Tag Archives: Middle East

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Donald Trump Denies Calling Afghanistan Invasion a Mistake

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During an interview on Tuesday, GOP presidential candidate and billionaire mogul Donald Trump called the invasion of Iraq a mistake but denied describing the invasion of Afghanistan as such, marking a difference from comments he made earlier this month.

Trump received publicity when he criticized rival Jeb Bush’s comments about former President George W. Bush keeping the American people safe even though 9/11 occurred under his watch.

Following those comments, Trump told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota that he believes he would have had a better chance at keeping the U.S. protected if he were in office.

“This all started because Jeb made the statement that ‘under my brother we were safe,'” Trump said. “Well, he would have qualified by saying ‘after the attack,’ but he didn’t do that.”

Trump continued, “You can say ‘yes, we did well after,’ but then we also made mistakes there, because yes we were safe in a sense, but we went into Iraq, which was a disastrous decision, just a disastrous decision. Not Afghanistan, because that’s probably where we should have gone in the first place. But Iraq was a disastrous decision.”

Trump claimed that while he wasn’t saying he could have prevented the terrorist attacks that occurred on Sept. 11, 2001, he does think that he would have had a chance because he is “pretty good at this stuff.”

“I would have had a much tougher visa program, the visas are too easy,” said Trump, who also claimed that while the CIA warned of a possible attack, the main U.S. intelligence agencies weren’t working together.

“Then we went out and we attacked the wrong country,” Trump said. “We went out and attacked Iraq, they had no weapons of mass destruction, as you know and as we found out.”

Trump’s most recent comments contradict an earlier interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Oct. 6 when Trump was asked whether he thought keeping boots on the ground in Afghanistan was a good idea.

“I wouldn’t totally disagree with it, except, you know, at some point, are they going to be there for the next 200 years?” Trump replied.

“We made a terrible mistake getting involved there in the first place,” Trump continued. “We had real brilliant thinkers that didn’t know what the hell they were doing. And it’s a mess. It’s a mess. And at this point, you probably have to [stay] because that thing will collapse about two seconds after they leave. Just as I said that Iraq was going to collapse after we leave.”

When Camerota questioned Trump about his previous comments during Tuesday’s interview, he insisted that he “never said” that the U.S. made a mistake by invading Afghanistan.

“We made a mistake going into Iraq,” Trump said. “I’ve never said we made a mistake going into Afghanistan.” Trump denied making the October 6 comments about Afghanistan despite Camerota reading his comments on air back to him, as shown in the above-embedded video.

For more election coverage, click here.

Featured, Foreign Policy, International, Politics

Leaked Documents Reveal Details about Obama’s Drone Program, U.S. ‘Assassination Complex’

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While President Obama has made bold claims about using restraint in terms of declaring war on countries in the Middle East, his use of drone strikes on Middle East targets has abounded.

A new series of documents obtained by The Intercept “offer an unprecedented glimpse into Obama’s drone war” by revealing the inner workings of the United States military’s assassination program in Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia.

During a September meeting with a small group of veterans and Gold Star mothers of slain U.S. military personnel, Obama boasted about being different from Republicans in Congress regarding foreign policy.

“Right now, if I was taking the advice of some of the members of Congress who holler all the time, we’d be in, like, seven wars right now,” Obama said.

“I’m not exaggerating. I’ve been counting. We’d be in military actions in seven places around the world,” Obama continued, referencing the countries of Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Libya, Afghanistan and Yemen, which have all been targets of U.S. drone strikes.

[RELATED: Game of Drones: Majority of Americans Support Strikes, While Uninformed]

The Intercept noted that when the Obama administration “has discussed drone strikes publicly, it has offered assurances that such operations are a more precise alternative to boots on the ground and are authorized only when an ‘imminent’ threat is present and there is ‘near certainty’ that the intended target will be eliminated.”

However, according to documents leaked by an anonymous whistleblower, the actual numbers paint a much different picture. The whistleblower, granted anonymity by The Intercept, said he provided the documents because of the need for people to understand the reality of individuals being placed on kill lists.

“We’re allowing this to happen. And by ‘we,’ I mean every American citizen who has access to this information now, but continues to do nothing about it,” said the source.

[RELATED: Obama Has Sentenced Whistleblowers to 10x the Jail Time of All Prior U.S. Presidents Combined]

From January 2012 to February 2013, as a part of the campaign Operation Haymaker in Afghanistan, the documents reveal that “U.S. special operations airstrikes killed more than 200 people,” but only “35 were the intended targets.”

The documents note that during a five-month period of the same operation, “nearly 90 percent of the people killed in airstrikes were not the intended targets.”

