Thread: The slaughter of apostates

Networks Silent as ISIS Continues ‘Convert or Die’ Oppression of Christians
By Katie Yoder | August 26, 2014 | 14:23

The broadcast networks haven’t reported on the plight of Iraq’s Christians in weeks – in fact, ABC only mentioned them once. So everything must be ok, right? Wrong.



WorldWatch Monitor, a news outlet focused on Christian persecution, reported on Aug. 22 about Iraqi Christian Mikha Qasha who told Mid-East Christian News that ISIS gave him one week to either “leave, convert to Islam or face the sword.” The threat came with “weapons pointed at his head.” Elderly and paralyzed, Qasha fled from Qaraqosh – in a wheelchair – to Ankawa, a Christian suburb, according to the story, which was picked up by Christian Today and Charisma News.



The convert or die ultimatum has played out across the areas of northern Iraq controlled by ISIS. According to the article:

The Islamic State took over Mosul in June. At the time there were 3,500 residing Christians who fled east to Qaraqosh, which is often referred to as the Christian capital of Iraq. Of the 3,500 about 25 people decided to stay home in Mosul. Since then nine have converted to Islam, while the others are paying jizya – the Islamic tax for non-Muslims.

Tragically, this follows the pattern in the Middle East, as Egyptian and Syrian Christians have been attacked and murdered, forced to flee and seen their churches, stores and homes torched. In all cases, the networks have been as reluctant to report on the oppression as they have been to name the oppressors.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/katie-y...#ixzz3BbtOhLCc




Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/katie-y...#ixzz3Bbt3IQIM

Originally Posted by Jolie Rouge

American woman is being held hostage in Syria
19 hr ago | By LARA JAKES of Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Islamic State militant group is holding hostage a young American woman who was doing humanitarian aid work hostage in Syria, a family representative said Tuesday. The 26-year-old woman is the third American known to have been kidnapped by the militant group.


The Islamic State group recently threatened to kill American hostages to avenge the crushing airstrikes in Iraq against militants advancing on Mount Sinjar and the Kurdish capital of Irbil.

The 26-year-old woman was captured last year while working with three humanitarian groups in Syria. A representative for the family and U.S. officials asked that the woman not be identified out of fear for her safety. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue publicly.

More than a week ago, freelance journalist James Foley was beheaded by the Islamic State group, which kidnapped him in November 2012. Foley, 40, has worked in a number of conflict zones across the Mideast, including Iraq, Libya and Syria. He was in northern Syria on assignment for Agence France-Press and the Boston-based media company GlobalPost when the car he was riding in was stopped by four militants in a contested battle zone that both Sunni rebel fighters and government forces were trying to control.

The Islamic State video of Foley's beheading also showed another of the missing American journalists, Steven Sotloff, and warned he would be killed next if U.S. airstrikes continued. U.S. officials believe the video was made days before its release and have grown increasingly worried about Sotloff's fate.

Other American hostages have been held by other militant groups, including Peter Curtis who was recently released by al-Nusra Front, a rival Sunni extremist group. Another U.S. freelance journalist, Austin Tice disappeared in Syria in August 2012 and is believed to be held by the same organization. Tice was working for The Washington Post, McClatchy Newspapers and other media outlets when he was kidnapped.

The Islamic State militant group is seeking to create a caliphate across parts of Syria and Iraq. The militant group is so ruthless in its attacks against all people they consider heretics or infidels that it has been disowned by al-Qaida's leaders.

President Barack Obama said in a speech in North Carolina on Tuesday that "America does not forget" and vowed justice for Foley's murder.

In its annual report last November, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists estimated at least 30 journalists have been kidnapped or have disappeared in Syria — held and threatened with death by extremists or taken captive by gangs seeking ransom. CPJ described the widespread seizure of journalists as unprecedented, and largely unreported by news organizations in the hope that keeping the kidnappings out of public view may help to negotiate the captives' release.

The group reported 52 journalists have been killed since Syria's civil war began in early 2011, and documented at least 24 other journalists who disappeared earlier this year but are now safe.

Separately, the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders last fall cited higher figures, saying at least 60 "news providers" are being detained and more than 110 have been killed.

http://news.msn.com/us/american-woma...stage-in-syria

SO it's wrong to call a group that beheads people "evil."

