Tag Archive for: Iraq

Hillary’s Middle East Legacy: 6 Failed States, 7 Autocracies and one Democracy

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Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton served as the 67th United States Secretary of State under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013. The below map is a graphic representation of what occurred during her time as Secretary of State. Not shown on the map are the failed states of Syria and Iraq and the failing state of Afghanistan.

arab spring graphic

Some may argue that former Secretary Clinton was doing the bidding of President Obama. Others may argue that she had no control over events in the Middle East. However, we must recall what former Secretary Clinton said about the “Arab Spring”. Andrew Quinn, Reuters correspondent in Washington, D.C., in an October 2012 column titled “Clinton Says U.S. must embrace Arab Spring despite dangers” reported:

The United States must look past the violence and extremism that has erupted after the “Arab Spring” revolutions and boost support for the region’s young democracies to forge long-term security, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday.

Clinton, seeking to reinforce the Obama administration’s Middle East policy following a wave of anti-American violence and last month’s deadly attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, said Washington cannot be deterred by “the violent acts of a small number of extremists.”

“We recognize that these transitions are not America’s to manage, and certainly not ours to win or lose,” Clinton said in a speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

[ … ]

Clinton acknowledged that political turmoil in Libya and Yemen, the rise of Islamist parties to power in Egypt and Tunisia and the expanding crisis in Syria were all tests for U.S. leadership – but said more engagement, not less, was the only way forward.

The violence and extremism continues today in-spite of engagement by the United States. A growing number of Muslim armies under the banner of the Islamic State, the newest caliphate, among others are creating havoc in Europe. During former Secretary Clinton’s watch was the Iranian “Green Revolution”. Debra Heine from PJ Media wrote:

If you’ll recall, millions of people had poured out into the streets to protest the sham election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. One of the leaders of the Green Revolution, the widely revered Hussein-Ali Montazeri, had issued a fatwa against nuclear weapons, but without a regime change, there was no real hope that Iran would abandon its nuclear weapons program. The country was at a tipping point, and with a little encouragement and logistical support, the murderous Iranian regime could have been overthrown. Hillary Clinton was the secretary of State at the time.

I recall a 2008 campaign ad that the Hillary for President campaign ran. It talked about who was best prepared to take a White House call at 3:00 a.m. Here is the ad:

Well the call came to the White House and the U.S. State Department on September 11th, 2012. Only the call wasn’t at 3:00 a.m. Rather the call came at 4:00 p.m. The call came from Ambassador Christ Stevens from Benghazi, Libya.

No one took the call.

What Trump and Sanders Said about Oil Prices 4 Years Ago by Daniel Bier

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Remember when complaining about the price of gas was all the rage? The public discourse was awash in pseudo-psychology, hand-wringing about “peak oil,” and an array of conspiracy theories to explain why oil cost so much.

There was much ado about corporate “greed” (the cause of all life’s problems), hissing about “speculators,” nationalist chest-thumping about OPEC, self-proclaimed experts warning that Earth was out of oil, and many inarticulate suspicions about George Bush and Barack Obama.

Economists were pretty sure that the price of oil was related to supply and demand, but what did they know? One cantankerous socialist knew the truth:

Pump prices spiked 5% in the past month… Crude oil prices stood at $108 on Friday, up from only double digits at the beginning of the month. …

What’s the cause? Forget what you may have read about the laws of supply and demand. Oil and gas prices have almost nothing to do with economic fundamentals.

Fortunately, when he wrote that in 2012, Sen. Bernie Sanders was ahead of the game, having never read anything about supply and demand at all. Unencumbered by basic economics, he was able to see that Big Oil “gouging” and Wall Street “speculators” were to blame.

Remarkably, right around the time of the fracking revolution, the price of oil and gas started tumbling. I guess Wall Street’s heart grew three sizes that day.

But Sanders didn’t have the only theory. One super smart billionaire figured out that Saudi Arabia was the real problem:

Look at what’s going on with your gasoline prices. They’re going to go to $5, $6, $7 and we don’t have anybody in Washington that calls OPEC and says, “Fellas, it’s time. It’s over. You’re not going to do it anymore.”

When Donald Trump diagnosed this problem in 2011, his solution wasn’t just to “call Saudi Arabia” and tell them “you’re not going to raise that f***ing price!” No, he had a practical measure: seize Iraq’s oil fields. “To the victor belong the spoils. You go in. You win the war and you take it.”

It’s worth remembering this mass hysteria, although the situation today is somewhat different. The price of oil is below $30 a barrel. The International Energy Agency has warned that the world is now “drowning” in oil.

This week, the price for a particularly low-quality type of oil briefly dipped to negative fifty cents a barrel. That is, producers actually had to pay the refinery to take their oil. Has greed been abolished from the land? Maybe. But there’s also a sensible explanation: the high-sulfur oil is expensive to transport and refine, but the producers still had to get rid of it somehow.

But just a few years ago, it would have been almost unthinkable for refineries to actively discourage oil production. At $140 a barrel, almost any kind of oil is worth refining. And here’s the upshot: it was precisely those high prices that prompted the massive investment in production, exploration, and innovation that led to fracking, the shale revolution, and today’s tumbling prices. It was greedy, profit-seeking oil companies who drove the price of oil down over 80% from its peak in 2008.

It’s important to grasp these lessons now, because at some point, the price of oil — or some other commodity — will rise again, and we will be greeted by the same parade of doomsayers, conspiracy theorists, and would-be regulators that we endured for the last decade.

They’re not gone, they’re not even hiding — they’re leading the race for president.

Bonus economics of gas story: On Monday, local news in Michigan reported that a bidding war between a couple of gas stations briefly resulted in prices below 50 cents a gallon. To understand just how weird this is, the wholesale price of gasoline is about $1.

