Please don't post any gruesome pics. If that's your thing, go elsewhere for it. But a discussion concerning isis and the caliphate, I think, could be worth deleting .

Don't like the campfire, seek another one.

I was surprised how unfreaked out the journalist was as he read the message, and even how he didn't struggle as the final act was occurring.

For starters, I recognize "demon" and "demonize" as Abrahamic religous concepts the world could do without.

Really, nothing more informative or intellectual (yeah, I know, in America this is a bad word)? Then how about a beer down at the slough? ;)

hddj, you need to step down from your superciliousness - better, supercilious arrogance - that's my beta for you today.

Did you even bother with aforementioned video? Probably not. Show the world you're not operating out of a bubble or echochamber much like the Repubs and get informed. Till, you're an embarrassment even on a climbing site, lol!

FTFY was clear enough.

I thought McCain was the big proponent of arming the anti-Assad militias

Then why so mad, dad?

Yes, per the electoral process, Ward. What (with regard to ISIS) would be different if he had not?

HFCS: I propose aerial application of high-potency LSD...

Think before doing (in this case posting) would be a good start toward amelioration. (Do you know this word?)

Isis....oh, I thought this was about Tackle's route on Denali.

JB, speaking of butthurt... are you still? since learning you're an automaton? Please, save it - your personal grievances against science, science edu, religious criticism, etc. - for another thread or your local bar, this thread should be about ISIS or the Caliphate.

HFCS, speaking of butthurt, why'd you delete your caliphate thread?

stuffed shirt misanthrope

ISIS is a product of stupid American meddling all over the planet .....

What I really can't fathom is how anyone can inflict such a thing on another. I can understand defending oneself when faced with an armed agressor bent on doing one harm. But to calmly carry out such an act on someone incapable of fighting back?

Also, why does the killer need to hide his identity if he truly believes his cause is just and he has the support of Muslims "world wide?"

I just don't get it.

It is all for OIL

My mother, at age 102, still has her mind, and can tell you about it, although she would rather not. She maintains no animus against the Turks, nor any against Islam per se, but she knows how to differentiate evil from good. ISIS has no mitigating attributes for its barbarism. It disgusts me that some on the forum would blame others for ISIS's actions. It isn't about religion (else, how to explain the mass murders of those famous religious adherents Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, et al.). It is simply the manifestation of moral bankruptcy.

A belief that a lawless group has the right to murder, plunder or otherwise abuse anyone else is simply and profoundly evil, regardless of whether it's cloaked in religion, ideology, anti-racism or any other excuse. The idea that a lawful government can do the same is equally despicable. We can argue over what the United States has the power and the duty to do regarding a well-dsiciplined but immorally violent group like ISIS, but trying to assess blame anywhere but the perpetrators demonstrates a most distressing abdication of responsibility to deal with it.

John

Yo ISIS, guess what? Hell is coming for you from the wings of the greatest Air Force and Navy pilots in the world.


Sorry folks, sometimes Sergeant Birchell comes out.

"If you can believe it, I'm hearing from people who think ISIS has nothing to do with Islam (because Scott Atran says so)."

Kill them all THERE before they get here. We DO have a wide-open southern border. It's not hard to get into this country.

It isn't about religion (else, how to explain the mass murders of those famous religious adherents Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, et al.). It is simply the manifestation of moral bankruptcy.

A belief that a lawless group has the right to murder, plunder or otherwise abuse anyone else is simply and profoundly evil, regardless of whether it's cloaked in religion, ideology, anti-racism or any other excuse. The idea that a lawful government can do the same is equally despicable. We can argue over what the United States has the power and the duty to do regarding a well-dsiciplined but immorally violent group like ISIS, but trying to assess blame anywhere but the perpetrators demonstrates a most distressing abdication of responsibility to deal with it.

Yo ISIS, guess what? Hell is coming for you from the wings of the greatest Air Force and Navy pilots in the world.

Ricky D -- "We LIVE for this sh#t."