Give us a break.
Check Out Why This NY Times Op-Ed Is Against Calling ISIS Evil
In a Friday op-ed which appeared in the paper's international print edition

NYT Op-Ed: It's a 'Moral Hazard' to Call ISIS 'Evil' or a 'Cancer'
By Tom Blumer | August 25, 2014 | 00:32

In a Friday op-ed which appeared in the paper's international print edition on Saturday and which can reasonably be seen as giving voice to an editorial board which wouldn't dare put their name to it, La Salle University Political Science Professor Michael Boyle strenuously objected to recent characterizations of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/23/op...ncer.html?_r=1

We can't call ISIS "evil." We also shouldn't call them a "cancer," or "savage," or "barbaric." Oh, and the fact that George W. Bush called Al Qaeda "evildoers" is why ISIS came to be, and why our problems with radical Islam are now worse.

The Problem With ‘Evil’
The Moral Hazard of Calling ISIS a ‘Cancer’

MichaelBoyleLaSalle2014wide

The beheading of American journalist James Foley by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, has rightly provoked global condemnation of the insurgent group and its horrific tactics. Yet it has also led to a disturbing return of the moralistic language once used to describe Al Qaeda in the panicked days after the 9/11 attacks.

In an eerie echo of President George W. Bush’s description of the global war on terrorism as a campaign against “evildoers,” President Obama described ISIS as a “cancer” spreading across the Middle East that had “no place in the 21st century.” Secretary of State John Kerry condemned ISIS as the face of a “savage” and “valueless evil,” while Britain’s prime minister, David Cameron, called the group “barbaric.”

... condemning the black-clad, masked militants as purely “evil” is seductive, for it conveys a moral clarity and separates ourselves and our tactics from the enemy and theirs.

But if the “war on terror” has taught us anything, it is that such moralistic language can blind its users to consequences. Describing a group as “inexplicable” and “nihilistic,” as Mr. Kerry did, tends to obscure the group’s strategic aims and preclude further analysis. Resorting to ritualized rhetoric can be a very costly mistake if it leads one to misunderstand an enemy and to take actions that inadvertently help its cause.

After 9/11, the Bush administration’s repeated use of the language of good and evil played directly into the hands of Al Qaeda.

... (it) gave Al Qaeda a boost in funding and recruitment that sustained the group for nearly a decade.

... However appalled we might be by a group’s actions, our objective should always be to understand our enemies as they do themselves: in this case, a highly organized insurgency with specific strategic objectives.

This last aspect is particularly important because the discourse of “evil” can create a slippery slope in which almost any countermeasures become permissible to stop the advance of the threat. This week, Mr. Kerry tweeted that ISIS “must be destroyed/will be crushed.” America is still extricating itself from the huge costs and reputational damage sustained by more than a decade of foreign wars begun in the name of stamping out “evildoers.”

Got that? The "evildoers" tag, all by itself, has led to a decade of misery — not (to name just a few things) the left giving aid and comfort to the enemy by rooting for chaos in Iraq while Bush 43 was president, not President Obama's premature withdrawal from that country, and not Obama's rules of engagement which have seriously handicapped our efforts in Afghanistan. And as to our "reputation," does anyone rational believe that our reputation has improved since Dear Leader took office in January 2009?

Sadly, Mr. Boyle is giving voice to legions of leftists, including, I would contend, the editorial board at the News York Times, who think that refusing to correctly characterize an "evil" enemy for what they are is deserving of some kind of badge of honor, and that "moral clarity" is for simpletons.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blu...#ixzz3BcTYBQlK

ISIS targeting Pope Francis

Italian newspaper Il Tempo reports that Pope Francis is a target ISIS has "in the crosshairs." CNN's John Allen reports.

http://news.msn.com/world/video?vide...ocid=ansnews11

Condolences to the Sotloff family. We learned today that Obama has been receiving daily briefs on ISIS for over a year and yet has no plan. He doesn't receive the brief -- the book is just left for him to read. I guess he never does. Obama is less than JV and how many more heinous, barbaric acts will occur before we realize that? I am sorrowful for Sotloff but my American anger burns hot. Molon Labe!




