The Russians have often accused the Obama Administration of just pretending to go after the Islamic State by mounting a few airstrikes just for show. And here we are.
“Russia hit 1,888 targets in Syria in a week; US count? Just 16,” by Matthew Schofield, McClatchy, February 12, 2016:
BERLIN — In the seven days before the announcement early Friday that a cease-fire might go into effect in Syria in another week, Russian forces hit more than 100 times as many targets within the embattled nation as a military coalition that includes the United States.
Exactly how the cease-fire proposed at an international conference in Munich would work is still being decided. The agreement announced by Russian and U.S. officials said “a nationwide cessation of hostilities … should apply to any party currently engaged in military or paramilitary hostilities” except the Islamic State, al-Qaida’s Syrian affiliate — Jabhat al Nusra — “or other groups designated as terrorist organizations by the United Nations Security Council.”
Since Russia considers any organization attacking the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad a terrorist group, the question arises of just how its efforts might change.
And those efforts are substantial, as a weekly report by the Russian Ministry of Defense makes clear. In a report posted Thursday on its website, the ministry noted that its jets flew 510 combat sorties and hit 1,888 “terrorist objects” in Syria. The previous week’s report claimed 464 sorties that hit a total of 1,354 “terrorist objects.”
Daily reports from the U.S. military for the same period indicate a much lower level of activity: 16 targets struck in Syria. The reports also said those forces hit 91 targets in Iraq.
The reports suggest Russia has been far more aggressive than the United States has leading up to the cease-fire proposal.
The most recent Russian report, for instance, notes, “During air duty mission, Su-25 attack aircraft detected three hardware columns transporting militants, armament and munitions along the highway al Qaryatayn-Homs. The strike resulted in elimination of nine heavy trucks with munitions and more than 40 militants.”
A Feb. 9 report from U.S. Central Command gave that day’s actions this way: “Near Kobani, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit. Near Manbij, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit. Near Mar’a, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL fighting position.”…
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/russian-air-strikes-in-syria-e1455460531288.jpg295606Jihad Watchhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJihad Watch2016-02-14 09:32:442016-02-14 09:35:40Russia hit 1,888 targets in Syria in a week — U.S. count? Just 16
There’s no doubt the idea of the Islamic State is very attractive for many Muslim’s around the world. Behold – a caliphate was established in which every Muslim can plant roots and where sharia is the order of the day.
Because of this many Muslims relocate to ISIS territory and others donate money to the Islamic state.
Nevertheless, of late it seems not everything is rosy in the Islamic state and people, particularly in the West, are not so thrilled at the prospect of giving up a life of luxury to move to Islami- State land, especially when it is in the context of jihad.
Apparently, many Muslims understandably conceive the idea of jihad as something equating to certain death.
As a result, it is now tougher for ISIS to recruit fighters and therefore the organization has changed tactics. Instead of calling Muslims to join a jihad, ISIS is using a new slogan “migrate (hijrah) to the Islamic State.”
Jihad today, especially as viewed by ISIS, is a violent struggle against infidels or Muslims that are not properly implementing the laws of sharia.
The hijrah is a concept that describes the migration of the Prophet Mohammed from Mecca to Medina in 622 AD. That event marks the starting point of the Islamic calendar. So, when a Muslim performs hijrah, this is a re-enactment of the life of Mohammed and a connection with the roots of the faith. ISIS hopes this will be perceived as making one’s life more meaningful.
With this in mind, we can understand a new ISIS video clip published on February 2, entitled We Will Surely Cause Him to Live a Good Life (a translation of the Quran: Chapter 16 The Bee; Verse 97).
It should be mentioned jihad plays a role in the film but is not the main part. ISIS combines the principles of happiness and family values.
The clip begins with images of the Islamic State attacks on the West in order to show how bad things are in that part of the world, as opposed to the peaceful life in the caliphate.
Early in the video one sees happy children living in the Islamic state:
The clip’s title follows, with a blonde child in the background, giving the viewer the impression the infant is being held by a jihadist:
The clip portrays more serene images. However, the key scene begins pastorally, with a rowing boat making its way across blue water, with mountains in the background. Enter our hero. Abu Shahid the Belgian. He is sitting in the boat. Next to him is his young child. While Abu Shahid talks, his daughter rows the boat.
Our hero tells the audience of his hijrah (immigration), which he describes as a journey from slavery to freedom under sharia:
He relates of an idyllic state, which includes people from across the globe: Africa, Europe, Asia and America, in which there is no racism, the door is open for all and everyone helps their neighbor.
Father and daughter then prepare, cook and share a picnic with like-minded folk in the countryside:
There is no doubt the aim of the film is to recruit new fighters to the organization. ISIS is simply attempting to sweeten the pill.
