Al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri The Coordinator 2015 Part 19-116-Caliphate

Al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri The Coordinator 2015 Part 19-116-Caliphate By Capt (Ret) C de Waart, feel free to share: in Confidence.

Bill O’Reilly finally gave ISIS/Daesh what it wants: a declaration that the West and Middle East are, indeed, in a holy war, “the Holy War is here and unfortunately it seems the president will be the last one to acknowledge it.

The leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, who has said it is "lawful" to stop an unjust aggressor, went on: "The blood of our Christian brothers and sisters is a testimony which cries out be heard. It makes no difference whether they be Catholics, Orthodox, Copts or Protestants. They are Christians!" Francis added: "The martyrs belong to all Christians."

--- Pope FrancisThese aren’t sporadic attacks. This is part of an orchestrated fanaticism, an ideology that sees Christianity, Judaism and any religion of peace as the enemy.

--- Cardinal Dolan

• The United States has its own plan for Syria and Iraq and an al Qaeda-ISIS merger is not part of that plan; But if al Qaeda and ISIS unite in Syria the new alliance will have more territory, more weapons, more oil, more money, and more fighters. And that means more problems for the West.

The underlying imperative is to restore a conquering Islam capable of humiliating non-Muslims in Muslim lands and expanding into non-Muslim countries.

• Politically unstable places such as Yemen and Libya are good for terror groups• Nigeria's government has been fighting Boko Haram for years, yet attacks continue• ISIS is a huge problem in Iraq, Syria and now in other places, such as Libya

Just one day after announcing the creation of “al-Jazeera Province” as a new territory under its banner in northern Iraq, the Islamic State (IS) established another “province” in the same region, naming it “Dijla” (Tigris).

As leaders around the world say, terrorism can be anywhere.

• But some places have it worse than others. For all the well-founded worries in the West and elsewhere around the developed world, these kinds of locales are more likely stopping points than long-term homes for terror groups. Such violent, extremist organizations tend to gravitate toward less stable, more turbulent areas where they can operate more freely, recruit from a desperate populace and build up resources and momentum. If there's a power vacuum, in other words, militant groups can more easily amass power. And that creates big problems for those trying to root them out at the source. Below is a look at some places where terrorists are operating -- oftentimes in the absence of a central government with the resources to stop them -- and what is being done about them.

It is only when the US president, his advisors and western leaders break out of their delusional bubble and acknowledges the Manichean and irreconcilable nature of the challenge posed by their Islamist adversaries that their policies stand the slightest chance of success.

18 Feb, Fox News1’ Bill O’Reilly finally gave ISIS what it wants: a declaration that the West and Middle East are, indeed, in a holy war. In a segment titled, “The Holy War Begins,” O’Reilly used the recent murders of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians to slam President Obama’s approach to ISIS, and quoted a list of religious leaders, including Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who warned that ISIS threatens “civilization, everything that is decent and noble about humanity. It is a worldwide crisis that cannot, must not, be ignored.” O’Reilly then ran through the gamut of this week’s right-wing complaints about Obama. These ranged from critiques of the State Department’s Marie Harf’s statement that ISIS cannot be defeated solely with military means, to a bizarre critique that the White House somehow did not recognize that the 21 Egyptians murdered by terrorists were Christian. He concluded with the statement that “the Holy War is here and unfortunately it seems the president will be the last one to acknowledge it.”

Cardinal Dolan 2 17 feb : Along with Pope Francis and so many others, I was deeply saddened to learn of the latest violence by fanatics who see anybody who disagrees with them as their enemy. These attacks threaten civilization itself. Whether it’s a massacre in Paris, Indonesia, Nigeria, Syria, Iraq, Iran, India or now in Libya and Egypt, we keep saying, “How much worse can it get?” And then we woke up Monday morning to see that it did get worse, with this brutal massacre of these young Egyptian Christians in Libya. They were beheaded for nothing less than their religious convictions. It moves me to prayers. It moves me to tears, yes, as a Christian, but also as an American, who recognizes religious freedom as “our first and most cherished liberty.” No denying it: There is an orchestrated phobia of Christianity throughout the world today, a coordinated effort on behalf of fanatics to see that true religion which stands for friendship, peace, the dignity of the human person and the sacredness of human life, is stamped out. These aren’t sporadic attacks. This is part of an orchestrated fanaticism, an ideology that sees Christianity, Judaism and any religion of peace as the enemy. Fanatics want to take over, and we can’t let that happen. They threaten civilization, everything that is decent and noble about humanity. It is a worldwide crisis that cannot, must not, be ignored. Simply because these Christians make the sign of the cross, there is a price on their head. We cannot ignore their cries and cannot let their blood be spilled without it moving us to tears and without saying, “This must stop.” Catholic bishops in Ireland bravely stood up 40 years ago to say the church did not support car bombings and attacks against civilians by the Irish Republican Army, which perversely identified itself as “Catholic.”

