Be More British Cameron Tells UK Muslims: PM Issues Powerful New Pledge To Combat Extremism

MAIL ONLINE: He plans to use 800th anniversary of Magna Carta to reassert British values / Prime Minister said it is time to stop being 'squeamish about Britishness' / He said refusing to accept British laws and the way of life is 'not an option'

Muslim clerics in the UK who inflame terrorism by denouncing free speech, equality and democracy will be opposed in a ‘muscular’ new defence of ‘British values’, David Cameron has pledged.

In a powerful intervention clearly aimed mainly at ‘preachers of hate’, the Prime Minister says the failure to stand up to such firebrands has ‘allowed extremism – both the violent and non-violent kind – to flourish’.

He plans to use the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta – 12 months from today – to reassert British values in a ‘Magna Carta for Modern Britain.’

It is time to stop being ‘squeamish about Britishness’ and tell everyone who lives here that refusing to accept British laws and the British way of life is ‘not an option’, Mr Cameron argues.

The Prime Minister will emphasise the commitment by insisting that Magna Carta becomes part of the school curriculum.

Downing Street stressed the Prime Minister’s comments, which come in an article in today’s Mail on Sunday, are aimed at all sections of the community, not just Muslims. However, they appear to signal a key change in the stance of successive recent governments, Tory and Labour, on this sensitive issue. » | Simon Walters | Saturday, June 14, 2014

Sternstunde: Sind wir heute vor Hitler sicher?

Chris Wallace on Political Fallout over Iraq Chaos

Jun. 13, 2014 - 8:40 - Lawmakers debate stepping into troubled country

Iraq Crisis: The Bare Faced ISIS Executioner Who Spreads Terror With His Open Killing

ISIS enforcer Shakir Wahiyib

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Shakir Wahiyib is a feared enforcer for the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham who does not cover up his face in videos of his killings

In an army full of masked, black-clad figures, he is the one man who is never shy to show his face. But for those unlucky enough to cross him, the face of Shakir Wahiyib, a feared enforcer for the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, is often the last they will ever see.

The star of a series of grisly jihadist videos, including one in which three men are executed after failing his "Quranic quiz", Wahiyib is one of the few publicly-identified leaders of the shadowy jihadist group that has swept through northern Iraq.

The movement, otherwise known as ISIS, generally instructs its followers to keep their faces masked to minimise the chances of them being tracked down by the Iraqi government. But while its commander-in-chief, Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi, is even said to disguise himself while meeting fellow commanders, Wahiyib has no such reservations. Showing considerable relish for his work, he grins for the lenses of jihadi cameramen he goes on the rampage with his masked underlings. » | Colin Freeman | Saturday, June 14, 2014

Iran Will "Consider" Joint Action with US in Iraq, Hassan Rouhani Says

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani addresses a press
conference in Tehran

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Iran's president has given the clearest hint yet that Tehran is prepared to cast aside 35 years of hostility in an alliance of convenience with the US to combat Sunni militants in Iraq

Iran will consider joining forces with the United States to combat Sunni militants in Iraq, Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian president, said on Saturday in the clearest sign yet that the Islamic Republic is ready to set aside its decades-old enmity with Washington.

The Iranian leader's cautiously worded remarks came at a news conference in Tehran amid rising speculation that the recent gains of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) could force the two adversaries to forge an alliance of convenience.

"All countries need to embark on joint effort regarding terrorism," Mr Rouhani said after being asked if Iran was prepared to cooperate with America in Iraq.

"At the moment, it's the government of Iraq and the people of Iraq that are fighting terrorism.

"We have not seen the US do anything for now. Any time the Americans start to take action against terrorist groups, we can consider that." » | Robert Tait, Middle East Correspondent | Saturday, June 14, 2014

Inside Story: What Future for the Monarchy in Spain?

Thousands want the monarchy abolished and the return of a republic after King's abdication.

Britain '51st State of US'? UK Seeks to Renew Pact with America on Nuke Data Exchange

Iraq Crisis Caught Obama Unprepared

YNET NEWS: Analysis: Obama says he's not ruling out any options, but no one is buying it anymore. As the Iraqi army abandons its posts to Islamists, the Obama administration is not left with many options.

US President Barack Obama was sitting in the Oval Office next to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and tried to come up with an alibi for the astonishing events in Iraq that caught the White House with its pants down.

"Just because you say a war has ended, doesn't mean it's over," Senator John McCain, who lost the 2008 presidential elections to Obama, said mockingly. The promise to end the war in Iraq was one of the main campaign pledges that led Obama to the presidency.