If the Muslim’s in the West won’t fall for the softly-softly approach and particularly if Western nations start to strengthen liberal Muslims domestically, ISIS will probably face a tough challenge in recruiting new warriors.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/fishing-ISIS.jpg320640Clarion Projecthttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngClarion Project2016-02-08 16:42:502016-02-08 16:58:19Video – Row, Row Your Boat into Islamic State Land
“I tried to shoot up a church one day. I don’t know the name of it, but it’s close to my job. It’s one of the biggest ones in Detroit. Ya, I had it planned out. I bought a bunch of bullets. I practice a lot with it. I practice reloading and unloading. But my dad searched my car one day and he found everything. He found the gun and the bullets and a mask.” Why a church? “It’s easy and a lot of people go there. Plus people are not allowed to carry guns in church. Plus, it would make the news. Everyone would’ve heard. Honestly, I regret not doing it. If I can’t do jihad in the Middle East, I would do my jihad over here.’”
Did Free Press “journalist” Niraj Warikoo, who has done so much to defame and smear foes of jihad terror, feel a twinge of regret as he wrote this story? Did it dawn on him what he has been enabling? Probably not.
“FBI: Dearborn Hgts. man plotted ISIS attacks on church,” by Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press, February 6, 2016:
A 21-year-old Dearborn Heights man threatened terror attacks in support of ISIS with targets including police and a Detroit church with up to 6,000 members, according to a federal criminal complaint unsealed Thursday.
Khalil Abu-Rayyan, 21, has not been charged with any terrorism crime. In an affidavit filed in a criminal complaint on a weapons and marijuana charge, he’s described as being an ISIS supporter who talked about committing violent acts of terrorism, including shootings and beheadings.
In his affidavit, FBI Special Agent Alan Southard said that Abu-Rayyan had been investigated by the FBI since May.
“Since May of 2015, the FBI has been conducting an investigation of Khalil Abu-Rayyan regarding increasingly violent threats he has made to others about committing acts of terror and martydom — including brutal acts against police officers, churchgoers and others — on behalf of the foreign terrorist organization Islamic State of Iraqi and Levant.”…
The FBI had been tracking Abu-Rayyan through social media, phone conversations, and surveillance. He had two Twitter accounts on which he expressed support for ISIS, the FBI said in the complaint.
According to the affidavit in the complaint, an undercover FBI employee was communicating with Abu-Rayyan. In December, the undercover FBI employee and Abu-Rayyan had “daily conversations” that took place “over the course of several weeks,” said the affidavit.
“During these conversations, Abu-Rayyan consistently expressed support for ISIL and repeatedly expressed his desire to commit a martyrdom operation.”
According to the affidavit, Abu-Rayyan also told the undercover FBI employee: “I tried to shoot up a church one day. I don’t know the name of it, but it’s close to my job. It’s one of the biggest ones in Detroit. Ya, I had it planned out. I bought a bunch of bullets. I practice a lot with it. I practice reloading and unloading. But my dad searched my car one day and he found everything. He found the gun and the bullets and a mask.”
“Abu-Rayyan said he targeted a church because, ‘it’s easy and a lot of people go there. Plus people are not allowed to carry guns in church. Plus, it would make the news. Everyone would’ve heard. Honestly, I regret not doing it. If I can’t do jihad in the Middle East, I would do my jihad over here.’”
The FBI said a church that has up to 6,000 members and fits the description given by Abu-Ryyan is about half a mile from where he works.
Abu-Ryyan said he didn’t carry out the shooting because a gun he bought in October “only held six shots and he would have to keep on reloading.”
Abu-Ryyan also took photos of himself at gun ranges firing an AK-47-type and AR-15-type rifles. He “captioned one of the photos, ‘Sawhat hunting,’ ” said the affidavit.
“Sawhat is a term for Iraqis who oppose ISIL,” said the affidavit.
On Oct. 7, Detroit Police had pulled over Abu-Ryyan for speeding, finding marijuana on him and a pistol. He told police he didn’t have a concealed pistol license.
On Nov. 17, Wayne County prosecutors issued a warrant charging him with carrying a concealed weapon and possession of a controlled substance, marijuana.
On Jan. 15, he pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana. He faces a trial on Feb. 16 on the charge of carrying a concealed weapon.
On Jan. 21, he told the undercover FBI employee that “he wanted to kill the officer who arrested him in October.”
He told the undercover FBI employee that his trial had been delayed because the officer who arrested him was in the hospital after suffering a heart attack.
“Abu-Rayyan explained he wanted to do a martyrdom operation in the hospital, killing the police officer in the process,” said the affidavit.
On Jan. 22, he talked about having a large sword or knife in case he gets into a fight.
“Abu-Rayyan also said hearing about shootings and death makes him excited. He continued, ‘I would gladly behead people if I needed to…It is my dream to behead someone.”
Dearborn attorney Majed Moughni, who often deals with Arab-American issues, said that what Abu-Rayyan was planning to do was “terrifying …Clearly terrorism is not a joking matter. … Muslim Americans are working with law enforcement to stamp out threats to our community.”
As in other cases tied to ISIS, Abu-Rayyan used social media to communicate support for the group.
The FBI said in the affidavit that Abu-Rayyan had been using a Twitter account since at least November 2014 to retweet, like and comment “on ISIL propaganda.” The propaganda included videos of a Jordanian pilot burned alive, Christians being beheaded, and men being thrown from buildings in executions.