“Anyone caught in the vicinity is guilty by association,” the source said. When “a drone strike kills more than one person, there is no guarantee that those persons deserved their fate.”

The source also claimed that the program for targeting and locating suspected terrorists, which uses a phone number or email address to locate the target, is very unreliable, and he has come across countless instances where the intelligence was faulty.

“It’s stunning the number of instances when selectors are misattributed to certain people,” the source said. “And it isn’t until several months or years later that you all of a sudden realize that the entire time you thought you were going after this really hot target, you wind up realizing it was his mother’s phone the whole time.”

The source also noted that the military has a practice of “dehumanizing the people before you’ve even encountered the moral question of ‘is this a legitimate kill or not?’”

[pull_quote_center]They have no rights. They have no dignity. They have no humanity to themselves. They’re just a ‘selector’ to an analyst. You eventually get to a point in the target’s life cycle that you are following them, you don’t even refer to them by their actual name.[/pull_quote_center]

In 2012, Ben Swann asked President Obama directly about the “Presidential Kill List” that has included U.S. citizens such as Anwar al-Awlaki. Watch Obama’s response in the video below, as well as Swann pointing out that Obama’s drone strikes have occurred well outside of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrRuNOaNYME

 

Featured, Opinion, Politics, US

Lindsey Graham Dismisses Questionable Comments As A “Joke”- Again

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While speaking at American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) New England Leadership Dinner in Boston Tuesday night, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) reportedly remarked that “Al Qaeda, Al Nusra, Al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula… Everything that starts with ‘Al’ in the Middle East is bad news,” according to investigative journalist Uri Blau.

[bctt tweet=”Everything that starts with ‘Al’ in the Middle East is bad news @LindseyGrahamSC”]

Graham “should have probably checked the dictionary before making such a comment,” Blau wrote. “According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Al in Arabic is simply meaning ‘the.’ ‘It often prefixes Arabic proper nouns, especially place-names; an example is Al-Jazīrah (Arabic: “The Island”), the name of an interfluvial region in Sudan. The article is often used in lowercase form, hence al-Jazīrah.’, Britannica explains.” 

Blau wrote that he had asked Graham’s Washington, D.C. office for comment and had not received a response. However, Kevin Bishop, Graham’s spokesman, offered a comment to the Washington Post. “It’s not a serious policy statement,” Bishop said, claiming that Graham has told this same joke for several years. According to the Post, Bishop said this apparently long-running joke gets Graham a lot of laughs and is a “‘humorous way’ to look at pressing issues.”

In an update on his blog post, Blau wrote that an Israeli student named Nathan Odenheimer, along with a friend, confronted Graham at the AIPAC dinner about his remarks. Blau copied Odenheimer’s Facebook post that described the confrontation with Graham:

“An Israeli friend of mine who proudly carries an Arabic surname with the allegedly shameful prefix walked up to the Senator and tried to politely and respectfully clarify to the Middle-East-illiterate politician the meaning of his poor comment. My friend brought himself as an example: “My own name starts with ‘Al’”. Graham tried to dodge the situation with a joke and replied, “Well, I guess there is one exception then…”

I meant to remain the uninvolved spectator I was all evening, but couldn’t maintain myself facing this utter nonsense and despite of myself interrupted: “No Mr. Senator, it is not about an exception, you made an offensive statement that shows ignorance” and elaborated that, what every person who has the slightest interest in the Middle East knows, that in Arabic ‘Al’ usually means “the”. The Senator did not exactly stand corrected; instead he awkwardly diverged to compare Iran to Nazi Germany and the US deal with Iran to a second Holocaust.

I don’t frequent these sort of events often, but it is still beyond me why AIPAC should invite a speaker who is unapologetically Iislamophob (sic) and racist, especially since so many Israelis come from Arab countries, like my mentioned above friend, carry a surname that is, according to the senator, ‘bad news.’”

Bishop’s dismissal of Graham’s latest “joke”is quite similar to another explanation he made on Graham’s behalf earlier this year. In March, Bishop had to clarify Graham’s misuse of the word “literally” when he vowed to “literally use the military” to compel Congress to restore defense cuts during a speech in New Hampshire. Prior to “literally” joking about holding Congress hostage, he’s also joked about Nancy Pelosi’s physical appearance, the lack of “angry white guys” in the GOP, that “white men who are in private clubs” would particularly enjoy a Graham presidency, and has poked fun at the idea of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) dying during a trip to Syria.

Again, it’s possible that Graham’s latest quip regarding his humorous disdain for all things “al” is indeed another awkward joke. However, according to Blau, it does not appear that it was well-received by all of the AIPAC dinner attendees.

