Saturday, June 14, 2014
Krauthammer Sounds Off about Obama's Approach on Iraq Crisis
It Would Be a Major Disaster for Britain and the US to Intervene in Iraq
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
Friday, June 13, 2014
US Considers Military Help in Iraq amid Growing Violence
US and Iran Join Fight against Sunni Jihadis of Isis in Iraq
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
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
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
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
Obama: Ultimately Up to Iraqis to Solve Their Problems
Inside Story: Iraq: Should Neighbours Be Worried?
'Iraq Chaos Is Tony Blair’s Legacy’: Intervention by Ex-PM in 2003 Destabilised the Country and Left It Open to Extremism, Says Home Office Minister
The disaster unfolding in Iraq was branded ‘Tony Blair’s legacy’ last night as Britain ruled out military intervention.
Though Islamist extremists are threatening to seize Baghdad, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain was ‘not contemplating’ any form of action, and Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said there was no role for the alliance.
US President Barack Obama insisted his country had an interest in stopping jihadists taking control and said he was looking at ‘all options’, including drone strikes.
Iraq is facing a return to its darkest days after al Qaeda-linked militants seized a huge swathe of the Iraq’s northern region and vowed to press on to the capital. Read on and comment » | James Chapman | Thursday, June 12, 2014
Germany Ordered to Pay £40 Million in Compensation to Jewish Family
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| Anti-semitic graffiti on a shop in Vienna |
The Schocken family lost several shops in the east of the country after Hitler embarked upon his "Aryanization" of German businesses in 1938.
A Berlin tribunal awarded the family €30 million (£24 million) - the value of the businesses owned by brothers Simon and Salman Schocken - plus another €20 million (£16 million) in interest.
The German state can appeal the decision at Lepzig's federal administrative court in Leipzig, the tribunal said in a statement.
Michael Newman, chief executive of the Association of Jewish Refugees said: "It shows that as we come up to 70 years since the end of the war there remains a number of significant travesties that are only now being settled."
Salman also founded Schocken Books in pre–war Berlin before moving the company to the United States and palestine. » | Benjamin Russell | Friday, June 13, 2014
Kampf gegen Dschihadisten: Großajatollah ruft Iraker zu den Waffen
Bagdad - Er ist seit mehr als zwei Jahrzehnten der ranghöchste schiitische Geistliche im Irak. Nun hat Großajatollah Ali al-Sistani seine Landesleute zum Widerstand gegen die sunnitischen Dschihadisten aufgerufen. Die Bürger sollten zu den Waffen greifen und "ihr Land, ihr Volk und ihre heiligen Stätten verteidigen" sagte ein Sprecher Sistanis beim Freitagsgebet in der Schiiten-Hochburg Kerbela. Wer könne, solle sich den Sicherheitskräften im Kampf gegen die Dschihadisten der Terrorgruppe Islamischer Staat im Irak und Syrien, kurz Isis, anschließen. » | vek/kes/AFP/AP/Reuters | Freitag, 13. Juni 2014
What Is Going On in Iraq and Why?
Inside the Extreme Group Taking Over Iraq's Major Cities
Glenn Beck On What's Plaguing America
Is the Obama Administration Finished?
Does Obama Understand Iraq May Soon Be an Islamist State?
FOX NEWS: Iraq is a shambles. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Al Qaeda off-shoot that now controls nearly a third of the nation, continues to run amok.
It’s way past time for the White House to get its head in the game. The disaster unfolding in Iraq and Syria could very quickly spiral into a much, much bigger problem. And some problems are so big that even our president can’t spin his way out.
At the top of the list of what the administration should be worrying about—and preparing to deal with—is the potential for an endless three-way civil war in Iraq. With Sunni, Shia and Kurds fighting one another, it would look something like the civil war in Syria—on steroids. » | James Jay Carafano | FoxNews.com | Thursday, June 12, 2014
Iraq Crisis: Baghdad Prepares for the Worst as Islamist Militants Vow to Capture the City
Iraq is breaking up. The Kurds have taken the northern oil city of Kirkuk that they have long claimed as their capital. Sunni fundamentalist fighters vow to capture Baghdad and the Shia holy cities further south.
Government rule over the Sunni Arab heartlands of north and central Iraq is evaporating as its 900,000-strong army disintegrates. Government aircraft have fired missiles at insurgent targets in Mosul, captured by Isis on Monday, but the Iraqi army has otherwise shown no sign of launching a counter-attack.
