Rayzur

This is wavering a bit off Kobane.... its almost like we need several threads... Daesh (ISIS) Turkey and Humanitarian Crises (Kobane and Mt Sinjar)... to keep things straight.... Kobane continues to hold ground and in some reports they are re-claiming lost ground. When you look at the latest maps, they are still surrouded by Daesh (ISIS) controlled areas. They have managed to hold onto the gate to Turkey, despite intense battles to take it. The YPG does daily updates and I'll try to get them in a format to put in here... Air Strikes continue though not at the frequency they were last month. Mt Sinjar (Yezidi) is still surrounded by Daesh (ISIS). YPG and Peshmerga are there fighting to push them back. There is still no corridor of safety for the Yezidis to escape from the mountain. People continue to die from lack of water, and food. With winter coming and snow with it, it is feared that many will eventually freeze to death. Its unclear why the US in their campaign to eliminate Daesh (ISIS) is not throwing a boatload of helll from the air and simply ending this... Turkey is continuing to play out the insantiy of their crazed President Erdogan. Here is the latest effort to have him disposed of by international effort: Petition calls for arrest of Turkey’s president Saturday, November 8, 2014 Turkey's President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Australians for Kurdistan began this petition on Change.org. It asks the Australian federal attorney-general to arrest Turkey's President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, when he visits Brisbane for the G20 summit on November 15. It also asks the attorney-general to remove the Kurdistan Workers Party from the list of terrorist organisations. To sign the petition go to www.change.org. * * * Be Alert, Be Alarmed! The godfather of ISIS is being welcomed by the Australian government! Australian federal Attorney-General The Australian government has recently bolstered “Anti-terror” laws and got involved in a new Middle East military adventure in the name of fighting the Syria and Iraq-based terror gang ISIS. It cannot be denied that ISIS is a truly monstrous organisation. Their own propaganda features mass executions of civilians and prisoners of war, including those who surrendered without firing a shot, along with crucifixions and decapitations. Severed heads are a recurring motif in their prolific social media output. In August, after they attacked communities belonging to the Yezidi and Christian minorities in the vicinity of Mt Sinjar, Iraq, they openly boasted not only of their slaughter of thousands of civilians, but of enslaving thousands of women and children, some of whom were sold in public markets for slavery and sexual exploitation. The Australian government declared it had to act. However, it was not Western forces who rescued the survivors in the Sinjar area. It was the forces of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and their Syrian allies, the Peoples Defence Units (YPG) and Women’s Defence Units (YPJ), forces that continue to defend Sinjar from ISIS attacks until this day. Appallingly, the PKK is listed as a terrorist organisation under Australian “Anti-terror” laws! This is at the behest of the Turkish state that has denied Kurdish people basic rights since its creation in the 1920s. In its efforts to crush the PKK and Kurdish aspirations for self-determination, the Turkish state has killed at least 40,000 people since the 1980s. In Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava), in the midst of a multi-sided war in which the various sides seem to compete with each other in human rights abuses and large-scale violence, the Kurdish organisations including the YPG and YPG have created an island of hope: a unique experiment in democratic community self-management characterised by gender equality, ethnic inclusivity and religious tolerance. Terrified by the example this sets, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has used the sadistic ISIS gangs in an attempt to drown it in blood. The world’s attention has become focused on the heroic, besieged town of Kobane. This border town is besieged on three sides by ISIS. The fourth side of siege is maintained by the Turkish state. Moreover, the Erdogan regime has actively assisted ISIS! This assistance includes: • Trading with ISIS in stolen Syrian and Iraqi oil; • Allowing ISIS to use Turkey as a rear base; • Allowing foreign recruits to ISIS to pass unhindered through Turkish territory; • Treating wounded ISIS terrorists in Turkish hospitals and allowing them to return to the battlefield; and • Providing ISIS with heavy weapons and logistical support. This large-scale Turkish state support does incomparably more to enable ISIS violence than alleged small donations by supporters that have been the pretext for massive anti-terror raids in Australia. Yet, even while the threat of terrorism is invoked to severely limit the civil liberties of residents and civil society activists during the Brisbane G20 Summit, the Australian government is welcoming Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the summit with open arms! We therefore demand: • The arrest of Recep Tayyip Erdogan for supporting terrorism as soon as he sets foot on Australian soil; and • The immediate end to listing the PKK as a terrorist organisation under Australian law. Sincerely, [Your name] Cyprus accuses Turkey of ‘provocative actions’ in Med President says Turkey’s search for oil and gas near the island hinders peace talks, compromises regional security November 8, 2014, 4:39 pm Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi ©, Cyprus' President Nicos Anastasiades (L) and Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras shake hands during a press conference following a meeting in Cairo on November 8, 2014. (Photo credit: AFP/Khaled Desouki) Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades on Saturday accused Turkey of “provocative actions” that he said are hindering the island’s peace talks and compromising security in the eastern Mediterranean. Last month Cyprus suspended its participation in UN-led peace talks with Turkey amid tensions over Ankara’s determination to search for oil and gas in the same region where the Cypriot government has licensed exploratory drills in an exclusive economic zone. “Turkey’s provocative actions do not just compromise the peace talks, but also affect security in the eastern Mediterranean region,” Anastasiades said during a visit to Cairo. “For the (peace) negotiations to succeed Turkey needs to show positive intention and adopt a constructive stance through positive and effective steps in this direction,” he said, according to a translation. The Greek Cypriot leader was speaking at a joint news conference in Cairo with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras. In a meeting with Anastasiades on Wednesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman condemned Turkey’s exploration, urging each country to respect the sovereign rights of their neighbor, adding that it was “extremely unnecessary” for Turkey to cause friction in a region already mired in conflict. “We respect the integrity of Cyprus. We’re sure that you have your exclusive rights to explore in your economic zone of the gas and oil reserves,” Liberman told reporters after talks with his Cypriot counterpart Ioannis Kasoulides. With Israel finding large reserves of gas close to where Cyprus is drilling, the two countries are looking to cooperate on energy issues such as exporting Israeli gas. Since October 20 a Turkish survey vessel has encroached Cyprus’s exclusive economic zone off the island’s southern coast, according to Nicosia. Ankara had issued a notice that a Turkish seismic vessel would carry out a survey until December 30 in the same area where the Italian-Korean energy consortium ENI-Kogas is operating. Turkish troops invaded and occupied the northern third of Cyprus in 1974 in response to an Athens-engineered coup aimed at uniting it with Greece, and the peace talks are aimed at reunifying the island. Ankara opposes the Cypriot government’s exploitation of offshore energy reserves before a deal is reached to solve the decades-long division of the east Mediterranean island. Anastasiades, Samaras and Sissi were at a summit in Cairo on Saturday to discuss regional security and economic cooperation. Even bland ole run of the mill NewsWeek gets it.... ‘ISIS Sees Turkey as Its Ally': Former Islamic State Member Reveals Turkish Army Cooperation By Barney Guiton Filed: 11/7/14 at 10:35 AM | Updated: 11/8/14 at 11:28 AM Smoke rises from the Syrian town of Kobane, Turkish army tanks take position on the Turkish side of the border, October 8, 2014. Umit Bektas/Reuters Filed Under: World, Kurds, ISIS, Islamic State, Turkey, Kobane A former member of ISIS has revealed the extent to which the cooperation of the Turkish military allows the terrorist group, who now control large parts of Iraq and Syria, to travel through Turkish territory to reinforce fighters battling Kurdish forces. A reluctant former communications technician working for Islamic State, now going by the pseudonym ‘Sherko Omer’, who managed to escape the group, told Newsweek that he travelled in a convoy of trucks as part of an ISIS unit from their stronghold in Raqqa, across Turkish border, through Turkey and then back across the border to attack Syrian Kurds in the city of Serekaniye in northern Syria in February. “ISIS commanders told us to fear nothing at all because there was full cooperation with the Turks,” said Omer of crossing the border into Turkey, “and they reassured us that nothing will happen, especially when that is how they regularly travel from Raqqa and Aleppo to the Kurdish areas further northeast of Syria because it was impossible to travel through Syria as YPG [National Army of Syrian Kurdistan] controlled most parts of the Kurdish region.” Newsweek Magazine is Back In Print Until last month, NATO member Turkey had blocked Kurdish fighters from crossing the border into Syria to aid their Syrian counterparts in defending the border town of Kobane. Speaking to Newsweek, Kurds in Kobane said that people attempting to carry supplies across the border were often shot at. YPG spokesman Polat Can went even further, saying that Turkish forces were actively aiding ISIS. “There is more than enough evidence with us now proving that the Turkish army gives ISIS terrorists weapons, ammunitions and allows them to cross the Turkish official border crossings in order for ISIS terrorists to initiate inhumane attacks against the Kurdish people in Rojava [north-eastern Syria].” Omer explained that during his time with ISIS, Turkey had been seen as an ally against the Kurds. “ISIS saw the Turkish army as its ally especially when it came to attacking the Kurds in Syria. The Kurds were the common enemy for both ISIS and Turkey. Also, ISIS had to be a Turkish ally because only through Turkey they were able to deploy ISIS fighters to northern parts of the Kurdish cities and towns in Syria.” “ISIS and Turkey cooperate together on the ground on the basis that they have a common enemy to destroy, the Kurds,” he added. While Newsweek was not able to independently verify Omer’s testimony, anecdotal evidence of Turkish forces turning a blind eye to ISIS activity has been mounting over the past month. Omer, the son of a successful businessman in Iraqi Kurdistan, initially went to Syria to join the Free Syrian Army’s fight against Bashar al-Assad, but found himself sucked in to ISIS, unable to leave. He was given a job as a communication technician, and worked at the ISIS communications bureau in Raqqa. “I have connected ISIS field captains and commanders from Syria with people in Turkey on innumerable occasions,” said Omer. “I rarely heard them speak in Arabic, and that was only when they talked to their own recruiters, otherwise, they mostly spoke in Turkish because the people they talked to were Turkish officials of some sorts because ISIS guys used to be very serious when they talked to them.” Omer was then transferred to a battalion travelling to fight Kurdish forces in Serekaniya, north-eastern Syria, and describes travelling through Turkey in a convoy of trucks, staying at safehouses along the way, before crossing back into Syria at the Ceylanpinar border crossing. Before crossing the border back into Syria, he says: “My ISIS commander reassured us once again that it was all going to be all right because cooperation had been made with the Turks. He frequently talked on the radio in Turkish.” “While we tried to cross the Ceylanpinar border post, the Turkish soldiers' watchtower light spotted us. The commander quickly told us to stay calm, stay in position and not to look at the light. He talked on the radio in Turkish again and we stayed in our positions. Watchtower light then moved about 10 minutes later and the commander ordered us to move because the watchtower light moving away from us was the signal that we could safely cross the border into Serekaniye." Once in Serekaniye, Omer says he surrendered to Kurdish forces when they attacked his camp. He was held for several months before his captors were convinced that he had not been a fighter in ISIS and had not taken part in violence.