Foreign Policy, International, Swann TV, US

Christians forming militias to fight against ISIS?

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The Islamic State has become known for its brutal violence and persecution of Assyrian Christians in the regions it occupies, but there still remains some mystery regarding the conditions Assyrian Christians live under in Aleppo, Syria and other villages in the northern part of the country.

Ben Swann speaks with Dr. George Kiraz, Director of the Syriac Institute, about the history of and the violence that people have faced in the region and whether or not ISIS may actually bring to an end Christianity in the Middle East.

Featured, International, US

One prisoner exchanged for Sgt. Bergdahl has made suspicious communications

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One of the five prisoners exchanged for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in May 2014, is reportedly being investigated for making suspicious phone calls to Afghanistan over the past few months.

According to CNN, this is the first known time one of the five detainees who were released has been suspected of attempted to make contact with any militant groups in the Middle East, but this one instance has raised the question of whether the other four will follow suit.

All five former detainees are said to be in Qatar, where their communications have been monitored by a U.S. intelligence program for months. The program in question is saying they have evidence showing the former detainee in question had “reached out” to militant groups and encouraged further militant activity.

However, one official told NBC News the former detainee had called family members in Afghanistan and there is no evidence showing the phone calls were to members of any militant group in the area. This official also added the content of the phone calls contained no “threatening activity or planning.”

No matter what the content of the suspected phone calls, the governments of Qatar and the U.S. are working together on this new issue.

Rear Admiral John Kirby had an interview on the show ‘Erin Burnett Out Front,’ where he said, “We have a strong security partnership with Qatar, and are in constant dialogue with Qatari government officials about these five detainees and we are confident that we would be able to mitigate any threat of re-engagement by any of these members.”

The Pentagon released a statement saying they would not comment on cases involving the detainees. The statement also said, according to the Daily Mail, “we take any incidence of re-engagement very seriously, and we work in close coordination through military, intelligence, law enforcement and diplomatic channels to mitigate re-engagement and to take follow-on action when necessary.”

US

Rand Paul releases own State of the Union speech

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After President Obama gave his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, Senator Rand Paul released his own State of the Union speech online.

Paul starts by saying, “All is not well in America,” and from here he outlines what he thinks is wrong in the country.

The first thing Paul says is needed in America is “new leadership.” He does not mean get rid of the president, rather this is a call for a limit to the number of terms congressmen and other high ranking officials can serve. Currently, the U.S. has 11 people in the House or Senate who have served 35+ years as political leaders. Paul says by eliminating the limitless number of terms these leaders can have, new blood will flow into Washington, bringing fresh and new ideas.

As the president took time in his speech to outline his plan to continue to fight the war on poverty, Paul says he believes the war on poverty has failed. “Income inequality has worsened under this administration, and tonight, President Obama offers more of the same policies,” said Paul. “Policies which allow the poor to get poorer, and the rich to get richer…[Americans] don’t want a handout but a hand-up.”

Then, Paul takes a jab at Congress for their failure to balance the national budget, asking how Congress cannot balance a budget like every other American household? Paul says if Congress cannot balance the budget for one reason or another, an amendment should be added to make balancing the budget a mandatory act of Congress.

After mentioning an increase in the national debt, Paul calls out Hillary Clinton and what he calls her war in Libya. “Libya is now a jihadist wonderland,” says Paul, who then says we are more at risk for terrorist attacks “than ever before,” because of the actions in Libya.

Shortly afterward this mention, he says we need to not worry about the Middle East since war has been in the region for thousands of years, and instead we should worry about our issues here in the U.S.

Then in an odd instance, Paul seems to advocate for universal healthcare, but not President Obama’s version of healthcare. “It is a noble aspiration and a moral obligation to make sure our fellow man is provided for, that medical treatment is made available to all.”

While President Obama may have limited the choice of doctors available to some citizens, Paul says we should have the option to choose which doctor we want within our healthcare plan. “Everyone knows our healthcare system needed reforming, but it was the wrong prescription to choose more government instead of more consumer choice and competition. Obamacare restriction freedom…” Paul’s answer to fix the president’s healthcare plan, “Let’s try freedom again, it worked for over 200 years.”

A moment was also taken to propose a flat tax, as well as a cut to national spending.

In the last minutes of his speech, Paul rehashes many of his main talking points which have been seen in the news and heard in his many speeches. He wants to hold political leaders accountable for their actions, he asks how we can trust members of Congress since they only have a 10 percent approval rating, and then says the government has no right to collect our phone data and he backs this up with a mention of the Constitution.

