Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham - ISIS - GRAPHIC PG. 15
Revealed: Chilling ISIS recruitment video features 20-year-old medical student from Cardiff as his family say they are heartbroken that he and 17-year-old brother have gone to fight in Syria
British jihadist who featured in the video named as Nasser Muthana
Is a 20-year-old medical student from Cardiff and has gone to Syria
Went to the country with his 17-year-old brother Aseel Muthana
Family say they are heartbroken and currently have no contact with them
Older brother featured in a chilling ISIS recruitment video
In the video, two of the men claim to be British, while two say they are from Australia
They plead with Muslims to travel to Iraq and Syria to join ISIS militants
Tell viewers they are 'going to die anyway' and say must make sacrifices
Also describe ISIS' brutal campaign in Iraq and Syria as 'golden times'
By John Hall and Jennifer Newton
Published: 05:32 EST, 20 June 2014 | Updated: 13:56 EST, 20 June 2014
A young British jihadist who featured in a chilling recruitment video urging Muslims to join them in Iraq and Syria have been revealed to be a 20-year-old medical student from Cardiff.
Nasser Muthana can be seen in the footage wearing a white turban and is labelled in the video as 'Brother Abu Muthanna Yemeni from Britain'.
His heartbroken family from the Cardiff area told ITV News that his 17-year-old brother Aseel Muthana is with him too and that the pair went to Syria because 'they feel guilty' about the country.
ITV News has also been told that police visited the family two weeks ago and that is when they found out the brothers had gone. Scroll down for video
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Recruiting: Three men in the video identify themselves as Abu Muthana Al Yemeni (centre), who has been revealed to be a 20-year-old medical student from Cardiff, Abu Bara' Al Hindi (right) and Abu Dujana Al Hindi (left). They all claim to have come from Britain and speak with English accents
A spokesperson for the Muthana family said: 'They are not happy with Nasser going. We didn’t know he was going. We wouldn’t let him go if we knew.
'My family were more devastated that Aseel went. It is heartbreaking because we don’t know if we will see them again.
'Currently we don’t know where they are and we don’t have contact with them.
'Nasser and Aseel went because they feel guilty about Syria but we were surprised they were talking about those things we saw on YouTube. Both were pious and religious and interested in the faith.'
The 13-minute video, which features the older brother is professionally shot and edited, and shows a group of young men sitting in a circle, holding weapons and reciting militant Islamist slogans and passages from the Qur'an.
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Encouragement: At several points the man identifying himself as Abu Bara' Al Hindi claims joining ISIS will alleviate the stress and 'depression' of living in the West
Three British militants call for others to join the fight in Iraq
The video - which is titled 'There is No Life Without Jihad' - appears to have been professionally edited, and was published on YouTube by ISIS' Al Hayat Media Center.
Among those speaking on the video are men identifying themselves as Abu Muthana Al Yemeni, and Abu Bara' Al Hindi - both of whom claim to have travelled to the Middle East from Britain.
Another man, Abu Dujana Al Hindi, also says he is from Britain - with all three speaking in clear English accents.
The footage is intersected with sections of music and religious chanting, as the men instruct viewers to leave their lives in the West behind and join ISIS' brutal campaign in Iraq and Syria.
The men appear to be sat in a lush grove while they speak - the greenery juxtaposing the terror, death and brutality the militant group has brought to parts of Syria and Iraq in recent weeks.
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Propaganda: Among those speaking in the video is a man identifying himself as Abu Muthana Al Yemeni (right) - who claims to have travelled to the Middle East from Britain
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Global: Another man making an appearance in the chilling video is Abu Yahya ash Shami (pictured) - who speaks with a strong Australian accent
44 WORKERS KIDNAPPED BY ISIS 'RELEASED' AFTER NEGOTIATIONS
A group of 44 workers who were kidnapped by ISIS in northern Iraq have been released after four days captive, a Turkish diplomat claims. The hostages, of various nationalities, were captured on Tuesday after militants raided a construction site of a hospital near Kirkuk. Following days of negotiations, the deputy security chief of Kirkuk secured their release and they are now travelling to a safe house, according to reports. The workers - believed to be from Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Turkmenistan - were captured as the extremists continued their sweep down towards Baghdad. On Thursday, Turkey's foreign office told all citizens to leave Iraq as a further 80 Turkish nationals were kidnapped by militants.
At several points the man identifying himself as Abu Bara' Al Hindi claims joining the group will alleviate the stress and 'depression' of living in the West.
'Are you willing to sacrifice the job you've got, the big car you've got, the family you have? Are you willing to sacrifice this, for the sake of Allah?,' he says.
'Then definitely, if you sacrifice something for Allah, Allah will give you 700 times more than this,' he adds.
Another man making an appearance in the video is Abu Yahya ash Shami - who speaks with a strong Australian accent.
The video was heavily promoted by supporters of ISIS on Twitter this morning, as they launched a massive propaganda drive across social media.
Using the hashtag #AllEyesOnIsis, hundreds of accounts were encouraged to post messages of support for the brutal Islamist group.
In an uncontrollable stunt - that cannot be moderated or blocked - extremist fighters vow to 'spread the truth' behind their brutal attacks that even Al Qaeda have condemned.
It comes just hours after President Barack Obama announced plans to unleash air strikes on Iraq as world leaders warn of 'a catastrophe of unprecedented scale'.
Twitter refused to speak about ISIS' propaganda drive on the social media site this morning. Nobody from the Home Office or Scotland Yard was available to comment.
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Message: The 13-minute video is professionally shot and edited, and shows a group of young men sitting in a circle holding weapons, while reciting Islamist slogans and passages from the Qur'an
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Jihad: The professionally-edited footage is intersected with music and religious chanting, with the men instructing viewers to leave behind their lives in the West and join their brutal campaign in Iraq and Syria
'WE LOVE YOU ISIS': FROM USA TO ROME TO AUSTRALIA - DISTURBING NOTES FROM EVERY CONTINENT SHOW GLOBAL SUPPORT FOR ISLAMIST MILITANTS
Twitter users across the world have pledged their allegiance to ISIS in slew of disturbing posts to the extremist group. The Jihadis launched a blitzkrieg hit on the site at 10.30am, vowing to 'spread the truth' behind their brutal attacks that even Al Qaeda have condemned.
Messages of support for ISIS were sent from all over the world this morning - including the Colosseum in Rom
Using the hash tag #AllEyesOnIsis, extremist fighters flooded the social media site with propaganda, luring vulnerable people to join them in Iraq. And within minutes, their stunt - which Twitter is powerless to block or moderate - was met with chilling messages of support from countries all over the globe - from Rome to Australia, Switzerland to America, Kenya to Nepal. It comes just hours after President Barack Obama announced plans to unleash air strikes on Iraq as world leaders warn of 'a catastrophe of unprecedented scale'.
Threat: Another message support the Islamic extremists was posted several thousand feet in the air from within an airplane
Concern: One particularly chilling note - apparently sent from Kosovo - was written in childish handwriting in what appeared to be a school exercise book
In a manifesto for the 'storm', released this morning, ISIS members vowed to describe ISIS, give answers to 'allegations against ISIS', and tweet speeches by their leaders. In one chilling tweet, a member wrote: 'Today is dedicated to giving support to Isis here in Tweeter. The English hash tag is: #AllEyesOnIsis'. They aim to translate everything into English, sparking fears that British internet users will be the targets of the storm.
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'More Extreme Than Al Qaeda'? How ISIS Compares to Other Terror Groups
By Erin McClam
The leader of the Islamist fighters sweeping across northern Iraq has been called the heir apparent to Osama bin Laden. But there are big differences between his group - the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham - and bin Laden's al Qaeda.
ISIS is a more conventional fighting force, rolling in with tanks and capturing whole cities with brutal force rather than staging spectacular, carefully planned, one-off bomb attacks.
Think of ISIS as more of a Goliath than a David. Sign up for breaking news alerts from NBC News
“Why do a car bomb when you can take 50 trucks and take the city?” said Patrick M. Skinner, director of special projects for the Soufan Group, a security consulting company. “Terrorism is when you don’t have that option.”
ISIS found fertile ground to grow in the civil war in Syria and the aftermath of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Last week it made a lightning advance across the Iraqi north, capturing large cities. The group immediately ordered women to stay home, banned smoking and drinking and warned of harsh consequences under Sharia or Islamic law.
Demonstrating their growing hold, ISIS militants on Thursday hung black banners on watchtowers at the biggest oil refinery in the country, a critical source of domestic energy.
The ISIS power grab has raised concerns about a wider Sunni-Shiite war in the Middle East.
“They represent a threat to every country in the region,” Secretary of State John Kerry told TODAY in an interview that aired Thursday. “They’re more extreme even than al Qaeda. And they are threatening the United States and Western interests.”
John Kerry on Iraq crisis: Working with Iran 'not on the table'
TODAY
ISIS is operating more as a traditional insurgency than al Qaeda did, setting up checkpoints and seizing territory and equipment, said Colin P. Clarke, an associate political scientist at the Rand Corp. who has studied insurgency for more than a decade.
