.
It controls the water and power supply to a large surrounding area in northern Iraq.
Earlier, Kurdish officials said the Peshmerga had recaptured most of the area around the dam, but still had more to do to achieve full control.
They said IS fighters had put up stiff resistance, and had planted many roadside bombs and other explosive devices, which their special forces were now trying to clear.
US bombers, fighter jets and unmanned drones carried out a total of 25 air strikes over the weekend, with 15 more on Monday.
On Monday, the UK said its mission in Iraq would be stepped up to go beyond the provision of humanitarian aid.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the mission could last for months and now involved the transport of ammunition and weapons from third countries to the Peshmerga.
The BBC's Jim Muir, who is in the northern city of Irbil, says Kurdish forces are planning to advance eastwards from the Mosul dam to the plains of Nineveh and westwards towards Sinjar.
Thousands of members of the Yazidi religious minority were forced to flee Sinjar when jihadists overran the town two weeks ago, prompting an international aid operation and helping to trigger the US air strikes.

[h=1]Pope Francis, ISIS, and the Last Crusade[/h]by Christopher Dickey, Daily Beast

Is the Pontiff of Peace advocating war? No, but the self-proclaimed “Caliph” Ibrahim wants his fight to be a true holy war on both sides, and his strategy seems to be succeeding.


Pope Francis is walking a knife edge—or perhaps, better said, the blade of a crusaders’ sword—as he tries to mobilize support for Christians and other minorities victimized by the ferocious partisans of the so-called Islamic state.


“Where there is an unjust aggression I can only say that it is legitimate to stop the unjust aggressor,” he told reporters throwing questions at him on the plane as he returned from South Korea to the Vatican on Monday.


“I underscore the verb ‘to stop,’” he told them. “I am not saying ‘bomb’ or ‘make war,’ but ‘stop him.’ The means by which he can be stopped must be evaluated. Stopping the aggressor is legitimate.”


The “him,” the “aggessor” in this case is the self-anointed “caliph” whose forces, formerly called ISIS, now dominate swathes of Syria and Iraq, and this is just the kind of reaction he’s been hoping for.


The crucifixions, the beheadings and the mass executions of men, the kidnapping of women to be sold as wife-slaves to so-called holy warriors, the destruction of ancient civilizations and cultures, from Assyrian statues to Yazidi villages, and the systematic intimidation, extortion, and murder of Christians—all have a purpose that can no longer be ignored:


Caliph Ibrahim, as he calls himself, wants to provoke a 21st century crusade against his Islamic State. He wants to force his enemies into a religious war arousing atavistic instincts rooted in the Middle Ages—the great glory days of Islam—that linger in the hearts of many Muslims around the world. And by every indication he is succeeding.


With each American bomb that falls and each drone that flies over the territories the caliph has conquered, he comes a little closer to that goal. Perhaps there really is no choice. As Hilaire Belloc, a poet, satirist, Catholic historian, and author of a book on the Crusades once wrote in his couplet “The Pacifist”: “Pale Ebenezer thought it wrong to fight, / But Roaring Bill (who killed him) thought it right.”


Certainly in recent days desperate men of the cloth, including some of the highest officials in the Catholic and Anglican churches, have played into the caliph’s hands by speaking out in support of the U.S. military action or calling for still more to be done—thus imbuing close air support with heavenly purpose that it probably can and should do without.


Even before Monday, Pope Francis used language interpreted by many as an endorsement of war.


There is a painful irony here. As recently as last month Francis was moved to tears by the carnage in Gaza, Iraq, and Ukraine.


“Never war, never war,” he said. “I am thinking, above all, of children who are deprived of the hope of a worthwhile life, a future. Dead children, wounded children, mutilated children, orphaned children, children whose toys are things left over from war, children who don’t know how to smile. Please stop,” said Francis. “I ask you with all my heart, it’s time to stop. Stop, please!”


In an August 9 letter to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon reported last week, Francis made an “urgent appeal to the international community to take action to end the humanitarian tragedy now underway.” But then as now the Pope did not quite call for military action even as he lamented news from Iraq that “leaves us incredulous and appalled.”


Then Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s observer at the United Nations in Geneva, called not only for humanitarian assistance for those persecuted by the Islamic State, but explicitly for “effective military protection,” as well. Archbishop Giorgio Lingua, the pope’s ambassador to Baghdad, told Vatican radio that U.S. military intervention in Iraq in recent weeks “had to be done,” otherwise the caliph’s forces could not be stopped.