Before ending, Paul says he will propose an audit of the Pentagon to “seek ways  to make our defense department more modern and efficient without breaking the bank.”

The speech does not seem to be a response to President Obama’s State of the Union speech, rather it appears to be a gathering of all of Paul’s talking points over the last few years, compiled into one consistent speech. He doesn’t offer many counterpoints to the president’s speech, or alternatives to what the president said. Instead, he tries to strengthen his political stance on a few issues, and he attempts to reach the moderates who are upset with the state of politics in Washington.

Featured, Images, International, Politics, US

The brutality of ISIS on full display in new photos

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Editor’s note: Google has found these images to be too graphic and warned that we could lose our advertising account. We have removed the images in question.

 

WARNING: The following images may be disturbing to some viewers.

The terrorist group known as ISIS has reportedly used brutal tactics in the past few months in order to claim and hold land in the Middle East, but a series of photos have been released showing the extent of how ISIS fighters punish law breakers in their controlled lands.

Among the photos are a few depicting an ISIS execution of two homosexual men by pushing them from a tall balcony. The pictures show a man being pushed onto a ledge, another of a man falling through the open air, and one of two bodies lying on the ground surrounded by pools of blood. As is evident in the pictures, these were public executions as a crowd had formed at the base of the balcony where the men were pushed.

Two blindfolded men are also showed crucified to wooden beams, while a man stands in front of them and a surrounding crowd and reads their crimes. According to the Daily Record, the men were accused of banditry. After their charges are read, two militants step up behind the crucified men and execute each with a single shot from their respective handguns.

Final, a set of images shows the execution by stoning of a woman. Her execution can be said to be less public as it appears to be taking place in a secluded, wooded area, but the brutality of her death via stoning is still on display.

Public executions have been reportedly taking place in all ISIS controlled areas since the group declared their lands the Caliphate, or Islamic State.

Charles Lister of the Brookings Institute’s Doha Center researched ISIS’ version of Sharia Law and published his findings under the title “Profiling the Islamic State.” In this research, Lister writes, “The implementation of a strict form of sharia law is clearly central to IS’s governance.” In this version of Sharia Law, serious punishments are dealt out to people who violate seemingly minute offenses such as listening to non-Islamic music or deviating from the assigned dress code implemented by ISIS.

Given ISIS’ penchant for a wide range of propaganda, these images and executions seem to serve multiple purposes. Not only are crimes being punished in these pictures, but the images may also be meant to scare people in and around ISIS controlled areas.  

International, US

FBI calls for Americans to identify ISIS fighters

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While the intelligence community has been working on trying to identifying the infamous ‘Jihadi Joe’ from previous ISIS beheading videos, the FBI is now asking for the American public to help them identify any people who have traveled to the Middle East or are planing to travel there in order to fight for ISIS.

The call for the American people’s help and support started after the release of an ISIS propaganda video titled “Flames of War.”  The video features a fighter who speaks to the camera in Arabic, but then switches to fluent English.  While he talks to the camera, men behind him are  seen “digging their own graves in the very place they were stationed.”  Eventually, all of the people digging their graves are killed in the video.

What is significant about this video is the fighter’s ability to effortlessly switch from Arabic to English. CNN reports the English dialect of the ISIS fighter is a North American accent, and this prompted the FBI to ask for help identifying the fighter and any others who might want to fight for ISIS.

Officials are saying the man on film could be a Middle Eastern man educated in the west, or they could be from North America and traveled to the area to aid ISIS.

One security analyst says this video was clearly meant for a western audience.  Frank Cillufo, the analyst from George Washington University, said, “Clearly ISIS had a calculated step to be able to put this guy on camera… Why? Because he seems American. The message is aimed at a Western audience.”

Michael Steinbach, the assistant director of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, said on the FBI’s webpage, “We are hoping that someone might recognize this individual and provide us with key pieces of information… No piece of information is too small.”

Steinbach also said, “We need the public’s assistance in identifying U.S. persons going to fight overseas with terrorist groups or who are returning home from fighting overseas.”

As of now, top US security officials have estimated about 100 Americans have traveled to the Middle East in order to fight for ISIS.

International, US

UN passes resolution to stop foreign fighters and terrorists

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As the world begins to respond to the growing threat of ISIS, the United Nations Security Council met Wednesday and unanimously approved a resolution which forces member states to stop terrorist recruiting and movement within their territories.

President Obama chaired the committee saying, according to the Hill, “I called this meeting because we must come together as nations and as an international community to confront a real and growing threat of foreign terrorist fighters… The historic resolution we just adopted enshrines our commitment to meet this challenge.”