Technically, the two groups have voiced a similar goal: The establishment of an Islamic caliphate, governed by Sharia.
But for al Qaeda, that was always more of a pipe dream — stretching from the Middle East to Asia and North Africa, incorporating Chechens and Uzbeks, Uighurs in China, the disputed Kashmir region straddling India and Pakistan.
ISIS is more hardened and has a more limited objective. It is concerned, at least for now, only with Syria and Iraq. And it already has something al Qaeda only dreamed of — a land base.
US to send up to 300 military advisors to Iraq
TODAY
Even in its pre-Sept. 11 heyday, al Qaeda was essentially a guest in Afghanistan. But ISIS is what al Qaeda might have become had the United States not spent more than 10 years decimating it.
“If al Qaeda central ever had the opportunity to take Mosul, they would have,” Skinner said, referring to the ISIS-captured second-largest city in Iraq.
“If al Qaeda could do what ISIS did, they would do it in a heartbeat,” he said. “But we spent a trillion dollars just destroying them. The worst job on the planet for 10 years has been the No. 3 guy in al Qaeda.”
Like al Qaeda at its peak, ISIS is thought to be good at recruitment, appealing to disaffected youth and Sunni Muslims with perceived or actual grievances. It has proved skillful at leveraging social media, including Twitter, to attract fighters.
Its leader is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was captured by American forces in Iraq in 2005. He was known as savvy, more of a battlefield tactician than bin Laden, and not especially dangerous.
U.S. State Department via Reuters Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appears on a U.S. State Department wanted poster.He was released to Iraqi authorities in 2009 and by 2010 rose to lead ISIS, the successor group to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s al Qaeda in Iraq.
That is not to be confused with al Qaeda central, the global network that was behind 9/11 and is headed by Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Zarqawi, a Jordanian, fled Afghanistan for Iraq in 2001, joined forces with a Kurdish separatist group and began recruiting Iraqis, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. The group flourished as Iraq sank into civil war.
Today, ISIS membership is believed to number in the thousands, probably similar to al Qaeda at its peak. For the moment, it is believed to be a more localized threat than al Qaeda was, concerning itself with Syria and Iraq.
Obama Firmly States US Troops Not Going to Iraq
NBC News
But if ISIS is successful in warding off the Shiite Iraqi security forces of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and in holding territory, that could change, Clarke said.
Of course, that's a big if: Besides the Maliki government, the United States and Iran have interests in stopping ISIS.
“One would think, over time, its objectives may expand from being just satisfied with more parochial interests to taking the fight to the American homeland,” he said.
Al Qaeda cut ties with ISIS earlier this year after Zawahiri couldn’t resolve a fight between ISIS and an al Qaeda affiliate, Jabhat al-Nusra. An al Qaeda statement characterized ISIS as stubborn and unconcerned with consultation and teamwork, The Washington Post reported.
The split has been portrayed as ISIS’ being too brutal for al Qaeda, but Skinner said that perception is overblown.
“Their ideology is exactly the same. The only difference is who they swear allegiance to,” he said. “They’re fighting over power and prestige. They’re equally bad. It’s not like one is the Peace Corps.”
Oil companies pull staff as Iraq requests help
TODAY
First published June 20th 2014, 3:16 am
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Home-grown terror: American jihadist wannabes flock to ISIS-like groups in Iraq and Syria
Muslim American extremists from coast to coast, including New York City, head overseas to train for jihad — and NYPD's terror chief is concerned about when they come back.
ABACA The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria is among the groups that actively recruit foreigners to join their jihadist ranks. Muslim American extremists have joined similar groups.
They're the potential killers next door learning to become jihadists in a factory of terrorists whose ultimate target is New York City.
More than 100 young home-grown Muslims, including some from Gotham, are being trained to become an enemy within by Al Qaeda-inspired groups like ISIS operating in disintegrating Syria and Iraq, the NYPD’s terror chief estimated.
“I would be hyper-concerned about the people over there from New York City on the presumption they’re going to return to New York City,” John Miller, said Thursday. New York Daily News American jihadis: Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha (top) and his suicide attack in Syria. Abdirahmaan Muhumed (bottom) left Minnesota to join ISIS fighters in Syria in bid to overthrow President Bashar Assad.
Miller said he is just as worried about American jihadists from “Chicago, Minnesota, Portland, you name it.”
“If their mindset is to return to America and to engage in terrorist activities, they’re likely going to end up in New York anyway,” Miller said.
They’ll be fanatics with friendly faces like Abdirahmaan Muhumed, a 29-year-old dad from Minneapolis who personifies “Jihad Cool” and who is learning in Syria to kill so-called infidels.
And they are monsters who could be mistaken for good guys, like 22-year-old Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha, a Florida college dropout who was photographed petting a kitty shortly before he died in a suicide attack on Syrian troops in May.
“There’s a factory over there” in Syria and Iraq that turns out terrorists,” Miller said. “The situation in Syria is a cancer and now that has spread to Iraq . . . They’re going over, getting training, getting radicalized.”
Miller laid out the frightening scenario during a meeting with the Daily News Editorial Board — and as President Obama announced he was sending several hundred military advisers to help the hapless Baghdad government stop radical ISIS from gobbling up the rest of the country. Julia Xanthos/New York Daily News NYPD terror chief John Miller met with the Daily News Editorial Board and expressed concerns over Americans who seek jihadist training overseas.
The NYPD’s intelligence chief did not say how many New Yorkers are being schooled in terror by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, but he said they have a good idea who they are.
It is very important, he added, to deny ISIS any “sanctuary.”
“Why did we have 9/11? Because Al Qaeda controlled real estate in Afghanistan where they had camps that allowed them to have a logistical infrastructure,” he said. “You don’t want that kind of sanctuary.”
So far, there has been no known successful terror attack on U.S. soil by an American who was radicalized overseas. ABACA Children fill out the ranks of ISIS as they work to overthrow governments in Syria and Iraq.
The closest thing to that was failed Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad, a Connecticut man who was already infected with Islamic fanaticism before he went to a terrorist training camp in Pakistan.
“Bin Laden’s ideology of going after the far enemy was never broadly enacted, even by other radical jihadists,” said Paul Pillar, who was the CIA’s chief of analytic units covering the Near East and Persian Gulf.
But New York Sen. Chuck Schumer warned there’s a first time for everything. FBI Cabdulaahi Ahmed Faarax recruited Somali Americans to be jihadists.
“So we’re going to have to readjust,” the Democrat said. “So far we’ve been able successfully to readjust every circumstance. It’s not an accident we haven’t had a terrorist attack in New York, praise God, since 9/11.”
Americans constitute a tiny percentage of the estimated 12,000 to 15,000 foreign fighters from 81 countries who have flooded in to help ISIS try to oust Syrian despot Bashar Assad — and who are now marching toward Baghdad, said experts like Richard Barrett of the Soufan Group, an intelligence organization.
They have been lured into the fight by rap-filled videos that romanticize the “revolution” and help turn middling Muslims into radicals willing to die for Allah.
In recent months, over a dozen young Somali-Americans from Minneapolis and St. Paul like Muhumed have traveled to Syria to join the ranks of ISIS, according to Minnesota Public Radio.
“A Muslim has to stand up for (what’s) right,” Muhumed wrote in a Jan. 2 post obtained by MPR. “I give up this worldly life for Allah.”
Muhumed and the others are now being chased by the FBI.
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By Alice Speri
You know you have made it as a para-government when you get your very own leakers — and ISIS, which aspires to set up an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in the growing swathe of territory it controls, has been having some problems containing the spill of sensitive and strategic secrets.
While the group mastered the art of social media, they have yet to figure out a way to control the information they do not want shared online — from the identity of its leaders to its alliances with other groups across the region. ISIS fighters and their friends are total social media pros. Read more here.
There is one Twitter account in particular, @wikibaghdady, which seems to have access to a whole lot of information about the group, the Daily Beast reported yesterday.
Nobody knows who’s behind it — whether one, or many, disgruntled former member of ISIS, a rival Islamist, or a foreign government’s intelligence agent. But the handle @wikibaghdady has been on the radar of those monitoring the Syrian war on social media for several months.
'He’s someone close to the group, providing the kind of details that only come from intimacy.'
The account, active since last December, has been spewing details ISIS would presumably prefer to keep confidential to its nearly 38,000 followers.
Among its leaks, @wikibaghdady reportedly outed the identity of ISIS’ mysterious leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. More recently it highlighted the group’s connection with Iraq’s Baathists — Saddam Hussein’s former party.
“In the event that Baghdad falls there’s an agreement that Izzat al Douri will become the de-facto leader as an alternative to ISIS that the international community cannot refuse,” the account, which seems to have a penchant for predicting ISIS’s next moves, tweeted as late as last week.