A video purportedly showing U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff kneeling next to a masked Islamic State fighter holding a knife in an unknown location in this still image from video released by Islamic State, Sept. 2, 2014

Video purports to show beheading of US journalist
23 min ago | By ZEINA KARAM of Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — Islamic State extremists released a video Tuesday purportedly showing the beheading of a second American journalist, Steven Sotloff, and warning President Barack Obama that as long as U.S. airstrikes against the militant group continue, "our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people."

The footage — depicting what the U.S. called a sickening act of brutality — was posted two weeks after the release of video showing the killing of James Foley and just days after Sotloff's mother pleaded for his life.

Barak Barfi, a spokesman for the family, said that the Sotloffs had seen the video but that authorities have not established its authenticity. "The family knows of this horrific tragedy and is grieving privately. There will be no public comment from the family during this difficult time," Barfi said.

Sotloff, a 31-year-old Miami-area native who freelanced for Time and Foreign Policy magazines, vanished in Syria in August 2013 and was not seen again until he appeared in a video released last month that showed Foley's beheading. Dressed in an orange jumpsuit against an arid Syrian landscape, Sotloff was threatened in that video with death unless the U.S. stopped airstrikes on the Islamic State.

In the video distributed Tuesday and titled "A Second Message to America," Sotloff appears in a similar jumpsuit before he is apparently beheaded by a fighter with the Islamic State, the extremist group that has conquered wide swaths of territory across Syria and Iraq and declared itself a caliphate.

In the video, the organization threatens to kill another hostage, this one identified as a British citizen, David Cawthorne Haines. It was not immediately clear who Haines was.

Britain and France called the killing "barbaric." In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said U.S. intelligence analysts will work as quickly as possible to determine if the video is authentic.

In a sign of disorganization — or perhaps dissension — in the extremist group's ranks, a faction of the Islamic State apparently posted the video early, before it was supposed to be released. In a later Twitter message, those responsible apologized and asked fellow jihadis not to "reproach" them.

The Islamic State has terrorized rivals and civilians alike with widely publicized brutality as it seeks to expand a proto-state it has carved out on both sides of the border. In its rise to prominence over the past year, it has frequently published graphic photos and gruesome videos of bombings, beheadings and mass killings.

Last week, Sotloff's mother, Shirley Sotloff, pleaded with his captors for mercy, saying in a video that her son was "an innocent journalist" and "an honorable man" who "has always tried to help the weak."

Sotloff grew up in the Miami area, graduated from Kimball Union Academy, a prep school in New Hampshire, and then attended the University of Central Florida, which said he majored in journalism from 2022 to 2004 but apparently left without graduating.

Just how Sotloff made his way from Florida to Middle East hotspots is not clear. He published articles from Syria, Egypt and Libya in a variety of publications. Several focus on the plight of ordinary people in war-torn places.

In a statement, Foreign Policy magazine said it was saddened by news of his death and called him a "brave and talented journalist" whose reporting "showed a deep concern for the civilians caught in the middle of a brutal war."

Time Editor Nancy Gibbs said Sotloff "gave his life so readers would have access to information from some of the most dangerous places in the world."

House Foreign Affairs Chairman Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., said the new video demonstrates the Islamic State's "barbarity across the region — beheading and crucifying those who don't share their ideology." He said the U.S. and allies need to step up military action against the group, including through airstrikes.

At Sotloff's parents' home in Pinecrest, Fla., two police vehicles blocked the driveway Tuesday, and officers advised journalists to stay away. Friends of the family could be seen coming and going. "Everyone's been concerned. Everyone is grieving," neighbor Pepe Cazas said. "It's terrible. I've been praying for him."

http://news.msn.com/world/video-purp...list?gt1=51501

Amnesty International accuses ISIS of 'ethnic cleansing' in Iraq
Published September 02, 2014 ·Associated Press

BAGHDAD – An international rights group accused the extremist Islamic State group on Tuesday of carrying out a systematic campaign of "ethnic cleansing" in northern Iraq that includes mass killings, abductions and other war crimes.

In a new report, Amnesty International said militants have abducted "hundreds, if not thousands" of women and children who belong to the ancient Yazidi faith. The extremists also have rounded up Yazidi men and boys before killing them, the London-based group said.