16 Feb, (Reuters) - Pope Francis expressed deep sadness for the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya, departing from the script of an address on Monday to emphasize the unity of all Christians regardless of the denomination they follow. Addressing members of the Church of Scotland, the Argentine pope mentioned the killings which took place on a beach in Libya and were filmed and broadcast on Sunday by a website that supports Islamic State. "Their only words were: 'Jesus, help me!' They were killed simply for the fact that they were Christians," Francis said in his native Spanish, departing from the Italian he uses at most formal events.

The leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, who has said it is "lawful" to stop an unjust aggressor, went on: "The blood of our Christian brothers and sisters is a testimony which cries out be heard. It makes no difference whether they be Catholics, Orthodox, Copts or Protestants. They are Christians!" Francis added: "The martyrs belong to all Christians."

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Sep ,2014, The Islamic State (Isis) is intent on killing the Pope, the Iraqi ambassador to the Holy See has warned the Vatican. Habeeb Al-Sadr, who has been the ambassador since 2010, has advised that one of Isis’ goals is to assassinate the Pontiff and warned that the jihadists “don’t just threaten”, according to Italian newspaper La Nazione. Mr Al-Sadr confirmed he did not have any specific intelligence on an impending attack but said that their "genocide" of Yazidi Christians and destruction of holy Islamic sites was an indication of their intent. "What has been declared by the self-proclaimed Islamic State is clear – they want to kill the Pope," he told La Nazione on Tuesday, adding: "The threats against the Pope are credible."

The disputed fate of the 21 Coptic Christians abducted in Sirte, Libya is now clear and visible for all to see on video: while holding them down, Islamic State members shove their fingers in the Christians' eyes, crane their heads back, and slice away at their throats with knives—all in the name of Allah and Islam, all as the slaughtered call out on the "Lord Jesus Christ." In the video, the lead executioner waves his dagger at the camera while boasting of the Islamic State's savagery: Oh people, recently you have seen us on the hills of as-Sham and Dabiq's plain [Syrian regions], chopping off the heads that have been carrying the cross for a long time. And today, we are on the south of Rome, on the land of Islam, Libya, sending another message. He adds: "We will fight you until Christ descends, breaks the cross and kills the pig" (all eschatological actions ascribed to the Muslim "Christ," Isa). The Humiliated Followers of the Coptic Church"—do to deserve such treatment? According to Catholic Pope Francis, "They were killed simply for the fact that they were Christians. It makes no difference whether they be Catholics, Orthodox, Copts or Protestants. They are Christians!"White House Delusions, Islamist Realitiesby Efraim KarshThe Jerusalem Post February 17, 2015

"The relationship between Islam and the West includes centuries of coexistence and cooperation, but also conflict and religious wars," Obama argued in his Cairo speech. He continued, More recently, tension has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were too often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations... Violent extremists have exploited these tensions in a small but potent minority of Muslims… [culminating in] the attacks of September 11, 2001 and the continued efforts of these extremists to engage in violence against civilians.This depiction of Muslims as hapless victims of the aggressive encroachments of others, too dim to be accountable for their own fate, is not only patronizing in the worst tradition of the "white man's burden" but the inverse of the truth.As the only person to have won the Nobel Peace Prize on the basis of sheer hope rather than actual achievement, President Barack Obama might have been expected to do everything within his power to vindicate this unprecedented show of international trust. Instead he has presided over a clueless foreign policy that has not only exacerbated ongoing regional conflicts but has made the world a far more dangerous place. And nowhere has this failure been more glaringly manifested than in his much ballyhooed "new beginning" between the United States and Muslims around the world.