Al Douri, a former army commander under Saddam Hussein who has escaped American and Iraqi capture, has been missing in action for years, and is now reportedly leading ex Baathists in an alliance with the ISIS.
@wikibaghdady sounds like he knows what he's talking about — some observers pointed out. And while the account tweets in Arabic, translated collections of his posts are also available online.
"Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is a real person who has a fake nickname and title. This is also the case with everyone around him and there isn’t a member of Al-Baghdadi’s inner circle with a real name. Every person in Al-Baghdadi’s inner circle is 100% Iraqi and he doesn’t accept any other nationality because he does not trust anyone," the account spilled back in December. "The number of members in the Al-Baghdadi’s military council is about 8 to 13 people. The Military Council is headed by three people from Saddam's army who also belonged to the former Baath Party. The main leader is Brigadier General Haji Bakr who was previously an officer in Saddam's Baathist army. Who exactly is Haji Bakr?! What is his relationship to Al-Baghdadi and when did it start?"
'@wikibaghdady is based in Saudi Arabia and is managed by Saudi intelligence.'
On other occasions, @wikibaghdady spilled the beans about internal fighting within ISIS.
"There were about twenty to thirty fighters who split from the ISIS on a daily basis. They found that fighters from Saudi Arabia were the most likely to split and that Tunisians were the least," he revealed in January. "This is when [Al-Baghdadi] ordered that the suicide bombers should be Saudi as much as possible, and that Tunisians shouldn’t be involved since they’re the most loyal."
If accurate, that's a lot of detail for someone with no ins on the organization.
“Whoever @wikibaghdady is, two things about him are clear,” Jacob Siegel wrote in the Daily Beast: “He’s a fellow Islamist who has a beef with ISIS, and he’s someone close to the group, providing the kind of details that only come from intimacy.” Jihad selfies: These British extremists in Syria love social media. Read more here.
But not everyone’s buying that — with some critics saying the mysterious account might not be all that privy to the inside decisions of the group.
'There are several accounts that spread misinformation, and some of them pretend to be former ISIS members.'
Abu Bakr al Janabi, a prolific ISIS supporter who often translates and distributes the group’s messages, told VICE News that @wikibaghdady is “based in Saudi Arabia and is managed by Saudi intelligence” — a claim that is as unverified as any other about the mastermind of the account.
“There are several accounts that spread misinformation, and some of them pretend to be former ISIS members. They spread info in a nasty way,” he said, acknowledging that some of the tweets are accurate. “They can’t lie openly, so what they do is they mix truth with falsehood to deceive people.” Syria’s foreign fighters are here to stay. Read more here.
“One lie that they spread is that the ISIS council is only Iraqis, which is a pure lie, the council members are Iraqis, Syrian, Saudis and from Chechnya,” he added. “Another lie is that nobody in ISIS has seen Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, which is also a pure lie, he has shown himself many times. The third lie is that Abu Muhammed Al-Adnani — a spokesman for ISIS — is Iraqi, which is false; Adnani is a Syrian from Idlib.”
VICE News could not independently verify al Janabi’s claims — nor @wikibaghdady’s.
But some analysts agree with the ISIS supporter.
“The account does seem to offer credible insider information about ISIS,” Hassan Hassan, an expert on radical groups in the region, told The Daily Beast. “But it is not wholly accurate…and should be taken with a pinch of salt.”
Up next, ISIS's very own NSA. Follow Alice Speri on Twitter:@alicesperi
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ABOVE: Millions of people have fled areas the conflict areas in northern Iraq and in some places there’s a scramble for basics, like food and gasoline. Foreign Editor Stuart Greer reports from Erbil, Iraq.
You consider yourself a pretty well-informed person. You read a wide range of articles on foreign affairs.
And you don’t know what to call the Sunni militants taking over wide swaths of Iraq. Related Stories
Sometimes they’re called the Islamic State of Iraq in the Levant (ISIL). Or the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria, or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (all shortened to ISIS). READ MORE: Iraq crisis: A look at ISIS’s propaganda machine
The Arabic name for the group is Al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham, whose acronym DAIISH isn’t used in English-language reporting.
Many western officials – including Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, U.S. President Barack Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry and the United Nations – use ISIL.
News outlets including CNN, the New York Times and BBC have been using ISIS, although BBC is calling the jihadist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant but shortening it to ISIS.
“The final ‘S’ in the acronym ISIS stems from the Arabic word “al-Sham”. This can mean the Levant, Syria or even Damascus but in the context of the global jihad it refers to the Levant,” BBC explained in a post profiling the organization, which formed in 2006 and went on to become one of the principal groups fighting government forces (and rival rebel groups) in Syria’s civil war.
“The Washington Post has been referring to the organization as ISIS, shorthand for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. This is how most news organizations that operate in English began identifying the outfit when it emerged as a dangerous fighting force two years ago, launching terror strikes and carving out territory amid the Syrian civil war,” Washington Post foreign affairs writer Ishaan Tharoor wrote. READ MORE: Iraqi soliders battle Sunni militants for third day over oil refinery
Global News, for its part, is using ISIS moving forward.
“The group’s most influential presence is in Syria and Iraq,” said Ron Waksman, the Senior Director of Online, Current Affairs and Editorial Standards and Practices at Global News. “ISIS more clearly identifies for the audience the areas where the conflict has been raging and has spread. The Levant is not familiar to most people, though it is historically accurate. The Associated Press, meanwhile, believes ISIL is the most accurate translation of the group’s name and reflects its aspirations to rule over a broad swath of the Middle East,” AP vice president and senior managing editor or international news John Daniszewski wrote.
The group’s ostensible goal is to establish a caliphate or Islamic state in Iraq and al-Sham, whose broadest geographic definition – which would include not only Syria but Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Cyprus, part of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and a small area of southern Turkey – is close to the now-defunct term “Levant.”
“Saying just ‘Iraq and Syria’ suggest incorrectly that the group’s aspiration are limited to these two present day countries,” AP standards editor Tom Kent argued.
Then again, given the Levant’s colonial origins, that likely isn’t a term the group would choose, either, the New York Times notes. Quartz, a digital news outlet that has chosen to use ISIL, notes the same debate is happening in Spanish, German and Russian media.
Still confused? It’s ok: So is everyone else.
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The math seems so simple. The Iraqi army has 250,000 troops; its enemies, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), somewhere around 7,000. The Iraqi army has tanks, planes, and American training. ISIS has never fielded a tank or a plane and its troops didn't get formal training from an advanced military. Yet ISIS is demolishing the Iraqi army on the battlefield, seizing a massive swath of the country's northwest. Why?
It comes down to two things: training and professionalism. ISIS learned how to fight, while the Iraqi army has long been a weak fighting force. All the weapons in the world won't matter if you don't know how to wield them. And ISIS's victories, not to mention the Iraqi army's repeated failures, tell you a lot about the country's larger crisis.
The Iraqi army has never been disciplined
In Mosul, Iraq's second most populous city, about 800 ISIS fighters invaded and sent 30,000 Iraqi army troops running. That's been portrayed as a sudden collapse of the Iraqi army, but that's not quite right. "The Iraqi army has been collapsing for months now," Yasser Abbas told me.
Abbas, originally from Baghdad, is an analyst at the private research and consulting firm Caerus Associates. Before that, he served as a linguist in for the military in Iraq from 2005 to 2009. "At the end of 2006, I was involved in training the Iraqi national police in Baghdad," he said. "The amount of corruption and under-training was [astounding] ... insubordination became widespread."
Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images
So, for Abbas, the military's collapse "didn't happen at once. It's been happening for a very long time." For instance, the governor of Mosul ordered the military units in the area to go to a particular town, and "the battalion commander said no, it was too dangerous." It's the same insubordination problem the army has had for years.
And even when they do fight, many units aren't all that effective. "They'll stand up with a PKM [machine gun] and blast off 250 rounds" says Phillip Smyth, a researcher at the University of Maryland. "What is that doing?"
This isn't true of all Iraqi units, some of which, particularly around Baghdad, are quite well-trained. But many of the ones in the northern, Sunni-held regions of Iraq where ISIS made such large gains were some of the worst. insubordination became widespread
How did the Iraqi army get this bad? One explanation is sectarianism: the Iraqi government is dominated by Shia Muslims, whereas ISIS and its allies are Sunnis. Perhaps Sunni soldiers in the mostly-Sunni northwest simply ran because they didn't want to fight for a Shia government.
There's some truth to this theory, but "it's been overblown," according to Abbas. Two other things stand out. First, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki significantly weakened the army. He replaced effective Sunni officers with Shia ones and well-trained generals with loyalists. As Slate's Joshua Keating explains quite well, this was an attempt to protect his own political position. A strong, independent army could launch a coup d'etat. An army filled with your cronies is safer.
