Al Quaeda splinter group sweeping through Iraq

Well written and very interesting article, Bonny. So, we are shortly at 100 years since the start of the Great War........

lily wrote:Well written and very interesting article, Bonny.   So, we are shortly at 100 years since the start of the Great War........

28 July 1914 was the start. LL

Thanks LL. How strange.

lily wrote:Thanks LL.  How strange.  

Strange? In what way? LL

100 years later and we are still talking about it in an active way?

lily wrote:100 years later and we are still talking about it in an active way?

It was the greatest war, with so many countries taking part, it has become an icon of the age.   On 1 September 2039 it will be 100 years since the start of WW2.  It will also be remembered as an icon of the age.   2 huge wars in one century - how often has that happened?   More people died in one century than had ever been known  befodre, soldiers, civilians, children, so many slaughtered in camps, on railroads, at sea, in the air.   And now we have this idea that the war that started 26 years before I was born is still ongoing.   I am old, I am tired, and I expect it will still be ongoing in 2040 when I become a centenarian, shoild I live so long.  I shall now go and   and wait for a passing Scud missile to drop through the ceiling.  LL

It does make a person think, LL, as you have. Have your Jack Daniels first.    

Shouldn't you be sharpening your caber in case of rampaging hordes from the Levant?  

 Shouldn't he have a stockpile?

If ISIS have done nothing else, Lily, they're sent scores of meedja idiots scurrying to old maps and history books to find out where the hell the Levant is, and why it's being revived.

http://news.sky.com/story/1293953/us-increasing-security-at-overseas-airports

The United States is implementing "enhanced security measures" at overseas airports with direct flights to the US, Homeland Security chief Jeh Johnson has said.

US officials told Reuters the move comes amid fresh concerns that al Qaeda operatives in Syria and Yemen are developing bombs that could be smuggled onto US-bound flights from European airports.

In a statement, Mr Johnson said: "DHS continually assesses the global threat environment and reevaluates the measures we take to promote aviation security.

"As part of this ongoing process, I have directed TSA (Transportation Security Administration) to implement enhanced security measures in the coming days at certain overseas airports with direct flights to the United States."

Mr Johnson did not specify which airports would be subject to the added security measures.

He said the US is "sharing recent and relevant information with our foreign allies and are consulting the aviation industry".

Britain's Department of Transport followed the announcement with a statement, saying it also had "taken the decision to step up some of our aviation security measures".

The enhancements are likely to include added scrutiny of US-bound passengers' electronics and footwear, and installation of additional bomb-detection machines, law enforcement and security officials told Reuters.

A US counter-terrorism official told the AP news agency that American intelligence indicated that certain terrorist groups are working on a bomb that could make it through airport security undetected.

ABC News has reported that the explosives these operatives are attempting to build include non-metallic bombs.

More follows...


The Snackbars don't even need to actually do anything to get the west running round like headless chickens and disrupting travel. Whatever happened to stiff upper lips in troubling times?

It went out the door with the last good Pres, Bonny.

Ah yes, Reagan managed to keep his head, walk into ER and continue cracking jokes after he was shot, didn't he?

I shudder to think how Obama would react if he was ever on the end of a hostile, noisy demonstration, never mind an assassination attempt.

Personally, I don't think he has the inner strength to do that.

http://news.sky.com/story/1294172/saudi-arabia-deploys-troops-to-iraq-border

Saudi Arabia 'Deploys Troops To Iraq Border'
King Abdullah orders "all necessary measures" to protect the kingdom, as 2,500 Iraqi soldiers pull back from the border.

Saudi Arabia has deployed 30,000 troops to its border with Iraq, according to reports.

The move follows the withdrawal of Iraqi soldiers from the area, the Reuters news agency reported, quoting Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV.

The Dubai-based satellite channel posted a video on its website which it said showed some 2,500 Iraqi soldiers in the desert area east of the Iraqi city of Karbala after they abandoned their posts, leaving the border area with Saudi Arabia and Syria unguarded.

An Iraqi officer in the video said the Iraqi soldiers had been ordered to quit their posts for no apparent reason.

"We received an order to withdraw, we didn't know why," he said.

The authenticity of the recording has not been independently verified.

The world's top oil exporter shares an 800km (500 mile) border with Iraq, where ISIS insurgents and other Sunni Muslim militant groups seized towns and cities in a lightning advance last month.

Saudi's King Abdullah has ordered "all necessary measures" to protect the kingdom against potential "terrorist threats", state news agency SPA reported.

Sky News' Diplomatic Editor Tim Marshall said: "Six days ago, the Saudis put their armed forces on the highest alert.

"And that's because they were getting reports that, along the border between the two countries, the Iraqi army was beginning to drift away, which obviously means that ISIS can advance towards the Saudi border.

"Today, it's become apparent to them (the Saudis) that it's almost unguarded and therefore someone's got to guard it and it's going to be them."