As he explained in his celebrated June 2009 address to the Muslim world in Cairo: "I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed. That experience guides my conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn't." By way of educating Americans on "what Islam is," the Obama administration went out of its way to deny, ignore, euphemize and whitewash anything smacking of Islamic violence, radicalism or expansionism. Federal agencies purged counterterrorism training materials of references to Islam, presidential advisors extricated such terms as "jihad" and "Islamic extremism" from the central documents outlining the US national security strategy, and NASA was instructed "to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with... Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math and engineering." Meanwhile, the president spared no effort to dismiss the religious credentials of radical leaders and groups operating in the name of Islam and to disassociate their actions from that faith. Osama bin-Laden "was not a Muslim leader" but "a mass murderer of Muslims" whose demise "should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity"; Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS or ISIL) was "un-Islamic" since "no religion condones the killing of innocents, and the vast majority of [IS's] victims have been Muslim." Even the Muslim Brotherhood – the world's foremost Islamist organization committed to the creation of a worldwide caliphate, and the bedrock of some of today's most murderous terror groups – was described as "largely secular."Contrary to Obama's wishful thinking, in the historical imagination of many Arabs and Muslims, bin Laden is not a "mass murderer" but the new incarnation of Saladin, defeater of the Crusaders and conqueror of Jerusalem – a true believer who courageously stood up to today's neo-Crusaders. In the words of the-then Palestinian prime minister [in Hamas-held Gaza] Ismail Haniyeh: "We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior. We ask God to offer him mercy with the true believers and the martyrs. We regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood."Nor has IS's extroverted brutality detracted one iota from its religious credentials, as evidenced by the influx of thousands of young Muslim men (and women) from all over the world to participate in its self-proclaimed jihad. With far more Muslims killed throughout history by their co-religionists than by non-Muslims these volunteers can see no doctrinal or moral impediments to fighting their "deviant" co-religionists, not least since the group's bloodletting has thus far been insignificant by regional standards (suffice it to mention the 250,000 fatalities of the ongoing Syrian civil war, where most of the killing has been done by Bashar Assad's "infidel" Alawite regime). It is only when the president and his advisors break out of their delusional bubble and acknowledge the Manichean and irreconcilable nature of the challenge posed by their Islamist adversaries that their policies stand the slightest chance of success. Sadly, this would be asking for the impossible. The author is professor emeritus of Middle East and Mediterranean Studies at King's College London, professor of Political Studies at Bar-Ilan University and a senior researcher at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies and at the Middle East Forum.

45 people ‘burned to death’ by ISIS jihadists in Iraq February 17, 2015 23:58 Islamic State militants have reportedly burnt 45 people alive near the town al-Baghdadi in western Iraq. News of the atrocities follows the recent beheading of 21 Christians in Libya and the brutal burning to death of a Jordanian pilot. According to local police chief Colonel Qasim al-Obeidi, cited by the BBC, some of the executed people may be from Iraqi security forces, but no precise data was given. Al-Obeidi also reportedly said the town was under attack, particularly its security forces and official buildings, and asked the Iraqi government and international community for help.

The United States has made significant gains against terrorism. We've decimated the core al Qaeda leadership, strengthened homeland security and worked to prevent another large-scale attack like 9/11. 3 17 Feb At the same time, the threat has evolved. The al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen actively plots against us. Since 9/11, terrorists have murdered U.S. citizens overseas, including in the attacks in Benghazi, Libya. Here in the United States, Americans have been killed at Ft. Hood and during the Boston Marathon.Our campaign to prevent people around the world from being radicalized to violence is ultimately a battle for hearts and minds.- In Syria and Iraq, the terrorist group we call ISIL has slaughtered innocent civilians and murdered hostages, including Americans, and has spread its barbarism to Libya with the murder of Egyptian Christians. In recent months, we've seen deadly attacks in Ottawa, Sydney, Paris and Copenhagen.Elsewhere, the Pakistan Taliban massacred more than 100 schoolchildren and their teachers. From Somalia, al-Shabaab has launched attacks across East Africa. In Nigeria and neighboring countries, Boko Haram kills and kidnaps men, women and children.In the face of this challenge, we must stand united internationally and here at home. We know that military force alone cannot solve this problem. Nor can we simply take out terrorists who kill innocent civilians. We also have to confront the violent extremists — the propagandists, recruiters and enablers — who may not directly engage in terrorist acts themselves, but who radicalize, recruit and incite others to do so.This week, we'll take an important step forward as governments, civil society groups and community leaders from more than 60 nations gather in Washington for a global summit on countering violent extremism. Our focus will be on empowering local communities.