Erdogan’s Book of Defeat Posted on November 8, 2014 Gatestone Institute, by Burak Bekdil, Oct. 31, 2014: In the entire Middle East, Turkey now has only two allies: Qatar, which looks more like a rich, family-owned gas station than a state; and Hamas, a terrorist organization. Tunisia was the final chapter in Erdogan’s book of defeat. Neo-Ottomanism was a childish dream. It is, now, a “sealed” childish dream. Shortly after the Arab Spring rocked several capitals in the Middle East, the Turks devised a plan that would enable their country to emerge as the new Ottoman Empire. While deliberately and systematically antagonizing Israel, Ankara would: replace the Shia-controlled Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad with a Turkey-friendly Sunni ruler; support the Sunni in Iraq and Lebanon and boost their political influence; support Hamas in the Palestinian territories and provoke it to violence against Israel; and make sure that the Muslim Brotherhood or their various brethren rule Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. Saudis were already “our Muslim brothers.” Eventually, all former Ottoman lands would produce governments subservient to the emerging Turkish Empire. Nearly four years later, Syria’s Assad is comfortably sitting in his presidential palace in Damascus and possibly laughing at the mess the Turks created by supporting Syria’s jihadists. These jihadists have only wreaked havoc along Turkey’s nearly 900-mile-long borders with both Syria and Iraq. The Shia in Iraq are as powerful as before, and remain obedient to Turkey’s regional sectarian rival, Iran. The Shia in Lebanon — where Turks are a high-value currency on the hostage market — are increasingly hostile to Turkey. No one knows who rules Libya after the downfall of Colonel Qaddafi, but none of the warring factions want any Turks meddling in the former Ottoman colony. Meanwhile, a coup in July 2013 toppled the Turks’ most-trusted regional ally, Egypt’s then president, Mohamed Morsi. Today, not only the Turks but also Turkish products — including even soap operas — are unwanted in Egypt. ‘Join me, and together we can rule the galaxy…’ Pictured above: Egypt’s then President Mohamed Morsi (left) poses with Turkey’s then Prime Minister (now President) Recep Tayyip Erdogan, before Morsi was overthrown and jailed. With the downfall — ironically, instead of Assad — of their Islamist allies in the region, the Turks recently discreetly moved to win back Egypt, the most populous Muslim nation in the region. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu asked to meet with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Hassan Shorky Selim, on the sidelines of the UN summit in September. The Egyptian minister abruptly cancelled the meeting, citing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “insulting words about [Egyptian] President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.” A statement from the Egyptian foreign ministry called Erdogan’s words “lies and fabrication.” More recently, Cairo announced that it would not renew a three-year transit trade agreement with Turkey. The decision indicates a further worsening of bilateral ties, which had been downgraded, as in the instance of Israel, to the level of chargé d’affaires. The transit trade agreement, signed in 2012 when Morsi was in power, had facilitated Turkish exports to African nations and the Gulf through Egypt’s mainland, via Egyptian ports. Turkish companies previously sent their cargo to Gulf and African customers through Syria, when relations with Syria were normal. After Erdogan chose cold war with Syria, the Syrian route was closed to the Turks. The Turks then signed the transit deal with Egypt to use their ports and mainland as the alternative route. Now that Egypt will terminate this agreement, Turkish companies will be deprived of an easy route to Gulf and African customers. Ironically, only six weeks before General al-Sisi ousted Egypt’s Islamist President Morsi, Turkey had granted Egypt a $250 million loan to finance Turkish-Egyptian joint defense projects. The loan, the first of its kind, was intended to boost defense cooperation and Turkish exports of defense equipment to Egypt. At that time, Turkey was hoping to sell Egypt scores of Turkish-made drones, tactical naval boats and helicopters. Egypt’s hostile move was a “shock” to Ankara, but only to Ankara. “Apparently everyone dealing with the Egyptians knew this was coming, except the Turks,” said one EU ambassador in Ankara. It was not a secret that Egypt and the Turks’ “Muslim brothers, Saudi Arabia” aggressively lobbied against Turkey’s failed bid in September to win the seat of the non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. The EU ambassador said: “There may be further Egyptian moves to retaliate against Turkish hostilities. After Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Israel, Turkey has completely lost Egypt.” That mishap left Turkey’s Islamists with one ideological ally in the former Ottoman lands: Tunisia, where the Muslim Brotherhood-inspired Ennahda party was in a coalition government — until this past weekend. Ennahda, the first Islamist movement to secure power after the 2011 Arab Spring revolts, conceded defeat in elections that are expected to make its main secular rival, Nidaa Tounes party, the strongest force in parliament. This defeat is a huge setback for Erdogan’s Tunisian ideological allies, who had headed a coalition government with two non-religious partners for more than two years. Tunisia was the final chapter in Erdogan’s book of defeat. Neo-Ottomanism was a childish dream. It is, now, a “sealed” childish dream. In the entire Middle East, Turkey now has only two allies: Qatar, which looks more like a rich, family-owned gas station than a state; and Hamas, a terrorist organization. But Turkey has a rich menu of hostilities: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, (discreetly) Jordan, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, (as always) Cyprus, (now) Tunisia, (also discreetly) Morocco and Algeria, and (most warring factions of) Libya. In an April 2012 speech, then Foreign Minister Davutoglu defined Turkey’s policy goal as: “On the historic march of our holy nation, the AK Party signals the birth of a global power and the mission for a new world order. This is the centenary of our exit from the Middle East… whatever we lost between 1911 and 1923, whatever lands we withdrew from, from 2011 to 2023 we shall once again meet our brothers in those lands. This is a … historic mission.” That was a not-so-covert message of a strategic goal of reviving the Empire. Only nine years before the deadline to “meet our brothers” and the birth of Turkey as “a global power with a mission to build a new world order,” Turkey looks rather dramatically isolated.