As I sit here constantly hearing and watching you execute innocent men, women and children in the Middle East I chuckle. Why do I chuckle you may ask? Well let me explain something to you cowardice fools who think you are so tough behind all your propaganda videos. You are scaring a population that doesn’t know how to fight, you’re bullying the weak.

You say Islam is the religion of peace,but since when does terrorizing the innocent and beheading men, women and children constitute peace? WTF? But keep in mind, what did Saddam’s troops do when we came rolling into town? They surrendered, twice… So all your empty threats of coming to America and raising your flag over the White House amuse me more than any of you sick, sadistic bastards could ever imagine or comprehend. In 2012 there was about 21.2 million veterans in the United States.

Do you understand what that means? Let me break it down for you. That means there are literally millions of disgruntled, dysfunctional, pissed off veterans who have been dealing with years of abuse from their government stabbing them in the backs and having to watch their friends die because you Islamic extremist idiots can’t seem to act like normal human beings and stop terrorism and the violence. It’s one thing to take over an Islamic state, but if my memory serves me correctly, I’m pretty sure we plowed through Fallujah in 4 days. Better yet, it took us about month to control your entire country. At this point, with 13+ years of war under our belts, how long do you think it would take us to do it all over again?

I’ll let you draw your own conclusions on that one. Do you really think you stand a chance on US soil? Do you really think it would be smart to poke that bear? Remember, never bite the hand that feeds you. Remember we are armed to the teeth in the US and I can promise you this… the Geneva Conventions will not apply to you. You attack us and there will be no mercy. We will bring the righteous hand of God down upon you and crush you. The ball is in your court now ISIS. We are more than ready to arrange your so called “meeting” with your 72 virgins and send you to your “prophet” Mohamed.”

I can't imagine how such "music videos" could recruit any sane human

The Islamic State spokesperson who threatened the United States by pledging to “raise the flag of Allah” over the White House has been killed.

According to the US State Department, Islamic State rep Abu Mosa was killed in Syria during an attack at the Tabqa Airbase. This battle apparently involved forces under the Syrian government of Bashar Assad, which is in the midst of a deadly civil war that has raged for three years now.

Yeah all those "other people" are stupid.

I mean I can't imagine who would be convinced of something by such a poorly constructed video.

Anyway, back over to infowars and patdollard.com!

The USA, Israel and European states are the ones who support and train these aszholes ISIS to fight as a proxy for the corporate and petro dollar interests for the corrupt western countries.

You people are so blind and so far removed by your censored and watered down controlled media.

Thus you've become Stupid Americans, arrogant and and ignorant as hell.

What's the deal with Muslims anyway?

ISIS makes "music videos" of guys disco dancing around while beheading and skinning people alive...and those "music videos" are highly successful recruiting tools?????

Notice the lack of response from "moderate" Muslims.

What's so disappointing though is how many take up sides with the Muslims

Islamic State militants stormed an air base in northeast Syria on Sunday, capturing it from government forces after days of fighting that cost more than 500 lives, a monitoring group said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 346 Islamic State fighters were killed and more than 170 members of government forces had died since Tuesday in the fight over Tabqa base, making it one of the deadliest confrontations between the two groups since the start of Syria's war.

What's so disappointing though is how many take up sides with the Muslims no questions asked

Stick to prescribing drugs to your patients from your sponsored drug companies.

The so-called Islamic State is not what it claims to be.

Like the Federal Reserve, which is neither federal nor has any reserves, the Islamic State is neither Islamic nor a state.

It is a terrorist group that was created by US intelligence and Zionist-allied mercenaries, trained at CIA bases in Jordan,
and unleashed on the people of Syria and Iraq to destabilize those countries in service to Israel.

we need to act.

The so-called Islamic State is not what it claims to be.

Like the Federal Reserve, which is neither federal nor has any reserves, the Islamic State is neither Islamic nor a state.

ISIS will be defeated

but in a modern world one would hope that human intelligence will eventually reason and win out.

You must be taking those drugs too from reading the bizarre garbage coming out of your stupid head ......

Fear the professional army, citizen, for it will be the vehicle that runs over democracy, in the end.

DMT

We may be able to pull this deal off with spec ops and air superiority. We'll see.