Horrific events in Libya and Denmark in recent days demonstrate the two sorts of dangers posed by the fundamentalists who call themselves Islamic State: atrocities carried out in areas under its control and acts of violence committed in the West by individuals radicalized by the group's... ( The Times editorial board )Groups like al Qaeda and ISIL promote a twisted interpretation of religion that is rejected by the overwhelming majority of the world's Muslims. The world must continue to lift up the voices of Muslim clerics and scholars who teach the true peaceful nature of Islam. We can echo the testimonies of former extremists who know how terrorists betray Islam. We can help Muslim entrepreneurs and youths work with the private sector to develop social media tools to counter extremist narratives on the Internet.We know from experience that the best way to protect people, especially young people, from falling into the grip of violent extremists is the support of their family, friends, teachers and faith leaders. At this week's summit, community leaders from Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Boston will highlight innovative partnerships in their cities that are helping empower communities to protect their loved ones from extremist ideologies.More broadly, groups like al Qaeda and ISIL exploit the anger that festers when people feel that injustice and corruption leave them with no chance of improving their lives. The world has to offer today's youth something better.Governments that deny human rights play into the hands of extremists who claim that violence is the only way to achieve change. Efforts to counter violent extremism will only succeed if citizens can address legitimate grievances through the democratic process and

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express themselves through strong civil societies. Those efforts must be matched by economic, educational and entrepreneurial development so people have hope for a life of dignity.

It's a chaotic world out there. But we'd better get used to it; this may be the new normal. ( Doyle McManus )Finally — with al Qaeda and ISIL peddling the lie that the United States is at war with Islam — all of us have a role to play by upholding the pluralistic values that define us as Americans. This week, we'll be joined by people of many faiths, including Muslim

Americans who make extraordinary contributions to our country every day. It's a reminder that America is successful because we welcome people of all faiths and backgrounds.That pluralism has at times been threatened by hateful ideologies and individuals from various religions. We've seen tragic killings at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin in 2012 and at a Jewish community center in Kansas last year.We do not yet know why three young people, who were Muslim Americans, were brutally killed in Chapel Hill, N.C. But we know that many Muslim Americans across our country are worried and afraid. Americans of all faiths and backgrounds must continue to stand united with a community in mourning and insist that no one should ever be targeted because of who they are, what they look like, or how they worship. Our campaign to prevent people around the world from being radicalized to violence is ultimately a battle for hearts and minds. With this week's summit, we'll show once more that — unlike terrorists who only offer misery and death — it is our free societies and diverse communities that offer the true path to opportunity, justice and dignity.

Death Match: Will ISIS Destroy or Merge With Al Qaeda?By Micah Halpern | 02/17/15 Al Qaeda’s top dog Ayman al-Zawahiri likely feels the heat from ISIS ISIS–daesh in Arabic–translates to mean power. The power to murder and the power to pay. Right now, ISIS has the power to challenge the status quo, which resonates with many young people. ISIS, fueled by illicit oil profits that brings in an estimated $625,000 to $1.5 million per day, can also pay its members more than they can receive anywhere else, including Al Qaeda. So young people from around the globe pick up and leave their homelands to join the cause. The group also gets a lot of attention with every made-for-TV burning and beheading.Money, recruits, barbaric acts, ISIS is now the focal point of attention for the West, which only enhances its panache. That’s another reason ISIS is such an attractive place to hang your hat—provided you are an aspiring Jihadi murderer. Last summer ISIS had about 10,000 fighters. The CIA now estimates that their fighting force has quadrupled.Consider ISIS the iPhone of terrorism and al Qaeda more akin to Blackberry, a fading operation but one still possessing technology, know-how, contacts and experience.

Al Qaeda’s leadership is understandably threatened and angry. In Algeria, the terrorist group formerly known as al Qaeda of Islamic Mahgreb (AQIM) split away and recently joined ISIS. To quash any confusion, the terrorist-franchisee rebranded themselves as The Caliphate

As al Qaeda’s power wanes, we may soon witness even more ugly rhetoric flying back and forth between the two keepers of the extremist Muslim faith, and maybe even some real fighting.