The 26-page report adds to a growing body of evidence outlining the scope and extent of the Islamic State group's crimes since it began its sweep from Syria across neighboring Iraq in June. The militants have since seized much of northern and western Iraq, and have stretched as far as the outskirts of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

On Monday, the United Nations' top human rights body approved a request by Iraq to open an investigation into alleged crimes committed by the Islamic State group against civilians. Its aim is to provide the Human Rights Council with a report and evidence that could shed further light on Iraqi atrocities and be used as part of any international war crimes prosecution.

In its report, Amnesty detailed how Islamic State group fighters expelled Christians, Shiites, Yazidis and others from their homes. It documented several cases where the militants rounded up Yazidi men and boys and killed them in groups after overrunning their ancestral lands in Iraq's far north.

The report also said the group had abducted of hundreds of Yazidi women and children, most of whom were still missing.

The report corresponded with reporting of those events by The Associated Press.

"The massacres and abductions being carried out by the Islamic State provide harrowing new evidence that a wave of ethnic cleansing against minorities is sweeping across northern Iraq," said Amnesty investigator Donatella Rovera.

Two of the deadliest killings occurred in early August after the Islamic State fighters overran the Sinjar mountains area.

It was also unclear how many men and boys were killed. The Amnesty report said in two mass killings, "hundreds" of men were likely shot to death.

Yazidi lawmaker, Mahma Khalil, called on the Iraqi government and international community to urgently help the Yazidis who are still facing "continuing atrocities" by the extremist militants. "They have been trying hard to force us to abandon our religion. We reject that because we are the oldest faith in Iraq, that has roots in Mesopotamia," Khalil said.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/09...rimes-in-iraq/

Remembering Steven Sotloff through his journalism
by Ishaan Tharoor September 2 at 6:24 PM

As a former editor at Time magazine, I had the privilege of briefly working with Steven Sotloff, the second American journalist believed to have been beheaded in Syria by Islamic State jihadists. Sotloff, a freelancer, disappeared in August 2013 while on a reporting trip in the environs of the Syrian city of Aleppo.

I can't pretend to know him particularly well. Nor can I fathom the depth of anguish felt by his family, who have tirelessly worked to win his freedom over the past year. And I don't have any great personal insight into what motivated him as a journalist and spurred him to venture, repeatedly, to such a dangerous part of the world.

What I can point to is the breadth and commitment of his work. Sotloff, when I knew him, was based in the Libyan city of Benghazi, from where he covered the country's own tragic spiral into chaos after the fall of the dictatorship of Moammar Gaddafi. He wrote important pieces about the proliferation of weapons there and the failures of its hapless central government in the face of rising Islamist militias and other factions.

They're worth revisiting, given that Libya is now in the grips of a low-level civil war. A range of Islamist, city and tribal militias are battling one another while two separate governments claim to be the country's true rulers. Both are laughably weak.

At a more hopeful moment in September 2012, Sotloff observed attempts by the then fledgling government in Tripoli to rein in the spread of guns in the country. Libya was awash with all sorts of arms, a flow unleashed by the emptying of Gaddafi's arsenals as well as contributions from outside powers aiding the Libyan rebellion. The new plan was to reclaim the guns with various incentives, including raffle tickets and electronics, as Sotloff reported from Benghazi:

In front of the seaside courthouse where protests sparked the revolution, three members of Libya’s Special Forces sitting at a table scribbled the names of the owners of the weapons turned over. In return the officers gave civilians a receipt, noting which arms were surrendered. As they did, two men lined up dozens of bullets used by anti-aircraft guns known as Dushkas. “I turned in several rifles because I don’t need them anymore,” says Omar Ali as the bullets tumbled like dominoes. Twenty-five boxes containing new flat screen televisions were stacked behind him along with more than 10 iPads.

But the efforts were failing and Libya's authorities had no power over the many militias who led the fight against Gaddafi but now refused to surrender their arms: "We don’t have to turn in our weapons," one Benghazi militia leader told Sotloff. The reporter concluded: "And as long as they don’t, the drive to collect the country’s weapons will be a stalled one."