Bluie, that hasn't worked in Afghanistan despite having tens of thousands of boots on the ground. Why would it work better in Syria/N. Iraq?

All conflicts and wars have been fought for resource strategy. Getting shot dead because the other guy deserves a fair chance is what happens to soldiers who have never gone through a divorce at the request of their one and only...

These guys don't give a f*#k about resources,

Syria warns US: No unilateral strikes on militants
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem speaks during a press conference, giving the first public comments by a senior Assad official on the threat posed by the Islamic State group, in Damascus, Syria on Monday, August 25, 2014. Al-Moallem warned the U.S. not to conduct airstrikes inside Syria against the Islamic State group without Damascus’ consent, saying any such attack would be considered an aggression. Al-Moallem also said that Syria is ready to work with regional states and the international community amid the onslaught of Islamic militants there and in Iraq, adding that the Syrian government is a crucial partner in the war on terror. (AP Photo - SANA)
By RYAN LUCAS
From Associated Press
August 25, 2014 9:20 PM EST

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria said Monday it was ready to help confront the rising threat from the Islamic State group, but warned the United States against carrying out airstrikes without Damascus' consent, saying any such attack would be considered an aggression.

In seeking to portray itself as a partner for the international community, Syria seemed intent on capitalizing on the growing clamor among some U.S. officials, including military leaders, to expand the current American air campaign against the Islamic extremists in Iraq and to hit them in Syria as well.

President Barack Obama has long been wary of getting dragged into the bloody and complex Syrian civil war that the United Nations says has killed more than 190,000 people. He has resisted intervening militarily in the conflict, even after a deadly chemical weapons attack a year ago that Washington blamed on President Bashar Assad's government.

But the extremist group's rampage across wide swaths of Iraq, declaration of a state governed by their harsh interpretation of Islamic law in territory spanning the Iraq-Syria border, and grisly beheading of an American journalist, have injected a new dynamic into those calculations. Now, Obama faces pressure from his own military leaders to go after the extremists inside Syria.

On Monday, a senior administration official said Obama authorized surveillance flights over Syria, a move that could pave the way for U.S. airstrikes. The official who confirmed the decision was not authorized to discuss Obama's decision publicly by name, and insisted on anonymity.

Speaking in Damascus, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem appeared acutely aware of how much has changed since last August, when the U.S. was threatening to carry out punitive airstrikes against Assad's government in the wake of the chemical attack. Since then, global disapproval has shifted away from Assad and toward the Islamic extremists who are fighting him and spreading destruction across Syria and Iraq.

Al-Moallem told reporters his government is ready "to cooperate and coordinate" with any side, including the U.S., or join any regional or international alliance against the Islamic State group. But he said any military action inside Syria should be coordinated with the Syrian government.

"Any strike which is not coordinated with the government will be considered as aggression," he said.

He said Damascus has warned repeatedly of the threat of terrorism and the need to cut off resources and funding, but "no one listened to us." Syria's government has long described the rebels fighting to topple Assad as "terrorists" in a foreign conspiracy.

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also said Western nations that long refused to condemn Assad's enemies were now coming to realize the threat posed by the Islamic State group.

The West, he said, will "have to choose what is more important: to change the regime and satisfy personal antipathies with the risk that the situation will crumble, or find pragmatic ways to join efforts against the common threat, which is the same for all of us — terrorism."

Moscow has been a close ally of Damascus for decades, and has provided it with weapons and funding to help support Assad throughout the current conflict.

Mustafa Alani, the director of the security and defense department at the Gulf Research Center in Geneva, said Syria's offer aims to take advantage of current events in Iraq, and the corresponding shift in American and European attitudes about Assad and the Islamic State extremists.

"The Syrian government is trying to say they are on the same side as the international community. The old claim from Day 1 that the Syrians have tried to make is that they are fighting pure terrorism. There's no revolution, no rebels, no opposition," Alani said.

"I don't see this sort of call being acceptable, especially on the regional level," he added. "The Americans might find themselves forced to cooperate under the table with the Syrians. But I don't think Arab countries will accept Syria as a member of the club fighting the Islamic State."