But, as the decade-long history of Iraqi army failures suggest, it's not just about Maliki. Rather, it's that the modern Iraqi army simply has never been a particularly strong institution. From the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s to the Gulf War to the 2003 American-led invasion, Iraqi units have performed pretty poorly. When the US military tried to rebuild the Iraqi army essentially from scratch after disbanding it in 2003, it just didn't have a lot of raw material to work with. ISIS advantages: training and experience
ISIS wasn't always strong enough to take real advantage of the Iraqi military's intrinsic weakness. "When the US fought ISIS in 2007, they were very weak," Abbas explained. "North of Baghdad, it took less than 24 hours for the whole organization to collapse in the face of a few soldiers and tribal militias."
But between 2007 and now, something changed. "When you like at the [ISIS] training videos from the mid 2000s, and compare them to ones from 2010, they're moving from terrorist tactics like how do you create an IED to things that include operations, strategy tactics," Nathaniel Rosenblatt, the head of Caerus' Middle East division, says.
Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images
Rosenblatt and Abbas say there's been an influx of skilled Saddam-era military leaders and soldiers into ISIS' ranks. "When you look at some of the reports about the leadership under [ISIS commander Abu Bakr] al-Baghdadi," Rosenblatt said, "those second-in-command guys have very strong ties to Saddam's army." Acquiring lots of weapons, money, and experience over the course of the Syrian war allowed them to translate that new training into real military effectiveness.
It's hard to overstate how much of advantage this training and professionalism gives the Islamist group. "ISIS knows how to use smaller units" effectively against larger forces, says Smyth. They're "very efficient, and you have to deal with that."
This matters greatly. An undisciplined force, one whose movements aren't well coordinated or can't deploy proper tactics for taking city blocks, can be beaten by a much smaller opponent that knows what it's doing. This puts the conflict into a weird sort of violent stasis
Superior training and motivation can also give defenders an extra edge. Smyth points to the World War II Battle of Wake Island as an example, where US troops held off a much larger Japanese force by digging in and creatively using their environment and dwindling resources. The Iraqi army has had a similarly tough time making progress in ISIS-held territory.
This leaves the conflict locked in a violent stasis. The Iraqi army will press ISIS-held territory, and possibly push them back on the margins, but it isn't strong enough to roll back ISIS all the way. "Bottom line: I think ISIS will be able to hold Mosul for some time," Rosenblatt says. "Unless Maliki is really pushed, I don't think he's going to be able to march all the way to Mosul with a Shia force. The political aspects are too sensitive."
Meanwhile, ISIS doesn't have the strength to challenge the more effective Iraqi army units defending Baghdad and the other largely Shia areas. "Technically, they do [want to take Baghdad]," Smyth says. "But I don't think they're stupid. They won't jump into the open jaws of the crocodile." Three things could transform the conflict
There are three critical factors that could break this bloody status quo.
First, a collapse in ISIS' popular support. ISIS has a long history of brutal treatment of civilians, and every analyst I spoke to agreed that a loss in Sunni civilian support would be a back-breaker for ISIS. "Insurgencies can make do with passive support from the bulk of the population, but if an ideology is too radical, it risks sparking a backlash," said Jason Lyall, an expert on counterinsurgency at Yale University. "Given the size of the outflow of people from Mosul, it is apparent that ISIS' ideology may find little support among the civilian populace."
Karim Sahib/AFP/Getty Images
Second, either side's allies could alter the military balance dramatically. ISIS fights with a broad range of Islamist, tribal, and Saddam-loyalist groups; if those groups turn on ISIS, which they very well might, it could break the group's hold on the territory.
On the flip side, the Iraqi army is backed by Iran and several Shia militias. It's also recruited thousands of Shia volunteers — about 200,000, by All Iraq News Agency's count — for impromptu anti-ISIS militias. According to Abbas, this "massive Shia recruitment" could potentially shift the balance of power dramatically. it's far, far too early to count ISIS out
Third, an unexpected military intervention by a third party. The semi-autonomous Kurdish area in northwest Iraq is adjacent to ISIS' stronghold. Their powerful military, which has already had small clashes with ISIS-aligned forces, could challenge ISIS. And who knows what effect large-scale a American air campaign against ISIS would have on the balance of power.
You may have noticed that all three of these scenarios trend badly for ISIS. That's true, and it's because ISIS has put itself in a precarious political position. It doesn't have any real reliable friends, and it's challenging a government that represents the Iraqi religious majority that also has backing from the United States and Iran.
But it's far, far too early to count ISIS out on the basis of hypothetical scenarios. Their military record in Iraq proves that they can outperform expectations.
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Joel Richardson: What The New Caliphate Means For The World Is “Absolutely Profound”
07/03/2014
“Another significant reality now that the caliphate has been restored is that it is actually mandatory for the caliphate to engage in perpetual jihad until there are literally no non-Muslims left throughout the world, or they submit to being subjected peoples.” Sounds a little like something that a man named John once described about 2,000 year ago. Are we witnessing before our very eyes the fulfillment of the second Beast that will ultimately be destroyed forever by the Lord Himself as prophesied by Daniel? It certainly looks that way today. As such, “let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober” …
Revelation 13:15-18, “The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate ['psēphizō' - reckon] the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is χξς.”
By Joel Richardson, WND – “Two weeks ago, our illustrious President Obama stood in the White House and made the following statement:
‘[T]he truth of the matter is that for all the challenges we face, all the problems that we have, if you had to be – if you had to choose any moment to be born in human history, not knowing what your position was going to be, who you were going to be, you’d choose this time. The world is less violent than it has ever been. It is healthier than it has ever been. It is more tolerant than it has ever been. It is better fed then it’s ever been. It is more educated than it’s ever been.’
On Sunday afternoon, my Twitter account lit up, as the various radical Muslims I follow erupted with jubilant declarations that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, or ISIS) had officially declared a caliphate – an Islamic state ruled by Islamic Shariah. No longer is it ISIS, but simply the Islamic State (IS). After an official meeting of ISIS’ shura (religious) council, they named their shadowy leader, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, to be the Emir al-Mu’minin, or the commander of the faithful – the first ‘caliph’ in roughly 90 years. The caliph is essentially a Muslim pope, president and general all rolled into one.
The potential implications for the world are absolutely profound. First, according to Islamic jurisprudence, once a caliph has been declared, it is mandatory upon all Muslims to make a pledge of allegiance to the sitting caliph, known in Arabic as the bay’ah. The bay’ah translated is as follows:
‘I pledge my allegiance to the Commander of the Faithful, to hear and obey, in hardship and in blessings, to establish the religion of Allah, and to enforce Allah’s Shariah, and to expand the order of Allah, to establish the global Islamic state.’
According to various hadith (Muslim sacred traditions found outside of the Quran), if one does not make the pledge, he will die the death of jahiliyya, or as a non-Muslim, and should be treated as a non-Muslim:
‘[W]hen he stands before Allah on the Day of Judgment, and one who dies without having bound himself by an oath of allegiance (to an Amir) will die the death of one belonging to the days of Jahillyya.’ (Abu Muslim 20: 4562)
Already, there have been numerous tribal leaders and jihadi groups that have pledged their allegiance to the caliph with their lives. What groups will follow? What might it look like if various groups such as Boko Haram in Nigeria, al-Shabab in Somalia and Kenya, al-Qaida in Yemen, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Hamas in Gaza and the West Bank, and perhaps even segments of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and throughout the world begin swearing allegiance to the caliph? The dangers of a snowballing trend is profound. Rather than having an Islamic State spanning segments of Syria and Iraq, there could be smaller segments of the Islamic State in numerous other nations.
Consider the fact that even here in the United States, Mohamed Elibiary, one of three senior fellows on President Obama’s Homeland Security Advisory Council, is an open supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, the goal of which is the re-establishment of the caliphate.” Read more.
Self-Declared ‘Caliph’ Wants To Rule World And ‘No One In Iraq Or Any Neighboring Country Will Be Safe From These Plans’ – “Based on recent battlefield victories in Iraq and Syria, the Iraqi militant and his followers believe that the world’s Muslims are going to flock to their cause… [but] while many kings and rulers styled themselves as caliphs, they didn’t have the religious authority that implied… Time will tell if Baghdadi’s grab for power will allow him to hold on to a piece of Iraq and Syria… The Ottoman Sultan declared himself a caliph in 1880, partly in the hopes that Indian Muslims would turn on the colonial British administration there. It didn’t work … The Taliban’s Mullah Omar tried the caliph gambit too. In 1996, shortly after after conquering Kandahar and on the verge of controlling Afghanistan, he wrapped himself in a cloak purported to have been worn by the prophet Mohamed and declared himself the leader of the world’s Muslims. Today, Omar lives in Pakistan.” Read more.
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Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has a big job cut out for him. Over the weekend, the Iraqi militant declared himself the supreme authority for all the world's 1.5 billion Muslims and changed his name – not that al-Baghdadi is his real name – to Caliph Ibrahim.
