Mosul has fallen

[Henry]

Sajad Jiyad points out that nearly all of ISIL's leadership, including Abu Bakr of Baghdad, was in U.S. custody . . . until freed by the United States.

https://twitter.com/SajadJiyad/status/484432786854772736/photo/1

Guess it helps to have an operative in the captor's working hard to help you out?

 

[Kirk Freeman]

Kurds prepare to exit stage right: Iraqi Kurdish president asks parliament to prepare for independence vote | TODAYonline

 

[T.Lex]

Good for them. They are more deserving of our direct support than Somalia....

 

[mrjarrell]

Good for them. They are more deserving of our direct support than Somalia....

Wouldn't expect a lot of support, one way or the other frankly. Too much support would put Turkey's noise out of joint. They're not fans of the Kurds.

 

[T.Lex]

True dat. Turkey is concerned that their own ethnic Kurds will either want to start their own state or join the new Kurdistan (a la Eastern Ukraine).

Come to think of it, I wonder what position Russia will have on an independent Kurdistan.

Frankly, I think Turkey shouldn't be so scared and seize the opportunity to work with Bufferstan... I mean Kurdistan.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

ISIL hunt down its enemies in order to consolidate.

BBC News - Iraq crisis: Isis rebels 'hunt opponents', say refugees

 

[Kirk Freeman]

The Sahabi boasts that they will conquer Rome: Iraq: Isis Ramadan Message - 'We Will Conquer Christian Rome'

 

[KellyinAvon]

True dat. Turkey is concerned that their own ethnic Kurds will either want to start their own state or join the new Kurdistan (a la Eastern Ukraine).

Come to think of it, I wonder what position Russia will have on an independent Kurdistan.

Frankly, I think Turkey shouldn't be so scared and seize the opportunity to work with Bufferstan... I mean Kurdistan.

I had a bud who was deployed to Operation Northern Watch (Incirlik AB) a couple times in the 90s. He described it as, "We protected the Kurds Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the Turks bombed the Kurds Tuesday and Thursday." Turkey is in NATO so they took the weekend off.

 

[KellyinAvon]

The Sahabi boasts that they will conquer Rome: Iraq: Isis Ramadan Message - 'We Will Conquer Christian Rome'

"So take up arms, take up arms, O soldiers of the Islamic State! And fight, fight," the self-appointed caliph of the Muslim world said in a Ramadan message.
"So raise your ambitions, O soldiers of the Islamic State! For your brothers all over the world are waiting for your rescue, and are anticipating your brigades."
"Rush O Muslims to your state. Yes, it is your state. Rush, because Syria is not for the Syrians, and Iraq is not for the Iraqis. The earth is Allah's,"
ISIS fight song?

He made a special call to scholars, judges, doctors, engineers and people with military and administrative expertise to come and "answer the dire need of the Muslims for them."
If history is an indicator (Hue City, RVN??) these are the first people who will be killed. This guy is smart enough to realize he should use them first.

"The time has come for you to free yourself from the shackles of weakness, and stand in the face of tyranny, against the treacherous rulers – the agents of the crusaders and the atheists, and the guards of the Jews," he said
"This is my advice to you. If you hold to it, you will conquer Rome and own the world, if Allah wills."
Page 1 of the Islamist-terrorist playbook?
In his speech the Iraqi native whose real name is believed to be Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samarrai, called on would-be jihadist to move to the region and join fighting.
HA! He's not even from Baghdad! Al-Samarrai is the Cleveland of Iraq!!

 

[RockofStrength]

Well thank goodness. Apparently Muslims hate Catholic Christians, so as a Protestant I should be ok

Seriously though what good would conquering Rome do? Aside from the land and whatnot, the Pope would just move...

 

[firehawk1]

Well thank goodness. Apparently Muslims hate Catholic Christians, so as a Protestant I should be ok

Seriously though what good would conquering Rome do? Aside from the land and whatnot, the Pope would just move...

IMO it would be nothing more than the ultimate payback for the Crusades. Talk about holding a grudge...

 

[Kirk Freeman]

Seriously though what good would conquering Rome do? Aside from the land and whatnot, the Pope would just move...

Did not know I would be teaching world history on July 4th, but if you really want to know . . .

Of the cities Mohamed wanted to conquer, Jerusalem, Constantinople and Rome, Rome remains. The Muslims have tried multiple times to conquer Rome, and failed each time (highwater mark was the Battle of Ostia in 849). Muslims have not forgotten the Battle of Ostia (and then hundreds of years later, Lepanto, and then Vienna) and have continually vowed to fulfill Muhamed's goal of conquering the three cities of Christianity.

Ostia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ostia

Lepanto: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lepanto

Battle of Vienna during Great Turk War: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vienna

 

[Kirk Freeman]

IMO it would be nothing more than the ultimate payback for the Crusades. Talk about holding a grudge...

Crusades? No, fire, that hadith to attack Rome was centuries before the first Crusade.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

Looking back at ISIL's tweets and Facebook posts, it's almost as if ISIL is acting out of a duty of jihad.

If only someone were purposing that that duty be changed. If only . . .

 

[Redhorse]

Kurds prepare to exit stage right: Iraqi Kurdish president asks parliament to prepare for independence vote | TODAYonline

Good, they should tell Baghdad to go to hell. They should break away and take Kurdish territory in Syria why they're weak too. This would allow Syrian rebels to gain ad advantage over Assad. If Turkey is worried about it, big deal.

 

[mrjarrell]

Looks like the caliph has given his first big speech at a mosque in Mosul. Video at the link, (only really good if you speak Arabic), but you can see the leader of ISIS.

https://news.vice.com/article/video...ate-leader-calling-on-all-muslims-to-obey-him

 

[T.Lex]

Well, ISIS has gone and done it now. This development will almost certainly get attention from Obama.

Jihadists in Iraq Order Women Undergo Genital Mutilation

Nothing gets the left more riled up about foreign affairs than genital mutilation.

 

[jamil]

Well, ISIS has gone and done it now. This development will almost certainly get attention from Obama.

Jihadists in Iraq Order Women Undergo Genital Mutilation

Nothing gets the left more riled up about foreign affairs than genital mutilation.

I thought the left supports genital mutilation.

 

[T.Lex]

Well, we may be talking about different things. (Are you thinking of manipulation?)

In my experience, the left vociferously condemns foreign cultures that engage in female genital mutilation. Of course, I find the practice itself abhorrent, but I also recognize that as a reflection of the cultural norms within which I was raised. Different cultures value things differently.

 

[Expat]

Archbishop: Probably There Is Not One Christian Now Left in Mosul | ZENIT - The World Seen From Rome