One senior Vatican official whose association with the pope goes back decades, told me privately these archbishops may have gotten out in front of the pontiff with their endorsements of military action: “There does not seem to be an alignment between the secretariat of state”—in charge of Vatican diplomacy—“and the pope.”


In Britain, meanwhile, Prime Minister David Cameron just started beating the drums of war in the pages of The Sunday Telegraph: “If we do not act to stem the onslaught of this exceptionally dangerous terrorist movement, it will only grow stronger until it can target us on the streets of Britain.” And this against the backdrop of calls to action by the Bishop of Leeds, who has raised “the serious concern that we do not seem to have a coherent or comprehensive approach to Islamist extremism as it is developing across the globe,” and the Bishop of Manchester, who called on the government to meet its “moral obligation” to Iraq’s Christians.


All this must be gratifying to the caliph, who has managed to transform himself and his followers from a group of fanatics roaming the Syrian and Iraqi desert only a couple of years ago to a force that seems to be challenging the whole of Christendom.


When Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of ISIS proclaimed his Islamic State and re-branded himself as Caliph Ibrahim at the end of June, his calls for holy war were not veiled in the least, and his imagery was straight from the Middle Ages: “O mujahidin in the path of Allah, be monks during the night and be knights during the day,” he told his followers. “Take up arms, take up arms, O soldiers of the Islamic State! And fight, fight!” he exhorted them.


“Soon, by Allah’s permission, a day will come when the Muslim will walk everywhere as a master, having honor, being revered, with his head raised high and his dignity preserved,” said the caliph. “Anyone who dares to offend him will be disciplined, and any hand that reaches out to harm him will be cut off. So let the world know that we are living today in a new era…The world today has been divided into two camps and two trenches, with no third camp present: The camp of Islam and faith, and the camp of kufr (disbelief) and hypocrisy—the camp of the Muslims and the mujahidin everywhere, and the camp of the Jews, the crusaders, their allies, and with them the rest of the nations and religions of kufr, all being led by America and Russia, and being mobilized by the Jews.”

“This is my advice to you,” said the self-proclaimed caliph. “If you hold to it, you will conquer Rome and own the world, if Allah wills.”
Apparently, Rome and the world are taking him seriously.

^^^

The Pope sounds like a PC moderate.

Then we have Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi or now Caliph Ibrahim (is that like Lew Alcindor becoming Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?) sounding delusional saying “Soon, by Allah’s permission” blah, blah, blah. I want to give him a heads up.

Caliphy, you have a better chance of getting Obama’s permission.

“Where there is an unjust aggression I can only say that it is legitimate to stop the unjust aggressor,” he told reporters throwing questions at him on the plane as he returned from South Korea to the Vatican on Monday.

“I underscore the verb ‘to stop,’” he told them. “I am not saying ‘bomb’ or ‘make war,’ but ‘stop him.’ The means by which he can be stopped must be evaluated. Stopping the aggressor is legitimate.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't like this Pope one bit.

Sheriff Joe said:

“Where there is an unjust aggression I can only say that it is legitimate to stop the unjust aggressor,” he told reporters throwing questions at him on the plane as he returned from South Korea to the Vatican on Monday.

“I underscore the verb ‘to stop,’” he told them. “I am not saying ‘bomb’ or ‘make war,’ but ‘stop him.’ The means by which he can be stopped must be evaluated. Stopping the aggressor is legitimate.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't like this Pope one bit.

Click to expand...

He had Valerie Jarrett write that for him.

Dave007inVegas said:

Then we have Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi or now Caliph Ibrahim (is that like Lew Alcindor becoming Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?)

Click to expand...

The Caliph is the head of state in a caliphate. Ibrahim is the Islamic translation of the profit Abraham. You know, the Jewish profit. How ironic huh? But now we must all die. You Christians as well.



In other words, without Judaism's discovery that there's only one God (we can all agree, IF there IS a God there is ONLY ONE God - civilizations previous to the Jews including the Romans who killed us for it, believed there were multiple Gods) the world is praying to ???what??? right now. One might think logically that other monotheistic faiths would be grateful for the Jews. But history shows it's the opposite of that. In this case though, at least we have the Christians on our side. The Pope? I don't think even he knows where he stands. Poor guy.