Based on recent battlefield victories in Iraq and Syria, the Iraqi militant and his followers believe that the world's Muslims are going to flock to their cause. Even before the recent Sunni Arab uprising in Iraq, the group had laughably breathtaking ambitions, as this year-old map shows:
Again, people advertising this as IS' 'Five-Year Plan' have to realize this is almost a year old; catch up: pic.twitter.com/d4SQjAjSGL
— Aymenn J Al-Tamimi (@ajaltamimi) July 1, 2014
There is much discussion of the historic caliphate and the unlikelihood of its revival in the hands of a jihadi group that now goes the name of Islamic State (its previous iterations include Al Qaeda in the Land of Two Rivers, the Mujahideen Shura Council, the Islamic State in Iraq.) Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said today that the group's unilateral declaration of a caliphate is a threat to the entire region. "No one in Iraq or any neighboring country will be safe from these plans," he said.
Let us please call it the “so-called Islamic State,” since it bears all the resemblance to mainstream Islam that Japan’s Om Shinrikyo (which let sarin gas into the subway in 1995) bears to Buddhism.
... After Ali’s assassination, the Umayyad kings ruled (661-750), and though some scholars have found that they claimed religious charisma, they were just Arab kings. A branch of the family of the Prophet tracing itself back to his uncle Abbas began making claims to rightful rule, however, and they were popular among the new converts from among the Persians in Iran, and in 750 they made a revolution against the Umayyads. They became the Abbasid caliphate, ruling until the Mongol conquest of Baghdad in 1258.
Following that defeat by the Mongols, the caliphate in its original form was pretty much dead. Cole writes that while many kings and rulers styled themselves as caliphs, they didn't have the religious authority that implied. Though the Ottoman Sultan declared himself Caliph in 1880, he was not always seen that way by the world's Muslims. While the Turkish state's abolishment of the caliphate claim in 1924 is generally seen as a great tragedy, it rests on revisionist history, in Cole's telling.
The end of the caliphate did not matter to most Muslims. You don’t need a caliph to pray five times a day or fast Ramadan. In Egypt, Ali Abd al-Raziq, a court judge, argued in modernist fashion that no caliph is necessary. Some Egyptian clerics were uncomfortable with the idea, but they lost the argument. There was some jockeying to resurrect the caliphate in the mid-1920s, and the Egyptian king, Fuad I, threw his crown in the ring. But the fact is that none of the newly forming nation-states wanted a transnational authority like that, and no consensus could be reached, and the caliphate (such as it was, since I don’t think most Muslims bought into Abdulhamid’s project) lapsed again.
Small groups of cult-like fundamentalists ever after hoped for a restored caliphate, but it isn’t something on the minds of 99% of the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims. Sunni Islam has come sociologically to resemble Protestant Christianity, lacking a formal center and largely organized on the basis of the nation-state.
IMO, this declaration of the caliphate of Ibrahim is a terrible blunder for ISIS. The Islamic world will unite in hostility against such ambitions and claims. Most people in these countries want to retain their local national ientities or at least to have states that may better reflect their ethnic identity. Even the Saudis, who have toyed with the notion of absulute authority given to their wahhabi faith, will recoil in horror from the evident threat presented by the idea of an umma ruled by the likes of these people.
To be sure, Brigadier FB Ali, a retired Pakistani officer and frequent contributor to Lang's blog, says there is cause for concern.
Undoubtedly, governments in Muslim countries will reject this declaration. However, this 'caliphate' may well appeal to the many Muslims all over the world who want Islam to govern their lives and the countries in which they live, but who reject their present governments as not being Islamic. Especially vulnerable to such ideas would be young men in the Muslim diaspora, many of whom feel this need more acutely than their brethren back home. ISIS can expect an increase in Muslim recruits from the West.
What lends substance to this declaration by ISIS is its capture of a large piece of territory in the Muslim heartland, something the other jihadi outfits cannot match.
Writing at the Long War Journal, Thomas Joscelyn points out that 9 major jihadi groups in Syria have already rejected Baghdadi's claim.
In a series of tweets in both English and Arabic, Abu Sulayman al Muhajir, a top sharia official in the Al Nusrah Front, sharply criticized the Islamic State's announcement. While using the hashtag #Khilafah_Proclaimed in his tweets, Abu Sulayman argued that the Islamic State's failure to consult jihadi leaders before making the announcement "is a clear breach of Islam."
"The situation has not changed at all here," Abu Sulayman said in one tweet, referring to Syria. "Only difference I see is there is a stronger 'Islamic' justification for them [the Islamic State] to kill Muslims." The Islamic State has long justified the killing of other rebel fighters and leaders by arguing that it is the only legitimate authority in Iraq and Syria.
Abu Sulayman, who is from Australia, served as a mediator during al Qaeda's early attempts to reconcile the ISIS with other jihadist groups in Syria. When those efforts failed, he became a vocal critic of the ISIS and is now a staunch opponent of the Islamic State.
Time will tell if Baghdadi's grab for power will allow him to hold on to a piece of Iraq and Syria. The smart money is that he won't, if history recent and distant is anything to go buy. The Ottoman Sultan declared himself a caliph in 1880, partly in the hopes that Indian Muslims would turn on the colonial British administration there. It didn't work - and during World War I, Indian Muslim troops under British command helped defeat the Ottoman Empire in what was to become Iraq.
The Taliban's Mullah Omar tried the caliph gambit too. In 1996, shortly after after conquering Kandahar and on the verge of controlling Afghanistan, he wrapped himself in a cloak purported to have been worn by the prophet Mohamed and declared himself the leader of the world's Muslims. Today, Omar lives in Pakistan.
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What the Fall of Saigon Teaches Us About the Latest ISIS Offensive
Evacuation of CIA station personnel and Vietnamese citizens from Saigon, April 29, 1975 (Wikimedia Commons)
The capture of Mosul and Tal Afar by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) throughout the month of June coupled with the terrorist group’s press towards Baghdad via Samarra and recent declaration an independent caliphate last Sunday has led some foreign policy analysts to worry that Iraq may be on the verge of a sectarian civil war. Barbaric images from the areas captured during the ISIS campaign are near-ubiquitous online, and feed concerns that a similar fate awaits the Iraqi capital.
While the uniqueness of the ISIS challenge cannot be underestimated, and while no wars are exactly alike, historical parallels between what happened in South Vietnam in 1975 and the current situation in Iraq are striking. The targeting of Iraq’s capital city by an extremist jihadist group from the north just two-and-a-half years after the formal withdrawal of American combat troops recollects the successful North Vietnamese Army (NVA) offensive to capture the South Vietnamese capital city of Saigon two years after President Nixon ordered the evacuation of the last U.S. combat troops from the country. Four critical parallels between the two cases may help inform the American and Iraqi response to ISIS as well as articulate the challenges that confront both countries as the crisis progresses.
First, in both 1975 Vietnam and today’s Iraq, the inheritance of foreign entanglements resulted from the departure of American troops. A year after the United States, North Vietnam, and South Vietnam signed the Paris Peace Accords of 1973, North Vietnamese Communist leaders in Hanoi drew up a two-year campaign to capture South Vietnam. The NVA’s push to reunify the country began with the capture of the province of Phuoc Long. By the time Ban Me Thuot fell in March 1975, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) was in disarray. Although President Richard Nixon had repeatedly promised President Thieu that the United States would “not tolerate violations of the Peace Agreement,” his resignation and succession by Gerald Ford ultimately meant that the United States was unable to “make good on Nixon’s promises to Saigon.”
Similarly, the fact that ISIS has set its sights on Baghdad so soon after the formal withdrawal of American combat troops suggests that a hasty administrative handover from Washington left critical Iraqi institutions vulnerable to terrorist attacks.
Secondly, political unrest and weak leadership were also legacies of the United States’ military withdrawal from both South Vietnam and Iraq. In response to the NVA blitzkrieg, South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu adopted the so-called “enclave policy” of holding on to coastal urban centers in hopes that U.S. B-52 bombers would come to the rescue. A series of confusing orders from Thieu—who feared a possible coup against him—coupled with mounting political instability within South Vietnam ultimately resulted in Saigon’s capitulation. As tensions increase with Iraq’s Sunni and Kurdish population over a lack of political representation, the country’s ruling Shiite sect, spearheaded by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, may face a similar situation to that of the South Vietnamese four decades prior.
Avoiding further military entanglement is as much on President Obama’s mind in 2014 as it was on Nixon’s and Ford’s forty years ago. The dispatch of 300 U.S. Army Special Forces combat advisers to Iraq echo President Obama’s commencement speech given at the United States Military Academy last month, in which he stated that “[on issues] that do not pose an existential threat to the United States…we must mobilize allies and partners to take collective action.” On this matter, Obama seems to be walking a fine political line between collaboration with the Iraqi government and direct military intervention. Indeed, it should be noted that the president dispatched the advisers with a cautiously worded directive “to assess how we can best train, advise, and support Iraqi security forces going forward.” It will be critical for these advisers to balance multiple objectives on the ground, including setting up a joint operations center and supporting the Iraqi Army. And, while these are very noble pursuits, it will likely require a projection of Iraqi nationalism via American soft power to unify a people whose sectarian lines run deep.