Is this another sign of irrational generosity sweeping the petroleum industry? No. Gasoline is retailed at razor thin margins; gas is typically about 70% of a station’s revenue, but only 30% of its profit. Gas stations actually make most of their money selling food, cigarettes, and bottled water inside.

Occasionally, gasoline is used as a loss leader: stations will sell gas for cheap (even at a loss) to bring people to the pump, where they can then make more money selling high-margin items like bottled drinks and tobacco.

Daniel BierDaniel Bier

Daniel Bier is the editor of Anything Peaceful. He writes on issues relating to science, civil liberties, and economic freedom.

Islamic State Cuts Terrorist Salaries by Half by Daniel Bier

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Documents leaked to CNN from inside the Islamic State show that the terrorist insurgency/quasi-state is undergoing massive budget cuts, cutting salaries for its fighters and staff by 50 percent across the board.

ISIS soldiers earn between $400 and $1,200 a month, plus a $50 stipend for their wives and $25 for each child, according to the Congressional Research Service.

But running a state at war is expensive. And recent victories for the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS mean that the Islamic State can’t afford to pay its soldiers quite as much as it used to.

“On account of the exceptional circumstances the Islamic State is facing, it has been decided to reduce the salaries that are paid to all mujahideen by half, and it is not allowed for anyone to be exempted from this decision, whatever his position,” the ISIS’ government wrote in a memorandum.

Much of the financial pressure on ISIS may come from US and Russian airstrikes targeting cash stockpiles, oil resources, and other assets. ISIS also has to pay for a semi-functioning state, maintaining infrastructure, running schools, subsidizing bread, fighting a war, and, of course, murdering vast numbers of people for imaginary crimes.

But the Islamic State might have a revenue problem as much as a spending problem. ISIS gets most of its money by taxing people in conquered territory, but, as Dan Mitchell has pointed out, the terrorists have recently been discovering the Laffer Curve.

Quoting Adam Chodorow at Slate,

ISIS’s taxes are now so onerous that large numbers of people, who were apparently willing to tolerate ISIS’s religious authoritarianism, are fleeing Syria and Iraq to escape them. …

ISIS is … constrained by a lack of administrative resources and the simple reality once sketched on the back of a cocktail napkin by the economist Arthur Laffer: that tax rates can only get so high before they actually drive down government revenues.

Given current conditions, ISIS may be near or at the limits of its ability to tax, even if it can recruit jihadi tax accountants to its cause. Thus … it’s not clear how much room the group has to grow internal revenues. More important, its efforts to do so may do more to damage its prospects than outside forces can accomplish.

No matter how much violence they use, there is no escaping the basic economic reality of incentives: In addition to creating refugees of war and violence, ISIS is now also creating tax exiles.

As people flee Syria and Iraq, businesses close, and the economy dies — and ISIS’s ability to tax and sustain its war effort is slowly being bled out. This is probably one reason that the Islamic State views refugees as traitors, as they have not only abandoned the one true caliphate, but they’ve taken their incomes with them.

Even if they really believe in the cause, if ISIS fighters are at all motivated by money, cutting their pay in half will have a huge impact on recruitment and desertion. Incentives matter, even in a theocracy.

Daniel Bier

Daniel Bier

Daniel Bier is the editor of Anything Peaceful. He writes on issues relating to science, civil liberties, and economic freedom.

Muslims Kidnap Three Americans ‘Infidels’ in Baghdad

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Kidnapping infidels and releasing them for ransom or enslaving them, as well as killing them if that option is deemed most advantageous for the Muslims, is fully sanctioned in Islamic law:

“As for the captives, the amir [ruler] has the choice of taking the most beneficial action of four possibilities: the first to put them to death by cutting their necks; the second, to enslave them and apply the laws of slavery regarding their sale and manumission; the third, to ransom them in exchange for goods or prisoners; and fourth, to show favor to them and pardon them. Allah, may he be exalted, says, ‘When you encounter those [infidels] who deny [the Truth=Islam] then strike [their] necks’ (Qur’an sura 47, verse 4)” — Abu’l-Hasan al-Mawardi, al-Ahkam as-Sultaniyyah (The Laws of Islamic Governance), trans. by Dr. Asadullah Yate, (London), Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd., 1996, p. 192.

baghdad

“BREAKING NEWS: Three Americans ‘kidnapped’ by militia in Baghdad,” by Wills Robinson, Dailymail.com, January 17, 2016 (thanks to Robert):

Three American contractors have reportedly been kidnapped by militants in Baghdad.

According to Arab news channel Al-Arabiya, sources in the Iraqi capital city said the trio were abducted in the southern neighborhood of Dora on Sunday.

They were believed to have been with an interpreter, who has also been captured, reports suggest.

The US State Department has confirmed it’s aware of the reports.

Officials are working with Iraqi authorities to locate and recover the missing Americans.

Their identities and the reason they are in Iraq is not known.

John Kirby, State Department told Daily Mail Online: ‘We are aware of reports that American citizens are missing in Iraq.

‘The safety and security of American citizens overseas is our highest priority.‎ We are working with the full cooperation of the Iraqi authorities to locate and recover the individuals.’…

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Netanyahu: “Iran will now have more resources to divert to terrorism”

Islamic State massacres 300, kidnaps 400+ in attack on Syrian govt-held city

‘Iran will now have more resources to divert to terrorism’

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Can’t argue with that, Bibi.

“John Kerry Says the Middle East Is ‘Safer’ Thanks to Iran Deal Implementation — But That’s Not What Netanyahu Says,” by Sharona Schwartz, The Blaze, January 17, 2016:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions against Iran would free up more money for the Islamic Republic to pursue terrorism.