The resolution not only calls for states to stop recruiting and movement within their borders, but also requires states to take precautions to ward off potential terrorist attacks from foreign fighters within their borders.

Foreign fighters, in this instance are defined, according to the International Business Times, as, “Individuals who travel to a State other than their States of residence or nationality for the purpose of the perpetration, planning, or preparation of, or participation in, terrorist acts…”  An estimated 12,000 fighters who fit into this definition have already traveled from at least 74 countries to the Middle East to fight on behalf of ISIS.

In addition, the resolution calls for all member states to share information concerning any domestic terrorist concerns with other members.  However, there was no definition given as to what constitutes a domestic terrorist, leaving it up to each state to make up their own definition of a “domestic terrorist.”

In order to show how serious the US takes the issue at hand, the US Treasury Department put immediate sanctions in place against 11 individuals and one Indonesian organization.  The people and group in question are thought to be sending foreign fighters and funds to Islamic terrorist groups, such as ISIS.

In a statement after the sanctions were passed, David Cohen, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said, according to RT, “These steps, taken the same day as the adoption of a new United Nations Security Council Resolution, affirm the commitment of the United States and our partners to degrade and destroy terrorist access to financing.”

International, Politics, US

VIDEO: Ted Cruz booed by hostile crowd for supporting Israel – Walks off stage

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WASHINGTON D.C., September 11, 2014 – Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) received angry boos after voicing his support for Israel at a sold-out gala in D.C. Wednesday evening. The gala, at which Cruz was the keynote speaker, was for a newly founded non-profit In Defense of Christians, formed to “raise awareness of the ancient and often persecuted minority communities in the Middle East, particularly Christians.”

Cruz began his speech by stating, “Tonight, we are all united in defense of Christians. Tonight, we are all united in defense of Jews. Tonight, we are all united in defense of people of good faith, who are standing together against those who would persecute and murder those who dare disagree with their religious teachings.”

Cruz went on to state, “ISIS, al-Qaida, Hezbollah, Hamas, state sponsors like Syria and Iran, are all engaged in a vicious genocidal campaign to destroy religious minorities in the Middle East. Sometimes we are told not to loop these groups together, that we have to understand their so called nuances and differences. But we shouldn’t try to parse different manifestations of evil that are on a murderous rampage through the region. Hate is hate, and murder is murder. Our purpose here tonight is to highlight a terrible injustice, a humanitarian crisis.”

“Christians have no greater ally than Israel,” Cruz continued. This caused many in the audience to begin booing. The audience became so angry that the president of the organization, Toufic Baaklini, came out to calm the crowd down and asked that the audience show respect.

Cruz, seeming un-phased by his reception, calmly dressed down the audience by stating, “I am saddened to see that some here are so consumed with hate,” and that “those who hate Israel hate America.” He continued, “If you will not stand with Israel and the Jews, then I will not stand with you.” He then walked off stage.

Cruz commented on the incident through his Facebook page later Wednesday evening stating, “Tonight in Washington should have been a night of unity as we came together for the inaugural event for a group that calls itself ‘In Defense of Christians.’ Instead, it unfortunately deteriorated into a shameful display of bigotry and hatred.”

You can watch more of Cruz’s response to the crowd here.

Follow Michael Lotfi on Facebook & Twitter.

Politics

President and Vice President warn ISIS militants after beheading videos

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After videos were released by ISIS depicting the beheadings of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden made warnings of U.S. retaliation against the terrorist organization.

Early Wednesday, President Obama made his most powerful statement to date on the growing threat of ISIS, saying the U.S. will eliminate the organization and its followers.

“Our objective is clear and that is to degrade and destroy ISIL so it’s no longer a threat—not just to Iraq but also to the region and to the United States,” Obama said, according to MSNBC.

From there, President Obama laid out a plan to use coordinated airstrikes and ground efforts with regional cooperation to defeat ISIS in the Middle-East.  However, President Obama is currently only planning on confronting ISIS in Iraq and not Syria, saying he would have to consult Congress and gain Congressional approval of any military actions in Syria.

When the president was asked by a reporter to elaborate on his plan, President Obama backtracked, saying, according to the DailyMail, “Our objective is to make sure they aren’t an ongoing threat to the region.”

Vice President Joe Biden, though, made some heated remarks concerning ISIS though as compared to that of President Obama.

“We will follow them to the gates of hell until they are brought to justice because hell is where they will reside,” said Biden at a press conference at a naval shipyard in Portsmouth, New Hampshire Wednesday afternoon, according to the International Business Times.   “If they think the American people will be intimidated, they don’t know us very well.”