In the post-Gaddafi vacuum, Sotloff reported at length for Time about the Sept. 11 assault on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. What American readers likely paid less attention to was Sotloff's diligent chronicling of the surge in assassinations and targeted attacks on the country's top security officials, all part of the larger unraveling of the Libyan state.

"Eight months of a revolutionary war in 2011 decimated Libya’s already deeply flawed civic institutions," Sotloff wrote in November 2012. "With no security organizations to ensure order and an ineffective justice system unable to prosecute suspects, Libyans fear their country is slowly crumbling around them."

Libya's feuding militias were also getting in the way of the creation of a functional national army -- the absence of which has been felt in the country's current crisis. "There are unsatisfied militias that don’t want things to succeed," a leading Libyan politician told Sotloff in 2012. "If an army is created, they will be the biggest losers."

Sotloff reported in many other countries in the Middle East, including Egypt, Israel and Yemen. He spent his last years focused on the war in Syria and he covered the conflict from within the country and refugee camps along its borders. He wrote memorably in Foreign Policy about his experience in the bread lines of Aleppo, among people who "fear they are stage players in a war with no end in sight."

The piece was the product of a ten-day trip to Syria's war-ravaged commercial capital at a time when Syria's "moderate" rebels still appeared to lead the fight against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. It was published on Christmas Eve. In an e-mail sent to a Time editor alongside a link to the Foreign Policy article, Sotloff wrote that the "situation is nothing like the media dispatches from the West depict it," alluding to the darker forces shaping the rebellion as well as the revolutionary fatigue of Aleppo's beleaguered populace. We are people not cattle," an Aleppo resident told Sotloff, as the pair watched fights break out in a long line for rations of pita bread. "But this war is slowly killing our humanity without a shot ever being fired at us."

Sotloff would return repeatedly to bear witness, a mission that led to tragedy. He was never short of courage, though. In a dispatch he wrote for the World Affairs Journal, Sotloff described what preceded his own cordial meetings with members of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, whose leader, President Mohamed Morsi, was ousted by the Egyptian military in July 2013.

When I told my Egyptian friend Ahmad Kamal that I wanted to go to the Muslim Brotherhood protest camp in Nasser City, a pallid look gripped him. "Don’t go there!" he pleaded. "They are fanatics who hate foreigners. Americans like you are in danger there." After an hour of fruitless conversation over endless glasses of sweet tea, I rose, shook Ahmad’s hand, and headed straight to the lair where he believed I would be devoured.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...is-journalism/

Originally Posted by Jolie Rouge

Very early this morning President Obama decided to issue a statement which many of us did not see live. Here is what I surmise from his statement. Obama once again stated that "justice will be served" - does this mean we will open up another criminal investigation? Obama did say we have a strategy and that is to destroy ISIS -- but then he said we have to make this a "manageable problem." That's very careful double speak and doesn't garner confidence. Airstrikes alone cannot destroy an enemy -- Clinton proved that in the Balkans. The fact that no one in the Obama administration wants to admit we are at war with ISIS is telling. ISIS has declared war on America -- how shall we respond? I can't care less that Obama believes he was elected to "end wars" -- it's a narcissistic vision to believe his mere persona could elicit global peace, regardless of his receiving a Noble Peace Prize for doing nothing. When the Horseman of the Apocalypse mounts his steed and sets his sights to ride upon your fields -- you must answer, and not with rhetoric or drones. ~~


Allen West
2 hrs ·

ISIS Beheadings and Terrorism to a ‘Manageable Problem’
September 3, 2014 By Matthew Burke

Barack Obama gave another limp-wristed response to the second beheading of an American journalist in less than two weeks by the savage Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

This time speaking without his golf cart idling in the background, but still emotionless, the former community agitator, who in January referred to the barbaric Muslim terrorist group as a “JV Team,” indicated Wednesday morning during a press conference in Estonia a desire to bring to persons who committed the beheadings “to justice,” sounding about as enraged as if the Islamic group had simply robbed a local convenience store. “We know that if we are joined by the international community, we will continue to shrink ISIL [ISIS] to where it is a manageable problem,” Obama said, in what sounded like an attempt to blame the beheadings on George W. Bush.

Obama did use the world, “cancer,” but apparently is only interested in containing it, rather that completely annihilating the evil group. “What we’ve got to do is make sure that we are organizing the Arab world, the Middle East, the Muslim world along with the international community to isolate this cancer.”

