09/11/14
Daily Archives: September 11, 2014
09/11/14
Islamic State’s Ultimate Goal: Saudi Arabia’s Oil Wells
For the terrorist group known as the Islamic State, Syria and Iraq were a good place to start their campaign, but in order to survive and prosper it knew from the outset that it had no choice but to set its sights on the ultimate prize: the oil fields of Saudi Arabia.
It is in that direction that the battle for control of the world’s largest oil fields is currently heading.
Islamic State — which has its origins in al-Qaeda – knows fully well that in order to sustain itself as a viable and lasting religious, political, economic and military entity in the region, it has to follow the same objectives established by al-Qaeda when Osama bin Laden broke off his relations with the Saudi monarchy and vowed to bring down the
House of Saud.
Bin Laden’s ire at the Saudi monarchy stemmed from the fact that Saudi King Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud invited the American military to use Saudi Arabia as a staging area to build up forces to take on the then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein after Iraqi troops occupied Kuwait in August of 1990. Bin Laden objected to the presence of “infidels” in the land of the two holy mosques, and asked the king to allow his outfit to tackle Saddam Hussein’s troops.
Similarly, IS knows that it will only feel secure once Saudi Arabia is part of the Caliphate, and its oil fields are under IS control — which is why the group has two logical next steps.
First, to capture and secure the most important country in the Muslim world: Saudi Arabia.
If the battle for Syria and Iraq attracted tens of hundreds, (some say tens of thousands) of young Muslims, the battle for control of Islam’s two holiest sites, Mecca and Medina, are very likely to attract many more fighters into the ranks of the Islamic State.
And second, to take on the United States — the one remaining superpower that could stop its march on the oilfields of Saudi Arabia, and ultimately the rest of the Gulf.
After much hesitation, it now appears that the Obama administration has come around to realizing the true danger posed by IS. Washington, along with some of its NATO allies, is now formulating a plan to defeat IS.
However, it may be wise to point out that Washington’s track record in dealing with
Middle East problems has not been something to crow about. As a point of reference, one need only mention Iraq and Afghanistan — both prime examples of how not to do things.
Even if the U.S. can defeat IS militarily, any victory would only be temporary since eventually, U.S. troops will pull out and the remnants of IS would emerge from their respective hiding places, as they did after Saddam Hussein’s capture and death. Indeed, a U.S. intervention — through its massive air campaign — will foment even greater animosity toward the West in general, and the United States, in particular. It’s all deja vu.
The one power that can effectively move against IS in a manner that would appear legitimate to other Muslims is Saudi Arabia, as Nawaf Obaid, a fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and Saud al-Sarhan, research director at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies pointed out in a joint opinion piece published Sept. 9 in the New York Times.
The authors dispute the widely believed notion that Saudi Arabia created IS and is funding it. “Saudi Arabia is not the source of ISIS — it’s the group’s primary target,” they write.
As Obaid and al-Sarhan put it, “The Saudi leadership has a unique form of religious credibility and legitimacy, which will make it far more effective than other governments at delegitimizing ISIS’s monstrous terrorist ideology.”
What makes IS powerful today is the fact that they laid out their military strategy based on where oil fields are located. The fact that they went after northeast Syria and northern Iraq is not coincidental by any means. Islamic State may be ruthless and brutal, but it is first and foremost a terrorist organization with an astute business plan.
The capture of oil wells in Syria and Iraq has made the group financially self-sufficient. Now it’s all or nothing.
By Claude Salhani of Oilprice.com
09/11/14
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09/11/14
Never Happened
You may well have read various news items in the last few days about how Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, president of Egypt (pictured below), offered a deal to Abbas:
What was said was that al-Sisi was prepared to turn over to Abbas a considerable swath of land in the Sinai adjacent to Gaza, in which Palestinian “refugees” could settle, and which would – unified with Gaza – become the Palestinian state. In return, Abbas would withdraw demands for Israel to return to the 1949 armistice line (which is commonly and erroneously referred to as the “1967 border”). The areas of Judea and Samaria that were already under PA control – primarily the major Arab cities such as Ramallah – would become an autonomy.
Word was that Abbas turned it down.
Much was written about how this proved Abbas didn’t really want a Palestinian state (that indeed is the case – but not because of this) and how this offer by al-Sisi signaled a new diplomatic era.
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But I am here to tell you that this never happened. My source is a very highly credible Arabic-speaking Israeli with connections in the Palestinian Arab world.