“What is clear is that Iran will now have more resources to divert to terrorism and its aggression in the region and around the world, and Israel is prepared to deal with any threat,” Netanyahu said at his weekly cabinet meeting, according to a transcript released by his office.

Netanyahu’s assessment stood in stark contrast with that of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who a day earlier said that both the world and the Middle East were now safer thanks to the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal.

“Today … the United States, our friends and allies in the Middle East, and the entire world are safer because the threat of a nuclear weapon has been reduced,” Kerry said Saturday in Vienna.

The Israeli leader vowed that his government would monitor “all of Iran’s international violations, including regarding the nuclear agreement, the ballistic missile agreement and terrorism.”

He also urged other countries to “enact severe and aggressive sanctions against each violation.”

“Were it not for our efforts to lead sanctions and thwart Iran’s nuclear program, Iran would have had nuclear weapons some time ago. Israel’s policy is exactly as it has been – not to allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapon,” Netanyahu added….

RELATED ARTICLE: Islamic jihadists kidnap three Americans in Baghdad

PODCAST: The War against the Infidels

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LISTEN to this podcast of the January 10, 2016 Lisa Benson Show on KKNT 960 The Patriot.  Lisa Benson and New English Review Senior Editor Jerry Gordon co-hosted this show with the assistance of Board of Advisors member, Richard Cutting.

Col. Richard Kemp, (ret.) CBE, former Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan and noted commentator on counterinsurgency and counterterrorism, discussed why Israel is the outpost of civilization in the Middle east. He urged Queen Elizabeth to visit Israel in 2017, the 100th Anniversary of the liberation of Jerusalem from the Turks to honor ANZAC fallen.  He drew attention to British Prime Minister Cameron who has spoken before Israel’s Knesset and his designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group.  He suggested that perhaps the Administration might follow suit.

He considers the Muslim Brotherhood as an evil organization seeking to spread Islamist hatred of Israel Europe and the West. Hamas he pointed out had links to the Muslim Brotherhood with objectives similar to that of ISIS.   An ISIS he said was spreading its barbaric Islamic doctrine across the Muslim Ummah from Syria and Iraq to North and sub-Sahara Africa and South Asia.

With regard to the resurgence of the Taliban in a 14 year war in Afghanistan with NATO forces, he said that some of it was attributable to the role of Pakistan intelligence service.  The Pakistanis and Afghans he noted are enemies.  He called attention to the internecine war between the Taliban and ISIS endeavoring to gain power as enemies of the democratic government in Afghanistan. A government plagued with corruption hobbling the country’s security forces.  He called attention to a generational long struggle against Islamist Jihadism in which the West cannot relax. It must stand up and fight.   He noted in passing that the US Administration has taken its eye off the ball with outreach to an enemy, Iran. He attributed some of the present difficulties in the Middle east and South Asia to both the pullout of US forces in Iraq and pull down of ISAF troops in Afghanistan.

Dr. Sebastian Gorka addressed the number one issue in polls taken of Americans, national security and domestic Islamic terrorism.  He suggested that the Administration had to jettison the canard of lone wolf terror acts. The Boston Marathon Bombers, the shooting in Chattanooga, the massacre in San Bernardino and the recent attempted murder of a police officer by a convicted felon and convert to Islam in Philadelphia he said was reflective of the connective tissue of Global Jihad doctrine. That doctrine viewed America and the West as antithetical to Jihadist aims.

He viewed the ability of the US and the EU to vett the millions of migrants and refugees flooding the west as well nigh impossible.  While referencing the intense scrutiny of his parents, refugees from the 1956 Hungarian rebellion against Soviet Communism, he suggested that could only be done under intense and repeated questioning by counterterrorism security echelons using a data base to check documents and bona fides.  He suggested that the US is hobbled by the lack of manpower and a data base to vett, for example, the stream of Syrian Refugees.

Having visited a Syrian refugee camp during the recent Christmas New Year’s holiday, he was struck with two takeaways. He commended the Kingdom of Jordan, without the resources of oil revenues of an incredible job of s country of 6 million handling an influx of 1.5 million Syrian refugees. He tasked the oil rich Gulf States and Saudi Arabia to offer financial and resettlement assistance.  He said there was no sense to send Syrians to the EU or the US. Rather it was incumbent on the contending powers, especially the US, to resolve the conflict, hereby enabling the Syrians in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon to return home.

Regarding the recent settlement between New York City and Muslim and civil liberties advocacy groups ending  the NYPD Muslim community profiling program, Gorka  said in a recent House Armed  Services Committee testimony  that after 9/11, the NYPD had been let down by Federal law enforcement and counterterrorism agencies. The NYPD he noted undertook to build perhaps the best counterterrorism intelligence and surveillance program to monitor and protect the Muslim community in New York against Islamist inroads. Effectively he commented to the House Committee that politics continued to get in the way of national security.

When asked about the current rising Sunni Shiite divide between Saudi Arabia and Iran, he referred to a comment from Israeli PM Netanyahu, who said it was a Game of Thrones pitting the Saudi Wahabbist Sunni Caliphate against the Mullahs of the Shia Mahdist Caliphate in Nuclear Iran.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in the New English Review.

Two Palestinian refugees arrested for supporting the Islamic State

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Here is the hot news this morning.  The LA Times has a more detailed account of the story that broke overnight, than some other news outlets (maybe CA is getting a little more sensitive to the terrorists living in their midst).

The two Iraqis are actually Palestinians who had been living in Iraq.  By the way, we only bring a small number of Palestinians to the U.S. as refugees.  And, it is not clear to me if one or either of these actually became refugees by arriving here through some other means and then granted asylum.  I guess only their federal resettlement contractor knows for sure!

However, in all likelihood at least one of the two came from our special resettlement project for Palestinians when back in 2009 the US State Department agreed to bring in 1,350 Iraqi Palestinians to your neighborhoods.