Soldiers in Algeria. The group is only one in a long line of rebel and extremist organizations abandoning Al Qaeda affiliation for the tantalizing force and money of ISIS.This burns up Al Qaeda’s leaders, so to speak. The major point of contention between the two terrorist groups is that, in the name of Jihad, ISIS is creating discord and violating basic Islamic teachings to fight their battle. Or so claims Ayman Zawahiri, the head of al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden’s successor, in a video he released last September. Zawahiri argued that ISIS does not care about other Muslims or their property or money.Even more, Zawahiri has said that the discord created by ISIS is in and of itself a violation of Islam. “If you said that you are doing jihad to defend the sanctities of the Muslims, then you must not transgress against them or their money or honor, and not even transgress your mujahedeen brothers by word and action.” He continues: “Discord is a curse and torment, and disgrace for the believers and glory for the disbelievers … If you say that by your jihad you do not want but the pleasure of Allah, then you must not race for governance and leadership at the first opportunity.” In other words, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, is being labeled an opportunist and a fraud. That is a very strong challenge—but Zawahiri is not backing down. He has too much to lose.As al Qaeda’s power wanes, we may soon witness even more ugly rhetoric flying back and forth between the two keepers of the extremist Muslim faith, and maybe even some real fighting—brutal conflict similar to what took place between al Qaeda and ISIS in Syria.Tracking the al Qaeda-ISIS relationship is like tracking a Jihadi roller coaster, a loop-d-loop. The West does not truly understand the workings of either group. Al Qaeda vets the people who will, in their name, perpetrate organized attacks.Gaining membership in their various organizations’ inner circles is a long and arduous process. To be part of ISIS all you need is an iPad. Go online, join their social media groups, watch the videos and do the deeds. It’s that simple. And that’s why so many former al Qaeda followers are now proud members of ISIS. It’s all about the new media.But be warned.In some ways, consolidation in the Islamic terror market makes sense, which would certainly generate a dangerous synergy for the rest of the world. ISIS has a lot of money and not so much intel. Al Qaeda has a lot of intel and not that much money. A merger would mean sharing weapons, training and technology. The United States has its own plan for Syria and Iraq and an al Qaeda-ISIS merger is not part of that plan. Ideally, the US hopes to drive a wedge between al Qaeda and ISIS and watch them destroy one another. We would then march in and fill the vacuum with the independent rebels and oust Assad. But if al Qaeda and ISIS unite in Syria the new alliance will have more territory, more weapons, more oil, more

money, and more fighters. And that means more problems for the West

There Is No Modern IslamFebruary 18, 2015 by Daniel Greenfield 4

Like math and the Midwest, ISIS confuses progressives. It’s not hard to confuse a group of people who never

figured out that if you borrow 18 trillion dollars, you’re going to have to pay it back. But ISIS is especially confusing to a demographic whose entire ideology is being on the right side of history.Raised to believe that history inevitably trended toward diversity in catalog models, fusion restaurants and gay marriage, the Arab Spring led them on by promising that the Middle East would be just like Europe and then ISIS tore up their Lonely Planet guidebook to Syria and chopped off their heads.

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But ISIS also believes that it’s on the right side of history. Its history is the Koran. The right side of its history is what Iraq and Syria look like today. It’s also how parts of Europe are starting to look. Progressive politicians and pundits trying to cope with ISIS lapse into a shrill incoherence that has nothing to do with their outrage at its atrocities and a lot to do with their sheer incomprehension. Terms like “apocalyptic nihilism” get thrown around as if heavy metal were beginning to make a comeback. Those few analysts who admit that the Islamic State might be a just a little Islamic emphasize that it’s a medieval throwback, as if there were some modern version of Islam to compare it to.Journalists trying to make sense of ISIS demanding Jizya payments and taking slaves ought to remember that these aren’t medieval behaviors in the Middle East. Not unless medieval means the 19th century. And that’s spotting them a whole century. Saudi Arabia only abolished slavery in 1962 under pressure from the United States. Its labor market and that of fellow Petrojihadi kingdoms like Kuwait and Qatar are based on arrangements that look a lot like temporary slavery… for those foreigners who survive.Non-Muslims paid Jizya to Muslim rulers until very recently. Here is what it looked like in nineteenth century Morocco from the account of James Riley, an American shipwrecked sea captain. “The Mohammedan scrivener appointed to receive it took it from them, hitting each one a smart blow with his fist on his bare forehead, by way of receipt for his money, at which the Jews said, ‘Thank you, my lord.’”Those Jews who could not pay were flogged and imprisoned until they converted to Islam. An account from 1894 is similar, except that the blows were delivered to the back of the neck. Only French colonialism finally put a stop to this practice as well as many other brutal Islamic Supremacist laws. Morocco was one of the Arab countries where Jews were treated reasonably well by the standards of the Muslim world. It’s one of the few Arab countries to still retain a Jewish population. When ISIS demands Jizya from non-Muslims, it’s not reviving some controversial medieval behavior. It’s doing what even “moderate” Muslim countries were doing until European guns and warships made them stop.If the French hadn’t intervened, the same ugly scene would have gone on playing out in Morocco. If the United States hadn’t intervened, the Saudis would still openly keep slaves.Islam never became enlightened. It never stopped being ‘medieval’. Whatever enlightenment it received was imposed on it by European colonialism. It’s a second-hand enlightenment that never went under the skin.ISIS isn’t just seventh century Islam. It’s also much more recent than that. It’s Islam before the French and the English came. It’s what the Muslim world was like before it was forced to have presidents and constitutions, before it was forced to at least pay lip service to the alien notion of equal rights for all. The media reported the burning of the Jordanian pilot as if it were some horrifying and unprecedented aberration. But Muslim heretics, as well as Jews and Christians accused of blasphemy, were burned alive for their crimes against Islam. Numerous accounts of this remain, not from the seventh century, but from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Those who weren’t burned, might be beheaded.These were not the practices of some apocalyptic death cult. They were the Islamic law in the “cosmopolitan” parts of North Africa. The only reason they aren’t the law now is that the French left behind some of their own laws. Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia that were never truly colonized still behead men and women for “witchcraft and sorcery.” Not in the seventh century or even in the nineteenth century. Last year.The problem isn’t that ISIS is ‘medieval’. The problem is that Islam is. What progressives mistake for modern Islam, whether while touring Algeria or on the campus of their university, is really an Islam whose practice has been repressed by the West while its ideology remains untouched. Modern Islam is in a state of contradiction. It’s a schizophrenic religion whose doctrine calls for supremacism but whose capabilities prevent it from exercising the full