The one who made this offer, he says, was former president Morsi, who is Muslim Brotherhood. The offer back then, my contact explained with consider logic, was made with the idea that Hamas would be in control of the area that would become the Palestinian state, while Abbas would be sidelined. There would then have been two Muslim Brotherhood states – Egypt and Palestine.
At present, there is no way that Abbas and his PA could take control of Gaza and an area adjacent to it in the Sinai – Hamas remains firmly in control in Gaza. And al-Sisi has absolutely no desire to strengthen Hamas.
Credit: Ahram
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As for Abbas himself, I must return to the Yiddish expression I have used previously: You cannot ride on two horses with one tuchis. (Yes, I like this expression because it so colorfully describes the situation.) Seems he is still attempting to do just that. With very limited success.
During the recent conflict, he was thoroughly on the side of Hamas, in public. Participated in the indirect ceasefire talks with Hamas and even led the negotiations. At that time I was advised that he was doing this in order to stay “relevant.” He wanted to remain in the public eye as a player of consequence. Thus, he did not break the unity agreement with Hamas or come out critical of Hamas.
Now that the conflict is on hold, he has switched sides. Sort of. Wants to appear as the one to be embraced as a “moderate.”
Four days ago, during a meeting in Cairo, he declared:
“If Hamas won’t accept a Palestinian State with one government, one law, and one weapon – then there won’t be any partnership between us. This is our condition, and we won’t back away from it.
“We will only be talking to Hamas if they meet our requirements. The partnership with Hamas depends on arms being under the control of the Palestinian State.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4568206,00.html
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If Abbas truly thinks that Hamas will relinquish control of their weapons to a unity government he heads, he’s dreaming.
“The April 23 reconciliation agreement signed by Palestinian leaders did not address the most contentious issue between them: the weapons of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing. Both Fatah and Hamas thought it best to pass on the issue to avoid it posing an obstacle to reconciliation.” (Emphasis added)
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/05/qassam-weapons-hamas-fatah-reconciliation.html#
Since Hamas never agreed to turn over its weapons, he is on thin ice with his demands. And what I observe is that so far he is all talk. He has not broken with Hamas, he has merely threatened to do so.
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According to an analysis by Malcolm Lowe, Abbas is not nearly as smart as he imagines himself to be, and has maneuvered himself into a corner (emphasis added):
“The recent hostilities between Hamas and Israel have prompted various Israeli figures…to advocate an enhanced role for Mahmoud Abbas, the President (sic) of the Palestinian Authority [PA], in an eventual solution for Gaza. The implausibility of this idea has been pointed out elsewhere. What both the proponents and the critics of this idea have not asked, however, is a more fundamental question: To what extent was Abbas complicit in the aggression of Hamas?”
Lowe then documents the multiple ways in which Abbas was clearly complicit – thereby demonstrating that it is not as easy to switch horses as Abbas apparently imagined it would be.
“Previously, [Abbas] had been using security collaboration with Israel to weaken Hamas, his chief rival [in Judea and Samaria]. Now [March 2014] he chose the reverse tactic: by forming a Palestinian unity government…he hoped to use Hamas to weaken Israel to the point of succumbing to his demands.
“This was a catastrophic miscalculation on the part of Abbas. Hamas had its own reasons for joining a unity government. Above all, Hamas had been made bankrupt by the Egyptian decision to eliminate the tunnels between Egypt and Gaza, so it relied on the promise that the unity government would pay the long overdue salaries of its 40,000 civil servants..
“…as the Israeli Security Service (Shin Bet) has discovered, Hamas exploited the formation of the unity government for a scheme to overthrow Abbas in the West Bank, while brutally injuring Fatah operatives in Gaza.
“Worst of all, an opinion poll shows that the Palestinian public — in its characteristic mode of collective insanity — accepts Hamas’s claim of ‘victory’ over Israel. Whereas until recently Abbas enjoyed clear superiority over Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh in opinion polls, now Haniyeh is projected to defeat him by 61% to 32% in the upcoming election for the Palestinian presidency. Remember that the agreement to form a unity government stipulated that fresh elections for both the Palestinian parliament and the presidency should take place within six months. The same poll ascribes even greater popularity to Haniyeh in the West Bank than in Gaza (66% versus 53%)…
“In another misjudgment, Abbas finally opened his mouth to denounce Hamas’s responsibility for the destruction of Gaza just days before that poll was published. That is, he was silent when the destruction could have been prevented, but chose to criticize it precisely when the broad Palestinian public had euphorically decided that it was a price worth paying.
