10/18/15

Hillary Clinton and the “Dark Forces” in Benghazi

By: Cliff Kincaid
America’s Survival

Kenneth Timmerman, author of Dark forces: The Truth About What Happened in Benghazi, looks at Hillary Clinton’s next scheduled appearance before the Benghazi special committee and the Iranian nuclear deal. He cites evidence that the Iranians were behind the attack in Benghazi that killed four Americans on September 11, 2012. In addition, Timmerman says Iran was involved in the September 11, 2001, attacks. Timmerman also discusses Russian backing for Iran and the Russian role in attacking the opponents of Assad in Syria. Timmerman also looks at: Will Russia attack the Kurds? And who are the Kurds? Is Obama a Muslim? Will Israel strike Iran?

02/19/15

Oliver North on slaughter of Christian Coptics

02/18/15

Beyond Anti-Semitism

By: Alan Caruba
Warning Signs

I read Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent call to European Jews to move to Israel in the wake of the attacks in Paris and in Copenhagen. “Israel is your home. We are preparing and calling for the absorption of mass immigration from Europe,” was Netanyahu’s message to those considering leaving their home nations.

By 2012 about 43% of the world’s Jewish community lived in Israel, making it the country with the largest Jewish population. The bulk of the rest of the world’s Jewish population lives in the United States and the remainder are scattered among other nations.

When it declared its sovereignty in 1948 Israel quickly filled with Jewish immigrants from the surrounding Arab nations that made it clear they were not welcome even if their families had lived there for generations. Now they are extending their hatred to Arab Christians.

These days Israel’s population numbers 7,821,850. For years Israel has been welcoming Jewish immigrants from nations that include Russia, Ethiopia, Ukraine, and France; even some from the U.S. As incidences of anti-Semitism increase in Europe, Netanyahu’s invitation is being answered by more Jews seeking a respite from the hatred they are encountering.

Jews represent less than 0.2% of the world’s population.

In the U.S., unless you live in a major urban center or its suburbs, you are not likely to encounter too many Jews. According to the 2015 World Almanac and Book of Facts® there are 5,439,000 Jews in North America and 13,862,000 worldwide.

So why are we witnessing attacks on Jews? Writing in The Wall Street Journal on January 15, 2015, Ruth R. Wisse, a former professor of Yiddish and comparative literature at Harvard, warned that “If we mistakenly imagine that this is ‘about’ Jews, however, we fall into the trap that anti-Semitism sets for us by deflecting attention from perpetrators to victims.”

“The trail of terror leads not to the Jews but from those who organize against them…In every case, Jews are convenient targets standing in for the liberalizing aspects of individual freedom, democratic governance and modernity complete with its anxieties. Anti-Jewish politics aims at the tolerant societies in which Jews flourish.”

Therein lays the danger in President Obama’s resistance to identifying the terrorists and acts of terrorism around the world as fundamentally Islamic. Do all Muslims hate Jews? Probably not, but enough do to support radical Islamism in the millions and their hatred extends to Christians and all other infidels, unbelievers.

One thing is for sure. As reported on June 3, 2014 in The Wall Street Journal, “from 2010 to 2013, the number of jihadist groups worldwide has grown by 58%, to 49 from 31; the number of jihadist fighters has doubled to a high estimate of 100,000; and the number of attacks by al Qaeda affiliates has increased to roughly 1,000 from 392.” Those numbers are increasing.

CNS News.com reported in November 2014 that “The number of people killed by terrorists worldwide in 2013 rose by 60% compared to the previous year—from 11,133 to 17,958—with four Sunni Muslim extremists groups responsible for two-thirds of all fatalities” according to the Global Terrorism Index, a project of the Institute for Economics and Peace.

The failure to defeat the jihadist groups can only lead to the increasing danger of an attack on the U.S. homeland, but it will also ensure that such attacks occur throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East wherever there are large Muslim populations.

On September 29, 2014, Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the United Nations General Assembly. “It’s not militants. It’s not Islam. It’s militant Islam. Typically its first victims are other Muslims, but it spares no one. Christians, Jews, Yazidis, Kurds—no creed, no faith, no ethnic group is beyond its sights. And it’s rapidly spreading in every part of the world. You know the famous American saying, ‘All politics is local’? For militant Islamists, ‘All politics is global’ because their ultimate goal is to dominate the world.”