Vice President Biden continued by saying, according to NBC News, the American people are “so much stronger, so much more resolved,” than any enemy can comprehend, and the American people “don’t retreat,” and “don’t forget.”

International, Politics

Militants in Gaza publicly execute alleged spies

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As fighting commences in Gaza following the week-long truce and funeral processions for the family of a Hamas military leader, Hamas militants have publicly executed 18 Palestinians for allegedly spying for Israel.

Seven of those executed were lined up in front of a crowd of hundreds outside of the Omari mosque on Palestine Square, with bags over their heads and their hands bound.  Each was shot with automatic rifles for those present to see.  The other 11 were executed by militants at an abandoned police station in Gaza, according to YNetNews.

One eye-witness to the Omari mosque executions told reporters, according to the Independent, the executioners told the crowd those who were executed, “had sold their souls to the enemy for a cheap price.”

The names of those killed were not released to the public, as Hamas said they wanted to protect the families of those killed.

These killings are reportedly the beginning of new crackdowns on Israeli collaborators in Gaza.  According to ABC News, rally cries for people to “[choke] the neck of the collaborators,” have also been heard throughout the area.

Hamas security services made a post to their website, Al Majd, saying from now on, people who are suspected of being spies would not have a court hearing to determine their innocence or guilt.  Rather, these individuals will be dealt with “in the field,” meaning soldiers will decide the fate of those who are accused of being spies.

This same site said those who had been executed had “confessed” to their alleged crimes against the people of Palestine.  Their crimes included reporting on the movement of military commanders and providing the locations of resistance fighters throughout Gaza.

Another pro-Hamas website made a post following the executions saying, “The resistance has begun an operation called ‘strangling the necks’, targeting collaborators who aid the (Israeli) occupation, kill our people and destroy houses.”

These executions come a day after Israeli forces tracked down and killed three high-ranking Hamas commanders, according to the Mirror.

Featured, International, Politics

UN school in Gaza caught in the cross hairs, leaving 15 dead

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As violence continues to escalate between Israeli forces and those of Hamas in Gaza, a UN backed school has reportedly been shelled by Israeli tanks, leaving 15 dead and about 200 wounded.

The school was in a coastal area of Gaza known as Beit Hanoun, which has been known to be a dangerous region since the fighting began.  Civilians had fled the region so they could find shelter and escape the fighting between the IDF and Hamas.  Of those killed and injured, all are believed to be civilians.

Valerie Amos, the UN Under-Secretary-General for humanitarian affairs, said, according to the Independent, “People are sheltering in UN schools which as a result cannot be used for education. They are running out of food, and water is also a serious concern.”

This strike comes amongst a day of heavy fighting throughout Gaza.  The fighting was sparked by a demand by Hamas for Israel and Egypt to lift the blockade around Gaza, according to the Guardian.

Spokesman for the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), Chris Gunness made a tweet, according to the Ma’an News Agency, saying, “Precise co-ordinates of the UNRWA shelter in Beit Hanoun had been formally given to the Israeli army.”

A contact in the Israeli military told Al-Jazeera the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) were not necessarily responsible, but the IDF had detected rocket fire from Hamas in the area.  This same contact said those detected rockets could have fallen short and hit the school.

This is the fourth UN facility to be hit in the fighting since the Israeli operation began on July 8.

Director of UNRWA, Robert Turner, said, in relation to all of the facilities caught in the line of fire, “We always call on all parties to ensure that civilians are not harmed.”

International, Politics, US

Fighting in Israel closes down US embassy in area

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Recent violence in the Gaza Strip between Israeli forces and Hamas militants, who are in control of Gaza, have resulted in the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv to close down for Thursday.

The embassy website, which posted the closing,  cites the “current security situation” as their reason for closing, but also says, “emergency cases will be considered on a case by case basis.”

Due to the rocket firing over the past few days, the embassy has operated at minimum staffing levels in order to keep staff members safe.  One rocket reportedly hit a house in Jerusalem, resulting in an explosion but no casualties.

Over 300 rockets have been fired into Israel since the attacks began two days ago, but these attacks have resulted in no fatalities or serious injuries according to Businessweek.  Storefronts, groceries, and bakeries have been hit and various buildings have been damaged.

Many of the rockets have been pointed in the direction of Dimona which is thought to house an Israeli nuclear facility.  The Israeli government has not confirmed or denied these reports.

The Israeli Defense Forces have launched a full-fledged military operation in order to stop further attacks from Hamas militants on Israel.

As compared to the 300 ineffective rockets fired into Israel, the IDF has struck almost 600 of their intended targets in the Gaza Strip.  These targets have included rocket launchers, tunnels used by Hamas militants, command centers, and training camps.