“…the Palestinian government has now recommitted itself to paying the 40,000 Hamas officials in Gaza in addition to the 70,000 PA officials who have been receiving salaries in Gaza since 2007 without actually working. In other words, the proposal is to pay 110,000 employees for the work that is currently done by 40,000 – and this is out of a Palestinian budget that is already (as usual) in deep deficit….”
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4679/evaluating-mahmoud-abbas
I suggest you save this URL and send it to anyone who promotes Abbas as the solution to the current situation in Gaza.
Credit: The Guardian
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At the time of the ceasefire, Izzat al-Rishq, a member of the Hamas politburo who was part of the Hamas negotiating team, said: “the resistance maintains its finger on the trigger.”
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/08/gaza-war-ceasefire-cairo-hamas-israel.html#
Nothing else was expected. Most clearly, we are in a hiatus, but have not seen the end of hostilities. Not only is Hamas refusing to surrender its weapons, there are reports that it is already working to replenish its weapons cache.
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“A senior political source warned on Sunday that Hamas has renewed its rocket manufacturing and smuggling operations and has begun rebuilding the terror tunnels destroyed by the IDF.”
“On Friday, Yedioth Ahronoth’s political analyst Shimon Shiffer said that the Military Intelligence Director is expected to present in the coming days a comprehensive report to the political establishment regarding Hamas’ rehabilitation efforts.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4568482,00.html
Now, there are claims that these reports are in error.
And then we’re told that it takes time for rebuilding to be done. Plus there is talk of methods to be put to use to detect tunnel construction.
It does not matter.
Once commercials goods start coming into Gaza, it is possible to smuggle parts of rockets inside commercial supplies. I’ve even read about schemes to utilize a submarine to bring materials to Gaza (have no idea if this is viable). Hamas – which is very determined – is aiming for more sophisticated equipment, not just replenishment of lost supplies. Remember, it has a deal with North Korea. It is not thinkable that down the road there should be equipment in the hands of Hamas that Iron Dome is not equipped to deal with.
It is Israel’s job now not only to track what is going on, but to respond to it quickly if re-arming is detected.
In the past, we sat still while arming went on in Gaza, waiting until Israel was attacked first – so that we would not be labeled the aggressor. This would be deplorable in the current situation.
Israel is currently in negotiations with Hamas for a final truce. We haven’t even reached that stage yet. The maximum in vigilance and in responsiveness is required.
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There has been so much talk about a new diplomatic situation that would help us manage the situation in Gaza, with new alliances and new distress about jihadi regimes. We’re part way there – witness the difference between Morsi and al-Sisi and expressed concerns of the EU regarding jihadists – but so far I have not seen anything of substance I can write about, although I would dearly love to do so.
All I see at present is a morass of confusion.
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You may well have seen one or more hysterical articles about how Israel is involved in a “land grab.” I would like to close with a link to an article that refutes this (emphasis added):
“Last week, the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria declared that some 1,000 acres in the area of Gush Etzion was public (state) land.
“As expected, the extreme left-wing NGOs in Israel, led by Peace Now, exploded with an intensive campaign against this step, and shortly thereafter, the US, the UN and certain European countries began to condemn the move and demanded that Israel repeal its decision.
”In a malicious manner intended to throw sand in the eyes of the international community, and to blacken the name of Israel, Peace Now purposely misrepresented this step – which was simply the formal completion of a well-known process – as expropriation of land, and another example of ‘occupation, expulsion and theft.’
”However, an accurate analysis of this declaration and its basis in law completely disproves the claim that Israel has taken over privately owned land. The opposite is actually true – this entire process, implemented by the government, of surveying and officially declaring land to be state land, is intended to ensure that no private property rights will be harmed and that new or expanded communities will be established only on land that belongs unequivocally to the sovereign power according to international law, and not to a private individual.”
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Get-a-grip-Theres-no-grab-374894
Another article to save, my friends. Share it and utilize it to defend Israel. Please!
09/11/14
09/11/14
September 11, 2001 – We Do Not Forget and We Do Not Forgive.
By: Nelson Abdullah
Conscience of a Conservative
I worked for two major airlines for 40 years before I retired. In the 30 years I worked for Pan Am our aircraft routinely became the targets of Islamic attack because we were a worldwide symbol of America. The downfall of that great airline shortly followed the bombing Pan Am Flt. 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland by Muslim terrorists from Libya. The last day I worked for Delta Air Lines was January 2, 2002 and the last four months of my career in aviation was unlike anything I care to remember. It followed the Muslim attacks on September 11, 2001. I got a phone call that 
morning from a neighbor telling me to turn on my television. “What channel” I asked – the reply – any of them. As millions of other Americans did that morning I began to watch as live coverage from New York City came on with the burning of tower 1 of the World Trade Center. The news commentators were in bewilderment as to the cause. Some reported rumors that an airplane had flown into the building. Then as we all watched on live TV, a second airplane flew into tower 2 with a horrible explosion. At that moment it became crystal clear America was under attack.