ISIS militants menace captured Iraqi
soldiers in Tikrit (The Daily Mail)
Thirdly, as with South Vietnam in 1975, the Iraqi government faces more than just the threat of violent removal by ISIS. Even more important than their military campaigns, the NVA effectively employed so-called Armed Propaganda Teams who made use of storytelling and dramatic theater in rural areas to propagandize an idealized image of communist postwar rule. While ISIS does not yet field a fully conventional army able to physically overrun Baghdad, the terrorist group possesses a dangerous, modernized propaganda machine potentially capable of dismantling the city from the inside. Whereas the NVA used theater, ISIS is waging its propaganda war through Twitter and online videos.
Through a Western lens, ISIS’s psychological warfare is decidedly distorted—underpinned by exaggeration, inflated resources, and augmented by the violence of documented extrajudicial killings and summary executions. The extremist group employed these tactics to secure its territorial expansion among an already shell-shocked Iraqi population. Violence coupled with social media successfully thwarted potential resistance against ISIS fighters, which could have formed in Iraq’s Al-Anbar, Nineveh, Diyala, or Salah al-Din provinces.
The ISIS propaganda campaign has also received an external boost from several factions in the region hostile to Washington. The notable emergence last week of the decidedly anti-American Muqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army kept Sadr City under siege from 2003-2007, rekindled anti-interventionist fervor at the mere suggestion of American involvement. Ayatollah Khomeini’s recent accusation that the Obama Administration is attempting to “exploit sectarian rivalries” to influence events in the Middle East may also suggest that the United States’ ability to exert leverage in the region has diminished. Given these circumstances, communication may be the only way for the Obama administration and its combat advisers to maximize their effect. In addition to their military endeavors, these advisers must assist in the running of a successful counterpropaganda mission as vocal opposition to the perceived reprise of U.S. military involvement intensifies.
A fourth and final parallel concerns the nature of political extremism itself. Despite marked differences in their governing philosophies, communism and religious radicalism behave similarly when it comes to justifying and implementing retaliation against perceived foreign occupations and sectarian rivals. Eric Hoffer’s 1951 book, The True Believer, instructively notes the ease with which even manifestly different forms of fanaticism can be whipped up among marginalized masses through similar means. As in the case of protracted communist struggles against foreign occupiers in South Vietnam, communication will likely be key to winning over marginalized Muslims whose mistrust of American influence may be their one commonality. Given that Iraq’s anti-American sentiment crosses sectarian lines, U.S. military advisers and the Obama administration must acknowledge that the al-Maliki government cannot appear heavily dependent on the United States.
Just before South Vietnam fell, President Thieu blamed Americans for “r[unning] away and l[eaving] us to do the job that you could not do.” As the fall of South Vietnam demonstrates, early vulnerabilities—including the effects of foreign military intervention, real or perceived presidential or political weakness, the withdrawal of military support from one’s principal military ally, a successfully executed propaganda campaign, and the nature of political radicalism—conspire to create an environment ripe for exploitation by extremists. Almost four decades later, facing a similar crisis, the United States cannot expect its junior allies in Iraq to perform miracles in the hope of successfully creating a functioning democratic government. It can, however, assist in countering the effective propaganda war waged by ISIS by empowering marginalized religious and ethnic groups to create a “cross-sectarian” government. Ultimately, it is up to the Iraqi government to gradually achieve political legitimacy in the eyes of its own people in order to stall or blunt ISIS’s advance.
Jeong Lee is a freelance international security blogger and a member of the Center for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC). Lee’s writings have appeared in the Naval Institute’s blog, East Asia Forum, and the World Outline, as well as GJIA Online. He will begin a Master of Arts program in International Security Studies at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies in September 2014.
Stephanie Chenault is the Chief Operating Officer of Venio Inc. and a Strategy Consultant for the Department of Defense. She holds a BS in Aerospace Engineering from Texas A&M University and an MS in Astrophysics from the Naval Post Graduate School.
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"God's an old hand at miracles, he brings us from nonexistence to life. And surely he will resurrect all human flesh on the last day in the twinkling of an eye. But who can comprehend this? For God is this: he creates the new and renews the old. Glory be to him in all things!" Archpriest Avvakum
British Isis fighter al-Britani threatens executions in Trafalgar Square
British extremist Abu Rahin Aziz believed to be using the alias Abu Dugma al-Britani used Twitter to threaten that the Islamic State would capture Downing Street and hold executions in Trafalgar Square
A Brit fighting in Syria has vowed to bring terror to the UK – and stage public executions in London’s Trafalgar Square, the Sunday People reports.
Using the name Abu Dugma al-Britani, the fanatic has issued a series of chilling online vows to wage “holy” war on home soil.
The father-of-one, who claims to be fighting for Isis , used Twitter to warn: “Downing Street will be a base for Muslims. Trafalgar Square is where public executions will take place. Army of Islamic State is coming.”
He bragged extremist forces were set to “conquer” America’s White House.
He demanded the release of jailed “Muslim brothers and sisters” in Britain.
And he warned David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May they’d be “annihilated” because of the “filthy dogs” at the centre of an alleged paedophile network in Westmister.
Al-Britani is understood to be an alias of Abu Rahin Aziz, 32, who fled the UK in March after he was charged over a gang attack on a *football fan in London. He was jailed for 36 weeks in his absence.
Daily Mirror ISIS MAP
He ran jihadist websites in the UK and was part of a mob called Muslims Against Crusades, who torched a wreath of poppies on Armistice Day in 2010, yelled appalling insults during the *two-minute silence and held placards saying: “British soldiers burn in hell.”
Aziz is now thought to be associating with ISIS leaders fighting to create a Sunni Muslim caliphate in Syria and Iraq.
On Wednesday he warned of a terror strike like the 2001 bloodbath at New York’s World Trade Center against any state that helped the Iraqi government take on Isis.
Map of the proposed regions of an Islamic state, translated into English.
He tweeted: “USA your interference will trigger many more 9/11 twin towers attacks and your brave boys returned in body bags.”
Meanwhile, UK spy chiefs have angered *ministers by stepping up airport security at the busiest time of year.
The 24 million people set to fly this summer face long delays after the US claimed al-Qaeda had developed an explosive invisible to scanners.
But Whitehall sources believe our intelligence chiefs are just “covering their backs”.
Update: When I saw this story I vetted it by corroborating with another Middle East news source. Neither are mainstream media sources, and I am a little leary as this story should be big news already. So, take this report with a grain of salt. I continue to search for corroborating reports, but haven’t found any yet. If I don’t find corroboration from credible sources within the next 12 hours I will delete the post. From Syrian Free Press:
“As reported by Ziad Fadel (SyrianPerspective) from local Syrian sources, the alleged leader of the jihadist mercenaries of ISIS-ISIL was struck down and seriously wounded by Iraqi aviation (piloted by Syrian aviators) in the eastern province of Anbaar, in Iraq. A Sukhoi aircraft hit his convoy and sent him away in a medical condition close to death. Al-Baghdaadi is reportedly in a coma and treated (by his cannibal friends) on the Syrian side of the border-crossing at Al-Qaa`em. It has been confirmed that the Syrian Air Forces are flying on “priority” reconnaissance over this area to insure that this murdering sociopath does not reach Turkey where he expects to receive more advanced medical treatment from Erdoghan. Also the mercenary terrorists of the Jabhat Al-Nusra gang will be active to block him from reaching any medical treatment. We will be soon witnesses of the shortest ‘caliphate’ of the history.”
From the blog, Uprooted Palestinian:
“Syrian Perspective has learned that the leader of ISIS was struck down in eastern Anbaar Province in Iraq yesterday after a Sukhoi hit the bulls’ eye and sent him away in a medical condition close to death. Al-Baghdaadi is reportedly in a coma and is being treated haphazardly on the Syrian side of the border-crossing at Al-Qaa`em. It has been confirmed that the SAAF is flying “priority” reconnaissance over this area to insure that this murdering sociopath does not reach Turkey where he expects to receive more advanced medical treatment from Erdoghan’s savages. We can also assure our readers that Jabhat Al-Nusra and its affiliates in Ratdom are also going to be active in blocking any medical treatment. We wish him a speedy death and flight into the arms of the Lord of the Flies, Beelzebub.”
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ISIS Threatens Western Journalists as First Targets
This entry was posted on July 7, 2014, in Islamic State and tagged ISIS, Islamic state. Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment By Dalit Halevy, Ari Yashar http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Ne...3#.U7tMO2t5mK0
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), which has in recent days expanded its hold after capturing large portions of Iraq last month, and last Sunday declared itself an Islamic “caliphate,” has threatened foreign journalists with death if they dare write against the Islamist group.
The message was written on a Twitter account associated with ISIS, which changed its name to “Islamic State” along with its declaration of an Islamic caliphate.