According to RT, Israel’s strikes have also resulted in the deaths of at least 22 people, including eight children.

Since the attacks began, Israel has been mobilizing about 40,000 military reservists in preparation for a further push to take back the Gaza Strip from Hamas.

“Despite the fact it will be hard, complicated and costly,” Israeli intelligence minister,Yuval Steinitz, told Israel Radio, “we will have to take over Gaza temporarily, for a few weeks, to cut off the strengthening of this terror army.”

International, Politics

Report: Military action in Iraq would hurt, not help

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A new report from the Crisis Group on the ISIS crisis in Iraq claims any military intervention from outside of the country would not stop further actions, but runs the risk of “stoking the conflict.”

This report comes in the wake of President Obama vowing to send up to 300 military advisers to the country to help contain and end the conflict.  There has been no word yet as to whether or not the U.S. government will use airstrikes in Iraq as requested by the Iraqi government.

Iran has already sent about 500 Revolutionary Guards into Iraq to aid the local government according to CNN.

The report claims the attacks, and method ISIS has captured towns and strongholds, is not a military achievement or great military feat by any means, but rather the string of events has been likened to a person simply leaning on a “house of cards.”

The crisis has further polarized the divide between Sunni and Shiite denominations as well as ethnic Kurds across the country. ISIS is made of Sunni followers, according to Iraqi News, while the majority of government forces are made of Shiite forces.

These two groups have been divided across the globe for many years, and the discord can be traced back to the schism which occurred across Islam after the death of the Prophet Muhammad.

Military intervention within the country, according to the report, would only bolster further support for ISIS as the military forces would be seen as fighting for the current, Shiite dominant, Iraqi government.

The report from the Crisis Group claims in order to stop further bloodshed and prevent a civil war across the country, the Iraqi government needs to form a “genuine government of national unity,” where all three major political and ethnic forces within the country are included and given equal political sway.

The Crisis Group’s senior adviser on the Middle East and Africa, Peter Harling, said in relation to the crisis, “A U.S. military response alone will achieve very little… Counter-insurgency cannot be successful without an effective Iraqi army to ‘clear’, an accepted Iraqi police to ‘hold’, and a legitimate Iraqi political leadership to build.”

International

ISIL tightens grip on Iraq

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The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the terrorist group disavowed by al-Qaeda and is responsible for the recent state of turmoil in the Middle East, has captured the city of Tal Afar and made claims of mass execution over the weekend.

The city of Tal Afar is close to the Iraqi city of Mosul, which was captured last week along with the arms depots within the city.  According to the NBC News, the same weapons captured in Mosul, mostly rocket launchers and machineguns, were used in the seizure of Tal Afar.

Capturing the city is a strategic move by ISIL who also have captured cities in Syria.  Tal Afar is only 93 miles from the Syrian border, making it an opportune route to connect ISIL forces and supplies across the northern parts of the two countries.

ISIL also released photos this past weekend of their members executing hundreds of captured Iraqi soldiers and civilians.  According to RT, the photos were posted to the Twitter account associated with ISIL, and a spokesman for the group claimed the pictures and killings took place just north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

The group has had their sights set on attacking Baghdad, which has prompted the U.S. to strengthen the security of the embassy in the city.  About 150 U.S. Marines arrived at the embassy to protect U.S. citizens and diplomats.  The embassy itself though will stay open, said the U.S. State Department, but some of the staff will be relocated temporarily.

This comes a few days after planeloads of other American diplomats were evacuated from the Iraqi airbase of Balad, another city just north of Baghdad.

British officials in Baghdad said they have no intention to evacuate their staff from what is designated the “Green Zone” in the city, but they claimed to have witnessed large groups of individuals lining up at the main airport while many others withdrew money from local banks.

The U.S. is considering talks with Iran in the coming days to cooperate in combating ISIL in Iraq.  Iran has already sent their Revolutionary Guard to combat ISIL forces, while the U.S. government is considering sending drones and other air support to aid the Iranian fighters.

International, US

START Statistics Show Terrorism Has Increased Since Middle East Invasions

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Statistics from the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) Global Terrorism Database have shown an increase in terrorist activity since America’s involvement in the War on Terror began.  In various countries across the region and the globe, America’s entry into the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan marked the beginning of a severe rise in terrorist activities, a rise which has continued ever since.

Middle East

middle east

START is a University of Maryland program which provides the most detailed data on terrorist activities available to the public.  It documents the date, country, city, perpetrator, fatalities, injuries and target types of terrorist activity across the world.  Its data comes from a variety of open media sources, which are checked for accuracy before being added to the statistical analysis.