The nine-year Shia dominance over Iraq, established after the US, Britain and other allies overthrew Saddam Hussein, may be coming to an end. The Shia may continue to hold the capital and the Shia-majority provinces further south, but they will have great difficulty in re-establishing their authority over Sunni provinces from which their army has fled. » | Patrick Cockburn | Thursday, June 12, 2014
Oklahoma Tea Party Candidate Claims: ‘Stoning Gays Was a Law That Came Direct from God’
A Tea Party candidate running for office in Oklahoma has appeared to endorse the practice of stoning gay people to death.
Last year, Scott Esk, who is in the race to represent the 91st district in the State House, responded to a friend’s Facebook post about the Pope’s stance on gay people by copying and pasting Bible verses including Leviticus 20:13, which describes homosexuality as “detestable” and demands gay people be “put to death”.
When asked by another Facebook user whether he supported executing homosexuals by stoning, Mr Esk replied: “That goes against some parts of libertarianism, I realise, and I’m largely libertarian, but ignoring as a nation things that are worthy of death is very remiss.” » | Tim Walker | Los Angeles | Thursday, June 12, 2014
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Streit um EU-Kommissions-Chefposten: Cameron giftet gegen Juncker
Berlin - Neue Verbalattacke von David Cameron: Im Streit um die Wahl des neuen EU-Kommissionschefs wettert der britische Premier gegen den vom EU-Parlament favorisierten Christdemokraten Jean-Claude Juncker. "Juncker kandidierte nirgendwo und wurde von niemandem gewählt", schreibt Cameron in einem Beitrag für die "Süddeutsche Zeitung". "Die Bürger, die zur Wahl gingen, wollten ihren Europaabgeordneten wählen, nicht den Kommissionspräsidenten." » | mxw/AFP/dpa | Donnerstag, 12. Juni 2014
Obama Ponders as Iran Sends Troops to Iraq
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| President Barack Obama answers questions on violence in Iraq during his meeting with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott |
Barack Obama was under mounting pressure to send military help to Iraq as Iranian forces were reported to have joined Baghdad’s government to quell an al-Qaeda-inspired uprising.
A defensive president, accused by Republicans of squandering the security gains won in Iraq by US forces, insisted that he was looking at “all the options” to prevent the country unravelling.
But even as he spoke, Iran seemed poised to steal the initiative by sending troops to fight what its president, Hassan Rouhani, described as the “terrorist group that is acting savagely” in Iraq.
Reports emerged that two battalions of Iran’s feared Revolutionary Guards were already in the country, where the government’s forces have shown little stomach for combat. Iran’s willingness to put troops on the front line will give it a strategic advantage in Iraq over America, which at most would offer only air strikes. The US State Department last night ruled out “boots on the ground”.
The developments of the past 72 hours raises the prospect of two bitter enemies – Iran and America – fighting the same foe, albeit for different goals. » | Colin Freeman | Thursday, June 12, 2014
My comment:
Bush and Blair should have left Saddam Hussein where he was. Saddam was a man who understood how to keep a modicum of order in Iraq. He understood his people, his country. Bush and Blair did not. They were naïve fools. They ventured forth where angels would have feared to tread.
As a result of Bush and Blair's folly, we now have this situation to deal with. How many more young people––US soldiers and British soldiers––will have to lose their lives in this cesspit?
Bringing democracy to Iraq was never on the cards. Had Bush and Blair understood the nature of the Middle East and the nature of Islam, they would never have tried to impose it upon those benighted people.
Obama, bringing home the US troops prematurely, has made matters ten times worse. Obama is a fool of a man. He dresses well and talks a good line, but the end product is just the same: He's totally inept at best, and sinister at worst. The man should be impeached for his total and utter mishandling of the situation. The sooner Americans rid themselves of this fool, the better it will be for America, and the better it will be for the West too. – © Mark
This comment appears here too.
Exodus of US Troops from Iraq as Chaos Spreads
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| An ISIL militant posing with the trademark Islamists' flag after they allegedly seized an Iraqi army checkpoint in the northern province of Salahuddin |
A growing sense of panic was gripping Iraq last night as the al-Qaeda uprising in the country’s north led to US contractors being evacuated from the region and European countries ordering their citizens to leave Baghdad.
With militants threatening to advance on the capital, signs emerged of diplomats making preparations to leave the country in the event of civil war erupting.
Three planes carrying American diplomats and contractors stationed at a training mission at an Iraqi airbase in Balad, north of Baghdad, flew out amid fears that the base could be surrounded by the militants. Germany ordered all its citizens to leave the Iraqi capital, as did Turkey, which has already had 80 people kidnapped by the militants, including the consul to the northern city of Mosul.