“The brothers register the names of all the Western journalists who demonize the Islamic state, in case the United Heretical States of America decides to get involved in Iraq and Syria; in this way we’ll know who to attack first,” read the message.
The ISIS threat continued “their propaganda is what kills our women and children in the Muslim world, and indeed because of their lying propaganda many Muslim children died.”
It is worth noting that ISIS has committed numerous atrocities against Muslims in areas under their control; two weeks ago it executed and crucified one of its own members for corruption.
The group has tortured and murdered prisoners, among them children and teenagers, forced Druze men to convert to Islam or die, and last month killed a 102-year-old man along with his whole family. In March, the group live-tweeted the amputation of a hand of a man charged with theft in the northern province of Aleppo.
As far as America getting involved in Iraq and Syria, US President Barack Obama has waffled back and forth on taking action. First he committed to not sending troops to Iraq – only to send over 500 marines, dozens of helicopters, and the aircraft carrier George HW Bush into the Persian Gulf.
Then after ruling out American airstrikes on ISIS, Obama hinted such airstrikes were a possibility mere days later, and then sent a delegation of 300 “advisers” to aid Iraqi forces.
ISIS last Friday captured a Syrian oil field in the Deir el-Zour province in the east of the country near Iraq, after seizing Syria’s largest oil field last Thursday in the same region.
The Sunni Jihadist group now controls a corridor from the Syrian provincial capital of Deir el-Zour to the border town of Boukamal, giving it a free flow between Syria and the areas of Iraq it seized last month.
The Islamist group has already amassed great assets during its blitz offensive in Iraq, seizing Iraq’s largest oil refinery, a chemical weapons facility, and becoming the “world’s richest terrorist organization” by looting 500 billion Iraqi dinars ($425 million) from banks in Mosul.
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Iraq loses control of chemical weapons depot to ISIS militants
Posted on by tomfernandez28
The Iraqi government has informed the United Nations that it has lost control of a former chemical weapons depot to Islamist insurgents affiliated with ISIS, or IS, and cannot carry out its obligations to destroy what’s stored in the compound.
In a letter penned by Iraq’s UN Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhakim, it was revealed that “armed terrorist groups” took over the Muthanna complex on June 11. Located north of Baghdad, the facility was the main center for chemical weapons production prior to the 1991 Gulf War, and is still home to 2,500 rockets containing the lethal nerve agent sarin.
According to the Associated Press, the compound is now in the hands of the Islamic State extremist group, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). In the letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Alhakim said that Iraqi officials witnessed the intruders looting some of the equipment before the surveillance system was taken offline.
As RT reported previously, ISIS’ rapid gains through northern and western Iraq – the militants also control portions of Syria – have led it to shed part of its name and declare the territory under its control to be a new Islamic state, or caliphate. The group is primarily composed of radical Sunni Muslims, and has won support among those in Iraq disgruntled with the exclusive nature of Iraq’s Shia-dominated central government.
Until the Iraqi government can recover control of the Muthanna facility and stabilize the country’s security situation, Alhakim said it cannot make progress in eliminating the leftover chemical weapons stockpile.
“The Government of Iraq requests the States Members of the United Nations to understand the current inability of Iraq, owing to the deterioration of the security situation, to fulfill its obligations to destroy chemical weapons,” he said, as quoted by Reuters.
Undated file picture shows Chemical 500 pound aerial bombs filled with chemical warfare agents awaiting destruction by UNSCOM inspectors in charge of disarming Iraq at Muthanna south east of Iraq. (AFP Photo)Undated file picture shows Chemical 500 pound aerial bombs filled with chemical warfare agents awaiting destruction by UNSCOM inspectors in charge of disarming Iraq at Muthanna south east of Iraq. (AFP Photo)
It’s unclear exactly what the Islamic State was able to obtain from the facility, but American officials said that whatever is still in the compound is largely ineffective and perhaps impossible to even move. Speaking in late June about the compound’s takeover, US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that while the situation is troubling, the leftover stockpile does not include “intact chemical weapons … and would be very difficult, if not impossible, to safely use this for military purposes or, frankly, to move it.”
This sentiment was echoed by US Defense Department spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby, who told Reuters, “We aren’t viewing this particular site and their holding it as a major issue at this point. Should they even be able to access the materials, frankly, it would likely be more of a threat to them than anyone else.”
Still, Alhakim’s letter to the UN highlighted two specific bunkers when referring to the compound’s capture, the contents of which were revealed by the AP via a 2003-era UN report.
In Bunker 13 were 2,500 sarin-filled chemical rockets – all produced before 1991 – and 180 tons of the “very toxic chemical” sodium cyanide. Bunker 41, meanwhile, contained 2,000 empty artillery shells that were contaminated with mustard gas, more than 600 one-ton mustard containers holding residue, and severely contaminated construction material. These could not be used for warfare, but they are still “highly toxic.”
When the Iraqi government will be able to regain control of the chemical weapons depot also remain unknown, as lawmakers are still debating over what kind of government to form in order give themselves the best opportunity to unite the country and strike back against the Islamic State militants.
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Hamas seems to be losing control of the dozens of terror cells in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas prevented local journalists from covering the ISIS rally in the Gaza Strip last month as part of its effort to deny the existence of ISIS in the Gaza Strip. But Hamas seems to be trying to cover the sun with one finger.
The Gaza Strip is no longer only a threat to Israel, but also to Egypt. The only way to confront this threat is through security cooperation between Israel and Egypt.
Despite denials by Hamas, there is growing evidence that the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] — also known as “The Islamic State” — has begun operating in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian Authority [PA] and Israeli security sources are convinced that followers of ISIS in the Gaza Strip are responsible for some of the recent rocket attacks on Israel.
Hamas, they say, seems to be losing control over the dozens of terror cells belonging to ISIS and other jihadi groups.
Eyad al-Bazam, spokesman for the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Interior, earlier this week denied reports ISIS terrorists had infiltrated into Egypt through tunnels along the border with the Gaza Strip. He described the reports as “lies and fabrications,” adding that they are part of a campaign to “distort the image of the Gaza Strip,” and that “There is no presence of ISIS in the Gaza Strip.”
The denial came in response to a report in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm according to which Egyptian security forces arrested 15 ISIS terrorists who tried to enter Sinai from the Gaza Strip. According to the report, Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip facilitated the infiltration of the ISIS terrorists into Egypt so that they could carry out a terrorist attack against Egyptians.
The report said that the terrorists had been entrusted with establishing terror cells and branches of ISIS in Egypt.
Hamas is obviously nervous about the presence of ISIS terrorists in the Gaza Strip and sees them as a direct challenge to its rule. ISIS believes that Hamas is “too moderate” and is not doing enough to achieve the destruction of Israel.
Last month, Hamas sent its policemen and militias to disperse a rally organized by ISIS followers in the Gaza Strip to celebrate the recent “military victories” of the terrorist group in Iraq. Hamas prevented local journalists from covering the event as part of its attempt to deny the existence of ISIS in the Gaza Strip.
At the rally, attended by dozens of Islamists, the crowd chanted, “Khaybar, Khyabar, Ya Yahud, Jaish Mohamed Saya’ud!” (“O Jews, Mohamed’s army will return.”)
This is a battle cry that many Islamists like to chant to remind the Jews of the story of the battle fought in 629 CE by the Prophet Mohamed against the Jews of Khaybar, an oasis in northwestern Arabia. The battle resulted in the killing of many Jews, and their women and children were taken as slaves.
Earlier this year, masked militiamen in the Gaza Strip posted a video on YouTube in which they declared their allegiance to ISIS. The militiamen are believed to be members of a radical Islamist salafist group that has been operating in the Gaza Strip for the past few years.
Then, Hamas also denied that ISIS had any followers in the Gaza Strip. But Hamas seems to be trying to cover the sun with one finger.
At the funeral of two Islamists killed by the Israel Defense Forces last week in Gaza, funeral-goers carried flags and banners of ISIS.
Over the past decade, it has become clear that Hamas is not the only terrorist organization operating in the Gaza Strip, which has become a base for dozens of jihadi groups, some linked to Al-Qaeda and ISIS.
The smuggling tunnels that used to link the Gaza Strip with Egypt (most have been destroyed by the Egyptian army over the past year) have facilitated the movement of thousands of Islamist terrorists in both directions.
The Gaza Strip is no longer only a threat to Israel, but also to the national security of Egypt.
The only way to confront this threat is through security cooperation between Israel and Egypt, which have a common interest in preventing the Islamists from exporting their terrorism beyond the borders of the Gaza Strip.
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From The Daily Beast
By Christopher Dickey | July 7, 2014
Iraqi antiquities officials are calling on the Obama administration to save Nineveh and other sites around jihadist-occupied Mosul. But are drone strikes really the answer?
PARIS — More than two and a half millennia ago, the Assyrian King Senaccherib descended on his enemies “like the wolf on the fold,” as the Bible tells us—and as Lord Byron wrote in cantering cadences memorized by countless Victorian schoolchildren: “His cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold; And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea.”