It was quite big news at the time.  And, the issue was that these were Palestinians Saddam Hussein had invited to live in Iraq and once the regime fell, no one wanted them.

Because of his arrival date, at least one of the two alleged Islamic terrorists could have been in that group.  Here is what we said in 2009.

Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab

Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab

Now, the LA Times:

A man who came to the U.S. as an Iraqi refugee was arrested in Sacramento on Thursday on suspicion of lying about fighting alongside terrorist organizations in Syria, federal authorities said.

On the same day, federal authorities in Houston announced that an Iraqi refugee in Texas, who had been communicating online with the man in California, was charged with attempting to provide support to the militant group Islamic State.

The allegations against two men residing in the U.S. with links to foreign terrorist groups comes as the nation reels from the Dec. 2 shooting in San Bernardino, which left 14 dead. That is considered the deadliest terrorist act on U.S. soil since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

And the arrests of two refugees from Iraq, part of a wave of about 103,000*** Iraqi refugees admitted from 2006 to 2014, is likely to add fuel to the debate over whether the U.S. should welcome refugees from Syria, and if so, whether the screening process is adequate.

The man living in Sacramento, Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab, 23, had reported in private messages on social media that he fought alongside various groups in Syria, including Ansar al-Islam, a Sunni terrorist group and an affiliate of Al Qaeda, according to a federal complaint filed Wednesday and unsealed Thursday.

There is much more here…..

Because of the ages at which these two must have arrived in the US (as teenagers), it shows how ludicrous the discussion about vetting refugees can be when they are obviously becoming more devout after they get here (I refuse to use the word radicalized!).

And, these two are not the first, remember there is another pair of Iraqi refugee terrorists in federal prison.  See our complete archive on the Kentucky terrorists by clicking here.

The only way to make sure we are completely safe is to stop the migration from terror-producing Islamic countries! I’ve been meaning to check out the numbers for Iraq for some time.  

Using the State Department’s data base I went back to 2007 and grabbed a map from then until December 31, 2015.  The Bush Administration was slow to admit Iraqi refugees, but opened the door in its last year in office.  The Obama Administration has made Iraqis the largest group of refugees we admit each year since then.

Here is where 127,906 Iraqis have been resettled since 2007 (remember though that this does not mean they stayed where the contractors originally seeded them).

Iraqis to US map

Top five states:

  1. California (26,343)
  2. Michigan (19,186)
  3. Texas (12,314)
  4. Illinois (7,336)
  5. Massachusetts (4,322)

And, because it isn’t far behind (for my VA friends), Virginia (4,158)

For ambitious readers, our Iraqi refugee category has 675 previous posts archived there!

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2016 — A ‘Perilous Year’ for the U.S. and the World

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2016 will be a perilous year for the U.S. and the World primarily because no leadership will be forthcoming from the U.S. during the remainder to the term of President Obama.

Iran is currently building and testing new ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads in violation of U.N. resolutions. The Obama administration promised to deliver to Congress a list of sanctions against Iran. Even though the sanctions were rather mild Iran objected and Obama postponed the sanctions indefinitely. These sanctions may be characterized as a new ‘Obama Red Line’ which he has breached. It is notice to Iran–Iran is no longer constrained by the nuclear agreement which in effect is only binding on Obama and has no legal force against Iran. Further it is notice to Iran that it can continue as the leading state sponsor of terrorism without fear of any action by the U.S.

It is no coincidence that Saudi Arabia, Bahrain (home to the U.S. fleet), Sudan The United Arab Eremites and Kuwait have broken relations with Iran following Obama’s feckless withdrawal of sanctions against Iran. Undoubtedly this was the last straw for Saudi Arabia and other Sunnis. They realize Obama has become the defender and supporter of Iran against U.S.’s former allies.

In effect Obama is trying to create Iran (a Shiite Persian country) as the strong horse in the region against the Arab Sunnis. Obama has picked the wrong horse as there are about one and a half billion Muslims 87% of which are Sunni and 13% Shiites. Added to this mix they see Obama favors Iran over Israel America’s only reliable ally in the region.

It is no wonder that Obama’s favored treatment of Iran over Saudi Arabia and the other Sunni nations has prevented Obama from creating an Arab Sunni coalition to fight ISIS. An effective coalition of Arabs to defeat ISIS must be postponed until Obama is no longer in office and a president that does not follow in Obama’s footsteps is elected.

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What is the Predominant Refugee Group in your State?

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Oregon Live has produced this very cool map.  Please read the story to learn more.

For all of our new readers, go here, to see the federal list of refugee contractors working near you.  You should also see our Frequently Asked Questions.

 

map with predominant refugee group in your state

 

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Islamic State Warns Iraqi Beauty Queen: Join Us or We Kidnap You [+Video]

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Iraq crowned its first beauty queen in 40 years, 20-year old Shayma Qassim on Saturday Dec. 19. Three days later Qassim received a threatening phone call from the Islamic State, telling her to join the terror group or they will kidnap her

According to the organizers of the contest, Qassim, who is originally from Kirkuk, vowed she will not be deterred, saying she would “continue forward despite any obstacles.” The beauty queen plans to represent Iraq in the next Miss Universe competition.

The Miss Iraq pageant was originally scheduled for October, but was moved to December after tribal leaders demanded no women from their families participate. Organizers reported two women bowed out after receiving death threats. In addition, the swimsuit competition was cancelled and a competition in a more modest outfit was substituted. Hijabs were banned for participants.

The final competition – the only part open to the media — was held in a hotel in Baghdad. Eight contestants in evening gowns vied for the title.

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EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is of Miss Iraq Shaima Qassem reacting during the Miss Iraq Pageant in Baghdad, December 19, 2015. © Ahmed Saad / Reuters

Pentagon uses forged document to show Islamic State in ‘desperation’ mode and ‘beginning to feel the pressure’?