This just in.... Mountain Goat's Live Update!!!!

This one is a bit more graphic and you may want to scroll post

Thank you so much Maja!!!! This has such great historical information giving context to some of the news we were getting!!

So I'm not the only one that walked away saying wtf!?!?

Statement by Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby on the Authorization to Deploy Additional Forces to Iraq 11/07/2014 01:58 PM CST IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. NR-562-14 November 07, 2014 Statement by Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby on the Authorization to Deploy Additional Forces to Iraq The commander in chief has authorized Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel to deploy to Iraq up to 1,500 additional U.S. personnel over the coming months, in a non-combat role, to expand our advise and assist mission and initiate a comprehensive training effort for Iraqi forces. Secretary Hagel made this recommendation to President Obama based on the request of the Government of Iraq, U.S. Central Command's assessment of Iraqi units, the progress Iraqi security forces have made in the field, and in concert with the development of a coalition campaign plan to defend key areas and go on the offensive against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). U.S. Central Command will establish two expeditionary advise and assist operations centers, in locations outside of Baghdad and Erbil, to provide support for the Iraqis at the brigade headquarters level and above. These centers will be supported by an appropriate array of force protection capabilities. U.S. Central Command will establish several sites across Iraq that will accommodate the training of 12 Iraqi brigades, specifically nine Iraqi army and three Peshmerga brigades. These sites will be located in northern, western, and southern Iraq. Coalition partners will join U.S. personnel at these locations to help build Iraqi capacity and capability. The training will be funded through the request for an Iraq Train and Equip Fund that the administration will submit to Congress as well as from the Government of Iraq. Over the coming weeks, as we finalize the training site locations, the United States will work with coalition members to determine how many U.S. and coalition personnel will be required at each location for the training effort. Ultimately, these Iraqi forces, when fully trained, will enable Iraq to better defend its citizens, its borders, and its interests against the threat of ISIL. This effort is in keeping with our overarching strategy to work with partners on the ground to destroy ISIL.

Excellent discussion just released and produced by Frontline of PBS, of the blunders and mis steps leading to the growth of ISIS, with lots of great footage of Maliki, his trip to the US, his upset with Hashemi (however you spell the Vice Presidents name), the Iraqi Government post US withdrawal (2011) and many of the things that went on during that time... and we'd read about in poor translations that threw words like "watermelon" in the middle of the sentence so we had no idea what the heck was going on.... This is embedded in the Frontline site and I don't know how to bring in the actual video and so am posting the link.... If you want a really good overview of what went on.... don't miss this one.... (and maybe a Mod Wizard can get the actual video to post in here). http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/rise-of-isis/?elq=13d80f9c71374c65a421aa1ae7614898&elqCampaignId=1073 PS there's lots of former Iraqi officials, Panetta, etc gov people and the narrator even pronounces names like Iraq, Qatar and Maliki correctly for a very refreshing change....

TBomb... when you write to your Senator, formally request a Congressional Inquiry..... and I would focus the inquiry around Colorado state standards of practice relative to the federal ACA, in advising divorce as a solution to affordable care.... Its a round about way to bring attention to your situation in the first place and would likely solve it in the second in the course of the investigation..... I've generally only heard of Congressional Inquiries relative to the military... but I'm pretty sure you can do them for any reason.. and seem to remember reading them for other than military things... If you can elevate it to a Congressional, it would at least assure some kind of response... .

Thanks Umbert!!! And yes it was officially confirmed that French bomb maker David “Daoud” Drugeon was killed in that attack.

TBomb, wow, so sorry to hear that and how tragic that the solution is so incredibly insensitive and moronic. How dare some profit making dill weed even remotely think that is any kind of answer or solution!! The solution it to make mandatory health care affordable, not advocate divorce among American families. What is happening to this country!? Not that it would do any good, but did you send that letter to the White House.. how about a local news channel that has investigative reporters, or who will look into this? (we have several locals that would take on this kind of thing) We can only hope that with Republican majorities in both house and senate they will actually do something to repeal all of this... and it wasn't just be a bunch of rhetoric.... though I am almost willing to bet they won't..... Let's see if the opposition was genuine enough to actually do something about it and blow up the system... In reading this thread I was curious so checked my last statement to see if costs went up (I never open them). What I found was that my monthly government/ group rate for my insurance is 1288.00 a month, just for medical, (yes 1 thousand, two hundred eighty eight) ...dental and vision is separate. Of that I pay 698.73 per person... (for ONE) person.. and the government pays 590.00 per month for ONE person, medical only, equaling 1288.00 a month for medical... and its an 80/20 plan as well... Though deductible might be lower, not sure. And to be sure its all relative and its all way too much and over the top for everyone!!!. Its insane and your story has to among the most insane of all!!!! I am just speechless at the advice you were given... Talk about immoral with no conscience!!!. Our health has become a commodity.... its totally commercialized, and reduced to actuarial tables, of profit making... Why O relented on the one payer system I will never know. He didn't have to, yet did give in to republicans, who were in turn actually beginning to see that it was going to save their constituents major dollars... yet he gave in and traded any semblance of affordable care, to the will of profit making.... Insurance companies peddling their wares to a forced audience, were blasting all over TV almost the next day..... with moronic commercials using cheese to illustrate which health care program one should buy. I don't know of anyone on either side of health care who even remotely likes any of it.... Docs are having to find creative ways to get around extremely rigid rules created in the boardroom of profit making and not in the halls of medical practice. And the new pharmacy dispensary rules (Oct) are freakin criminal... creating more work for pharmacists, their staff and every single doc writing a prescription, not to mention anyone with a long-term script can't leave home for more than 30 days now in most “affordable” plans... ... The only happy people are the profit making pharmaceutical companies...... Let's just stay on our representatives and hope it is truly their will to eliminate O care and go back to the drawing board and come up with something that is actually affordable..... Though I like I said, I'm almost willing to bet money they won't do that, and will leave the majority of the profit making infra structure intact.... TBomb, does your state have an insurance commissioner?