measure of its doctrines. Islam is the 90 lb. weakling that wants to be the school bully. It can’t punch you in the face, so it stabs you in the back and then blames someone else. When you punch it back, it plays the victim.This split between ideas and power forced Islamists to resort to sneakier tactics, from terrorism to mass migration, to fulfill the spirit of their religion. The underlying imperative is to restore a conquering Islam capable of humiliating non-Muslims in Muslim lands and expanding into non-Muslim countries. That is why Saddam and Iran pursued weapons of mass destruction. Why Muslim armies tested themselves against Israel. Why Al Qaeda built a decentralized terrorist network with cells around the world.Together with the practical agendas of wealth and power was a deeper spiritual significance. Islam required that its leaders wage a war against the infidels. And they had to do so on terms that would allow them to win. Or at least to survive the attempt.ISIS cuts through the split by advocating an uncompromising supremacism. Its theater of brutality is meant to convince Muslim audiences that they have the ability to directly confront the West. They no longer need to navigate a course between their capabilities and their religion. Under a Caliph, they can build the capabilities to restore the full practice of Islam as it was before the Europeans put a stop to it.In the bigger picture, ISIS would like to turn the clock back to the seventh century. That’s a vision it shares with any number of Islamist groups and governments. But its most objectionable behavior, such as beheading and burning non-Muslims, taking slaves and demanding Jizya from non-Muslims, only requires turning back the clock to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. To truly understand ISIS, we don’t need to go back to the seventh century. The eighteenth century would be just as good. And once we understand that, we understand all the rest of it too. Progressives see ISIS as a historical aberration. ISIS sees them the same way. It’s all a question of whose history book we’re using and which side is willing to do anything to win. Islam is a religion of war. Its right side of history is not a matter of faith. The right side of history is the side that wins.

Terror groups take advantage of power vacuums, insecurity to thrive at home

By Greg Botelho, CNN Updated 2048 GMT (0448 HKT) February 17, 2015

(CNN)As leaders around the world say, terrorism can be anywhere.

But some places have it worse than others. For all the well-founded worries in the West and elsewhere around the developed world, these kinds of locales are more likely stopping points than long-term homes for terror groups. Such violent, extremist organizations tend to gravitate toward less stable, more turbulent areas where they can operate more freely, recruit from a desperate populace and build up resources and momentum. If there's a power vacuum, in other words, militant groups can more easily amass power. And that creates big problems for those trying to root them out at the source. Below is a look at some places where terrorists are operating -- oftentimes in the absence of a central government with the resources to stop them -- and what is being done about them.

Story highlights

• Politically unstable places such as Yemen and Libya are good for terror groups• Nigeria's government has been fighting Boko Haram for years, yet attacks continue• ISIS is a huge problem in Iraq, Syria and now in other places, such as Libya

LIBYA

What's the threat? Well-armed groups are increasingly asserting themselves in the North African nation. Some of them aim to ensure that their tribes have control of their future, while others are stepping up to prevent worse alternatives from taking over.

Such chaos has opened the door to terror, some of it coming from outside Libya's borders.

One chilling example came in 2012, when U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others died in an attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. Three or four members of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula participated in that incident, according to several sources who have spoken to CNN. Then there's ISIS. The group's link to Libya first became clear in October, when amateur video showed a large crowd in Derna affiliated with the Shura Council for the Youth of Islam chanting their allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

At that time, ISIS had up to 800 fighters in the area, plus training facilities in the nearby Green Mountains, sources told CNN. Al-Baghdadi would go on to characterize three Libyan "provinces" as being part of the Islamic State's "caliphate," with attacks in Tripoli and on a Libyan army checkpoint. The most recent glaring example of ISIS' barbarity in Libya came in a video released Sunday. It showed the mass beheading of over a dozen members of Egypt's Coptic Christian minority, all dressed in orange with their hands cuffed behind them, at the hands of black-clad jihadists.