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More Baghdad Bob antics from the Pentagon.

“Desperate: Pentagon Peddles Suspect Docs to Prove ISIS ‘Evil,’” by Jordan Schachtel and Edwin Mora, Breitbart, December 22, 2015:

Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren highlighted what may be a forged document to insist that the Islamic State is in “desperation” mode and “beginning to feel the pressure” of the U.S.-led coalition’s efforts against the terror group.

Throughout its rampage across the Middle East, the Islamic State has committed mass executions against innocent men, women, and children, using brutal methods to torment and end innocent lives. There exists overwhelming evidence that the Islamic State has persecuted and executed religious and ethnic minorities, for no reason other than the fact that they do not follow Islam. The holy warriors frequently brag about their actions, and post videos of their savage execution methods on social media. They have beheaded countless individuals, and burned others alive, showcasing their barbarism for the world to see.

The United States government, in its information campaign against the jihadi group, has sought to highlight these atrocities. But this time, the Pentagon appears to have overstepped its bounds.

On Tuesday, Pentagon Spokesman Col. Steve Warren tweeted: “ISIL fighters ordered to dress as ISF [Iraqi Security Forces] and commit atrocities before fleeing Fallujah,” attaching a document purportedly drafted by the Islamic State.

The purported Islamic State flier orders citizens of Fallujah to blow up mosques, to “assault some women,” and to kill “civilians, torture them and film them.” It also calls for the filming of executions, among other inhumane actions.

In a conference call with reporters Tuesday, the Pentagon spokesman said the supposedly recovered documents provide that Islamic State is “beginning to feel some of this pressure that we’ve been applying to them.” According to Col. Warren, the document was obtained by Iraqi security forces from a unit within the Islamic State.

Russian state-media and some U.S. publications have quickly picked up on the spokesman’s post and conference call with reporters, assuming the documents are accurate and legitimate.

“Clearly, this isn’t the behavior of a legitimate government or of a legitimate military force,” he said. “It’s the behavior of thugs, it’s the behavior of killers and it’s the behavior of terrorists,” Warren added.

“The reason I bring this up is to illustrate where ISIL is right now. I would submit to you that we’re starting to see a change in their behavior that may be related to some desperation,” the Pentagon spokesman said.

The document, however, appears to be a forgery, as there are factual, chronological, and locational issues with the flier.

For one, the memo is dated 1436. The current Islamic year is 1437.

Secondly, the document is signed by the Islamic State’s “Ninawa Province.” But Fallujah is not located in Ninawa Province. Fallujah lies in Anbar Province.

It also requests that Islamic State fighters send execution videos to Al Arabiya (headquartered in Saudi Arabia) and Al Jazeera (headquartered in Qatar), the two predominant Sunni networks in the Middle East. Yet, Islamic State has its own sophisticated media presence.

There are other more subtle errors in the Arabic language version, which has been pointed out by social media users in response to the Pentagon spokesman’s post.

Breitbart News has found that the memo is at least over two months old, as it was posted by an Iraqi man on social media on October 16.

Islamic State supporters and others have taken to Twitter, highlighting the spokesman’s tweet and citing it as proof that the U.S. government is not to be trusted….

Pennsylvania: Muslim teen indicted for aiding the Islamic State

What Christmas is all about, especially for Iraqi and Syrian Christian Refugees

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Iraqi refugee children pray for their meals on Iraq during the Christmas for Refugees program

Iraqi refugee children pray for their meals.

Over 4,000 Iraqi Christian and Syrian refugee children (normally ages 6 – 12, receiving no church assistance, but who have registered through a church) and their entire families are being given a genuine Christmas, in spite of their shocking circumstances.  The Christmas for Refugees program is about encouraging and strengthening the faith of Christian families.  Many believe that Christians are the most persecuted group in the world today.

This Christmas, the Christmas for Refugees project, headed by William J. Murray, expanded inside Iraq, as well as in Lebanon and Jordan to touch the hearts of Middle East refugees with not only food, games, Bibles, and gifts, and some blankets, but with a specific Christmas presentation of the real meaning of Christmas.

Each participating family receives either a parcel of about $50 worth of food staples to last at least a week, or a voucher for $50 or $60 worth of food depending on availability of local food stores willing to participate.

William J. Murray, who is known for his outstanding work of helping persecuted Christians, is the son of one of the most famous atheists and Marxists in America, Madalyn Murray O’Hair, founder of American Atheists. When she enrolled William in the school in the early 1960s, she was enraged at prayers and mentions of God in the school setting. Her lawsuit led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling officially banning Bible reading in American public schools in 1963.

Bill Murray, founder of Christmas for Refugees, prays over children and their Christmas meal inside Iraq

Bill Murray, founder of Christmas for Refugees, prays over children and their Christmas meal inside Iraq.

One dozen Christmas events for refugee children were arranged in Lebanon, six were held in Jordan and for the first time, two large events of more than 300 children each was held in Iraq itself.  Bill and his wife Nancy Murray personally participated in two events in each country.

As a Board Member, I also did some fact-finding efforts into new Iraqi areas and towns for next year’s expansion.  My ministry, Love-Link Ministries, has once again partnered with Christmas for Refugees.  No advance public advertisements are made of the events in order to insure the security of each site; to better protect the children and their refugee parents.  In fact, for security sake, the sites and coordinators of the Lebanon and Iraqi events are not made public.

Murray states, “If the funds were available, the list of children would be in the tens of thousands. The program size doubled in 2015 and we hope to double it to 8,000 children in 2016!”