We learned in the days that followed that the four commercial airplanes involved in the attack had been hijacked by 19 Muslims who all committed suicide in the name of their so-called religion in order to kill as many Americans as possible. Yet to this day leftist politicians and news media refuse to acknowledge that Islam motivates terrorism and is committed in the name of Islam. Those Muslims flew another airplane into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and the fourth airplane, also headed for Washington was brought down by some courageous passengers who had received cell phone calls from family about the earlier attacks and tried to overpower the hijackers. 15 of the 19 Muslim hijackers came from Saudi Arabia, a fanatically extreme religious country that was supposed to be an ally of America but whose members of the royal family openly financed terrorist activities. Now today, 13 years later, more Islamic terrorists have overtaken the airport in Tripoli, Libya and have now commandeered 11 more commercial jetliners.
The whole world changed that day. Muslims danced in the streets in every Muslim city when they learned of the attacks on America and a lot of people elsewhere began to take a serious look at Islam. We have learned a lot about Islam in these last 13 years. It is a brutal and barbaric religion that still functions by rules created by its prophet Muhammad 1400 years ago. Today, Islam is a political and military culture that dominates the lives of 1.5 billion followers worldwide. While there are two major factions of Islam, the Sunni and the Shi’ites, that have been at perpetual war with each other since the death of Mohammed in 632 A.D., there is only one text or scripture followed by all of Islam. And that scripture proclaims to all Muslims that they will dominate the world. A decade followed the attack on New York City Muslims openly brought this message back home. 
Worse yet is the power and influence of the Middle East money into our government and into our politics and into our leftist news media. This wealth has bought them the leadership and many members of the Democratic Party, virtually all of our education system and our news media. While our Christian faith and God has been removed from our classrooms, Islam has been brought in at almost every level. Seven short years after the Islamic attack on America, with the help of liberals from all walks of life aiding the cover-up, a Black Muslim Democrat who had communist parents and a card-carrying Communist mentor as a child, was elected to the highest office in the land with a promise to fundamentally change America. With Barack Hussein Obama’s help, the Democratic Party leaders allowed the Muslim Brotherhood to infiltrate the highest positions in our government. Academics, with the aid of numerous Muslim organizations on college campuses, meanwhile were twisting and rewriting our history and have turned out a generation of youth who are ignorant of current events. And a liberal pro-Democrat news media, that heaps recognition daily on groups like CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, that was identified in court as an unindicted, co-separator to a terrorist finance scheme run by the Holy Land Foundation, willfully fails to report the true involvement of Muslims in America’s government or responsibility with terrorist activities. Now the Muslim in The White House, who openly proclaimed he would stand with the Muslims, has begun to purge our military of all officers who do not swear allegiance to him and thousands of Generals and lower ranking officers have been forced out. We have become almost totally defenseless save for the tens of millions of gun owners in America who are the ongoing target of every Democrat.
Today Islam is backed by great wealth from the Middle East oil kingdoms and holds great animosity for all things we regard as part of our life in America and in Western Civilization. Our so-called ally Saudi Arabia has spent billions financing the construction of thousands of mosques in America and in Europe for the sole purpose of spreading the radical Wahhabi form of its Islamic religion. The mosques have been established as recruitment and training centers for terrorism. Through these mosques have come thousands of Muslims converted into violent radical terrorists who have been taught that Islamic Sharia Law, as laid out in the Koran must be made supreme over our Constitution because no law that does not come from their pagan god Allah should be followed. Their Muslim imams and clerics have plotted the overthrow of our country and our FBI, hindered as they are by politics, have prevented dozens of new terrorist attacks.
On the 10th anniversary of the Muslim attack, the web site Sharia4America posted this ominous warning:
Click image to enlarge.
Today the influence of Islam in America is trying to make criticism of Islam a crime. One of the leaders of the Democratic Party, Sen. Harry Reid, has propose a Constitutional Amendment to rewrite our 1st Amendment Freedom of Speech to prevent criticism of the corrupt actions of Democrats. Islamic Sharia Law and the interests of the Democratic Party are running hand in hand. We are a nation at war and Islam is our self-professed enemy and the Democrats have become their ally and our citizens have been kept in the dark and that is the way the Democrats and the Muslim Brotherhood wants it. We must never forget this and we must never forgive this, ever.