Disappearing Ally 11.03.14 (November 3, 2014) Yazidis Face Genocide by ISIS After U.S. Turns Away Months after the president stepped in to save the Yazidis from genocide, the airstrikes have slowed to a trickle. Supplies have dried up. And ISIS is closing in on Mount Sinjar again. In August, the Obama administration intervened to stop what it called a pending genocide of Yazidi minorities in Iraq. Now the U.S. is gone, but the genocide continues. Thousands of Yazidis remain stranded and starving on Mount Sinjar while thousands more have been sold off into slavery by ISIS, according to Yazidi leaders, several of whom are in Washington to beg for urgent assistance. When President Obama announced U.S.-led airstrikes in Iraq in early August, he said the mission was twofold: to protect U.S. personnel in Erbil and to save the ethnic Yazidis from ISIS, who had fled from their villages, chased by ISIS, and were stranded on the mountain with no food, no supplies, and no protection. “People are starving. And children are dying of thirst. Meanwhile, ISIL forces below have called for the systematic destruction of the entire Yazidi people, which would constitute genocide,” said Obama. “And when we have the unique capabilities to help avert a massacre, then I believe the United States of America cannot turn a blind eye. We can act, carefully and responsibly, to prevent a potential act of genocide. That’s what we’re doing on that mountain.” At first, international airstrikes and humanitarian airdrops somewhat alleviated the Yazidi crisis and opened up an escape corridor for many Yazidis to flee. But in October, the United States turned to other parts of the battle, leaving the Yazidis largely to fend for themselves. ISIS has now surrounded Mount Sinjar again, trapping approximately 10,000 Yazidis there. Meanwhile, ISIS forces are taking over Yazidi villages near the mountain one after another, killing the men and selling the women and children into the slave trade. “The Yazidis are trapped on the mountain, surrounded by ISIS, and there is no pathway to reach them,” Nuri Khalaf Elias, leader of the Hababa tribe in Sinjar, told The Daily Beast. “There is a shortage of food, there is little aid, and they are in a dire situation.” Elias is part of a large delegation of Yazidi leaders who came to Washington last week, led by Baba Sheikh Khurto Hajji Ismail, the leader of the Yazidi Supreme Religious Council. They met with senior White House and State Department officials and pleaded for the U.S. government and the U.S. military to turn their attention back to the Yazidi crisis. The delegation met with, among others, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes, Undersecretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Sarah Sewall, and Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, who leads the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. “We thank President Obama because he started the operation, but we were expecting he would not stop until clearing the area of ISIS.” “Our hostages, children, women, and girls, between 4,000 and 5,000 of them, have been captured by ISIS and sent to other areas. We need help to rescue these hostages,” said Sameer Karto Babasheikh, the son of the Yazidi Supreme Religious Council leader. “In Mosul, they opened a market to sell Yazidi girls. Some of them ended up in Fallujah, some of them were taken to Saudi Arabia and Raqqa in Syria.” On the mountain, between 6,000 and 7,000 civilians and between 2,000 and 3,000 Yazidi fighters are still trapped and struggling to stay alive, cut off from any supply routes, the Yazidi leaders said. Since the airstrikes trailed off to a trickle in October, ISIS has taken over the five remaining Yazidi towns near Mount Sinjar, killing hundreds of civilians and abducting hundreds more. Even the humanitarian airdrops have halted. The Iraqi government provided two helicopters to deliver aid, but they are old and fly only once or twice a week, Babasheikh said. About 100 Kurdish Peshmerga fighters are on the mountain, he added, but they don’t engage ISIS. The extremist group continues to fight to take the mountain once and for all, and the situation on Mount Sinjar could go from dire to catastrophic within a couple of weeks, the Yazidi leaders said. “President Obama promised that they are not going to let ISIS get any more land, that they are not going to let them get another genocide on the Yazidis. But this is going to be worse than in August,” said Kamal Elias, a Yazidi activist who is part of the delegation. “If ISIS gets to the mountain, all of these people are going to be slaughtered, and then it’s going to take years for the U.S. or anyone else to get them out of the mountain.” For the Yazidis, this ISIS attack is only the latest in a long history of Sunni Iraqi attempts to drive the Yazidis from their land and extinguish their religion in Iraq. “Most of the ISIS members are from the towns around ISIS,” he said. “They were our neighbors. We lived with them for hundreds of years. Now all of a sudden they are ISIS. They joined ISIS.” The Yazidis blame several parties for their plight. They blame the government of Iraq for not protecting them for years, they blame the Kurdish forces for fleeing Mount Sinjar without fighting ISIS this summer, and they blame the United States for starting the air war against ISIS and then appearing to lose interest, giving ISIS the idea that it can act against the Yazidis with impunity. “We thank President Obama because he started the operation, but we were expecting he would not stop until clearing the area of ISIS,” said Ali Khalaf, a Yazidi dentist from Iraq who now lives in Germany. American officials all promised the Yazidis during their visit that they would make their humanitarian crisis a priority for the U.S. government in the context of its strategy to fight ISIS and overall policy toward Iraq. But officials gave the delegation no specific commitments and made no concrete promises of increased U.S. assistance. “Mr. Rhodes reiterated the United States’ commitment to the safety and security of the Yezidi community within a unified and pluralistic Iraq,” the White House said in a statement after Rhodes met with the Yazidi delegation, using an alternate spelling for the community. “He noted the recent positive steps in the formation of an Iraqi government under the leadership of Prime Minister Abadi and stressed continued U.S. support for the development of a national program in Iraq that addresses the interests and desires of all its communities. He pledged continued humanitarian assistance for those who have been displaced inside Iraq, including the Yezidi population, and expressed our determination to provide support for Yezidi women and girls who have faced terrible abuse from ISIL.” Asked if he believed the White House’s statements of continued support, Khalaf said: “We have to believe the U.S. will come to help us. There’s no other option.”

I'm touched by the compassion of so many DV colleagues speaking on this thread... It is for me always comforting the depth of humanity we are together capable of in at least the willingness to confront the depth of suffering others endure these days.... There are still thousands trapped on the mountain and Daesh (ISIS) has them surrounded in effort to overcome them again. YPG/Pesh and US strikes are attempting to thwart that attempt... Not sure it was obvious that the woman speaking is reported to be the Iraqi Yazidi PM addressing her collleagues in Parliament. Here is the seperate video of her addressing her colleagues : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD63kht7FAE

This is actually a true story and reported in the news... omg, talk about.... in your face USA.... the company used the MasterMind of the 9/11 attack on the US,... as their model for a hair removal ad.... Not the most tasteful thing to do in these times... Al-Qaeda mastermind featured for ‘hairs, not terrorism’ in cosmetic ad: Turkish companyISTANBUL A cosmetic company used Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the Pakistani former al-Qaeda leader who is best known as the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attack, in one of its ads, prompting outcry. A Turkish cosmetics company that ran a controversial online ad for its hair removal product has defended itself, arguing that it featured a notorious al-Qaeda militant “for his hair, not terrorism.” The ad for the hair removal product reads, in Turkish, “Waiting won’t get rid of that hair!” or, more literally, “The hair will not go away because you keep waiting!” The slogan is accompanied by a photo of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the Pakistani former al-Qaeda leader who is best known as the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attack. Mohammed is currently being held in U.S. military custody in Guantánamo Bay and faces the death penalty if convicted. “We didn’t know that he was a terrorist. This image is in popular use in Turkish memes on the Internet. The guy is quite hairy, so we thought his body was a good fit for our ad,” Mehmet Can Yıldız, a representative for the cosmetics company, told Hürriyet via phone on Nov. 4. Yıldız said the company had discovered the image on İnci Sözlük, a Turkish online social community website that can be described as Turkey’s answer to 4chan.org. “Several popular caps [humorously captioned images] were produced with his photo. Most were related to insomnia,” he added. “We didn’t want to imply anything political. We didn’t know that it could become an international story. I repeat: We featured him for his hair, not terrorism,” Yıldız said. U.S. news website Vox had first reported the controversial ad on Nov. 1.

^5 TD thanks! Not very much coming in right now. Some reports suggest that Daesh (ISIS) have stopped fighting for the time being and that YPG/Pesh is on the offense... not sure that's totally true... Other reports say Kobane is asking for more outside assistance in order to prevail. Hard to sort out what's what right now... Was surprised to see the official map of Kobane and who had control of what... That was the other day and showed Daesh (ISIS) actually had (several days ago) control of about 60% which is much higher than has been reported in past week.... Meantime US vets continue to go to Kobane to fight alongside YPG/Peshmerga..... any vet wanting to join them, let me know and I can hook you up... Its interesting that the US vets are telling vets here (in all capital letters) if you decide to go, under no circumstances should you travel through Turkey whether by land or connecting flight... And Turkey is "very active" in "neutralizing any US citizen /vet" coming in to fight with YPG....Further, most forget or don't know that winter is setting in and is very cold so bring long underwear and shooting gloves... If nothing else we vets are very practical... Sorry I don't have more right now.... ..

This will likely be hard to watch, though its important to really see and understand what is happening to these human beings who are all children of G-d... Its not the scrubbed news we see, and it is the reality they are trying to survive... , This is footage from Sinjar August. It is nothing compared to what is happening now. This is going on again right now.....Now... , this very moment.... and these Yazidi people are again suffering another attempt at genocide...... Its why the USAF.. why the US military needs to be in Iraq and the region today.... Its what we do, its what needs to be done and I'm proud our country is one of those standing up to defend them..... Not sure how long this video will be up, it includes footage from the 20 minute video I put up in the Kobane thread that was taken down as it was considered violent... It was very realistic footage of what its actually like conducting war from the air... for me, I was right back in the aircraft doing the do. It starts about 13:30... And if there is anyone out there that doesn't get at least a lump in your throat when the newscaster breaks down crying live on air hearing his colleague reporting.... "Well you're a tougher bird than the most hardened of beings..... which is not exactly a contest I'd personally want to win... ... ..