“Do you bargain with Satan?” said William Forstchen, author of the newly released, “Day of Wrath,” to Greta Van Sustern. Forstchen contended that Obama’s statement last week that he “had no strategy,” was an open invitation from Obama to ISIS to “come get us.”

Obama went on to contend that the group responsible for the beheadings had an “empty vision.”

“They have already failed,” Obama concluded.

Video at link http://www.tpnn.com/2014/09/03/obama...eable-problem/

Lt. Col. Ralph Peters: Obama ‘Has a Real Psychological Problem’

September 3, 2014 By Matthew Burke



Appearing on FOX News’ Hannity on Tuesday, Lt. Col. Ralph Peters said what millions of Americans have no doubt been wondering for quite some time.

Commenting on Obama’s latest non-response (unless you can call jubilantly golfing a response) to the second barbaric beheading of an American journalist by the evil Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Peters contends that the reason Obama refused to receive personal briefings on ISIS is because he would rather be left in the dark, rather than have to deal with reality.

“My personal analysis on this is that the reason he didn’t want in-person briefings, is because he just didn’t want briefings at all. “He said ‘I’ll take them electronically, and that doesn’t mean he read them. He probably, at most, skimmed through the parts that didn’t interest him about Islamist terror, etcetera. And so, he was basically, in my view, throwing away the hard-one inputs our intelligence community was trying to send to the White House.”

Peters went on to contend that Obama might actually be being honest when claiming that he wasn’t warned, because he didn’t actually care enough to read the briefings given to him.

No doubt millions have wondered how Obama could immediately, reportedly within less than ten minutes after his emotionless, callous presser following the announcement of American reporter James Foley’s beheading by Muslim terrorists, rush back to continue his round of golf. It led Peters to question Obama’s sanity.

“I’m starting to feel like he [Obama] can’t make a decision–that we have a president who has a real psychological problem–that he can’t face responsibility, and certainly not the responsibilities of his office,” Lt. Col. Peters told Hannity. “He doesn’t even want to be in the Oval Office,” Peters assessed. “He wants to be on the road, he wants to be at fundraisers. We may just have a president who is incapable of rising to the challenges of the office.”

Alarmingly, Peters concluded by acknowledging to Hannity that in his opinion, because of Obama’s open borders strategy, ISIS is “already here” and that the U.S. will inevitably be “hit again” with a major terrorism event on American soil.

Peters concluded that, “the world thinks this greatest superpower in history is weak, and indecisive, and can’t move, and is afraid,” he passionately told Hannity. “They think we’re afraid. They think the American people have turned into cowards, which WE HAVE NOT!”

http://www.tpnn.com/2014/09/03/video...gical-problem/

Conservatives Pounce, Liberals Wince After Obama Admits,
‘We Don’t Have a Strategy’
August 29, 2014 By Todd Cefaratti

On Thursday, President Obama offered a comment that reminded every political pundit exactly why he sticks to speeches on teleprompters. It seems ad-libbing is not Obama’s forte.

The president offered canned comments on Thursday and told the press corps, and the rest of the world, the standard lines. His comments, seemingly, amounted to little more than, “Russia is bad, and the Middle East is in trouble.”

However, the truly shocking admission came as the press corps pressed the checked-out Commander-in-Chief about military options for dealing with ISIS, the terrorist group dominating the Middle East.

The president, in a brief moment of unintended candor, bluntly stated,

“I don’t want to put the cart before the horse. We don’t have a strategy yet. I think what I’ve seen in some of the news reports suggests that folks are getting a little further ahead of where we’re at than we currently are. And I think that’s not just my assessment, but the assessment of our military as well. We need to make sure that we’ve got clear plans, that we’re developing them.”

While such a cautioned approach might appear reasonable a day or so after learning of ISIS’ existence, the president has golfed and relaxed while ISIS has dominated Iraq for months. In June, ISIS took control of Mosul and has since been on a rampage, killing Christians and other minorities, blowing up holy sites and taking ground that was hard-won.


At what point should we expect a strategy, Mr. President?


Even ABC News’ Martha Raddatz and David Muir questioned why the heck the president did not yet have a strategy.