In his Twitter profile, Abu-Rayyan described himself as Palestinian and Muslim, according to Tweet Tunnel, which captures images of old tweets and Twitter accounts.
In November 2015, Abu-Rayyan got another Twitter account, using the same Twitter profile photo in his previous account: a photo of him standing in the driveway of his residence, his right hand raised with his index finger pointing upward.
“Raising a single index finger is a gesture commonly found in images of ISIL supporters,” the FBI said in the affidavit….
Here are some Muslim students at Brooklyn College making that gesture in April 2015. Are they being investigated? Probably not.
Here is a woman making the same signal at the Noor Islamic Center in Michigan in October 2015, even as she was supposedly being kind to an “Islamophobe.” Is she being investigated? Probably not.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/Khalil-Abu-Rayyan-e1454856795807.jpg370640Jihad Watchhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJihad Watch2016-02-07 09:54:532016-02-07 09:54:53Muslim plotted Islamic State mass murder attacks on U.S. church
President Obama went to Baltimore for a friendly gathering at the Islamic Center of Baltimore Mosque in Catonsville, Maryland. He was there to convey a message that Muslims are as American as apple pie. Problem is that he chose a Mosque deep into political Islam, affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood affiliate, the Islamic Society of North America , supporting suicide bombers and professing hate for U.S. ally Israel. All despite the FBI file sent to the White House confirming this information. No matter. It was a photo op moment to show support for embattled American Muslims given statements from Republican hopeful, Donald Trump that he would stop immigration of Muslims.
The scene was replete with introduction by a hijab swathed college student on track for a medical career. The President in his remarks pointed out another hijab wearing fencing marvel that may be carrying the U.S. flag at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janiero this summer. The President spoke of the kind comments of founding Fathers John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson who purportedly included Mohammedans in the ambit of freedom of worship in America guaranteed by our First Amendment.
Problem is that he forgot to mention the real reason Thomas Jefferson had a copy of a Qur’an in his library at Monticello. A Qur’an, upon which , the first elected U.S. Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) swore a private oath of office on January 4, 2007. I know I passed by his office with a clutch of TV cameramen recording this for posterity. Ellison was at the ISB gathering, as was the second elected Muslim Congressmen, Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN). Doubtless, as this was the President’s alleged first visit to an American Mosque, there may have been notables at the Mosque in Catonsville from CAIR and ISNA. But not too worry this was kumbaya day at the ISB.
Watch the You Tube video of the President’s expansive, yet, cautionary message of support for American Muslims:
American Muslims that he pointed out in his remarks assembled Ford automobiles in Michigan, built the first continuous Mosque in Cedar Rapids,, Iowa, served honorably in the US military and some were buried in the hallowed ground of Arlington National Cemetery. Yes, there were those small pockets of extremists in the Muslim Ummah like ISIS or ISIL as he likes to call it with its self-declared Caliphate in Syria and Iraq. Barbarically beheading Christians, enslaving minority Yazidi women and children, destroying ancient cultures in the name of Allah, their God. Then there are the extremist Taliban in both Afghanistan and Pakistan killing women, homosexuals and Christian infidels. Oh, we forgot the Mahdist Shia in Tehran who the President makes deals with to prevent a nuclear war, he thinks. Last year, they only executed 1,000 for crimes of gender, homosexuality and heterodox beliefs.
As to the reason why Jefferson had a Qur’an in his library, just recall their encounter in London with the Tripolitanian Ambassador in their roles as US Commissioners trying to understand why the Bey of Tripoli enslaved American sailors he seized along with their ships in the Mediterranean. Note this Notable and Quotable in the Wall Street Journal:
From a March 28, 1786, letter written by John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who were American diplomats at the time, to U.S. Secretary of Foreign Affairs John Jay reporting on their conversation in London with the ambassador from Tripoli regarding piracy by the Barbary States:
We took the liberty to make some enquiries concerning the ground of their pretensions to make war upon nations who had done them no injury, and observed that we considered all mankind as our friends who had done us no wrong, nor had given us any provocation.
The Ambassador answered us that it was founded on the laws of their Prophet; that it was written in their Koran; that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners; that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners; and that every Mussulman [Muslim] who was slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.
Clearly, Adams and Jefferson knew something that President Obama doesn’t choose to admit in public. That Islam is not the religion of peace and tolerance that its religious theocrats make it out to be. Subsequently, as the Third President of the US, Jefferson would conduct a covert war that freed American hostages with a few Marines at the fabled ‘walls of Tripoli’ from the likes of the Sharia-mad Bey.
Leo Hohmann at WND, cited an Investigative Project Report by Steve Emerson giving details on why the FBI thought the ISB was a poor choice for the President for this encounter, “Obama.” Hohman cites Emerson saying:
IPT founder and executive director Steve Emerson told WND his organization was told by FBI sources that Obama was presented the evidence against the Islamic Society of Baltimore.
According to Emerson’s investigation, federal law enforcement officials told him they were asked about whether the Baltimore mosque had engaged in radical politics or was connected in any way to terrorism in the past.
“They prepared memos for the president’s aides that specifically laid out the sordid history and nexus to terrorism of the Islamic Society of Baltimore,” Emerson told WND.