Thanks for posting that TD! I saw that article and thought it a rather interesting analysis of some of the other issues going on in Syria... It will be interesting to see how things develop after Kobane in terms of FSA/YPG alignment... In other news, also interesting I have read the following article in German, French, Spanish and saw it in all kinds of ME news as well as news all over Europe (Dutch, Swedish, etc)... and the only English article I can find this early in the day is from Syria written in English... Will be interesting to see how long it takes US News to pick it up... if ever.... (though I did see the Fox had picked something... it might have been this.. or it was Sinjar... too much info floating through my brain cells and too late at night) November 4, 2014 ISTANBUL,— Kurdish children from the Syrian city of Kobani (or Ain al-`Arab in Arabic) were tortured and abused while detained by Islamic State (also known as ISIS), Human Rights Watch said today. Four children gave detailed accounts of the suffering they endured while held for four months with about 100 other children. The children, aged 14 to 16, were among 153 Kurdish boys whom ISIS abducted on May 29, 2014, as they traveled home to Kobani. According to Syrian Kurdish officials and media reports, ISIS released the last 25 of the children on October 29. Interviewed one by one in Turkey, where they had fled to safety after ISIS released them in late September, the four boys described enduring repeated beatings with a hose and electric cable, as well as being forced to watch videos of ISIS beheadings and attacks. “Since the beginning of the Syrian uprising, children have suffered the horrors of detention and torture, first by the Assad government and now by ISIS,” said Fred Abrahams, special advisor for children’s rights at Human Rights Watch. “This evidence of torture and abuse of children by ISIS underlines why no one should support their criminal enterprise.” ISIS initially stopped about 250 Kurdish students from Kobani as theywww.Ekurd.net traveled home after taking their middle school exams in Aleppo on May 29. ISIS released all the girls, around 100, within a few hours, but kept 153 boys at a school in Manbij, a town 55 kilometers southwest of Kobani. About 50 of the boys escaped or were released between June and September, with about 15 of them apparently being exchanged for ISIS fighters held by the Kurdish armed group, the People’s Protection Units (YPG). In late September, ISIS released about 75 of the remaining boys, including those interviewed by Human Rights Watch. The four children did not know what prompted their release. An official from the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the main Kurdish political party administering Kobani, told Human Rights Watch that ISIS released the last 25 boys on October 29. The children are making their way to Turkey because of the fighting in Kobani, he said. According to the four children interviewed by Human Rights Watch, ISIS guards at the Manbij school beat the children who tried to escape, did poorly in compulsory religious lessons, or did anything else perceived by their captors as misbehaving. ISIS gave especially bad treatment to the boys from families that had a relative in the YPG, the children said. “It was really those whose families were close to the YPG who suffered most,” said one of the boys, aged 15. “They [iSIS] told them to give them the addresses of their families, cousins, uncles, saying ‘When we go to Kobani we will get them and cut them up.’ They saw the YPG as kafir [unbelievers].” The 15-year-old said ISIS guards used an electric cable to beat children on the hands, back, and soles of their feet, especially when they misbehaved. He described one incident: One child who muttered “Oh Mother!” when he was caught in another group’s room was strung up, suspended with his hands tied behind his back, one foot tied to his hands, and told he should call on God, not his mother. The four boys said ISIS divided the children into eight groups, with each group sleeping in a different classroom. Each child received three blankets:two to sleep on the floor and one as a cover. The guards let them bathe once every two weeks. They provided food twice per day but did not allow the children to play outside after some of them escaped. The children said they got very occasional visits and phone calls from their parents. They were also initially forbidden from speaking Kurdish. All of the children described being forced to pray five times a day and undergoing intense religious instruction. The teachers also forced them to watch videos of ISIS in combat and beheading captives. The children said the guards and religious teachers at the school were a combination of Syrian Arabs and people from Jordan, Libya, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia. The Syrians gave the worst beatings, especially a man named Abu Shehid from near Aleppo, all of them said. One of the boys, 16, explained more about the frequent beatings: Those who didn’t conform to the program were beaten. They beat us with a green hose or a thick cable with wire running through it. They also beat the soles of our feet. The tire was used less often. I was once put inside the tire and beaten. They sometimes found excuses to beat us for no reason. The Syrian guards were the worst and beat us the worst. They made us learn verses of the Quran and beat those who didn’t manage to learn them. When some boys tried to escape, the treatment got worse and we were all punished and given less food. The four boys said they got no explanation for their release beyond that they had finished their religious training. They were given 150 Syrian pounds (US$1), a DVD with religious material, and let go. In addition to the children abducted in May, ISIS has seized other children and adult male and female civilians from villages near Kobani, and is apparently holding some of them hostage as a bargaining chip for the release of ISIS fighters held by the YPG, four Kurds from the Kobani area told Human Rights Watch (see details below). Taking hostages is a war crime under international humanitarian law (the laws of armed conflict). The war crime of torture, under international humanitarian law, is the infliction of severe physical or mental pain or suffering for purposes such as obtaining information or a confession, punishment, intimidation, or coercion. On August 15, the UN Security Council passed resolution 2170, calling on all member states to take national measures to stop the flow of foreign fighters, financing, and arms to ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra, and any other individual or group associated with al-Qaida. On September 24, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 2178, urging states to counter terrorism by establishing screening measures, effective border controls, and other steps to prevent the recruitment, organization, and movement of terrorists, including those affiliated with ISIS. The resolution also urged states to improve cooperation, pursue prosecutions, and help build the capacity of other states to fight terrorist groups. “Governments in the Middle East and the West should swiftly implement the UN Security Council resolutions aimed at curbing support for ISIS,” said Abrahams. “To stem ISIS abuses, governments need to tackle its fundraising and recruitment.” Other Syrian Kurds Taken Hostage by ISIS A woman and her daughter-in-law from Kunaftar village near Kobani, interviewed together, said that ISIS had seized two men and 12 women and children after it captured the village on May 21. A document prepared by the YPG listed the names and ages of the 14 people, 6 of whom were children under 10. ISIS released the women and most of the children on June 28, the day before Ramadan began, but four months later were still holding the two men and one 17-year-old boy. The daughter-in-law, 20, said she was one of those detained and released. She said ISIS held the 14 people in Manbij and interrogated them without violence about the captives’ relations to the YPG. The woman said she gave birth to a baby during her captivity and ISIS guards took her to a hospital for the delivery. The woman’s mother-in-law said she went to the ISIS commander in Manbij during the group’s detention to complain. “I went to the emir of Manbij, Abu Hashim, to plead for him to release them,” she said. “He said: ‘Let the YPG release our people who they are holding prisoner and we will release them.’” In Minas village, also near Kobani, ISIS seized seven civilian men when it captured the village in the beginning of October, a male relative of two of the captives told Human Rights Watch. Three of the men had stayed in the village as ISIS advanced; the other four, including two of the man’s uncles, returned after ISIS arrived to get some personal possessions, he said. The man said he called and briefly spoke with one of his uncles after the uncle had been caught. A 40-year-old farmer from Ghassaniya (Helinj in Kurdish) village said ISIS had abducted four of his nephews, ages 16, 17, 18, and 27 or 28, in late February as they were driving through ISIS-controlled territory en route to Iraqi Kurdistan. The family found their abandoned vehicle at a place called Aliya on the Aleppo-Hassakah road, 10 km west of Tel Tamer, he said. “This area was under ISIS control and I have no doubt that ISIS took them for the purpose of frightening and terrorizing people,” he said. Two officials from the PYD told Human Rights Watch that the four men are among an estimated 160 men and boys that ISIS abducted from the same location in late February as the group was traveling to Iraqi Kurdistan for work. They reported that none of the group is known to have been released.