Multiplied thousands of evacuated Iraqi Christian refugees have literally escaped to the country of Jordan.  Most had only enough time to flee with just the clothes on their backs.  Many are from the Iraqi city of Mosul, where ISIL fighters raided their homes and sections of town and gave them a choice:  “Renounce your faith or we will shoot you!” reports several refugees in unison.

Bill Murray sadly relates:  “There are many touching moments during these events. At one event in Lebanon a very young girl, perhaps five years old, began to cry when she realized the event was over and she would have to go back to the refugee area her family lived in. Other touching times include the children involved in genuine play away from the problems that face their families.

“The most rewarding aspect of the Christmas for Refugees program is the moment the children forget the tragic situation their families are in, while participating in our Christmas program that includes puppet shows, singing, games and a hot Christmas meal.”

christian refugee children

Christian refugee children.

In Aman, Jordan, joining Bill was Isam Ghattas, President of Manara Ministries, to make a seemingly joyful Christmas season, regardless of the dilemma of these refugees.  Isam Ghattas tells:  “Joseph Stalin once said, ‘A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.’  For Christians, however, one single death some 2,000 years ago made all the difference as it provided salvation from eternal death to millions of people.  Jesus Christ lived and prescribed two ingredients that constitute a panacea for people’s foremost spiritual malady; SIN!  These are SALT and LIGHT.

“Christians has since used symbols to denote their allegiance to Christ and express their faith; first the fish then the cross symbol some 400 years after Christ’s death.  Recently, another sign has emerged but this time from the enemy ISIS stigmatized the houses of Assyrian Iraqis from Mosul with the letter to denote Nasara (Christians).

“Christians need to turn these calamities and persecutions into opportunities to serve the afflicted.  As the number of world refugees has reached 60 million this month, Syrians being the highest nationality among them, Christians are invited to embody Christ’s panacea by the “word that sustains the weary” (Isaiah 50:4).  Christians must first be this salt and light as they heed a life of sanctity, faith and love.

“Therefore behooves the church to sustain these refugees with their basic needs (food, water, shelter, medicine, clothes) but also with a touch of mercy and love that preserves their dignity.  Having lived this ‘salt and light’ sharing the Good News with them becomes an easy thing to do!  And Christmas for Refugees is doing just that!”

Murray, facing some obstacles, not to mention at one point being only 30 miles from ISIL-controlled territories, felt led of God to expand the program this year into two areas of Iraq, near Erbil, the capital city of Kurdistan.  Murray is aggressively planning for next year to further help develop relief to those who suffer, no matter what our news headlines say.

“It’s all about the children and how they can briefly escape their terrible, ongoing circumstances as displaced refugees,” Nancy Murry painfully relates.

Over two million Syrian refugees have crossed over into Lebanon making up for one-third of the country’s entire population.  Not quite as bad, but Jordan is experiencing a similar displacement of refugees squeeze on their economy.  Most refugees, even though they want to work, are not allowed to work in Jordan.  The economy of Iraq remains in shambles, causing more Iraqi people to seek relief, not just mere “handouts,” but life-saving food, clothing and shelter.

Bill summarizes: “Courtesy of ISIL, Christians around the world are finally beginning to truly understand the horrible conditions refugees face.  And for Christian refugees, it is much, much harder.  I pray that many more Christians will see the plight and send urgently-needed donations.”

Against the backdrop of staggering, appalling surroundings, out of the very depths of despair, one can hear the laughter of children as they play and experience a Christmas that they will remember for the rest of their lives.  After all, it is just like a Christmas they once knew.  The tears and smiles from the parents as they receive their much-needed food, is priceless.

That is exactly what Christmas is all about, not just about the birth of a Saviour, but about true compassion and love shown, just like our Lord showed.

Even the most desperate experienced the true gift of Christmas!

EDITORS NOTE: Rev. Bob Armstrong is a published author or co-author of numerous books, this month is the release of “Beware: Earthquakes Prophesied” (Creation House), as well as “Razor’s Edge: from Bin Laden’s Home to Divine Appointments,” “Stop the Y2K Madness,” among others.  These may be ordered on his ministry website:  www.lovelinkministries.com.  He is also an ordained minister for over three decades and has trained 50,000 pastors in 13 countries in leadership conferences.  He heads up an evangelical and humanitarian organization for three decades called Love-Link Ministries.  He has traveled in 47 countries.  He and his wife Kim, and daughter Brittany reside in Bradenton, FL.  He serves on the boards of several ministries. (bobkimandb@gmail.com)

ABC Documentary: The Rescue of Iraqi Christians

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The ABC 20/20 documentary graphically portrayed how these Iraqi Christians threatened with genocide fled from their millennia old community of Qaragosh, Iraq, after a mortar attack by ISIS.  The Christian community they fled was one of the oldest in the Middle East and was violently desecrated by ISIS.  They were told by rampaging ISIS jihadis they had three choices; to flee, remain as virtual slaves or be killed. They were among the more than 170,000 internally displaced Christians in Iraqi Kurdistan threatened by barbaric apocalyptic ISIS less than 30 miles away.

The Qaragosh Christian community fled and became locked in a virtually immoveable massive traffic jam. They abandoned their vehicles fled on foot to Erbil. There they found  sanctuary in the courtyard of Mar Elia Chaldean Catholic Church presided over by resourceful Father Douglas Bazi.  At first housed in tents, the 560 refugees were subsequently housed in caravans, with space heaters, limited sanitary facilities and communal kitchens.  They were Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who dared not enter UN High Commission for Refugees reception centers in Kurdistan, that already house 1.8 million largely Muslim refugees, for fear of retaliation. They lived in fear of any future as they lack residency.


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Iraqi Christian Grandfather Nissan and his grandchildren Mar Elia Church Compound, Erbil, Kurdistan December 14, 2015. Source: ABC 20/20.