So what did the president do?
“As he has done so many times in the past, he decided to ignore this evidence and still continue his plans to confer legitimacy on a mosque that has a history of having officials connected to Islamic terrorism and to this day still has officials making outrageously pro-terrorist statements that would seem to conflict with the president’s policies,” Emerson said.
The mosque is affiliated with the Islamic Society of North America or ISNA, which has its own sordid history.
ISNA was started by members of the international Muslim Brotherhood in the 1980s. The Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928, is banned in many countries as an extremist organization.
“One can only conclude that the selection of this mosque by the president was made as part of his consistent policy to not even utter the term ‘radical Islam’ and the simultaneous policy of inviting only radical Islamist groups and leaders to the White House that FBI documents clearly show were derived from the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas,” Emerson told WND.
But there was another problem with the choice of the ISB, the occurrence of gender apartheid prior to this auspicious occasion.
We have interviewed colleagues of Asra Nomani, Dr. M. Zhudi Jasser and Canadian leader of MRM, Raheel Raza who recently returned from a successful trip to Israel on The Lisa Benson Show. We hope to bring back Raza and introduce Ms. Nomani to discuss what the MRM is advocating and doing. Note what Nomani and Okoye wrote:
At the Islamic Society of Baltimore this past Sunday, the air was filled with the scent of Sherwin-Williams paint that workers were rolling onto the walls of the run-down balcony section where women and girls are usually segregated, unable to see the imam unless they peek over the balcony’s edge. A sign outside the door to the balcony said, “STOP Please. No Shoes. No Strollers. No Diaper Change. Beyond this point.”
Asra slipped into the mosque’s main hall to join the “halaqa,” or study circle. There, the study circle leader, teaching a half dozen men gathered around him, talked about the virtues of the first Muslim community in Medina, saying that a society isn’t “civilized” just because it’s technological.
Then, a young man, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned “Who Do You Love?” piped up, “So that means the West isn’t civilized.”
“That’s right,” the study circle leader said.
Another man railed against the West and its “atheists.”
Asra took a deep breath, listening to the sound of the crew white-washing the mosque for the president’s visit. “That’s a very unfair conclusion,” she said. “You are sitting in the West and railing against the West as not being civilized? It is not fair to make the assumption that the West ‘isn’t civilized.’”
The men tried to backtrack. They spoke with more nuance, before the study leader digressed again into the idea that those who aren’t Muslim act out of “self-interest,” while Muslims act out of an “order from God to do righteousness,” a point that Asra also politely refuted as motivated by “self-interest” and as an unfair representation of the many good people who aren’t Muslim.
As women and girls, we should be supported by policies that allow us to be part of such conversations. The president can support this urgent cause by speaking out against gender segregation in American mosques. In the spirit of the civil rights moment when whites stood with blacks, we hope men and women will refuse the privilege that “interfaith” events give them, and, in act of solidarity, stand outside with us on Johnnycake Road and the other pathways leading to the mosques in our world, advocating for equal rights for all.
So, the President did what he wanted to do with the ISB visit; show solidarity with the plight of American Muslims, sidelined by GOP hopeful Donald Trump. He chose to avoid the advice of the FBI busily tracking down and arresting ISIS inspired lone wolves out to kill Americans on the streets here in the US that he Mosque leaders consorted with terrorist networks. That would upset the President’s alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood seeking their active participation in countering violent extremism and conducted a less than strenuous war against the Islamic State inspiring tens of thousands from across the Ummah to join and practice the pure Islam in the self declared Caliphate.
EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared in the New English Review. The featured image is of President Obama at the Islamic Center of Baltimore in Catonsville, Maryland, February 3, 2016 – Source: Reuters.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/obama-mosque-baltimore-e1454583712500.png356582Jerry Gordonhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJerry Gordon2016-02-04 06:02:002016-02-04 06:07:09Obama Addresses Terror Linked Baltimore Mosque which Practices ‘Gender Apartheid’
If you called Donald Trump a Nazi, he’d probably take offense, even though his nationalism is socialistic. If you called Bernie Sanders a Nazi, you’d be dismissed out of hand, though his socialism is avowedly nationalistic. But did you know that Adolf Hitler himself took offense when the word was applied to him and his political party?
Because “Nazi is, and always has been, an insult,” according to Forsyth.
Hitler’s “opponents realised that you could shorten Nationalsozialistische toNazi. Why would they do this? Because Nazi was already an (utterly unrelated) term of abuse. It had been for years.”
The standard butt of German jokes at the beginning of the twentieth century were stupid Bavarian peasants. And just as Irish jokes always involve a man called Paddy, so Bavarian jokes always involved a peasant called Nazi. That’s because Nazi was a shortening of the very common Bavarian name Ignatius. This meant that Hitler’s opponents had an open goal. He had a party filled with Bavarian hicks and the name of that party could be shortened to the standard joke name for hicks.
Something similar has been happening in the Middle East, with opponents of the self-described Islamic State deciding that the group should be called instead Daesh.