Red with anger, House Speaker John Boehner yelled into the TV networks microphones, "It’s not like we haven't seen over the last five or six months these terrorists moving in, taking control of Western Iraq. Now they've taken control of Mosul. They’re 100 miles from Baghdad. And what's the president doing? Taking a nap!" » | Yitzhak Benhorin | Friday, June 13, 2014

Iraq Govt Blamed for Rebel Advance

Prince Turki Al-Faisal

ARAB NEWS: ROME: Prince Turki Al-Faisal, a former intelligence chief, has blamed the Iraqi government of Nuri Al-Maliki for the loss of wide areas of northern Iraq to militants, saying Baghdad had failed to stop them joining forces with former Baathists from the Saddam Hussein era. He said the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) insurgency should have come as no surprise.

“The situation in the Anbar area of Iraq has been brewing and boiling for some time and the Iraqi government seemed to be not only inactive in putting down the boiling temperature there but also in some cases seem to have been encouraging events there to spill over,” he told a meeting of the European Council on Foreign Relations in Rome. » | Agencies | Saturday, June 14, 2014

Amerika bleibt verantwortlich für den Irak

TAGES ANZEIGER – KOMMENTAR: Die inkompetente Planung der Nachkriegszeit und die vorschnelle Unterstützung von Iraks Premier Maliki haben grossen Anteil am derzeitigen Chaos.

Was im Irak schiefgehen konnte, ist schiefgegangen. Vor dem Einmarsch der US-Truppen 2003 haben uns die Kriegsbefürworter einen «Leuchtturm der Demokratie» im Mittleren Osten versprochen. Inzwischen sind die pessimistischen Szenarien der Warner eingetroffen: Der Terrorismus à la al-Qaida breitet sich aus, ein Krieg zwischen Schiiten und Sunniten steht bevor, und die Nachbarmächte erwägen, militärisch einzugreifen.

Dafür tragen die USA eine Mitverantwortung. Der Sturz Saddam Husseins war das eine. Fatal war jedoch die inkompetente Planung für die Nachkriegszeit. Dazu kamen folgenschwere Fehler wie die Auflösung der irakischen Armee: Die damals gedemütigten Offiziere, mehrheitlich Sunniten, führen heute die Isis-Extremisten in die Schlacht – es bleibt einfacher, einen Krieg zu gewinnen als den Frieden. » | Von Christof Münger | Samstag, 14. Juni 2014

Deutschlands Außenpolitik: Gauck fordert größere Bereitschaft zu Militäreinsätzen

Gauck in Oslo: "Auf allen Ebenen ein Ja zu einem aktiven Deutschland"

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Joachim Gauck bekräftigt seine Forderung, Deutschland solle international mehr Verantwortung übernehmen. Im Kampf für Menschenrechte sei es manchmal erforderlich, "auch zu den Waffen zu greifen", sagte der Bundespräsident in Norwegen.

Berlin - Deutschland sollte nach Ansicht von Bundespräsident Joachim Gauck nicht pauschal die Beteiligung an Militäreinsätzen ausschließen. Zu einer aktiven Politik zur Konfliktlösung gehöre es auch, "den Einsatz militärischer Mittel als letztes Mittel nicht von vornherein zu verwerfen", sagte Gauck zum Abschluss seines Norwegen-Besuchs in einem Interview mit Deutschlandradio Kultur. » | dab/dpa/AFP | Samstag, 14. Juni 2014

Is It Possible for ISIS to Overrun Baghdad?

Jun. 13, 2014 - 6:36 - Major towns reportedly fall to extremists

Krauthammer Sounds Off about Obama's Approach on Iraq Crisis

Jun. 13, 2014 - 5:49 - President's statement leaves many unanswered questions

It Would Be a Major Disaster for Britain and the US to Intervene in Iraq

DAILY EXPRESS: BRITAIN and the US may abhor the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Iraq but they have played a major part in encouraging it.

And the upsurge of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant across northern Iraq is a pointer to what is likely to happen in Afghanistan once Nato pulls out its combat troops at the end of this year.

Whether we like it or not, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were serious strategic mistakes.

We destroyed the repressive regime of Saddam Hussein but opened the door for Islamic fundamentalists.

Saddam was an evil man but he opposed fundamentalism and he kept it under control.

After the invasion we destroyed the Iraqi army and Iraq’s security apparatus.

This allowed Islamic fundamentalism to get in and make very serious inroads into the Iraqi Government architecture.