When Netanyahu addresses the U.S. Congress next month, his message will surely be the same, but with one difference. He will focus on the insane prospect of an Iran, the source of terrorist acts against the U.S., since the Beirut bombing of our Marine barracks there in 1983.

What Obama does not grasp is that Netanyahu wants the U.S. to cease its insane support for a nuclear Iran. He wants to protect his nation, but what he also wants to do is to save Iranian lives because Iran will not be permitted to reach a point where it can annihilate Israel.

This goes beyond the anti-Semitism that has flourished for millennia and goes straight to the question of whether Israel and the U.S. can survive an inevitable attack and whether the rest of the world can avoid slipping into a new Dark Age rooted in the seventh century.

02/15/15

ISIS Parades 17 Kurdish Fighters in Cages to be Burned Alive Like Jordanian Pilot

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton

I warned everyone that despite the posturing by the Jordanians and Obama, that ISIS is not on the defensive… they aren’t on the run either. They are advancing and they are ratcheting up their barbarity. In a scene reminiscent of Stephen King’s The Stand, ISIS just paraded 17 Kurdish fighters in cages on the back of trucks through the Iraqi city of Kirkuk. They will meet the same fate as the Jordanian pilot in retaliation for the Kurds killing ISIS fighters and dragging them through the streets of Kirkuk earlier this month. These are the tactics of Genghis Khan – they are both lethally barbaric and effective. As ISIS approaches each new city, people flee in panic… those that can anyway.

Onlookers jeered and taunted the prisoners as their captors played to the crowds during the procession.

A total of 17 Peshmerga were led through the streets of what is apparently Kirkuk in northwestern Iraq.

From the Daily Mail:

Heads bowed in terror the orange-clad Kurdish fighters are paraded through streets filled with jeering militants in the latest horrifying video release from Islamic State.

In a grim echo of the terrible fate which befell Jordanian pilot Lieutenant Muath al-Kaseasbeh the captives, reportedly Peshmerga fighters, are dressed in orange jumpsuits and shackled in cages.

Just as Lt. al-Kaseasbeh was burned alive on camera, IS are planning to do the same with their latest prisoners, according to posts on social media.

The grim procession apparently took place through Kirkuk in northwest Iraq, an oil rich Kurdish stronghold where ISIS now has a presence after mounting repeated attacks in recent weeks.

The parade, reportedly through the Hawija district in the southwest of Kirkuk, could be seen as revenge for horrific reports of Kurdish forces dragging the bodies of ISIS fighters through the streets of the city in the Kurdistan region of Iraq earlier this month.

In the nearly four minute long video 17 of the Iraqi Kurdistan military forces are driven one by one on the backs of white pick-up trucks with ISIS flag-waving militants toting AK-47s accompanying each prisoner.

At the end of the clip the long line of cages can be seen retreating into the sunset over the heads of massed crowds of militants.

Lt. al-Kaseasbeh was filmed being burned to death by Islamic State extremists in a nightmarish 22-minute film which was expertly edited before being posted online.

Titled ‘Healing the Believers’ Chests’, it showed the captured airman locked in a cage before a trail of petrol leading up to its bars is set alight.

It is thought he was immolated while heavily sedated before debris, including broken masonry, is poured over the cage, which is then flattened by a bulldozer.

Officials believe Kasasbeh had been killed almost one month earlier, despite ISIS attempting to carry out a prisoner exchange in return for the captured pilot.

After the footage was released, Jordanian officials executed two Iraqi militants connected with ISIS.

They included Sajida al-Rishawi, the female would-be suicide bomber whose freedom ISIS had originally demanded in exchange for releasing Kasasbeh.

Thousands of Jordanian troops have been deployed to the country’s border with Iraq to stop Islamic State militants from infilatrating the country, it has been reported.

The country has already carried out airstrikes on ISIS targets in revenge for the murder of their pilot.

The latest procession of captives scene played out against the backdrop of ISIS taking the town of Al-Baghdadi in western Iraq.

The fall of the town, which the Pentagon played down as a minor setback, came as IS extremists launched an unsuccessful assault involving suicide bombers on the nearby Al-Asad air base.

Posts on social media suggested the Islamic State militants plan to set fire to the Kurdistan warriors.