Sarah Skwire explains:
ISIS does not want to be called Daesh. The group considers the acronym insulting and dismissive. An increasing number of its opponents do not want it to be called the “Islamic State.” They fear that this shorthand reifies the terrorist group’s claims to be a legitimate government. (“The Islamic State by Any Other Name,” December 8, 2015)
Totalitarians and terrorists shouldn’t get to bully us into using the terminology they prefer, especially when their preferred terms smuggle semantic baggage past our defenses, but neither should we reflexively refuse to apply accurately descriptive names just because it’s what the bad guys say they want.
Whether you consider “Islamic State” to be an appropriate moniker hinges on how you feel about both the nature of Islam and the nature of the state.
But how appropriate was Hitler’s preferred appellation? No one denies that nationalism was central to his ideology, but whether or not he deserved to call himself a socialist depends on how you feel about individual liberty, private property, central planning, and state ownership of industry. It also depends on how much you want the word socialism to carry a connotation of internationalism and social liberalism.
Horwitz writes, “The Nazis were undoubtedly socialist … as even a quick glance at their 1920 platform will tell you.” And those of us who associate private property with public welfare will tend to agree. But ours was not the dominant perspective in the countries that received National Socialism’s exiles.
As Forsyth tells it,
Refugees started turning up elsewhere complaining about the Nazis, and non-Germans of course assumed that this was the official name of the party.… To this day, most of us happily go about believing that the Nazis called themselves Nazis, when, in fact, they would probably have beaten you up for saying the word.
I suspect, however, that the confusion Forsyth describes was less innocent than his story implies. Those who fled east to get out of Germany would have found themselves under the authority of self-described socialists of the Soviet variety. Those who fled west landed among social democrats who, whether or not they were comfortable with the term “democratic socialism,” certainly didn’t want to give weight to the growing association between socialism and totalitarianism.
In the United States, the S-word was never as popular with the general public as it was in Europe, but many in the American intelligentsia did and still do seek to defang socialism in the popular imagination. The more we use the old Bavarian insult as if it were the National Socialists’ name for themselves, the more we cooperate with that agenda.
But you don’t have to oppose socialism to call the German fascists by their party’s proper name. You need only prefer historical accuracy and semantic precision to linguistic confusion — or politically motivated obfuscation.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/nazi-brown-shirts-with-flags-e1453929662293.jpg393640Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFoundation for Economic Education (FEE)2016-01-27 16:22:082016-01-27 16:24:16Give the Nazis What They Want: Call Them National Socialists by B.K. Marcus
“‘The only truth is that Jack is a Muslim and he is overseas. But everything else is made up and it is just getting worse.’ The man, who refused to confirm his identity, said the ‘right wing’ media were only ‘interested in a snappy line like “Jihadi Jack” and “Jihadi John” that rolls off the tongue, but it is all wrong.’” Yes, he doubtless went to Syria to study botany.
“Family of convert feared to be with Isil blame right wing conspiracy,” by Tom Whitehead, Telegraph, January 24, 2016:
The family of a man feared to be Britain’s first white convert to join Isil last night claimed he is the victim of a “right wing” conspiracy.
Jack Letts, 20, has been dubbed “Jihadi Jack” by friends after leaving his Oxford home and travelling to Syria, where he is suspected of having joined the terror group.
He has posted photos of himself on social media, thought to have been taken near the Taqba Dam in Syria. In one he is wearing combat-style clothing.
But a man who identified himself only as a close family member insisted there had been “an avalanche of misinformation” about him in the media.
Mr Letts’ father, John, is a leading organic farmer who has appeared on BBC’s Countryfile and won a Prince Charles grant to help preserve crop biodiversity.
John Letts is an archaeobotanist and a leading light in organic wheat as well as being a master thatcher and baker.
Neighbours said he and his family were left devastated and depressed after Jack ran off to Syria in 2014 aged just 18.
One said he first converted to Islam after being encouraged by Muslim classmates but was later radicalised by local extremists.
But speaking at the family home last night, the close family member said: “There has been an avalanche of misinformation.
“We don’t want to comment on all of this, but what I will say is that 95 per cent of what has been published is incorrect, it is desperately wrong.
“The only truth is that Jack is a Muslim and he is overseas. But everything else is made up and it is just getting worse.”
The man, who refused to confirm his identity, said the “right wing” media were only “interested in a snappy line like ‘Jihadi Jack’ and ‘Jihadi John’ that rolls off the tongue, but it is all wrong”.
Mr Letts, now 20, was once a keen sportsman and Liverpool FC fan who had been the “class clown” when a pupil at Cherwell School in Oxford, according to former classmates.
But he converted to Islam and friends fear was then radicalised by local fanatics in discreet prayer meetings.
It is believed he lied to his parents before leaving for Syria and told them he was moving to Kuwait to study Arabic.
Since arriving in Syria, he is thought to have married and had a son.
His father, who is Canadian, is a leading figure in reviving traditional crops that were in common use hundreds of years ago.
He produce heritage flour from wheat grown around Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire and feature on BBC Countryfile last year.
In 2011, he was a co-recipient of £25,000 from the Prince’s Countryside Fund.