The Abbas regime's warnings about the Islamic State group ring hollow to many in the opposition, who have watched Damascus turn a blind eye to the militants' expansion in Syria for more than a year. Many even accuse the government of facilitating the group's rise at the expense of more mainstream rebel factions.

The breakaway al-Qaida group is the most powerful faction fighting Assad's forces, which means a U.S. campaign to weaken the Islamic State extremists could actually strengthen a leader the White House has sought to push from office. Obama could try to counteract that awkward dynamic by also targeting Assad's forces, though that could drag the U.S. into the bloody, complex conflict — something he has studiously tried to avoid.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday that Obama has not made a decision on whether to take military action inside Syria, but noted that the president has demonstrated his willingness to take military action to protect American citizens.

"That is true without regard to international borders," he said.

Earnest tried to tamp down the notion that strikes against the Islamic State could have the unintended consequence of bolstering the Syrian government, saying: "We're not interested in trying to help the Assad regime." However, he noted that there are "a lot of cross-pressures here in this situation."

Despite al-Moallem's warning against unilateral U.S. airstrikes, there is little the Assad government could do should the U.S. decide to target the Muslim extremists inside Syria.

U.S. officials revealed last week that American special forces had tried to rescue American journalist James Foley in a failed operation in Raqqa in July. Islamic State militants beheaded Foley last week.

Referring to that failed mission, al-Moallem said: "Had there been prior coordination that operation would not have failed."

Still, the minister denounced "in the strongest terms possible" Foley's killing, while also asking: "Has the West ever condemned the massacres by the Islamic State ... against our armed forces or citizens?"

Al-Moallem's news conference came a day after jihadis captured a major military air base in northeastern Syria, eliminating the last government-held outpost in a province otherwise dominated by the Islamic State group. After several failed attempts, Islamic State fighters stormed the Tabqa air base Sunday, killing dozens of troops inside.

Al-Moallem conceded defeat in Tabqa, saying that soldiers were withdrawn to nearby areas, along with their weaponry and warplanes. Videos posted on militant websites Monday showed celebrations in the nearby town of Tabqa, controlled by the Islamic State group, including fighters honking noisily as they drove in cars carrying the group's black-and-white flags.

___

Associated Press writers Zeina Karam in Beirut and Lynn Berry in Moscow contributed to this report.

Survival's Buffs won't get that tasking.

Yeah, I said 'we', Dingus....

Thank God we're not at the mercy of only those who served

Killing is the easiest solution to most problems. Men kill over honor. Women kill themselves out of desperation. Children grow up torturing animals.

Clerics settle religious questions with murder. It's just easier that way.

Theological debates are complicated and impossible to settle, but fly the black flags, seize a village, kill the men and force the women to convert to the true faith of the machine gun and the sword and the debate is over.

ISIS is how Islam has been settling questions of theology since the 7th century. Why stop now just because you can order takeout from your smartphone? Westerners are innately fascinated by new technology. For the Middle East, technology is a tool for settling medieval disputes. Twitter is just a way of showing off your latest crop of severed heads. The pickup truck substitutes for a camel.

It's best to understand that we are not dealing with a moral code that looks anything like our own. The nastier qualities of human nature, deceit, violence and greed, are practically virtues. Especially if they are directed at the right targets.

There's a reason that Islam was born here. There's a reason that it still thrives here largely in its unaltered form. There is no civilization where the black flags fly.

"ISIS is a barbaric reminder: no such thing as a religion of peace, certainly not Islam today nor Judaism or Christianity throughout history."

Ever hear of the Inquisition? Made These guys look like amateurs.

Do you want to get into the Muslim connection to slavery as well?

Bluering is evil. He glories in the idea of killing. He glories in the idea of people making poverty wages. It seems like he sold his soul for the love of money and power. Disgusting soul.

It seems like you frequently use the "will you send your children" approach when foreign entanglements are discussed. Why? Under what circumstances do you think we should use troops overseas?