Obama is looking for war powers for three years… enough to hobble our military throughout the remainder of his term and into the next presidency. These powers don’t call for ground troops and they limit attacks from the air as well. What he says he seeks is the opposite of what he means and it proclaims what our military intends to do, which is just plain suicidal. It hobbles us militarily from attacking the enemy to defeat them. The Pentagon is also spewing propaganda. It’s all smoke and mirrors. They are playing up the strength of the Iraqis, who I believe are infiltrated with ISIS fighters. The latest procession of captives is played out against the backdrop of ISIS taking the town of al-Baghdadi in western Iraq. The fall of al-Baghdadi may indeed not be all of Anbar or Iraq, but it is a foreshadowing of such and that fall may come within hours. The Pentagon played down the event as a minor setback and it came as ISIS extremists launched an unsuccessful assault involving suicide bombers on the nearby al-Asad air base.

Iraqi soldiers repelled the ISIS assault on the base Friday which involved several suicide bombers. A group of 20-25 ISIS fighters, most of them wearing Iraqi army uniforms, carried out the failed attack, which appeared designed to have been an initial wave of suicide bombings followed by gunmen storming in. All of the terrorists were killed or died when detonating suicide bombs. An Iraqi army colonel and a defense ministry official said the botched attack involved at least seven would-be suicide bombers using a military vehicle.

What we should do is send in troops and munitions to support those 300 Marines that are now surrounded at the al-Asad air base. ISIS is within five miles of that base now. As I see it, Obama will do one of two things here. The first and most likely is that he will have the Marines evacuate as he did in Yemen. He wants the world to see our warriors running away with their tails between their legs again. He wants them humiliated and debased even more than in Yemen. Second, and I believe this is the one Obama would prefer, is to have them slaughtered by ISIS. He doesn’t care about repercussions… what that would do in his eyes is make the US look weak and vulnerable, while making ISIS and the Caliphate look strong and unbeatable. It would gift them radical Islamic street cred.

Al-Baghdadi is only nine miles away from the air base, where Iraqi officials had to call for reinforcements.

I share Allen West’s notice of the symbology of the 300 Marines in the line of fire currently. There were 300 Spartan warriors that were led by King Leonidas. These brave warriors faced off a numerically superior force from Persia – the Army of Xerxes. They fought and killed ferociously… that is until they were betrayed. Obama, anyone? Did you know that the Iraqi army has lost contact with its people inside the base?

This video was released by ISIS showing al-Baghdadi burning:

Reuters is reporting that al-Baghdadi is under complete ISIS control. So, once again I repeat, the Pentagon and Obama are spinning propaganda trying to make it look less severe than it is and keep it out of the headlines. But 300 Marines will fight to the death if need be. They’ll either win or they will take a whole bunch of dirt bags with them. Right now, ISIS fighters number between 20,000 to 31,500 in Syria and Iraq. And that’s a conservative estimate.

ISIS is expanding beyond its base in Syria and Iraq to establish militant affiliates in Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt and Libya, American intelligence officials assert, raising the prospect of a new global war on terror. There are less formal pledges of support from “probably at least a couple hundred extremists” in countries such as Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Yemen, according to an American counterterrorism official. I fear that with the help of Obama, all of Iraq is gone and next on the menu is Jordan and Israel.

So, while all this goes on, 17 Kurdish fighters will almost assuredly be burned to death and videotaped for the world to see in living and dying color. ISIS will keep stepping up their horrific displays of strength. Let’s pray that that does not include the deaths of Marines. Because if that piece of propaganda is given to ISIS, Obama may try and shrug it off, but America will be so outraged that he saw it coming and did nothing to prevent it, that his time in office may indeed be cut short. We will not quietly stand by and betray our 300 as Obama would certainly love to do.

02/9/15

Sen. Ted Cruz on ABC’s This Week from the Munich Security Conference

02/9/15

The Arab Armies

By: Alan Caruba
Warning Signs

The ongoing Syrian conflict, the fall of the Yemeni government, the burning of the Jordanian pilot, and other events make one wonder why even those Arab nations with significant military capabilities tend not to use them against a common enemy.

The attacks on ISIS by the Jordanian air force have been a dramatic example of what could be done to eliminate this threat to the entire region if the other military forces would join in a united effort.