As for Muslims standing up to fight the IS? Really? News consistent with article below is repeated over and over again all throughout the conflict regions.... Unfortunately most of the villagers have very limited or old arms, and ammo.... they fight with what they have, against IS which in turn has captured at least 2500 US made tanks, and billions worth of heavy arms (confirmed by the Pentagon). If you read news other than that broadcast in the US, there are stories after stories of Muslim people fighting to their death against IS. Whole villages are slaughtered in mass executions over and over again when they are overrun by IS. 9000 women from Sinjar were recently sold into IS slavery, there's videos with IS guys bragging before the auctions. Lots of incentive for Muslims to fight IS and they do, to their deaths, which are many times brutal. Other times Muslims fought to save Christian or Jewish villagers, sometmes they did, sometimes they all died... I can start posting the ton of information from different towns or cities or villages where they are facing death and don't ask for anything other than weapons, or ammo or food/water for the kids... over and over again... . Not sure there is a real lack of will to fight them as much as there is a lack of ammo, weapons and ability to out-gun the well armed IS guys... (and sure we are all speaking generally with regard to the issue)... As for gratitude... over and over there are messages from people in cities / villages under seige that basically say, even if we die here, we are grateful for your help... or thank you USA, or because of your help USA we lived to fight another day...or because of your air support we could push back IS and on and on.... The profound suffering of these people is beyond the comprehension of most....then again we don't see that in US news... which keeps things nice and tidy and pretty for everyone...... The brutality they face is inconceivable....a few battle heardened military men and women were actually puking after one of the briefings it so unbelievably horrendous...And most certainly the majority of those headless or crucified, butchered or tortured bodes were Muslim men women and babies... I don't care. They are human beings, children of G-d and there is nothing these thousands of slaughtered people did to deserve that kind of death. Nothing. And there is nothing in this man made world that makes it okay.....No thing... Monday, 3 November 2014 Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants have killed 322 members of an Iraqi tribe in western Anbar province, including dozens of women and children whose bodies were dumped in a well, the government said in the first official confirmation of the scale of the massacre. The systematic killings, which one tribal leader said were continuing on Sunday, marked some of the worst bloodshed in Iraq since the Sunni militants swept through the north in June with the aim of establishing medieval caliphate there and in Syria. The Albu Nimr, also Sunni, had put up fierce resistance against ISIS for weeks but finally ran low on ammunition, food and fuel last week as ISIS fighters closed in on their village Zauiyat Albu Nimr. “The number of people killed by ISIS from Albu Nimr tribe is 322. The bodies of 50 women and children have also been discovered dumped in a well,” the country’s Human Rights Ministry said on Sunday. One of the leaders of the tribe, Sheikh Naeem al-Ga’oud, told Reuters that he had repeatedly asked the central government and army to provide his men with arms but no action was taken. State television said on Sunday that Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi had ordered airstrikes on ISIS targets around the town of Hit in response to the killings. Officials at a government security operations command center in Anbar and civilians reached by Reuters said they had not heard of or witnessed airstrikes. Strategic regionThe fall of the village dampened the Shi’ite-led national government’s hopes the Sunni tribesmen of Anbar -- who once helped U.S. Marines defeat al Qaeda -- would become a formidable force again and help the army take on Iraq’s new, far more effective enemy. U.S. airstrikes have helped Kurdish peshmerga fighters retake territory in the north that ISIS had captured in its drive for an Islamic empire that redraws the map of the Middle East. But the picture in Anbar is more precarious. ISIS already controls most of the vast desert province which includes towns in the Euphrates River valley dominated by Sunni tribes, running from the Syrian border to the western outskirts of Baghdad. If the province falls, it could give ISIS a better chance to make good on its threat to march on the capital. Ga’aud said 75 more members of his tribe were killed on Sunday under the same scenario -- they were hunted down while trying to escape from ISIS, shot dead execution-style and dumped near the town of Haditha. The Albu Nimr leader also said ISIS killed 15 high school and college students in Zauiyat Albu Nimr and that, apart from an air drop, there had been no help from the U.S.-led air campaign. Security and government officials could not be immediately reached to confirm the latest killings. In Anbar, the militants are now encircling a large air base and the vital Haditha dam on the Euphrates. Fighters control towns from the Syrian border to parts of provincial capital Ramadi and into the lush irrigated areas near Baghdad. ISIS militants beheaded two of the captives and Nusra shot one. Nusra said in its statement that once an agreement was reached, the handover of the female prisoners would occur either in Qatar or Turkey. Male prisoners would be handed over in Arsal’s mountainous countryside. The group said it had also handed the Qatari delegate with some of the names of the prisoners it wanted freed. The names were not revealed but sources told Reuters in August the group was seeking the release of several detained Islamists, including some jailed since a 2007 insurrection by an al Qaeda-inspired group at a Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon. Last Update: Monday, 3 November 2014 KSA 15:15 - GMT 12:15 This story doesn't include the 600 men that were confirmed executed.... there's a video where one of the Muslim Shia survivors of that execution, (4 of them had similar stories) talks about crawling down to a revine, one guy shot in the head landed on him, Daesh (IS) came back and shot everyone again, hitting this guy in both arms and his leg...... then they set his leg on fire to determine if he was really dead and he laid there pretending to be dead while his leg was burning... and Daesh moved on... He thinks it still effects him.... yeah... I would think so... .

I haven't seen any video that captures what it's actually like to fight from the air, as what was captured in this youtube footage... including how frickin loud it can be in the cockpit... you can swear all you want as long as you don't push the button and transmit... I'm pretty sure I only did that a few times ever.... which no one who really knows me believes that even remotely..... . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Trzx53-Kluw .

Re: Buzz around town: 15 Turkish officers under the command of Turkish General who uses the name Pasha are helping ISIS in coordinating the attacks against Kobane. And Pasha reports directly to Gen Ozel, Turkish Chief of Staff who is Headquartered in Antep...

A Synopsis of the Situation in Kobane November 3, 2014 According to military, political and civilian sources in Kobane YPG has been gaining a momentum after successfully repelling strong ISIS attacks in eastern front which aimed at seizing the border crossing. Despite excessive many power and close combat in eastern front, YPG forces did not allow ISIS to advance. With recent offensive in eastern front, ISIS hoped to seize the border gate to Turkey to totally suffocate the city and force YPG to surrender. Senior YPG sources report ISIS resorted to more than 20 car bombs in recent days, and all of these attacks were thwarted successfully with only some light YPG injuries. One other reason for the recent ISIS attack on east was to prevent arrival of the Iraqi Kurdish peshmergas and heavy weaponry they brought along. As of November 3, the situation in eastern front is stable and ISIS members were further driven out from the border area. Kobane sources report that the failure of recent ISIS push caused demoralization of ISIS, and killing of 3 princes in last 48 further even worsened the situation on the ground. On Sunday night clashes continued in East and South with some YPG advance reported. In Western front Kurdish peshermergas first time actively involved in a major assault. In this front YPG, “Euphrates Volcano” and Peshmerga forces carry out attack against ISIS positions in Abrus, Albalur and Minaz villages. One other note is that US led coalition airstrikes have been playing a major role in destroying heavy ISIS weaponry which caused serious damages and destroyed many houses in the city. Sources in Kobane add that ISIS shelling decreased thanks to successful airstrikes. However, it is still too early to conclude that the danger is over and ISIS is defeated. It is not secret that ISIS has made Kobane a matter of honor and will not give up easily. Therefore, despite recent major setbacks, ISIS forces in Kobane still receive reinforcements from Raqqa and surrounding cities, and some field commanders were replaced with new ones. It is also reported that the arrival of peshmergas has brought a positive atmosphere for the Kurds and considerably lifted the spirit of YPG fighters on the frontline as well as the civilians in the city.