The Assyrian and Babylonian empires appear throughout the Old Testament as examples of ruthless grandeur and godless decadence. The Bible says Sennacherib’s army was destroyed by the Angel of the Lord. The Israelites were carried off to Babylon, where they wept by the waters. And since the middle of the 19th century, archeologists have labored mightily to unearth the mythical and the verifiable past in the extraordinary cradle of civilizations they used to call Mesopotamia and now call Iraq.
No trace ever has been found of the Garden of Eden, said to have lain near the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates, but one of the great prizes the excavators did discover was Senaccherib’s capital, Nineveh, which the biblical prophet Nahum called “the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims!”
Last month, a new marauder descended on Nineveh and the nearby city of Mosul. He, too, came down like the wolf on the fold, but his cohorts brandished Kalashnikovs from pickup trucks, not shining spears; their banners were the black flags of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham.
The risk now—the virtual certainty, in fact—is that irreplaceable history will be annihilated or sold into the netherworld of corrupt and cynical collectors.
Soon afterward the minions of the self-appointed caliph of the freshly self-declared Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, paid a visit to the Mosul Museum. It has been closed for years for restoration, ever since it was looted along with many of Iraq’s other institutions in the wake of the culturally oblivious American-led invasion of 2003. But the Mosul Museum was on the verge of reopening, at last, and the full collection had been stored there.
“These groups of terrorists—their arrival was a brutal shock, with no warning,” Iraqi National Museum Director Qais Hussein Rashid told me when he visited Paris last week with a mission pleading for international help. “We were not able to take preventive measures.”
Indeed, museum curators and staff were no better prepared than any other part of the Iraqi government. They could have learned from al-Baghdadi’s operations in neighboring Syria that a major source of revenue for his insurgency has been the sale of looted antiquities on the black market. As reported in The Guardian, a windfall of intelligence just before Mosul fell revealed that al-Baghdadi had accumulated a $2 billion war chest, in part by selling off ancient artifacts from captured Syrian sites. But the Iraqi officials concerned with antiquities said the Iraqi intelligence officers privy to that information have not shared it with them.
So the risk now—the virtual certainty, in fact—is that irreplaceable history will be annihilated or sold into the netherworld of corrupt and cynical collectors. And it was plain when I met with Rashid and his colleagues that they are desperate to stop it, but have neither the strategy nor the resources to do so.
The prophets of old knew that the fulfillment of the Word of God could only take place at the appointed time. Conquering Jerusalem and destroying the state of Israel may be “central” to this Caliphate’s global war against Jews and Christians, but even they know that, although it may be soon, the time is not yet right and certain other objectives must first be secured, objectives that a Panderer-in-Chief we know all too well has evidently encouraged, emboldened and empowered them to achieve …
By Dalit Halevi and Ari Soffer, INN – “The Islamic State, or ISIS, has responded to critics who have questioned why its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is not actively supporting Hamas in fighting Israel.
After capturing vast swathes of Iraq and Syria, ISIS declared the regions under its control as a ‘Caliphate’, or Islamic state, and appointed Baghdadi as ‘leader of the Muslims’. While many jihadists celebrated the announcement, others – including Al Qaeda, which ISIS broke off from last year – have criticized the move for a variety of reasons.
Since the recent escalation between Israel and Islamist terrorists in Gaza, some of those critics have questioned why a self-declared ‘Caliphate’ is not rushing to the aid of Muslims in the Hamas-controlled territory.
In a statement a spokesperson for the group, Nidal Nuseiri reaffirmed that conquering ‘Bayt el-Maqdis’ (Jerusalem) and destroying the State of Israel is central to the group’s ‘jihad’, or holy war.
However, he pointed out that ISIS has been taking a systematic approach in its campaign, and outlined six specific stages it said needed to be fulfilled before taking on Israel.
Some of those ‘stages’ – building a firm base for an Islamic state in Iraq, and using it as a springboard to wage war in Syria and Lebanon – have already been achieved. But he said a number of other criteria still needed to be fulfilled before challenging Israel directly.
Among them, Nuseiri said that the US – seen as Israel’s greatest ally – needed to be weakened politically and economically via attacks on the American mainland, as well as US interests in Muslim countries. Additionally, the existing ‘Islamic State’ needed to expand its borders to cover all of ‘Greater Syria’ (which would include Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jorislamdan and possibly Gaza); such a state, he said, would then be in a position for a direct confrontation with Israel.” Source – INN.
Flashback: ISIS Jihadist: ‘This Is The War Muhammad Promised Us, The War Of The Great Tribulation’ – “These fighters who gather in Iraq and Syria are not there for the primary goal to fight Maliki and Assad. Abu Omar, a Sunni jihadist fighting in Aleppo said, ‘If you think that all these mujahideen came from around the world to fight Assad, you are mistaken. All of them came here as it was foretold and promised by the Prophet. It is the war He promised us; the war of The Great Tribulation.’ The Jihadists have a set of belief that one third of the Muslims in the world will be killed.” Read more.
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If they leave us alone, Obama will support them. If they attack us, he has to do something.
"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."
-- Theodore Roosevelt
It is my opinion that the United States of America should withdraw from the No First Use pledge, and take the same position as NATO. NFU refers to a pledge or a policy by a nuclear power not to use nuclear weapons as a means of warfare unless first attacked by an adversary using nuclear weapons. Earlier, the concept had also been applied to chemical and biological warfare. NATO has repeatedly rejected calls for adopting NFU policy, arguing that preemptive nuclear strike is a key option. In 1993, Russia dropped a pledge given by the former Soviet Union not to use nuclear weapons first. In 2000, a Russian military doctrine stated that Russia reserves the right to use nuclear weapons “in response to a large-scale conventional aggression”.
U.S. Congress should immediately vote to withdraw from NFU.
U.S. Congress should immediately authorize the use of nuclear weapons against ISIS.
President Obama as Commander-in-Chief should cooperate with U.S. Congress and give the order only he can give, for nuclear strikes on all known ISIS locations. Yes, there will be significant collateral damage – deaths and serious permanent injuries to innocent people. If ISIS isn’t stopped, then I believe those victims will be killed by ISIS anyway. By stopping ISIS now, we will save millions of lives they will take if not stopped.
ISIS is like a virus upon the world. It is more deadly than the current Ebola virus. It is a killing machine. It’s purpose is to kill all Christians, all Jews, all Shia Muslims, all people of all other religions, all infidels – all nonbelievers, all people who do not accept their extreme version of Sunni Islam. ISIS must be exterminated. It has no comprehension of diplomacy. It can’t be negotiated with. There can be no peace with ISIS. It can’t be reasoned with. Sanctions will not have any effect on it. We must kill it before it kills us. ISIS has threatened to invade the U.S. and hang its flag of the Islamic State in the White House. The threat should be taken seriously.
IF not use of nuclear weapons, then I urge U.S. Congress and President Obama as Commander-in-Chief to authorize a full attack on ISIS with our most powerful non-nuclear bombs and missiles. I’m opposed to “boots on ground” to put our soldiers in harms way, except as needed for spotters. However, I strongly support use of drones, not only to locate ISIS locations but also to attack ISIS wherever it is found.
There can be no mercy. No taking of prisoners. Every member of ISIS must be immediately executed. A virus does not have any legal rights, especially like the rights granted to suspects of crimes. What ISIS is doing is worse than what we normally refer to as war crimes. It amounts to willful evil.
Any religion, which seeks to exterminate the people of all other religions, must itself be exterminated.
No one, anywhere on this world, should be killed because they do not accept a specific religion or any religion. Freedom of religion, and freedom from religion, must be the law of the world. No exceptions. Sunni Muslims may be free to live the way they want to on their own land, but they must not be allowed to execute or torture or punish people who disagree with them. They can, however, banish and deport from their countries all those who disagree with them.
Make your choice. Us, or them. Be civilized, or live like barbarians.
I choose us, and our way of life – our freedom.
Libertatem Prius!
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Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham - ISIS - GRAPHIC PG. 15
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U.S. State Department via Reuters 
ABACA The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria is among the groups that actively recruit foreigners to join their jihadist ranks. Muslim American extremists have joined similar groups. 
New York Daily News American jihadis: Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha (top) and his suicide attack in Syria. Abdirahmaan Muhumed (bottom) left Minnesota to join ISIS fighters in Syria in bid to overthrow President Bashar Assad. 
ABACA Children fill out the ranks of ISIS as they work to overthrow governments in Syria and Iraq. 
FBI Cabdulaahi Ahmed Faarax recruited Somali Americans to be jihadists. 
ABOVE: Millions of people have fled areas the conflict areas in northern Iraq and in some places there’s a scramble for basics, like food and gasoline. Foreign Editor Stuart Greer reports from Erbil, Iraq.
Obama ready to send up to 300 U.S. military advisers to Iraq 
Iraq crisis: What does the future hold for Kurdistan? 
AP
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