That is when a remarkable alliance came to their aid. The ABC 20/20 documentary, narrated by Elizabeth Vargas, outlined who were prime actors:

Glenn Beck‘s charity, Mercury One’s Nazarene Fund, raised more than $12 million for the evacuation and resettlement efforts of the refugees. Contracted by the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom, former U.S. counter-terrorism officers Joseph and Michele Assad have spent the past four months forging a close partnership with Father Douglas Bazi at Mar Elia. The Assads were managing the risky plan of getting the refugees out of Iraq and finding a country that would grant them asylum so they can start their lives over.

Slovakia, a predominantly Catholic country, agreed to open its doors to at least 25 Iraqi Christian refugee families — 149 people in total — on the condition that no terrorists would pass through the Assads’ security check.

The Hudson Institute Center for Religious Freedom in a press release about the ABC 20/20 documentary provided the time line and key actors involved in this dramatic rescue:

In summer 2015, Hudson Center for Religious Freedom director Nina Shea initiated a project  to resettle Iraq’s most vulnerable minorities in countries where they would have residency rights (denied them in Kurdistan), practice their religion freely, and be safe. On August 17, Chaldean Catholic priest Douglas Bazi, who operates the Mar Elia camp, met with Shea at her office and asked her help to resettle his refugees out of the region. Shea immediately agreed.

With the encouragement and support of Hollywood producer Mark Burnett, Hudson brought on as an advisor evangelical leader and author Johnnie Moore and contracted security expert Joseph Assad. For three months, the team carried out extensive research, vetting, planning, logistical support, advocacy and preparatory travel under this project.

During this period, Shea met with the Syriac Catholic Patriarch Younan, several other Iraqi bishops, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vice President of Slovakia, and diplomats, legislators and officials from dozens of countries in North and South America, Western and Central Europe, Australia, Armenia, and Kurdistan, as well as those of the United States.

It was the small Central European country of Slovakia that finally agreed to accept the Iraqi Christians, after being urged to do so by a key Vatican official who is Slovakian. On December 10, the Hudson team took these Iraqi Christian refugees to Slovakia in a plane chartered by Mercury One, the charity of media personality Glenn Beck, supported with [$12 Million in] funds donated by thousands of American citizens.

“While the world is focused on Syrian refugees, we never forget that tens of thousands of vulnerable Iraqi Christians who’ve escaped ISIS remain stranded in camps in Kurdistan and throughout the region with dim prospects of ever returning home,” said Nina Shea. “We hope our efforts will prompt other countries – especially the United States – to take them in.”

Slovakia is the first country to accept a large group of displaced “IDP” Iraqi Christians who survived ISIS and are displaced inside Iraq. Four days after Slovakia opened its doors, on December 14, and after closely observing the Center’s project, the neighboring Czech Republic announced it too would admit Iraqi Christian IDPs, beginning in January, 2016.

The United States does not accept Iraqi Christian IDPs for resettlement. Last summer, the State Department had even withheld two-week tourist visas from some of the same Christian children evacuated through the Center project last week; they had been awarded scholarships by a New Hampshire sports camp.

We have written about the plight of Assyrian and Chaldean Christians in Kurdistan and Syria and the refusal by our State Department to admit them under the Refugee Resettlement Program. We have published articles and conducted interviews about the genocidal threat towards Iraqi Christian with Canon Andrew White, the Vicar of Baghdad and Joseph T. Kassab of the Iraqi Christian Advocacy and Empowerment Institute (ICAEI) in both the New English Review and interviewed them on The Lisa Benson Show.  The Lisa Benson Show has established the Queen Esther Project to assist in funding efforts for the rescue of Yazidis, Christians and other non-Muslim religious minorities faced with extinction by ISIS.

One of the suggestions made by Kassab of the ICAEI, is an emergency airlift akin to that used to evacuate 130,000 Vietnamese in the closing days of the Vietnam War.  That was the first wave of Vietnamese refugees that ultimately numbered over 1.2 million. Our State Department had the temerity to suggest that these threatened Christians were excluded when they are covered by one of the priorities in our Refugee Admissions Program, fear of religious persecution.  Moreover, as Shea of the Hudson Institute has written, Christians were apparently excluded from a proposed State Departmernt genocide ruling that only covered Yazidis.

Those Vietnamese refugees were brought to Gulf Coast and created a vibrant community engaged in shrimping and other economic enterprises.  There is a large Vietnamese Catholic Church, Our Lady of Martyrs, in our community.  Instead of admitting these threatened Christians, the Administration is granting admissions to Syrian and other Muslim refugees, despite concerns about possible ISIS terrorist infiltrators among them.  Iraqi and Syrian Christians would be easily vetted and would likely be admitted under Family Reunification Visa Programs. The question is will Americans who took time out from holiday preparation to watch the ABC 20/20 documentary  be aroused to contact the White House and Congressional Representatives to open this country to admit Iraqi Christians as productive citizens, as they did Vietnamese four decades ago.

EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in the New English Review.

VIDEO: GOP Candidates Completely Wrong on Origin of the Islamic State

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The name ISIS [Islamic State] was said over 100 times during the last GOP debate and yet so many factually incorrect statements were made. Truth in the Media’s Ben Swann gives those candidates a Reality Check about where ISIS really came from.

EDITORS NOTE: Learn More at Truth In Media.

Christmas will never, ever be the same with the Yazidis — the Forgotten people

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No one could ever forget the horrendous images on television news in August of 2014 when ISIS cornered and entire Iraqi tribe on a mountaintop called Mount Sinjar.  This forgotten people are called the Yazidis.

Over 5,000 men, women and children were slaughtered by the terrorists of the Islamic State (ISIS)!  Since it was such a remote place in northwest Kurdistan, food, blankets and water had to be dropped by plane as Kurdistan forces finally reached them to save the majority of this people group.