The Middle East 'mastermind' who worries Erdogan Turkey’s political leaders have the habit of taking journalists into their jets and giving them interviews in the air. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tends to invite only journalists who support him. During his official trip to Latvia and Estonia Oct. 22-24, he once again had an entourage of sympathetic journalists who took down his important and interesting comments. While addressing the civil wars in Syria and Iraq, in particular the conflict between the Islamic State (IS) and the Kurds of Kobani, Erdogan said that there was a “trap” for Turkey, and no ordinary one. Summary⎙ Print Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his team apparently see the Middle East not as chaos populated by many independent actors, but as a chessboard whose men are controlled by an unseen power. Author Mustafa Akyol Posted October 31, 2014 “We have to think well on this: Probably there is a different logic that set up this trap, this scheme. In other words, I don’t think that the mindset of the PYD [Democratic Union Party, the dominant Kurdish group in Kobani] is that formidable. Probably there is a mastermind. You have to figure that out.” The Turkish term Erdogan used for "mastermind" was "ust akil," which can also mean “higher intellect” or “supreme mind.” By this, Erdogan apparently implied that while there are various actors in Iraq and Syria — the PYD, IS, the Syrian regime, the Baghdad government — there is a central brain, a planner that controls all these seemingly unrelated actors. They could all have their own agendas, but the “mastermind,” through some unseen mechanism, is using them like pawns on a giant chessboard. Erdogan spoke openly of this “mastermind” for the fist time, but this conspiratorial view of the world has been promoted by the pro-Erdogan media over the past three years — ever since Turkish foreign policy began to face unexpected troubles. Instead of questioning whether Turkey could be making mistakes or simply accepting that Turkey exists in a very chaotic region, the pro-Erdogan media assumed that the chaos was created intentionally by “imperialist powers,” typically identified as the United States, United Kingdom or Israel. It's no wonder that when Erdogan told journalists, “You have to figure that out,” the usual suspects were named. Journalist Avni Ozgurel declared on TV, “The mastermind is the United States.” He also argued that Washington wants to create a “Kurdish state in Syria,” which would mean “a new oil pipeline that will bypass Turkey.” Another journalist on Erdogan’s plane during the trip to Latvia and Estonia also identified the “mastermind” as Western powers, pointed to their spies within Turkey and warned of new conspiracies to come. He wrote, “It seems like this mastermind will resort to any means, even those we cannot think of. This mastermind will be behind the provocation that will shake our resolve. Actions will be taken to directly target the reconciliation process [with the Kurdistan Workers Party]. But they will not succeed. … Colonialist minds will always exist, but no power will be able to make Turkey backtrack from its own path. This includes the mastermind at the top and its partners.” These are the lines of a single columnist, but they are typical of the dominant narrative in the pro-Erdogan media. The world is described like a giant machine with certain “buttons” housed in Western capitals. When something unpleasant happens in the Middle East, the typical commentary begins by noting, “A button has been pushed.” The assumption is that Western powers are not just among the various actors of the Middle East, they are the puppeteers that manipulate local actors — except Turkey itself, which is, amusingly, the only NATO member in the entire Middle East. To be fair, this conspiratorial view of the world is not unique to the pro-Erdogan camp. Quite the contrary, almost all other political camps in Turkey share the same outlook, imagining that anything other than their own line somehow must be manipulated by “imperialism.” Until a few years ago, it was in fact Erdogan’s secularist/nationalist opponents who depicted him as a puppet of the “greater Middle East project” of the United States — something that almost everyone in Turkey seems to be sure about, but hardly anyone in Washington can figure out. But now the pro-Erdogan camp is fully in power and their worldview is influencing Turkish policy. Their suspicion about the “mastermind” is making them quite distrustful of all the suggestions and criticism coming from the West, and even from the opposition at home. (The “mastermind,” after all, has many spies within Turkey, too.) One dominant theme within this narrative is that the West, in particular the United States, is trying to topple or marginalize all Islamist actors in the Middle East — from the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt to the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey. Accordingly, there is also more than meets the eye in the West's attention to Kobani. The AKP media is endlessly asking why the West has suddenly become interested in Kobani. The assumed answer is that the PYD is resolutely secular and therefore deserving of disproportionate Western support. The bottom line is that the ruling elite of today’s Turkey is deeply distrustful of the West’s intentions in the Middle East. This, arguably, is partly mirrored in the West as distrust of all Islamist actors in the region, including the AKP itself. But this is a vicious cycle that will help no one. http://originals/2014/10/turkey-erdogan-middle-east-mastermind.html