My take is I don't need to offer up my children because my taxes help maintain our military, which has mostly fought overseas for the last century. Based on our history, it's likely that military action will not be on US soil. So, what's your beef with considering fighting overseas?

Two of the leading voices in the Muslim world denounced the persecution of Christians in Iraq, at the hands of extremists proclaiming a caliphate under the name Islamic State.

The most explicit condemnation came from Iyad Ameen Madani, the Secretary General for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the group representing 57 countries, and 1.4 billion Muslims.

In a statement, he officially denounced the “forced deportation under the threat of execution” of Christians, calling it a “crime that cannot be tolerated.” The Secretary General also distanced Islam from the actions of the militant group known as ISIS, saying they “have nothing to do with Islam and its principles that call for justice, kindness, fairness, freedom of faith and coexistence.”

Meanwhile, Turkey’s top cleric, the spiritual successor to the caliphate under the Ottoman Empire, also touched on the topic during a peace conference of Islamic scholars.

In a not-so-veiled swipe at ISIS, Mehmet Gormez declared that “an entity that lacks legal justification has no authority to declare war against a political gathering, any country or community.” He went on to say that Muslims should not be hostile towards “people with different views, values and beliefs, and regard them as enemies.”

Gormez said death threats against non-Muslims made by the group, formerly known as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), were hugely damaging. “The statement made against Christians is truly awful. Islamic scholars need to focus on this (because) an inability to peacefully sustain other faiths and cultures heralds the collapse of a civilization,” he told Reuters in an interview.

Don't ask others to do what you would not. Do not sacrifice American teenagers, so that you can keep your own teenagers close.

What comprises the bulk of IS? Disaffected iraqi sunni and syrian war orphans? Remnants of Saddam's army that were disbanded?

...Washington’s announcement that the US government has no plans to coordinate US attacks on ISIS on Syrian territory with the Syrian government. Washington recognizes no limitations on its use of force, and the sovereignty of countries provides no inhibition.

In Washington coercion has supplanted the rule of law.

Syria has every right to be nervous. The reason ISIS is operating on Syrian territory is that Washington armed them and sent them to Syria. Washington’s air strikes on ISIS could very well be cover for air strikes on Syrian armed forces.

Here we see the complete failure of the Obama regime. As in Libya, the Obama regime set jihadists lose on Syria, pretending that they were fighting for democracy against a dictator. But Washington lost control over its monster which has gobbled up large parts of Syria and Iraq and is forming them into a new country hostile both to the West and to the Muslim vassals of the West.

Steve now holds the rank of Field Marshal within the suburban confines of Santa Clara.

Hey Steve, is what the military does the same as what you feel as a commercial consumer ? Is it the same as complaining that the waiter was slow in delivering your drink when someone who actually knows what's going on doesn't start hacking up those who displease you ?

"Volunteering" is a poor excuse for what used to involve everyone and their children. It was called the draft, and your little boy was once an object of the meatgrinder whether or not you had an opinion as a parent.

So go f*#k yourself unless it's cool with you that a bunch of senators and congresspeople you've never met, think it's A-OK to take your 18 year old child and have other people you've never met shoot bullets at him.

I can't speak for him but I think this is what Dingus is talking about.

The fact is that it's the same people from the same places that go and do your dirty work for you.

Truman's daughter fought in Korea?

This Choudary of Britain has four kids, I wonder their belief system?

You don't want to see ISIS obliterated by massive American firepower?

You can hit some tanks and vehicles, but that is not what makes up ISIS or any other unconventional army.

You're afraid. How cute. So of course you get the children of others to drop bombs on people on the other side of the world, to assuage that fear. That is exactly what led to the destruction of Iraq and the rise of ISIS you goddamn fool!

No its spot on. I noticed decades ago there were millions of freeloaders in this country who talk a lot of sh#t about war but never ever put skin in the game. You're one of those people.

Aug 28, 2014 - 04:57pm PT
CNN is full of sh!t.

Lying aszholes that are the huge problem with their fuked up propaganda against everyone on the planet to make USA look like they're not doing anything wrong.

USA its allies and the EU are the big aggressors against Russia to keep their petro dollar alive.