British officials said they had no immediate plans to evacuate staff from Baghdad’s heavily guarded “Green Zone”. As troops stood guard at the city’s northern flanks, queues formed at the main airport while banks saw large number of customers attempt to withdraw money. Last night the internet also went down in Baghdad for an hour, adding to the atmosphere of unease. » | Colin Freeman | Thursday, June 12, 2014
Prisoner Exchange an Impeachable Offense for Obama?
Militants Take Major Iraqi Cities, Vow March On Baghdad
Repent or Die: Al-Qaeda Forces Announce Rules for Iraqi Territory They Now Control
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| A man is executed in a new video released by ISIS |
The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham has set out a list of rules for residents of Mosul as it seeks to impose its Islamist rules on Iraq's second city.
Referring to the area by its ancient name, Nineveh, the group says it has a clear set of instructions for the remaining occupants of the city and surrounding area.
Firstly it tells "anyone who is asking," who its members are and what it is about: "We are soldiers of Islam and we've taken on our responsibility to bring back glory of the Islamic Caliphate."
All Muslims in the city have been instructed to attend mosque for the five daily prayers.
It confirms that it seized up to half a billion dollars from the Mosul branch of the Bank of Iraq but states it can be trusted with the funds.
Any one of its members who breach[es] this promise will have their hands cut off.
"No drugs, no alcohol and no cigarettes allowed," it added. » | Damien McElroy | Thursday, June 12, 2014
UK Schools Inspector: Gender Segregation OK for Muslim Children
The Times reports that inspectors have been sent instructions saying that boys and girls “may well” be seated separately in classrooms in Islamic faith schools and that this should not be seen as discrimination – a claim that should doubtlessly anger equal rights campaigners, though may indeed be ignored by cultural relativists.
Music and art classes may also be “restricted”, it said, even though they are requirements in the national curriculum. The guidance also says that girls being required to wear headscarves should be an expression of their identity, rather than oppression. » | Nick Hallett | Thursday, June 12, 2014
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Militants on the March in Iraq: Will US Be Drawn In?
Norwegen will keine Bettler mehr
Zehn Jahre nach der Aufhebung eines landesweiten Bettelverbotes will Norwegen ab 2015 wieder ein entsprechendes Gesetz einführen. Gemeinden, die nicht bis zum nächsten Sommer warten wollen, können schon ab 1. Juli ein lokales Bettelverbot in ihren Polizeidistrikten in Kraft setzen. Darauf hat sich am Dienstagabend die aus der konservativen Höyre und der populistischen Fortschrittspartei (FrP) bestehende Regierung in einer ungewöhnlichen Allianz mit der oppositionellen Zentrumspartei verständigt. Die drei haben gleichzeitig beschlossen, betroffene Menschen mit zielgerichteten sozialen Massnahmen zu unterstützen. Konkret sollen jene Länder in Osteuropa, aus denen die meisten Bettler stammen, mit EWR-Geldern unterstützt werden. » | Ingrid Meissl Årebo, Stockholm | Mittwoch, 11. Juni 2014
Radikale Kämpfer für einen Gottesstaat
Islamische Fundamentalisten haben die zweitgrösste irakische Stadt Mossul erobert. Bei den Kämpfern handelt es sich nach Angaben der Sicherheitskräfte um Angehörige der Gruppe Islamischer Staat im Irak und der Levante/Gross-Syrien (ISIS), die im Januar bereits Falludscha eingenommen hatte. Ebenso wie im Irak kämpft die sunnitische Organisation auch im Bürgerkrieg in Syrien gegen die schiitische Regierung. » | wid/sda | Mittwoch, 11. Juni 2014
Irak: Die ganze Region taumelt in die Krise
Vor zwei Wochen klassifizierte die türkische Regierung die in Syrien und im Irak operierende Extremistengruppe Islamischer Staat im Irak und in der Levante (Isil) erstmals als Terrorgruppe. Zuvor hatte sie die Terroristen jedoch – nach Auffassung der meisten Beobachter – jahrelang frei ein- und ausreisen lassen und sie wahrscheinlich sogar bewaffnet. Ankaras Kalkül war dabei, die Extremisten würden im Syrien-Krieg den Diktator Baschar al-Assad stürzen. Danach würde man sie schon in den Griff bekommen.