What's up with the government? Three years ago, rebels backed by NATO aircraft toppled longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Many saw this turnover as an opportunity for Libya to emerge as a more peaceful, more prosperous nation. Neither has happened. Instead, Libya has

been beset by ongoing fighting between Islamists and the weak, internationally recognized government. That violence has seeped into the capital, where most embassies have closed and multiple bombings have occurred. Still, Tripoli is calm, relative to eastern Libya, where ISIS (and al Qaeda before it has thrived.

What's next? Libya's central government appears powerless to stop groups like ISIS, at least in areas it doesn't firmly control. Others have tried to fill the breach. In August, the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Libya and sanctions for those involved in violence there. Around the same time, U.S. Pentagon and State Department officials said they believed Egypt and the United Arab Emirates had been carrying out secret airstrikes against Islamist militants -- a claim apparently dismissed by a UAE minister and denied by Egyptian leaders. Egypt, though, didn't deny its bombing of ISIS targets in Libya after the Christians' killings. "Avenging Egyptian blood and punishing criminals and murderers is our right and duty," its military said Monday, according to a statement broadcast on state TV. Bernardino Leon, the United Nations envoy to Libya, has floated the idea of international monitors when a peace agreement between rival factions is hammered out. But "when" seems a long way off, despite the beginning of talks between rival factions in Geneva, Switzerland.

YEMEN

What's the threat? The chief threat facing the average Yemeni may depend on whether he or she is Sunni, like 70% of the country, or Shiites, like the Houthi rebels that marched into the capital Sanaa, spurred the departures of Yemen's political leaders and asserted control. This violence and insecurity threatens citizens' ability to maintain their health, provide for their families and have much hope for a better future. For the rest of the world, though, the biggest threat in Yemen is al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

The group, known as AQAP, is probably the most well known and most feared branch of the terrorist network. Yemen is where al Qaeda's glossy magazine, Inspire, is published, and where Anwar al-Awlaki -- an American who was one of the world's most prominent terrorists before dying in a drone strike -- was based. Some of the West's biggest terrorism-related headlines in recent years have come from the work of AQAP in Yemen. In 2009 alone, U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Hasan exchanged emails with al-Awlaki before his deadly shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas. Then, on Christmas Day, Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab -- who later admitted traveling to Yemen and being inspired by al-Awlaki -- tried unsuccessfully to detonate explosives in his underwear on an Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight. More recently, Cherif and Said Kouachi are both thought to have traveled to Yemen for terror training before carrying out last month's massacre at the Paris offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

What's up with the government? Who controls Yemen, and who will control Yemen, is very much up in the air. There's no doubt that the Houthis, a group that's long felt marginalized in Yemen, are the pre-eminent power in Sanaa and elsewhere in the Arab nation.

Yet their takeover hasn't been smooth and it's no guarantee it will ever be complete. There has already been resistance from different groups in Yemen, particularly in the south, where there's a long-running secessionist movement, and in the oil-rich province of Marib to the east of Sanaa. The United Nations-sponsored talks were aimed at breaking this impasse. But after two weeks, the Houthis declared these negotiations over and announced they will chart Yemen's political future by setting up groups to replace parliament and form a presidential

council. It's highly unlikely that this plan will ever be universally embraced. Nor is there any telling when or even if Yemen will become stable and secure.

What's next? Amid all the chaos, country after country has shuttered their Sanaa embassies in recent weeks. Yemeni leaders are focused on the domestic situation. Meanwhile, the exit of President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi leaves the United States without a key ally in its fight against terror. Al Qaeda has taken advantage. Just in the last week, its forces took over a military camp (and all its weaponry) and freed six fighters from a southern Yemeni prison, according to security officials. and its longtime allies in Sanaa are gone, the United States military isn't leaving Yemen just yet. U.S. Special Forces personnel will continue to operate in Yemen, doing training missions with Yemeni forces and conducting counter-terrorism operations. They proved as much late last month, with a drone strike that killed senior AQAP cleric Harith bin Ghazi al-Nadhari and three other people in Shabwa province.