My name is Nelson Abdullah and I am Oldironsides.
09/11/14
I remember
No one says it better than Lt. Col. Allen B. West, USA (ret). I won’t even try. I will always remember and I will never forget until my dying day.
Today, September 11th, is the “day that will live in infamy” for this current generation.
As long as I live, I will never forget going to the II Marine Expeditionary Force current operations center just in time to see the plane strike the second tower. I remember when the call came that the Pentagon had been hit. Most of us on Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejeune had just completed morning PT and had showered when it all happened. The full spectrum of emotions ran through us all that day – unbelief, bewilderment, confusion, sadness, conviction, and anger. I remember calling my wife Angela and asking if she and the girls were ok, since they still lived just 90 minutes away back up at Ft. Bragg in Fayetteville, NC. She was frantic and crying. I can still remember that night staring up at the sky from my little place in Swansboro, NC and seeing or hearing nothing – no planes, it was eerie.
And here we are 13 years later and still living under the threat of an Islamic terrorist attack. We go through security protocols all because of Islamic terrorist attacks. We just witnessed two Americans beheaded by members of an Islamic terrorist army.
Thirteen years later and it is as though we learned no lessons from 9/11. Our own recalcitrance to define this enemy was demonstrated last night by our president, Barack Hussein Obama, who firmly declared that ISIS is not “Islamic” – then what the hell are they, Amish? Political correctness has placed us in a position where almost half of our country fears another major terrorist attack.
My fellow Americans, we don’t have to live under this specter of Islamo-fascism and jihadism. We cannot go another year – certainly not another 13 – living in fear all the while refusing to admit that they exist. I am tired of being told that we cannot offend folks. I am tired of hearing that it’s not all Muslims. If that’s so, those moderates need to “man up” and kick some extremist arse. Because for 13 years, we’ve fiddled around and played games of winning hearts and minds and nation building and all we got in exchange were two beheaded Americans.
The original “day that will live in infamy” led us to one goal: the destruction of the enemy who attacked us. It was Japanese Admiral Yamamoto who stated that he feared they had awakened a sleeping giant. But the giant that is America is still asleep.
When President Ronald Reagan was asked how he defined victory in the Cold War he replied simply, “we win they lose.” And it was Alexander the Great who said, “I would not fear an army of lions if led by sheep, but I would fear an army of sheep if led by a lion.” America is looking for a lion who will crush the wolves and embolden, unleash and direct the indomitable American spirit that will not cower.
Remember those Americans who lost their lives thirteen years ago today but we must finally commit to never allowing this enemy to cause us to live in fear or alter our lives – we win, they lose – and never again!
Steadfast and Loyal,
Lt. Col. Allen B. West, USA (ret)
U.S. Congressman (2011-2013)
09/11/14
Senate Dems Support Immigration Policies That ‘Take Jobs and Wages From American Women By The Millions’
September 11, 2014
For Immediate Release
Contact: Stephen Miller, 202.224.4124
“[The Obama] administration issued an executive order to provide foreign spouses—the citizens of other countries, not American citizens—with 100,000 jobs in the United States, precious jobs that many Americans would love to have. How many American spouses struggling to support their families would benefit from one of those jobs? How many single moms would benefit from a chance to earn a better paycheck? Our Senate Democratic friends talk about paycheck fairness. Yet they are supporting policies that take jobs and wages directly from American women by the millions.”
BACKGROUND:
Click here to read an op-ed from the nation’s top academics about how the guest worker policies contained in the WH / Senate immigration bill “deny American workers access to STEM careers and middle-class security that should come with them… The tech industry’s promotion of expanded temporary visas (such as the H-1B) and green cards is driven by a desire for cheap, young and immobile labor.” The President’s planned executive action might increase by as much as 800,000 the number of new foreign workers admitted to the U.S. permanently (on top of the existing flow). The President is also considering an expansion of his previous order to unilaterally grant work-authorization to the spouses of foreign nationals, expanding the guest worker supply by tens or even hundreds of thousands.
U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) serves on four Senate committees: Armed Services, Judiciary, Environment and Public Works, and as Ranking Member of the Budget Committee. Visit Sessions online at his website or via YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. Note: Please do not reply to this email. For further information, contact Sen. Sessions’ Press Office at (202) 224-4124.
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In Memoriam
Available at Amazon.com 