CNN and the major US media is lying like hell .....

Point 3, in particular, separates ISIS from, say, the Seljuk or Ottoman Turks, the Romans, the Persians under Cyrus or Alexander's Macedonians. It reminds me more of, say, the Assyrians under Sargon or Sennecharib, or the Mongols who annhialated the conquered people and killed or forced into exile those who would not assimilate.

Sitting on our hands on this one strikes me as an exceptionally poor decision.

Sitting on our hands on this one strikes me as an exceptionally poor decision.

John Kerry, said Isis “must be destroyed”

“It is possible to contain them,” Dempsey said,

“Isil is as sophisticated and well funded as any group that we have seen. They’re beyond just a terrorist group. They marry ideology, a sophistication of strategic and tactical military prowess, they are tremendously well funded. Oh, this is beyond anything that we’ve seen, so we must prepare for everything,” Hagel said.

"As it relates to the United States' national terror alert system, I don’t anticipate at this point that there’s a plan to change that level," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.

"We don't have a strategy yet."

just workplace violence

In the undated letter, Hasan -- who fatally shot 13 people and injured more than 30 at Fort Hood in 2009 in what the Defense Department called “workplace violence”-- tells ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi that he wants to join the caliphate.

"I formally and humbly request to be made a citizen of the Islamic State,”Hasan says in the handwritten document addressed to “Ameer, Mujahid Dr. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.”

So what would president Trotter do?

ideologue with a narcissistic personality disorder.

he voted twice against Obama

You just described all politicians didn't you?

Here's where you can start, Ward:

Fix us up Werner. Please tell us the solution,

I wonder how the ISIS attack on US soil will take shape...just a matter of time now

Has anyone here expressed support for Obama?

I do. I think he has this exactly right. Enough bombs to discouraage them from making a run at our interests in Baghdad and Erbil and let the remainder of the Middle East, finally, get the religion it craves.

Since the civil war erupted in neighboring Syria in 2011, hundreds of Jordanians have joined a Sunni Islamist-led insurgency against President Bashar Assad. More than 2,000 men, ranging from underprivileged youths to doctors and - in one case - an air force captain, have abandoned Jordan for jihad in Syria, according to Islamists close to the subject.

At least 250 of them have been killed there.

But the Islamic State's recent accomplishments are helping to galvanize support like never before among radical Islamists who dream of erasing borders across the Muslim world to establish a pan-Islamic nation.

Saudi Arabia is increasingly feeling the heat of the Sunni hardline blowback. While the Saudi government technically doesn’t sponsor Isis, it has promoted a fundamentalist Salafi interpretation of Islam that has encroached into the mainstream Sunni space. This has created the conditions, inside and outside the country, for extremism to breed.

The clergy is a powerful force in Saudi Arabia. Its influence derives from the fact that the royal family has entered into a formal pact with the sheikhs, under which the understanding is that the House of Saud can hold on to political power, while the religious establishment gets to dictate the national character of Saudi Arabia, one that has remained doggedly extreme. This vision has also been exported abroad by both state and non-state actors, the former as a clumsy substitute for a coherent foreign policy, by which the Saudi government contributes funds for mosques and charitable organisations in Muslim countries as a way of purchasing influence; the latter via personal wealth and the zeal of private citizens.

Mohamad Hijazi, Hifter’s spokesman, described the withdrawal of his forces from their camps in Benghazi as a strategic move. However, medical sources, including the Libyan Red Crescent, said that they found at least 75 bodies, mostly soldiers in the National Army faction led by Hifter, whose control was restricted to Tobruk city and some areas in Benghazi.

The Red Crescent found more than 50 bodies inside the camp that was emptied by Al-Saiqa forces. Sources in the city's hospitals reported they had received 25 bodies.

Sources close to Hifter pointed out the weakening of the eastern Libyan tribes as the reason why Hifter’s forces failed to stand their ground. Moreover, the source said that these tribes were mistaken to bet on a call to stop the fighting, launched by Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the former president of the interim council who was appointed mediator between the fighting parties.