Great piece on 60 minutes.... hopefully our elected tuned in and got conscious....Here's the link I don't know how to post just the video from this link... http://www.cbsnews.com/news/recruiting-for-isis-60-minutes/ And here is the transcript for those who don't want to watch: The following is a script of "Recruiting for ISIS" which aired on Nov. 2, 2014. Clarissa Ward is the correspondent. Randall Joyce, producer. This past week the U.S. government ordered stepped-up security at some 9,000 government buildings. This, in response to the attack on Canada's Parliament by a lone radicalized Muslim convert. Clarissa Ward, on assignment for 60 Minutes, reports why authorities in North America and Europe are keeping an increasingly close watch on homegrown Islamic extremists. One of the most shocking things about the recent rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria has been the thousands of westerners who have given up everything to travel to a bloody battlefield far from home and live under strict Islamic Sharia law. But to understand the mentality of these jihadis, you don't need to travel to the Middle East. Across the West, ISIS has a committed support base that is actively recruiting young Muslims. We sought out a man at the heart of that movement, a British preacher who sees no border between the streets of London and the frontlines of the Middle East. Talking to him and his followers gives you a window into a world you may find disturbing and difficult to understand. There are at least 500 U.K. citizens fighting in Syria and Iraq and every week, according to British police, another five recruits join the fight. British jihadis have been on the front lines with ISIS from the very beginning. In the group's recent videos showing the executions of western hostages, the masked man holding the knife speaks with a London accent. The spike in western fighters may be in part due to this man, Anjem Choudary, a British-born lawyer turned Islamic preacher, who lives in London and has for years been asserting his democratic right to call for an end to democracy. Anjem Choudary: I believe Islam is superior. And will not be surpassed. So I believe that the law of God is much superior to man-made law. Clarissa Ward: So, in that sense, you believe that Islam and democracy are mutually exclusive? That they can't exist side-by-side? Anjem Choudary: Allah is the only one to legislate. So, obviously, in that sense it's completely, diametrically opposed. You cannot have man legislating and playing God in Parliament, and at the same time believe that Allah is the only legislator. Clarissa Ward: You have the freedom to come here today. You have the freedom to speak on television, to worship whichever God you please. But you're advocating a system that essentially would take away all of those freedoms? Anjem Choudary: Allah created my tongue to speak. I don't have freedom to come here, because Allah created my feet to walk. So I walk, and I speak, and I look, and I hear according to what God says. Choudary has been accused of inspiring hundreds of Muslims from across the West to join ISIS. We went to a meeting he held in an east London basement. On the wall was a large picture of Buckingham Palace turned into a mosque. He described the newly formed Islamic state in Iraq and Syria as a kind of utopia. Talking about jihad, he sounded at times like a coach giving a pep talk before the big game. [Anjem Choudary: When the heavens are with you, when the earth is with you, when the sea is with you, when the wind is with you. Who's going to defeat you after that? Nobody.] Choudary has fronted a series of organizations that have been banned by the British government under the country's anti-terror laws, but he denies that he actively recruits fighters. Anjem Choudary: You know, the messenger Mohammad, he said, "Fight them with your wealth, with your body, with your tongue." So, I'm engaged here, if you like, in a verbal jihad. Clarissa Ward: But what you're actually doing essentially is inspiring young men to go and fight in these countries, while you stay here and enjoy a comfortable life... Anjem Choudary: No, I mean... Clarissa Ward: ...in the United Kingdom. Anjem Choudary: ...this is a kind of, the rhetoric that the western media come out with. But, I mean, there are no examples of anyone, in fact, who is in any of the battle fronts, who actually say, "Well, actually, Mr. Choudary asked me to come here." Or, "He bought my ticket." You know? If it were the case... Clarissa Ward: They wouldn't say that you bought... Anjem Choudary: ...if it were the case... Clarissa Ward: ...their ticket. Anjem Choudary: Well, no if it were the case... Clarissa Ward: But they might say that you inspired them with your message. Anjem Choudary: There was a report out recently which said that I inspired 500 people, in fact, to carry out operations here and abroad. And if that were really the case, don't you think that I'd arrested be? And I'll be sitting in prison. Clarissa Ward: So if a young man, one of your students, comes to you and says, "Should I go and fight in Syria or Iraq," what would you tell them? Anjem Choudary: Well, they haven't come to me. And if they come to me I'll think about a suitable response. But I'm engaged... Clarissa Ward: What would you tell them? Anjem Choudary: I don't deal with hypotheticals. Clarissa Ward: It's a hypothetical question. Anjem Choudary: I don't deal with hypotheticals. I deal with reality. You know, I mean, there are many things that could happen, hypothetically. Young men come to me... 60 Minutes Overtime Face-to-face with an extremist Clarissa Ward: Why won't you answer the question? Anjem Choudary: Because it's a... Clarissa Ward: It really should be an easy question. Anjem Choudary: I like to deal with reality. If that happens, you can have another interview with me, and I'll deal with it. But one week after our interview, Choudary was arrested "on suspicion of being a member of a proscribed or banned organization... and encouraging terrorism." Also rounded up in the raids, was one of his young followers, Abu Rumaysah. [Abu Rumaysah: We want Islam. We want Islam to dominate the world.] Talking to Rumaysah, you come face to face with a version of Islam that wipes out every other aspect of a person's identity. He is a convert from Hinduism but his new beliefs bar even the most basic human feelings towards his mother and other family members who didn't convert. Abu Rumaysah: I don't love them as non Muslims, but I desire for them to become Muslim and embrace Islam. Clarissa Ward: But you love her as your mother? Abu Rumaysah: She's my mother and she has rights over me, so I have to take care of her. I have to look after her. I have to make sure that, you know, she's protected and secure. So I fulfill my obligations like that. Clarissa Ward: But do you feel love for her? Abu Rumaysah: It's not allowed for me to love non-Muslims. So that's something that is a matter of faith. Clarissa Ward: So do you feel that you are British? Abu Rumaysah: I identify myself as a Muslim. If I was born in a stable, you know, I'm not going to be a horse. If was born in Nazi Germany, I'm not going to be a Nazi. I mean, this is just an island I was born in. Rumaysah and Choudary both live in east London, which is home to one of the largest Muslim populations in the U.K. In one part of town, Rumaysah and his associates have set up so called "Sharia patrols" to go out and discourage behavior that they deem un-Islamic. On this night they stopped to talk to a couple of non-Muslim men who were in a park drinking beer, which is forbidden under Islam. [Male voice: So we're just reminding anyway. Reminding the community about staying safe. And in this area there's a lot of gambling that goes on. A lot of alcohol drinking and it leads to a lot of problems. So we advise you and we advise anyone we see to stay away from these things.] But the patrols are not always so friendly. Online clips give a very different picture. A woman in a short skirt is abused. A man the patrol thinks is *** is insulted. Walking through London with Rumaysah you experience an alternate reality where there is no compromise and all conversations are one sided. Abu Rumaysah: Ultimately, I want to see every single woman in this country covered from head to toe. I want to the see the hand of the thief cut. I want to see adulterers stoned to death. I want to see Sharia law in Europe. And I want to see it in America as well. I believe our patrols are a means to an end. Clarissa Ward: The only thing I would say is that in America and in the United Kingdom, we have a system: democracy. Abu Rumaysah: A backwards one. Clarissa Ward: But it's a system... Abu Rumaysah: A barbaric one. Clarissa Ward: ...that allows the people to choose what they want and allows people freedom. Abu Rumaysah: So why can't I choose Sharia? When in Rome, overthrow Caesar and commit to Sharia. Clarissa Ward: In your home, you can do whatever you want? Abu Rumaysah: But what about in the public? Why can't I tell you to cover up? Am I free to say that? Clarissa Ward: Because it would be outrageous. Of course, you're not... Abu Rumaysah: So where's my freedom? Where's my freedom? Clarissa Ward: You can say it to me, but you... Abu Rumaysah: Okay. So cover up. Wear the hijab. Clarissa Ward: That's absurd. The thought of Choudary's supporters taking the law into their own hands is deeply frightening to most British people. This is a group that believes the West is at war with Islam. And that the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan justify any kind of violence in response. The most shocking example of that logic was the gruesome and very public murder of British soldier Lee Rigby on a London street last year. On that day the man wielding the knife was a known associate of Choudary. Choudary has refused to condemn Rigby's murder. Nor will he criticize ISIS for the beheading of American journalist James Foley and other western hostages. Anjem Choudary: You know, I don't know the details about James Foley, but... Clarissa Ward: I know the details. Let me educate you, because he was a friend of mine. Anjem Choudary: I don't believe you. I'm sorry, I don't believe you. Clarissa Ward: You don't believe me that... Anjem Choudary: The fact... Clarissa Ward: ...James Foley was a journalist? Anjem Choudary: I don't believe. No, I don't believe any western journalists, quite frankly. I believe you're liars until proven otherwise. But let me tell you something, the perspective of the Muslims of journalists, whether that be James Foley and others, is that they are the propaganda for the western regimes. Clarissa Ward: Have you formed an opinion for yourself? Anjem Choudary: I form my opinion on the basis of what the Muslims say, not on the basis of what you say. Clarissa Ward: I'm sensing a double standard here. Because essentially you're very quick to condemn acts of violence by the West. But you refuse to condemn any act of violence by your fellow Muslims. Anjem Choudary: No, I believe that there's a difference between the oppressor and oppressed. Britain's authorities have struggled with how to handle extremists like Choudary and his followers. He has been arrested multiple times but never convicted of anything more than staging an illegal demonstration. And now the police face a new challenge that is nearly impossible to manage: the spread of Islamic extremism through slickly produced online propaganda films from real fighters in real battlefields. [british jihadi: We will chop off the heads of the Americans, chop off the heads of the French, chop off the heads of whoever you may bring.] Those videos have proven wildly attractive to thousands of young people who feel alienated from the western societies they live in. For them, jihad offers the promise of power and glory. Sir Peter Fahy is in charge of a government program called "Prevent," set up to combat the radicalization of British Muslims. Sir Peter Fahy: I think the big concern about the current situation is just a huge amount of material which is available on social media, in the various publications and the various videos that I think a lot of us are struggling to come to terms with and get a good picture of. Clarissa Ward: So in a sense, it's less about preachers radicalizing young men. And it's more young fighters radicalizing other young fighters from the battlefield using social media as their recruitment platform? Sir Peter Fahy: I think you're absolutely right. That is my concern is that what has changed again over recent months is that you have got local people identifiable as real people. You've got, you know, a person who's identifiably British who's gone out there and is absolutely using social media to be able to communicate directly into your son or daughter's bedroom and to encourage them to come out. And I think that is extremely worrying as a new development. As I say, I think a lot of families and a lot of parents, including obviously Muslim parents, are very concerned about that. Clarissa Ward: Bedroom jihad, they're calling it. Sir Peter Fahy: Absolutely. It's almost that personal contact which is the worrying aspect. But, you know, we need to be aware of all different forms of brainwashing and radicalization. Clarissa Ward: If their parents can't stop it, what can you do to stop it? Sir Peter Fahy: Well, all we can do is raise awareness. But you're absolutely right. And we constantly agonize about whether this is a job for the police or not. Britain's mainstream Muslim leaders are speaking out against ISIS and have discouraged young men in their communities from joining the fight. But the ongoing U.S.-led military campaign in Syria and Iraq has stoked anger and raised fears of terrorist retaliation attacks in the West. Clarissa Ward: Do you believe that there will be more attacks in the West? Anjem Choudary: Yes. I believe it's inevitable. Clarissa Ward: If you believe that, would you ever use your role as a British citizen, and as a Muslim, to actively dissuade people from launching attacks here in the U.K., in the U.S., in the West? Anjem Choudary: Well, I think we need to deal with the root causes. I think it's really absurd to say, "Well, why shouldn't people react?" The fact is if we don't deal with the root cause, which is the occupation of the Muslim land, which is the torture of Muslims, which is the foreign policy of governments like Britain and America, that you will never be able to stop people. Clarissa Ward: So, just so I understand, you will continue to refuse to condemn acts of terror? Anjem Choudary: Well, as I say, you know, I'm not in the game of condemnation or condoning. Clarissa Ward: It's really just a yes-or-no question. Anjem Choudary: Well, I don't want to answer you with a yes-or-no answer. But Choudary, who is out on bail, will have to give answers when he reports to police in January. His case is a serious test of the government's strategy to fight extremism.