Neighbours on the terraced street where the family live in Oxford spoke of their “utter sadness” that the “polite and lovely” boy they had seen grow up had allegedly joined Isil.
One woman Muslim neighbour, who asked to remain anonymous, told how she became concerned after his conversion to Islam.
“He told me he had started visiting a Wahhabi mosque. I believe he started going there with his classmates and I knew this could be bad as Wahhabi is not Islam, it is very bad,” she said.
“I spoke with his father who became very worried when he converted to Islam. I sat with him and told him not to worry….
Yes, he had nothing to worry about. He probably went home reassured that this neighbor with her peaceful Islam could help his son stave off those who tried to “radicalize” him. She failed. Authorities will almost certainly not try to figure out exactly why.
Alhamdulilah = thanks be to Allah. Kuffars = unbelievers. But don’t be concerned. John Kerry and Marie Harf are going to visit her and offer her a job at Walmart, and she will give up the jihad forthwith, and hey, Richard Chartres has a beard, which should calm her down considerably.
“EXCLUSIVE: American Female ISIS Member Brags: ‘Finally Got My Hizam [Suicide Belt] Today,’”MEMRI, January 19, 2016 (thanks to Bob):
On January 19, 2016, an American woman who posted a photo and message on her Telegram channel about possessing a suicide belt. Expressing her desire to use it in a suicide operation, she wrote: “Alhamdulilah finally got my Hizam [belt, i.e. suicide belt] today. May Allah Subhana wa ta’ala grant me the opportunity to use it soon, to grant me the honor to sacrifice myself for Him, for His deen [religion] (To kill the kuffars) [infidels]. May Allah subhana wa ta’ala grant us all shahadah [martyrdom] Ameen.” At the time of this writing, her Telegram channel has 451 members
After the January shooting of a Philadelphia police officer at point blank range, New York City police took seriously a tip about an ex-con on parole, who allegedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and threatened to kill a cop.
While the entire NYPD force was put on alert, the suspect, Marcus Shelton, 36, surrendered to a parole officer January 20. Shelton was wanted on two counts of parole violations and it remains undecided as to whether or not he will be charged with making a threat.
Marcus Shelton
The drama began the previous day when the NYPD received an anonymous phone call saying that Shelton intended to shoot a police officer. A similar call (placed from New York) was also received by the Philadelphia Police Department. One of the callers said Shelton had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL).
Shelton has a history of 20 prior arrests and served time for drug possession and assault. He was in violation of his parole for possession of marijuana as well as for bending a NYC MetroCard to ride free.
In Philadelphia, police officer Jesse Hartnett was shot three times in the arm on Jan. 7 by Edward Archer, gunman who said he had pledged allegiance to ISIS.
When the call came into the NYPD, all police were issued an Officer Safety Alert. “Be mindful that any call, regardless of how insignificant it appears to be, may be a set up,” said the head of NYPD’s largest union, Patrick Lynch at the time.
“We are taking it serious based on what happened in Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago,” said Thomas Galati, chief of the NYPD Intelligence Bureau.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/Islamic-State-Dabiq-6-AdvicHP_5.gif320640Clarion Projecthttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngClarion Project2016-01-22 04:26:022016-01-22 04:27:44New York City Muslim Threatens to Kill Cop, Vows Support for the Islamic State
There is not a single mention of Guantanamo Bay, which President Obama says is a recruiting poster for ISIS, or of Donald Trump, who Hillary Clinton says is the biggest recruiter for ISIS.
The terrorist group seems to disagree because the 56-page magazine is almost entirely about complex theological arguments.
The contents of Dabiq exposes the error of assuming that the extremism of Islamists is a byproduct of anger over perceived mistreatment of Muslims by the U.S. The Islamic State does see anti-Muslim sentiment as suiting its purposes and it does cite actions by the U.S. to justify its views, but the foundation of their ideology is an Islamic interpretation. The worldview, including its political grievances, are shaped by those detailed interpretations presented inDabiq.
ISIS spent more time justifying the killing Shiites than any other enemy, by far. The biggest point of emphasis was that Shiites qualify as apostates and not as fellow Muslims, and therefore any and all of them can be killed. The emphasis suggests that ISIS does not agree with the many Sunnis who consider average Shiites to be Muslims or, at least, not deserving of being murdered.
Taking aim at Afghanistan, Pakistan and Kashmir.
This issue of Dabiq goes the extra mile to make the case that ISIS is setting up a functional state in Afghanistan and western Pakistan. A significant amount of space is dedicated to presenting the area as ISIS’ biggest opportunity for growth. A minor mention was made of “pleasant news” coming from Kashmir soon. It appears that ISIS is hoping to present itself as the Sunni shield against the Indian Hindus, much like it presents itself as the Sunni shield against the Shiites in Iraq and Syria.
ISIS repeatedly refers to the Taliban as the “nationalist Taliban” (ISIS holds that nationalism is incompatible with Islam). It also accuses the Taliban of not implementing sharia, betraying the faith by getting too cozy with Iran and being puppets of Pakistani intelligence.
This issue of Dabiq is also dismissive of Al-Qaeda’s presence in Afghanistan, saying it has only a few members there.
