Winning Hearts & Minds

Thousands of hungry and scared Syrian refugees enter Iraq

"Faced with brutal violence and soaring prices, thousands of Syrian Kurds have poured into Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, seeking respite from privation and fighting between Kurdish fighters and jihadists. Government forces pulled out of most Kurdish-majority areas of northern and northeastern Syria last year, leaving Kurdish groups to run their own affairs. But Al-Qaeda loyalists, who have played a significant role in the rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, see the region as a vital link to fellow jihadists in Iraq and have been locked in deadly fighting with Kurdish militia in recent months. More than 1.9 million Syrians have fled their homeland, with most in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey." Continue reading →

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American al Qaeda militant urges attacks on U.S. diplomats

"An American al Qaeda militant has called for more attacks on Western diplomats in the Arab world, praising the killers of the U.S. ambassador to Libya on September 11 last year, a U.S.-based monitoring group said on Sunday. Adam Gadahn, a California-born convert to Islam with a $1 million U.S. price on his head, appealed to wealthy Muslims to offer militants rewards to kill ambassadors in the region, citing bounty set for killing the U.S. ambassador to Yemen, Washington-based SITE monitoring group said. The Yemen-based branch of al Qaeda last year offered 3 kg (106 ounces) of gold for the killing of the U.S. ambassador in Sanaa or 5 million rials ($23,350) for an American soldier." Continue reading →

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US photojournalist recounts horror of captivity after escaping al-Qaeda in Syria

"A US photojournalist who escaped from Syrian rebels after seven months in captivity revealed details of his ordeal Friday and spoke of his anguish at leaving a fellow hostage behind. Matthew Schrier, 35, fled the clutches of a rebel group aligned to Al-Qaeda in July after being kidnapped while leaving the Syrian city of Aleppo on December 31 last year. Schrier is one of 15 Westerners who have been kidnapped or who have disappeared this year. The experience of Schrier illustrates the increasing dangers for foreigners and moderate Syrians in the country, which has been ravaged by a vicious civil war for more than two years, with mounting numbers of heavily armed extremist groups on the ground." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUS photojournalist recounts horror of captivity after escaping al-Qaeda in Syria

“Are You Willing to Die So That the CIA . . .

". . . can impose a puppet government in Syria maybe, fifty or sixty years from now, while absurdly calling it 'democracy'? This is the question that should be asked to every new U.S. military recruit now that the neocons have their new war in Syria. As the neocons’ Dr. Strangelove, Charles Krauthammer, pointed out in his latest column, the CIA DID impose puppet-dictators in South Korea, Taiwan, Phillipines, Chile, Brazil, Spain, and Portugal (I would add Iran), and then fifty years or so later the CIA declared 'victory' by calling the latest edition of those puppet regimes 'democracy.'" Continue reading →

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Passing Over Eisenhower

"Almost all of the major Internet industry giants are based in the United States. The tradition of strong entrepreneurship practiced in the US since their inception, mixed with their purchasing power and history of acquiring any sufficiently profitable venture or fascinating technology from abroad, has put the US into a prime position to be the global leader in provision of Internet services. That may just have ended. While US dominance over the roughly $11 trillion/year global Internet services market is still unchallenged, the damage that the revelations made about NSA’s vast global surveillance scheme may stymie their growth and perhaps even turn them into a localized recession." Continue reading →

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Syrian Christians fear rise of jihadist rebels

"Around 50,000 Christians now live in Wadi al-Nassara, where they have formed 'popular defence committees' with the blessing of the authorities. Christians account for only five percent of the population in Syria, and many back the Assad regime because they fear the growing strength of jihadists whose aim is to set up an Islamic state in Syria. The majority of rebel fighters — like the population — are Sunni Muslims, while Assad belongs to the Alawite community which is an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Though it started in mid-March 2011 with peaceful protests calling for the fall of Assad’s regime, Syria’s war has grown increasingly sectarian and jihadists have flooded the battlefields." Continue reading →

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If Chris Kyle Had Been a Muslim, We’d Call him an Extremist

"Imagine: A young Muslim from the Islamic world joins his country’s armed forces to fight an aggressive war against an overwhelmingly Christian nation. He gains accolades for his work as a sniper, executing his job with ruthless efficiency and little remorse. He admits to viewing the war he is fighting through the prism of religion. He gets a tattoo on his arm declaring that he embraces the concept of holy war. When parliamentarians in his own country question the conduct or course of the war, he states, 'How would they know? They’ve never even been in a combat situation.' That he became the author of a bestselling book, and served as a symbol of strength used by politicians." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIf Chris Kyle Had Been a Muslim, We’d Call him an Extremist

3,000 Saudis urge Shura council to debate women’s driving

"Saudi Arabia imposes several restrictions on women, including a ban on driving, unique of its kind worldwide. Women in Saudi Arabia also have to cover from head to toe when in public. A number of women have been arrested in the past for defying the ban, including one sentenced to 10 lashes in 2011 but was pardoned by King Abdullah. A group of defiant Saudi women got behind the wheels of their cars on June 17, in 2011, in response to calls for nationwide action to break the ban on driving. The call which spread through Facebook and Twitter was the largest mass action since November 1990, when 47 Saudi women were arrested and severely punished after demonstrating in cars." Continue reading →

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Saudi Arabia opens luxury ‘religious extremist’ rehab center for Al-Qaeda militants

"Saudi Arabia is hoping to wean jailed Al-Qaeda militants off religious extremism with counselling, spa treatments and plenty of exercise at a luxury rehabilitation centre in Riyadh. In between sessions with counsellors and talks on religion, prisoners will be able to relax in the centre’s facilities which include an Olympic-size indoor swimming pool, a sauna, a gym and a television hall. Another centre has already opened in the western port city of Jeddah, and three more are planned for the north, east and south of the desert kingdom. The new facility in Riyadh, however, is the first to offer inmates a taste of luxury as an incentive to moderate their beliefs." Continue reading →

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In Swat Valley, U.S. drone strikes radicalizing a new generation

"The boys here, aged 8 to 18, were all militants at some point. Some are killers, some helped build and plant improvised explosive devices, and others were destined to be suicide bombers until they were captured or turned over to the Pakistani army. All of them are at the school to be de-radicalized. Ninety-nine percent of the boys, I am told, have never heard of Osama bin Laden, despite the fact he was killed by U.S. Navy SEALs in the next valley over from here. What has radicalized these boys instead, the school's director says, is what turns teenagers the world over to crime: poverty, poor education, limited prospects and often lack of parental control." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIn Swat Valley, U.S. drone strikes radicalizing a new generation