The Iraqi troops appeared to have left the areas in the Sunni-controlled Anbar province because they just thought: "We can't hold this, we're going to die," he said.

"So, let's put it in military terms, they appear to have run away."

========

So, why doesn't KSA - and Qatar - just STOP FUNDING TERRORISTS? Or are they worried the monsters they've created are going to turn on them next?

How to spread terror without even doing anything:

Airport Security: Clampdown On Electrics
Security is tightened at UK airports while police warn of a planned terror attack at an African airport this evening.

All electrical items must be removed from hand luggage for extra checks at airports amid tightened security, Sky sources say.

The measures, introduced at UK airports, were revealed amid fears new bombs were being developed by terrorists.

Meanwhile, US authorities have warned of a "specific threat" to Entebbe Airport in Uganda later today.

The US embassy in Kampala said Ugandan police had informed them that intelligence sources believe there could be an attack by an unknown terrorist group.

Report from Sky.

Amazing....

http://www.infowars.com/as-iraq-burns-us-plans-500-million-to-terrorists-in-syria/

The training program would be a significant step for a president who has consistently resisted providing military aid to the rebels in the conflict in Syria, and has warned of the dangers of American intervention. But military and State Department officials indicated that there were not yet any specific programs to arm and train the rebels that the money would fund, nor could administration officials specify which moderate Syrian opposition members they intended to train and support, or where they would be trained.

Oh, why not just cut out the middleman and make the cheque out to Caliph Baghdadi c/o The Levant? That's where it'll end up, anyway. Like the last lot.

It's hard to make sense of what is going on, what is true and what is false, but this does suggest the Iraq government are going to manage to hang on, at the very least, now they have an airforce - whoever's air force it actually is:

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/07/iraqi-airstrikes-target-rebel-positions-20147411240414470.html

Iraq air raids hit 'rebel positions in Baiji'
Military announces new push on key oil refinery as Shia religious leader deplores failure to form coalition government.

The Iraqi military has launched air raids against armed groups trying to capture the country's largest oil refinery, killing as many as 30 fighters, authorities say.

Reports of Friday's assault came as government forces claimed to have recaptured the village of the late President Saddam Hussein, and as the country's top Shia religious leader denounced Iraq's failure to form a new government.



A fighter jet targeted about eight vehicles attacking government forces at Baiji, north of Baghdad, Sabah al-Nuaman, Iraqi's security spokesman, told the AP news agency.

He said up to 30 rebel fighters were killed, but the number cannot be independently verified.

Government forces also reported the recapture Saddam's village of Awja on Thursday night although again that report could not be verified.

Nuaman also said a helicopter gunship fired on a house in the town of al-Qaim near the Syrian border, where a gathering of local leaders of the Islamic State rebel group was taking place.

He said there were several casualties, but did not have a definite figure.

It again begs questions about why the US left the Iraqi military with NO air force, bar some helicopters and two old Cessnas.

A reminder that some things never change:

http://englishhistoryauthors.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/the-battle-of-hattin-july-4-1187.html

Muslim states had always surrounded the crusader kingdom (as they hem in Israel today) and the Muslim rulers could always muster much larger military forces than their Christian opponents. In the early years of Latin presence in the Holy Land, the divisions among the Muslim leaders, most especially the rivalry and hatred between Shiite Caliphate of Cairo and the Sunni Caliphate of Baghdad, had played into Christian hands. However, once Saladin had managed to unite Syria and Egypt under a single, charismatic leader the balance of power clearly tipped to the Muslims.

And speaking of Saladin and single leaders....

First Video Of Islamist Militant Group Leader
In his first video sermon, apparently filmed on Friday, ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi calls on all Muslims to obey him.




Jihadist group ISIS has released a video apparently showing the first public appearance of its elusive leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.

In the Ramadan sermon footage, said to have been filmed in a mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul on Friday, he calls on all Muslims to obey him.

Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed caliph of a state straddling Iraq and Syria, is increasingly seen as more powerful than Al Qaeda's leader.

The 21-minute video's release follows reports he was killed or injured in an attack.

The recording shows a bearded man in a black robe and black turban ascending a pulpit below the black flag of the Islamic State.

If confirmed, it would be Baghdadi's first public appearance.

More at:

http://news.sky.com/story/1295737/first-video-of-islamist-militant-group-leader

If this one can indeed stop them all fighting with each other, then it's very bad news indeed.

Omar al Shishani has appeared in recent propaganda videos released by ISIS

Excuse me, but why is the face of one of the terrorists blurred? Is he the CIA spy or something?

 Good question, Bonny.

I think there are one or two in the running for that title nowadays, though admittedly most of them are muslim terrorists. He's still a bit of an amateur, though, when up against previous Most Evils like Hitler and Stalin.

No argument from me Bonny.