Assassination plots against Saudi imams.
One of the first declarations in this issue of Dabiq is a call to assassinate Saudi clerics. the Islamic State is hoping to win over followers of the Saudi brand of Islam (often referred to as Wahhabism) by claiming that the Saudi Royal Family and its supporting religious establishment are disregarding the guidance of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab.
ISIS feels threatened by the argument that jihad is not permissible because it is counterproductive. This issue spends a noticeable amount of time deriding scholars who argue that Muslims should only wage jihad against its enemies when the time is right. The Islamic State argues for perpetual jihad against its enemies, saying that Allah will bring victory over any militarily superior enemy if the jihad is justified.
As it almost always does, ISIS ties its jihad to the fulfillment of End Times prophecy. A major portion of this issue claims that Shiite Islam was created by Jews pretending to be Muslims as part of a plot to corrupt the faith and divide the Muslim world. It says that Christianity was corrupted the same way.
It then goes further. Not only is Shiite Islam a plot of the Jews, ISIS claims, but the Jewish messiah and Shiite Islam’s version of themahdi (the “Hidden Imam“) are the same person. This mahdi-messiah is actually the “Antichrist,” or the Dajjal.
In other words, in the minds of ISIS, never mind Israel’s worry about Iran’s pledges to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. Iran and Israel—Shiites and Jews—are one. And so the Taliban and other Muslims who play nice with Shiites are complicit with the Antichrist’s agenda.
ISIS doesn’t just make this up out of thin air. They argue their points theologically and devote a significant space doing so. The magazine even ends with a map of Iran and a hadith quoting the Prophet Mohammed as saying that the Antichrist (Dajjal) will be followed by 70,000 Jews from Isfahan, a city in Iran.
In sum, the key takeaway is that jihadists like ISIS will always believe the U.S. and others are at war with Islam no matter what we do because that “fact” is considered an inarguable part of doctrine and prophecy.
Clarion Project documents the Islamic State propaganda magazine in order to expose their hateful ideology. Read every issue of Dabiq here.
Many people are afraid of speaking out about Political Islam. But, once you understand the nature of our enemies, you need not be afraid. Actually, we have two enemies: the far enemy (Islam) and the near enemy (the apologists). You only need to deal with the apologists, such as ministers, media editors, school board members and opinion makers. The only damage you will have to contend with is being called names, such as bigot, hater and racist.
We must educate the apologists by understanding their principles and showing them how Political Islam violates their own beliefs. Once they can see this, they can become an ally.
What could possibly go wrong, you greasy Islamophobe?
“Obama Admin Stonewalling Investigation Into 113 Terrorists Inside United States,” by Adam Kredo, Washington Free Beacon, January 11, 2016:
Leading senators on Monday petitioned multiple Obama administration agencies to stop stonewalling a congressional investigation into the immigration histories of at least 113 foreign-born individuals implicated in terrorist operations after legally entering the United States, according to a copy of the letters.
The latest investigation comes just days after the Washington Free Beacon disclosed that an additional 41 foreign-born individuals who legally entered the United States had been arrested for planning a number of terror attacks.
Sens. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) disclosed Monday that they had been pressuring the Obama administration for months to disclose the immigration histories of these foreign-born individuals implicated in terror plots.
Agencies including the Departments of State and Homeland Security have stonewalled these efforts, declining since mid-2015 to provide Congress additional information. This move has prompted speculation among lawmakers that the administration is withholding information to prevent the exposure of major gaps in the U.S. screening process for new immigrants.
“The American people are entitled to information on the immigration history of terrorists seeking to harm them,” Cruz and Sessions wrote to the secretaries of State and Homeland Security and the attorney general.
Similar requests for information issued sent in August and again in December have not been answered by the administration
The letter cites a recent Free Beacon report detailing that an additional 41 foreign-born individuals had been snagged on terrorism-related charges since 2014. The disclosure of these previously unknown accused terrorists brings the total number of foreigners brought up on terrorism charges to 113.
Sessions and Cruz note that at least 14 of those foreigners accused of terrorism were granted legal entrance to the United States as refugees.
“Many more came through other immigration programs,” they wrote. “A number of immigrant terrorists were even approved for citizenship. Others are the U.S.-born children of foreign migrants whose presence in the country would not be possible but for the immigration of their parents.”
Many of these recently implicated foreigners have been caught by authorities planning terrorist attacks on American soil, while others were found to be involved in efforts to provide funding and material to ISIS, according to an internal list of migrant terrorists codified by congressional sources and viewed by the Free Beacon.
Cruz and Sessions are requesting that the agencies in question fill out a chart that includes only partial information about the 113 accused terrorists.
A senior congressional aide familiar with the investigation said the soaring rate of immigration is taking a toll on the U.S. security establishment.
“The cost of high rates of Muslim immigration are clear: enormous security challenges combined with vast expenses to track and convict those here attempting to wound Americans,” the source said….