[h=1]Double standards: Why fight ISIS in Iraq, not in Syria?[/h]Mohamed Chebarro

The West wholeheartedly rushed to rescue thousands of Yazidis in Northern Iraq. France rushed weapons to the Kurdish Peshmerga (Peshmerga English Translation = "Those who face death" -- SL). The UK opened it depots for urgent delivery of ammunition and weapon systems to help the Kurds of Iraq. The U.S. sent military advisors after several air strikes on ISIS positions were launched from the George W Bush aircraft carrier positioned in the Gulf.

Observers cannot but be astonished. The West has rushed to help Iraqi minorities, Yazidis and Christians, and has left thousands of Syrians to face the butchery of the Assad regime, ISIS, Alawites, Hezbollah, and all sectarian Iraqi and Iranian imported militias who claim to be defending minorities’ rights in Syria.

The death of one Iraqi citizen should be taken as serious as a Syrian citizen targeted by ISIS, al-Nusra Front, the armed opposition or the Assad regime and its allies.

In Syria, three full years have passed and neither the U.N. nor the international community managed to provide substantial help to Syrians displaced within Syria (those are said to be in excess of 6 million as per U.N. figures) or Syrian refugees in neighboring countries such as Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey also a number estimated at 3 million plus.

The Syrian refugee crisis is by far the most serious the region and the world has witnessed for many decades, yet the stalled response by the international community is questionable if compared to the response seen in the last few days in Iraq.

[h=4]Chasing ISIS[/h] The Syrian opposition has been calling for many months the Friends of Syria Group to arm its brigade to bring down the Assad regime and stop the daily butchering and ethnic cleansing of Syrian civilians in various parts of the country. Fears that sophisticated weapons have reached the hands of extremists have prevented action, while Syrian regime aircraft kept pounding cities and villages outside the control of the regime with all kind of ammunition, and the list is long.


An internationally protected safe haven in Syria was proposed on humanitarian grounds many times to house Syrian civilian inside the Syrian border only to be vetoed by Russia and China. Yet the international community was very active in scrambling U.S. fighter jets to pound ISIS positions close to the Iraqi Kurdish province, and for Iraqi and Kurdish forces to start receiving huge weapons shipment.

Double standards it maybe, but the life of Iraqis is as important as the life of human being anywhere and specially that of Syrians. And if the fight against ISIS and it's sisters and brothers is to succeed, the fight needs to threaten ISIS positions and bases in Syria too.


The new Security Council resolution unanimously adopted under chapter seven should prepare the ground to chase ISIS and other similar organizations across the Middle East, Europe and other hotbeds of extremism all over the world.

It is realistic to expect the Russian warning that the new U.N. resolution should be limited in its scope, but fighting ISIS means giving the British police extra powers to deal with returning foreign fighters as much as dealing with recruitment center up and down the country... In the same way fighting ISIS should extend to Syrian provinces where ISIS is recruiting and grooming new fighters who originate from marginalized communities in London, Sydney, Cairo, and Riyadh.
________________
Mohamed Chebarro is currently an Al Arabiya TV News program Editor. He is also an award winning journalist, roving war reporter and commentator. He covered most regional conflicts in the 90s for MBC news and later headed Al Arabiya’s bureau in Beirut and London.

Last Update: Monday, 18 August 2014 KSA 13:10 - GMT 10:10

Scott L said:

The Caliph is the head of state in a caliphate. Ibrahim is the Islamic translation of the profit Abraham. You know, the Jewish profit. How ironic huh? But now we must all die. You Christians as well.



In other words, without Judaism's discovery that there's only one God (we can all agree, IF there IS a God there is ONLY ONE God - civilizations previous to the Jews including the Romans who killed us for it, believed there were multiple Gods) the world is praying to ???what??? right now. One might think logically that other monotheistic faiths would be grateful for the Jews. But history shows it's the opposite of that. In this case though, at least we have the Christians on our side. The Pope? I don't think even he knows where he stands. Poor guy.

Click to expand...

Well Scott I’m at the top of the heap by definition, a true Infidel (literally "one without faith")

So when the Islam terrorists come looking for us they’ll seek me out first.

Or maybe not. I don’t think those barbarians have a pecking order. First come first killed seems to be their credo.

You got that right. And by far the people they kill most...... are MUSLIMS.














'Sin City' might make a nice fat target though

Yah, why not. Vegas does exemplify everything that Islam deplores.