Das war alles falsch kalkuliert: Isil erwies sich als zu schwach, um zu siegen, gleichzeitig aber als zu stark, um gebändigt werden zu können.
Nun haben die Terroristen auf einen Schlag mehrere Orte im Irak erobert. Baidschi, wo sich eine wichtige Raffinerie befindet, und die nordirakische Regionalmetropole Mossul. Auch Tikrit, die Heimat des früheren irakischen Dikators Saddam Hussein, wurde angegriffen und teilweise erobert. Dort gibt es starke sunnitische paramilitärische Kräfte. (+ Video) » | Von Boris Kálnoky | Mittwoch, 11. Juni 2014
Iraq Army Capitulates to Isis Militants in Four Cities
Iraq is facing its gravest test since the US-led invasion more than a decade ago, after its army capitulated to Islamist insurgents who have seized four cities and pillaged military bases and banks, in a lightning campaign which seems poised to fuel a cross-border insurgency endangering the entire region.
The extent of the Iraqi army's defeat at the hands of militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) became clear on Wednesday when officials in Baghdad conceded that insurgents had stripped the main army base in the northern city of Mosul of weapons, released hundreds of prisoners from the city's jails and may have seized up to $480m in banknotes from the city's banks.
Iraqi officials told the Guardian that two divisions of Iraqi soldiers - roughly 30,000 men - simply turned and ran in the face of the assault by an insurgent force of just 800 fighters. Isis extremists roamed freely on Wednesday through the streets of Mosul, openly surprised at the ease with which they took Iraq's second largest city after three days of sporadic fighting.
Senior government officials in Baghdad were equally shocked, accusing the army of betrayal and claiming the sacking of the city was a strategic disaster that would imperil Iraq's borders.
The developments seriously undermine US claims to have established a unified and competent military after more than a decade of training. The US invasion and occupation cost Washington close to a trillion dollars and the lives of more than 4,500 of its soldiers. It is also thought to have killed at least 100,000 Iraqis. Read on and comment » | Martin Chulov and Fazel Hawramy in Irbil | Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Inside Story: Extremism in British Schools?
ISIL: Rising Power in Iraq and Syria
Benghazi Victim's Uncle: 'Hillary Clinton Is A Serial Liar'
White House Playing Politics With US National Security?
Iraq Crisis: Militants Attack Tikrit After Taking Mosul
Officials say militants are now in control of some parts of Tikrit - Saddam Hussein's hometown which lies just 150km (95 miles) north of Baghdad.
Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki has vowed to fight back against the jihadists and punish those in the security forces who have deserted.
The insurgents who attacked Mosul are from the ISIS group.
It is not confirmed who is attacking Tikrit but one report said there was also fighting further south in Samarra.
ISIS - the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which is also known as ISIL - is an offshoot of al-Qaeda.
It controls considerable territory in eastern Syria and western and central Iraq, in a campaign to set up a militant enclave straddling the border. (+ video) » | Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Neues Terrorregime im Irak: Wer kann, flieht
Am Ende gelang den irakischen Regierungstruppen nicht einmal mehr der geordnete Rückzug. Als die Kämpfer der Terrorgruppe "Islamischer Staat im Irak und in Syrien" (Isis) Mossul stürmten, flohen Tausende Soldaten in Panik. Manche von ihnen rissen sich auf der Flucht Richtung Nordosten ihre Uniformen vom Leib, bevor sie in die benachbarte kurdische Autonomieregion türmten. » | Von Christoph Sydow | Mittwoch, 11. Juni 2014
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Texas: Republikaner fordern Therapien für Homosexuelle
Die Republikaner im amerikanischen Bundesstaat Texas wollen Homosexuelle künftig mit psychologischen Therapien „heilen“ - und müssen für diesen Beschluss heftige Kritik einstecken. Die knapp 10.000 Parteimitglieder nahmen den Punkt bei ihrer jährlichen Versammlung in Fort Worth ins Parteiprogramm auf, berichtete CNN am Montag.
Das Programm erkennt eine „wiedergutmachende Therapie und Behandlung“ für alle Patienten als rechtmäßig und effektiv an, die „nach Heilung und Ganzheit ihres homosexuellen Lebensstils streben“. Kein Gesetz und keine Anordnung dürfe den Zugang dazu behindern. In der medizinischen Fachwelt werden jedoch Therapien, die auf eine Änderung der sexuellen Orientierung abzielen, einhellig abgelehnt. » | Montag, 09. Juni 2014
Saudi King's Ex-wife Speaks Out
Saudi Arabia's Secret Uprising
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