Bob Armstrong with Yazidi sheik in Kurdistan

Bob Armstrong with Yazidi sheik in Kurdistan.

Kurds are mostly Sunni, but they are ethnically distinct from Iraqi Arabs.  They control most of northern Iraq, to include most of the important oil fields in the northeast.  They possess a unique piece of the puzzle in the conflict between the Iraqi government and ISIS.  The Yazidis, living in northwestern Kurdistan, are even more “removed” because they are simply a “forgotten” people.  Few visit them as they are dangerously close to ISIS strongholds.

The Kurdish militia (“The Peshmerga,” among others) number between 80,000 and 240,000 and does not “answer” to Baghdad.  But they are highly-trained and represent a very real threat to ISIS.

Like many others, my heart and prayers immediately went out to these dear people.  I vowed right then to visit them!  Far from the headlines in the news now, there is still an active genocide happening in Northern Iraq and Syria of Yazidis and Christians.  ISIS calls the Yazidis “apostate” Muslims, since they do not share the ISIS belief in the Caliphate.

The United Nations and some non-government organizations are trying to assist them, but most are running out of money quickly.  However, no amount of money, although desperately needed, will put a final halt to this genocide.

So the Yazidis join the long list of IDPs (Internationally Displaced Persons).  They suffered much and have supernaturally “maintained” since.  Then last month, the Peshmerga forces from Kurdistan began a concentrated operation to free Sinjar from ISIS and their 300 warriors left in the desolated town.  Coalition warplanes provided air support.

American news pundits claimed that battle would take many weeks.  However, within two days, Kurdistan President Barzani held a news conference in the town of Sinjar, claiming total victory.

Bob prays with Yazidi widow, made by ISIS!

Praying with Yazidi widow, whose husband was killed by the Islamic State.

By faith, I scheduled a trip to Mount Sinjar this past July.  I was ready to spend Christmas with these forgotten people, no matter what.

After arriving and venturing within a couple of hours of Sinjar, my host and mercenary military person advised me to wait a couple of weeks because the victory was not 100% yet (“some mortars were still being fired on the road by ISIS”) and all the IEDs left by retreating ISIS was not yet all cleared.  In spite of my mission to touch their lives, I saw the seriousness in this military man’s face.  And he knew what he was talking about!

Immediately following the Paris terror attack which took the lives of 130 souls, French planes began to bomb ISIS positions, even more fervently than the United States bombing raids.  I’ll never forget my discussion with religious leaders in Lebanon last December when they said to me, “We cannot trust the United States government.  You are now bombing ISIS, when two to three years ago, you were arming what is now ISIS (under the umbrella of rebel groups against the President of Syria).”

According to the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR), 19,000 Syrians have been picked straight from refugee camps in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan and given U.N. approval for resettlement in the United States.  However, most Christians are NOT in the United Nations refugee camps because of assaults and rapes by Muslims.  Just about all of the 19,000 Syrian refugees are Sunni Muslims with an extreme hatred for free Western governments.

Over the past five years of war in Syria, the United States has admitted a grand total of about 120 Syrian Christian refugee families and just one Yazidi.  How can this be?

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Tears of gratitude from a Yazidi girl rescued from the Islamic State.

Billions of dollars are being given to bonafide terrorists by the United States in Iran as part of the supposed “Iran Nuclear Deal” in spite of Iranians (and their leaders) gathering and chanting:  “Death to America!”

Yet again people ask:  How can this be?

Clear-thinking Americans realize there will be attacks on the American soil.  In a Washington Post-ABC News survey published just BEFORE the San Bernardino, California terror attacks, 83 percent of registered voters believe a terrorist attack in the United States resulting in large casualties is likely in the near future.  Forty percent say a major attack is “very likely.”

Let the news speak the truth of this survey!

A purposefully unnamed American official in Kurdistan pronounced to me:  “Christianity is finished in Iraq!”

But, I beg to differ.  Many “Home churches” that I personally witnessed are springing up across Kurdistan.  Christianity is not finished!

But, as Christians, what can we do?

Bob Armstrong delivers food in northwest Kurdistan

Delivering food in Northwest Kurdistan

We must continue to pray and do as much as we possibly can.  That’s why I took food and the Gospel to the Kurds and to the Yazidis this Christmas season.

In the Khanki United Nations’ Camp where many Yazidis are literally “warehoused” just outside Duhok, Kurdistan, I visited and prayed with over three dozen women and widows who have literally been rescued from ISIS.  The posted United Nations admission is they give only $19 (USA) to each person for food per month.  In reality, according to Christians who visit the U.N. camps on a regular basis, the food they distribute is “Grade 4” food, suitable as animal or dog food.  So in addition to prayer and encouragement (and a promise to return), I left each one with approx. $40 for food.

The stories of atrocities are too painful to retell, (or show in pictures) even from someone who has heard similar stories from various war zones in years past.  ISIS is the most ruthless, demonic murdering group ever.

I heard, firsthand, horrific stories from a rescued ten-year-old who had been repeatedly raped by ISIS.  Some ladies were paid for at ISIS slave auctions by undercover rescuers.  Some girls and widows managed to risk all and somehow escaped, traveling days and nights to “freedom.”

Armenian genocide monument in Hawresq, Kutdistan

Armenian genocide monument in Hawresq, Kutdistan. Let us never forget.

Most did not know whether or not their husbands were dead or alive.  Unfortunately, the majority will learn a terrible inevitable.

In spite of losing all and suffering more than anyone, all smiled with tears of gratitude for me reaching out to them with the compassion of Jesus Christ.  Making a small difference: one desperate life at a time.

Christmas, this year; I will never, ever be the same!

EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is of the author with a young Yazidi girl who was captured by the Islamic State. She was bought at an Islamic State slave auction by a group of undercover rescuers.