Terrorism in Iraq increased dramatically starting in 2002.  In Afghanistan it had been increasing since 1998, but more rapidly since 2001.  The Middle East as a whole has ups and downs, but rose consistently from 2004 to 2007, and then from 2008 to the present.  Terrorism in Asia reached an all time high in 2007 and continued to climb.  Both African and global terrorism have been increasing since 2004.

In response to this data, some, like Alex Jones’ Prison Planet, have said it is clear that America’s wars in the Middle East have created more terrorists.  Drone strikes might increase terrorism, or maybe foreign military occupation is to blame.

The first thing which must be noted is that the database itself is based solely on news reports.  According to the report, there are other potential reasons for the increase in terrorism than a simple cause and effect explanation.  Terrorism may not have occurred in Iraq before the war because it was ruled by a brutal dictator.  Afghanistan was run by the Taliban – which had terrorist origins – before the invasion.  The fall of political systems inevitably invites chaos, which brings a chance of terrorism.  The presence of military and other foreign personnel creates even more opportunities for it.

The statistics, themselves, don’t tell a story.  They don’t show that the US has caused terrorism, and they certainly don’t show that the US has stopped it.  One thing is clear, though, and that’s that the US does not have a clear enough understanding of terrorism to effectively combat or otherwise reduce it.

International, Politics

Christians Suffer In The New Middle East

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In the wake of civil wars, regime changes and emboldened Islamic extremism, Christians are facing a new environment in the Middle East. Christianity has a rich history in the Middle East. Its roots dig deep into the soil. However, those roots are now drying up.

Syria has been home to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, which dates back 2 millennia. There are even Christians in some villages of Syria that speak Aramaic, which was the language Jesus was said to have spoken. The apostle Paul is said to have been converted to Christianity while on the road to Damascus. At one point Christians composed 30% of Syria’s population. Today they compose only 10% of Syria’s 22 million. Christians in Syria have always been among the minority. However, they were long protected under Hafez al-Assad, who was president between 1971 and 2000, and by his son Bashar. Since the Syrian civil war began 2 years ago hundreds of thousands of Christians have been forced to exodus. It is estimated that more than 1,000 Christians have been slaughtered, entire Christian villages have been wiped out and more than 40 churches have been destroyed or damaged. Many fear that Christians will find no refuge in Syria if the rebels are successful in overthrowing Assad, who has long protected them.

Egypt is the home of many stories within the Christian bible. Coptic Christians compose approximately 10% of Egypt’s 90 million. They have come under vicious attack at the hand of the Muslim Brotherhood. After the ousting of President Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s leader, extremists within the Brotherhood set fire to hundreds of Christian churches, businesses, schools and homes. Many Christians were beaten to death in the middle of the street. A mob even set fire to and destroyed a Seventh-day Adventist church in Assiut, which is a town 200 miles from Cairo.

Under former president Mubarak, Egypt’s Christians were protected. The former dictator would even pass laws, which favored them and their religion. Mubarak did at times face tensions with the Copts, but balance was most always achieved. Mubarak would even perform favors for the pope. In fear of their lives, Christians have been forced to exodus from Egypt, thus ending their 2,000 year presence in the country. 

Iraq is also home to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities. In fact, Christians had placed their roots in the area before Islam even became a religion. Former president Saddam Hussein never favored the Christians; however, he certainly never targeted them. Once Hussein was removed from power the target was drawn on Iraq’s Christians. Hundreds of thousands of Christians were forced to exodus to Syria. Now those same Christians in Syria are forced to exodus again. Before Hussein’s demise there were more than 800,000 Christians in Iraq. It is now estimated that there are less than 400,000. In 2010, 58 Christians were killed and 120 taken hostage during a siege on a Catholic church in Baghdad.

This pattern is repeated again and again in Libya, Tunisia and other countries where the “Arab Spring” has taken hold. It is interesting to note that pro-democracy is not always a good thing. In America our Founding Fathers set forth a representative democracy, which is also referred to as a Republic. In a Republic minority rights are protected against the majority. Direct democracy, as seen in the Middle East, destroys the rights and protections of the minority class. The old regimes of the Middle East took a play from the book of Darius The Great, the king of the Persian Empire at its peak. Darius’ success was rooted in religious freedom and tolerance of minorities. The relative stability the Middle East has known for years had roots in this tolerance. As those roots dry and burn, stability is no where in sight. As the Middle East continues its renaissance, which has roots in Islamic extremism those of minority faiths such as Judaism, Christianity and Baha’i see little hope of peace.