This raises the question of why the armies of various Middle Eastern nations do not seem to be engaged in destroying the Islamic State (ISIS). The answer may be found in a casual look at recent history; these armies have not been successful on the field of battle. Most recently what passed for the Iraqi army fled when ISIS took over much of northern Iraq.

Since 1948 the Arab nations that attacked Israel were repeatedly defeated. The Iraq-Iran war conducted by Saddam Hussein finally stalemated after eight years. Later it took the leadership of the U.S. to drive Saddam’s Iraq out of Kuwait.

Israeli fighter jets

In October 2014, the Business Insider published a useful ranking of Middle Eastern militaries put together by Armin Rosen, Jeremy Bender, and Amanda Macias. Ranked number one should surprise no one. It was Israel which has a $15 billion defense budget, 176,000 active frontline personnel, 680 aircraft, and 3,870 tanks.

Unlike previous administrations dating back to Truman, while the U.S. is technically still an ally of Israel, in reality the Obama administration has demonstrated animosity toward the only democratic nation in the region. Indeed, the U.S. has been engaged in lengthy negotiations with Iran that would ultimately permit it to become a nuclear power. There isn’t a single Middle Eastern nation that wants this to occur and it has greatly harmed U.S. relations with them.

Ranked second militarily is the Turkish Armed Forces with an $18.1 billion defense budget, 410,000 active frontline personnel, 3,675 tanks and 989 aircraft. This nation has shifted heavily toward being an Islamist state as opposed to the secular one it had been since the end of the Ottoman Empire in the last century. Its military hasn’t been involved in a conflict since the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. It is a NATO-allied military but that doesn’t mean it will support NATO in a future conflict. It was used against the Kurdish separatist movement in the 1980s, but these days the Kurdish Peshmerga, between 80,000 and 100,000 strong is now ranked as “one of the most formidable fighting forces in the Middle East” and it is likely the Kurds will carve their own nation out of an Iraq which barely exists these days.

Number three among the Middle East militaries is Saudi Arabia with a $56.7 billion defense budget, 233,500 active frontline personnel, 1,095 tanks, and 652 aircraft. It has been closely allied with the U.S. for decades, but the Obama Iranian nuclear negotiations have negatively affected that relationship. One can assume the same from its other allies, Kuwait, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia has also provided “substantial assistance” to post-coup Egypt.

The rankings put the United Arab Emirates a #4, Iran at #5, Egypt at #6, Syria at #7, Jordan at #8, Oman at #9, Kuwait at #10, Qatar at #11, Bahrain at #12, Iraq at #13, Lebanon at #14, and Yemen at #15. The Business Insider article noted that “The balance of power in the Middle East is in disarray” and that’s putting it mildly.

Debka File, an Israeli news agency, reported on February 5 that “The group of nations U.S. President Barack Obama assembled last September for an air offence against ISIS inroads in Iraq and Syria is fraying.”

It deemed the participation of the UAE, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Bahrain as “more symbolic than active” noting that Iraq has no air force to speak of and an army in name only while the Saudis “allotted a trifling number of planes to the effort” and Bahrain has no air force at all. The UAE has the biggest and most modern air force and it has reportedly joined with Jordan to attack ISIS strongholds.

Debka reported that the coalition is “adamantly opposed to Obama’s policy…and loath to lend their air strength for its support” and that is very good news for ISIS, but not for the rest of the Middle East.

In October, Commentary magazine published an analysis by Ofir Haivry, vice president of the Herzl Institute in Jerusalem, about the “Shifting Alliances in the Middle East.” It began with the observation that “The old Middle Eastern order has collapsed” as “the ongoing Arab uprisings that begin in late 2010 have unseated or threaten to unseat every Muslim government in the region.”

Postulating ‘five broad, cross-regional, and loosely ideological confederations”, Haivry concluded that “Perhaps our biggest challenge is not a new Middle East, but a new United States in paralysis. Under the Obama administration, America’s historic aspiration to shape events in the region has given way to confusion and drift.”

It should not come as that much of a surprise that Israel has been developing intelligence and security relations with several Arab nations, including what the Middle East Monitor described as “growing secret cooperation between Israel and Saudi Arabia.” That sounds like very bad news for Iran and very good news for the rest of us.