DAVID MUIR: “These violent skirmishes with ISIS, even there, is there any concern about this message to ISIS, to the world that the President doesn’t have a strategy yet.”

MARTHA RADDATZ: “Well, there is, indeed. You know, the President did say he does not yet have a strategy for Syria and that is creating a lot of concern given that ISIS has been gaining strength for years now, David.”

Politico’s Josh Gerstein stated that Obama had “dealt himself a significant political blow by suggesting that his policy on the issue is adrift.”

Time’s Zeke Miller claimed Obama had committed “the worst of Washington gaffes.”

The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake wrote,

“As with all gaffes, the worst ones are the ones that confirm people’s pre-existing suspicions or fit into an easy narrative. That’s why ‘47 percent’ stung Mitt Romney so much, and its why ‘don’t have a strategy’ hurts Obama today.”

But, of course, it was no gaffe; the president accidentally told the truth. He didn’t suggest that his policy was adrift; he flat-out told America what we have long suspected: the president is MIA and has no clue what to do.


RNC spokesman Michael Short pulled no punches as he bluntly noted,

“It speaks volumes that President Obama has a plan to try to save his senate majority but doesn’t have one to confront one of our nation’s biggest terrorist threats. With the next election always the top priority, is it any wonder this administration is always a step behind, whether it’s foreign policy or delivering tangible economic results for middle class Americans?”

The liberal media seems to be wincing as one would do when a skier takes a tumble during the Olympics. It’s brutal to watch, but still, the liberal lapdogs hope it’s recoverable.

However, this is not a gaffe, but a comment indicative of a much more serious problem. Our president is either incompetent, lazy, or both. When not sunning himself on a beach or getting in a few rounds of golf, the president is keeping a loose eye on the world unravelling as he does nothing.

The facts are clear: Obama is overmatched and does not have the expertise necessary to be president. Worse yet, after 6 long, frustrating years, it seems that Obama is content with merely phoning it in as the country burns.

http://www.tpnn.com/2014/08/29/conse...ve-a-strategy/

As Twitchy reported, State Department dunce Jen Psaki has declined to “put any labels” on the reported beheading of journalist Steven Sotloff. Perhaps she’d be more comfortable taking this approach....



http://twitchy.com/2014/09/02/not-an...paign=twupdate


The State Dept. is Confronted on Whether U.S. is At War With ISIS
& Gives Head-Scratching Answer…
By Kevin Boyd 17 hours ago



In today’s press briefing, the State Department’s spokeswoman Jen Psaki was asked whether or not the alleged beheading of Steven Sotloff was an “act of war” by ISIS against the U.S. http://www.ijreview.com/2014/09/173629-steven-sotloff/

Here’s what she said, via The Blaze: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014...ond-beheading/

“I’m not going to put new labels on it,” Psaki said. “We certainly consider this reported act, [and] the act of the killing of James Foley, as a horrific terrorist act that… has been one of the motivating factors in the effort… to undergo the creation of an international coalition to address this threat.”

Much like the White House spokesman Josh Earnest, Psaki has decided to engage in Washingtonian doublespeak instead of actually giving a straight answer to an important question. http://www.ijreview.com/2014/08/1727...esting-answer/

Psaki’s colleague, Marie Harf, also says that ISIS is not at war with the U.S. On a related note, Psaki says President Obama doesn’t give himself enough credit for his foreign policy “successes.” http://www.ijreview.com/2014/05/1427...enough-credit/

While the Obama administration and the State Department continue to deny the obvious, despite the fact that they have been warned about the rise of ISIS for months, ISIS is making it very clear by its actions that it sees itself at war with the United States. ISIS has announced that it does not intend to stop at just Syria and Iraq. It intends to reclaim all the formerly Islamic lands lost over the past five centuries through conquest.

The Obama administration needs to realize that even though they have not chosen to go to war with ISIS, ISIS has chosen to go to with America. It’s time to develop a strategy to completely defeat this menace to humanity.

The rest of the world is watching to see what America will do. It’s time to step it up, Mr. President, and lead.

http://www.ijreview.com/2014/09/1736...-u-s-war-isis/


New York Daily News tweets their cover for tomorrow's paper... Think it will have any affect?