“You will not find a people who believe in Allah and the Last Day having affection for those who oppose Allah and His Messenger, even if they were their fathers or their sons or their brothers or their kindred.” (Qur’an 58:22)
“O you who have believed, do not take your fathers or your brothers as allies if they have preferred disbelief over belief. And whoever does so among you – then it is those who are the wrongdoers.” (Qur’an 9:23)
“There has already been for you an excellent pattern in Abraham and those with him, when they said to their people, ‘Indeed, we are disassociated from you and from whatever you worship other than Allah. We have denied you, and there has appeared between us and you animosity and hatred forever until you believe in Allah alone…’” (Qur’an 60:4)
“Boys snatched from their families by ISIS reveal how they were ordered to kill their parents after being trained as child soldiers… and would have their legs broken if they refused,” by Tom Wyke, MailOnline, January 12, 2016 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
Former ISIS child soldiers have revealed how the jihadi group snatch young boys from their families and subject them to savage punishments if they refuse to become child soldiers.
One 11-year-old boy, known only as Nouri, had one of his legs broken after he refused to become a ‘cub of the caliphate.’
The children who managed to escape describe how they were indoctrinated into the jihadi group’s radical brand of Islam and taught that they should execute their ‘unbeliever’ parents.
A Kurdish commander described the challenge his men face when fighting against ISIS. He said that ISIS frequently send children out on the frontline, wearing concealed explosive vests.
Aziz Abdullah Hadur said that when fighting on the Gweyr frontline, his men had witnessed numerous child soldiers fighting for ISIS on the frontline….
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/Islamic-State-child-soldiers-e1452849725936.jpg332640Jihad Watchhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJihad Watch2016-01-15 04:23:142016-01-16 14:54:12Islamic State training children to slaughter their parents
The British police force teams up with Muslim mothers in an appeal to Muslim women and girls not to join the Islamic State.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/Syrian-mothers-634030.jpg350590Clarion Projecthttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngClarion Project2016-01-14 16:30:262016-01-14 16:30:26VIDEO: Mothers appeal to Women and Girls not to join the Islamic State
These are words that are likely to be recalled bitterly in the coming years.
American sailors captured by Iran. Photo: IRIB News.
“President Obama: ‘There Are No Existential Threats’ to the United States,” by Alex Griswold, Mediaite, January 12th, 2016:
In an interview with NBC’s Today on the morning of his final State of the Union address, President Barack Obama told interviewer Matt Lauer that the United States didn’t face a single existential threat as his presidency approached its end.
“It is sometimes important for people to step back and measure how far we’ve come,” Obama argued. “The economy right now is better than any other economy in the world by a significant margin. We remain the strongest nation on earth by far and there are no existential threats facing us.”
“If we make some good choices now, whoever the next president is, whoever is controlling the next Congress there, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t own the 21st century,” he said.
Lauer went on to ask Obama specifically about the threat posed by ISIS and other terror groups. “Your daughters are young ladies. When they get to be your age, President Obama, do you believe in your heart that they will be living in a world that is dealing with the threat of radical Islam on a daily basis?”
“I am absolutely confident we will have defeated ISIL,” Obama responded. “I don’t think we have to wait until they are 54 for that to happen.”
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/obama4741-e1452686511957.jpg370640Jihad Watchhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJihad Watch2016-01-13 07:03:172016-01-15 03:33:05Obama: ‘There are no existential threats’, not even the Islamic State
“Cologne violence was likely planned: German justice minister,” Agence France-Presse, January 10, 2016 (thanks to Bob):
BERLIN: Germany’s Justice Minister Heiko Maas said Sunday that the shocking spate of sexual assaults during New Year festivities in Cologne was organised.
“For such a horde of people to meet and commit such crimes, it has to have been planned somehow,” he told Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
“No one can tell me that this was not coordinated or planned. The suspicion is that a specific date and an expected crowd was picked,” he said, adding that if confirmed, that would “take on a new dimension”.
Quoting confidential police reports, Bild am Sonntag said some North Africans had sent out calls using social networks for people to gather in Cologne on New Year’s Eve.
Young men not only from Cologne, but as far as France and Belgium responded to the call to travel to the western German city, the newspaper said.
Cologne police said they have now recorded 379 cases of New Year’s Eve violence — ranging from groping to theft to two reported rapes — with asylum seekers and illegal migrants from North Africa making up the majority of suspects.
The allegations have stoked criticism of Merkel’s liberal open-door policy — which brought 1.1 million new asylum seekers to Germany last year.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/Cologne_CentralStation-e1452512774365.jpg370640Jihad Watchhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJihad Watch2016-01-11 06:47:592016-01-11 06:47:59Cologne Sex Assaults planned: Muslims traveled from France and Belgium to rape women
There is not a single mention of Guantanamo Bay, which President Obama says is a recruiting poster for ISIS, or of Donald Trump, who Hillary Clinton says is the biggest recruiter for ISIS.
Taking aim at Afghanistan, Pakistan and Kashmir.
Assassination plots against Saudi imams. 
ISIS feels threatened by the argument that jihad is not permissible because it is counterproductive. This issue spends a noticeable amount of time deriding scholars who argue that Muslims should only wage jihad against its enemies when the time is right. The Islamic State argues for perpetual jihad against its enemies, saying that 
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