We sowed the wind and now we are reaping the whirlwind. Read on and comment » | Major Charles Heyman | Saturday, June 14, 2014

US Considers Military Help in Iraq amid Growing Violence

Jun. 13, 2014 - 8:10 - Top cleric calls on Iraqis to defend nation

US and Iran Join Fight against Sunni Jihadis of Isis in Iraq

THE GUARDIAN: President Obama contemplates air strikes against Sunni insurgents as Tehran sends top general to Baghdad

The United States and Iran are moving rapidly to defend Iraq from rampaging Sunni Islamist insurgents, with Washington urgently considering air strikes on the jihadi militants and Tehran dispatching its foremost powerbroker to help arrange the defence of Baghdad.

Senior US officials told the Guardian that an air campaign was under serious discussion, possibly targeting fighters not just in Iraq but in Syria, where they have seized swaths of territory in the past two years. President Barack Obama said that decisions would be taken in the "days ahead".

Iran, meanwhile, moved to defend its own interests in its western neighbour, sending Major General Qassem Suleimani, an éminence grise of the Iranian revolutionary guards, to Baghdad to meet militia leaders and tribal chiefs in control of the Iraqi capital's vulnerable western approaches.

The scramble by two staunch adversaries to shore up the embattled Iraqi authorities underscored how seriously they take the situation in a country in danger of fragmentation as a result of this week's sudden advance by fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis). » | Martin Chulov in Baghdad, Spencer Ackerman in New York and Paul Lewis in Washington | Friday, June 13, 2014

Obama May Have to Agree Deal with Iran as Islamists Sweep South

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Iran has already sent units of its Revolutionary Guard to Iraq to help defend Baghdad from ISIS and to defend Shia shrines in southern and central of the country

President Barack Obama is under growing pressure to set aside years of hostility and start co-operating with Iran to counter the jihadist threat engulfing Iraq and its capital, Baghdad.

Ten years after his predecessor, President George W Bush, declared “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq, the Obama administration was openly admitting it might have to recommit to the use of military force to reunite the country and check the long-term menace of the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.

Britain too was offering counter-terrorism expertise that would mean it working alongside not just Iraqi troops but Shia militias and even Iranian special forces, only recently considered among the greatest threats to British interests in the region.

Iran has already sent units of its Revolutionary Guard to Iraq to help defend Baghdad from the onslaught being waged by ISIS, a Sunni jihadist al-Qaeda offshoot, according to reports emerging from Baghdad and Tehran.

State media quoted President Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian president, as telling the Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki: “The Islamic Republic of Iran will apply all its efforts on the international and regional levels to confront terrorism.” » | Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent, and Robert Tait in Jerusalem | Friday, June 13, 2014

Vormarsch der Dschihadisten

FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG: Was in Syrien als Religionskrieg begonnen hat, kann sich im Irak noch blutiger fortsetzen. Die Offensive der Dschihadisten versetzt auch die israelische Armee in Alarmbereitschaft. Eine Analyse.

Die Dschihadisten haben die wichtigsten Städte im Norden des Iraks eingenommen und sind dabei auf wenig Gegenwehr gestoßen. Nun rücken die Wagenkolonnen des „Islamischen Staats im Irak und (Groß-)Syrien“ in Richtung Bagdad vor. Ein paar tausend Dschihadisten haben ausgereicht, um in wenigen Tagen im Osten der arabischen Welt eine neue Lage zu schaffen. Mit ihrem Blitzkrieg stoßen sie das Tor zu einem viel größeren Krieg in der Region weit auf. Was in Syrien begonnen hat, kann sich im Irak noch blutiger fortsetzen: der Konflikt zwischen Sunniten und Schiiten, zwischen Saudi-Arabien und Iran. » | Rainer Hermann | Freitag, 13. Juni 2014

Iraq Crisis: Generals in Army 'Handed Over' Entire City to Al-Qaeda[-]inspired ISIS Forces

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Three army deserters tell the Telegraph how Mosul, the second biggest city in Iraq, was given to terrorists by senior Iraqi army officials

Military deserters have painted a devastating picture of the inability of the Iraqi army to stand and fight, telling The Telegraph how entire divisions surrendered Mosul, Iraq's second city, without firing a single shot.

Speaking from the Kurdish city of Erbil, the defectors accused their officers of cowardice and betrayal, saying generals in Mosul "handed over" the city over to Sunni insurgents, with whom they shared sectarian and historical ties.

With Sunni insurgents now threatening the capital Baghdad the eyewitness accounts from the deserters' reveal how sectarian enmity has, in the space of mere weeks, destroyed the Iraqi national army, which the US government spent billions of dollars to build. (+ video) » | Ruth Sherlock, and Carol Malouf in Erbil, Lauren Williams in Doha | Friday, June 13, 2014

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