NIGERIA

What's the threat? While its name translates from the Hausa language to "Western education is forbidden," Boko Haram hasn't lashed out in the West like al Qaeda or ISIS. Still, it has managed to cause plenty of violence and mayhem in and around Nigeria. This Islamist extremist group has gone after Nigerian troops, sure, but it's also shown little mercy for civilians. Deadly raids of peaceful villages, bombings of crowded markets and mass abductions -- most infamously the kidnapping of more than 200 girls from a school in Chibok -- are the grisly norm for Boko Haram.

'I will sell them,' Boko Haram leader says of abducted schoolgirls

The majority of its savagery has been concentrated in northeastern Nigeria, where the central government appears to have only a modicum of control. And in recent months, Boko Haram has increasingly lashed out into neighboring countries. Deadly attacks have been reported in Cameroon, Chad and Niger, most of them in areas near those countries respective borders with Nigeria.

What's up with the government? After decades of coups and military rule, Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999. But how the government of President Goodluck Jonathan has handled Boko Haram -- from criticisms that his government hasn't done enough to accusations that Nigerian forces are guilty of war crimes and other abuses -- has raised major questions about Nigeria's ability to emerge victorious, at least anytime soon. His challenge is exacerbated by existing divisions in the West African nation, the north of which is mostly Muslim while the south is predominantly Christian. Can any leader bring all sides together to defeat what's proven to be a resilient, powerful and ruthless enemy? That fight has already affected Nigeria's fragile democracy in one way: Elections were pushed back six weeks to late March due to concerns about "adequate security" at ballot boxes nationwide. The idea is that the Nigerian military needs time to finish off its offensive, i.e., finish off Boko Haram. But given its longstanding struggles on this front -- plus other problems, like a faltering stock market, a depleted currency and an oil-rich economy hit hard by low oil prices -- there's a lot of skepticism that Nigeria's government will be up to the task.

What's next? The central government in Abuja has a lot hinging on its ongoing offensive. And it's too early to tell whether Jonathan will win re-election, assuming next month's vote actually happens. Still, at least the Nigerian government is getting more and more help in its

fight. Earlier this month, Benin, Cameroon, Niger and Chad pledged to deploy -- alongside Nigerian soldiers -- 8,700 troops, police and civilians, as part of a regional effort against Boko Haram. This seemingly coordinated effort comes at a time when Boko Haram has increasingly lashed out into other countries, to deadly effect. Is this a sign of strength, as evidence that the terrorist group is more capable than ever? Or could it mean that Boko Haram has overextended itself and ticked off too many players, something that it will someday regret? Time will tell.

SOMALIA

What's the threat? Al-Shabaab emerged in the mid-2000s, and despite a concerted international effort since then, it's still a threat to East Africa and Somalia, in particular. According to the U.S. government, Somalia's gross domestic product per person ranks 226th out of 228 countries. Such rampant poverty can be fodder for extremists to recruit people who don't see a better future elsewhere. And for many years, a weak central government didn't give them much reason for hope. Taking control of Somalia was long Al-Shabaab's main focus, as illustrated by its repeated targeting of soldiers, officials and institutions in the country. Yet, especially since the group's then-leader, Ahmed Godane, in 2012 announced that his followers "will march with (al Qaeda) as loyal soldiers," al-Shabaab has broadened its scope.

What is Al-Shabaab, and what does it want? The Islamist extremist group's international attacks include twin suicide bombings at a 2010 World Cup final watch party in Kampala, Uganda. But the most glaring, by far, came in September 2013, when its militants walked into the upscale Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, and began gunning down shoppers -- allegedly torturing some hostages before killing them. The four-day long siege ended with as many as 67 dead and parts of the mall destroyed.

What's up with the government? While it increasingly wages attacks elsewhere in East Africa, most of Al-Shabaab's violence has been in its home base of Somalia. The Somalian government, especially of late, has managed to hit back effectively. That's a tribute in part to Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised in 2013 for reducing the level of extremism in his country. In January 2009, "Al-Shabaab controlled most of Mogadishu and south and central Somalia, and looked like it would gain more territory," Clinton said at the time. Since then, the terrorist group has been on shaky ground -- in part, due to Somali government forces, which claimed to have captured Al-Shabaab's intelligence chief late last year. And some of it is thanks to the government's allies from the African Union and the United States, the latter of which killed Godane in an airstrike.

What's next? It's hard to say that, even with all its setbacks, Al-Shabaab is on its deathbed. Not when you consider what the group has done and continues to do. Take, for instance, the suicide blast last month of a Somali army convoy in Mogadishu, the bombing of a bus carrying Kenyan teachers in Galkayo, Somalia, or an attack on an African Union military base. Still, one thing that Somalia has going for it -- compared to, say, Yemen or Libya -- is a strong central government that's not only taking the fight to terrorists, but doing it with the help of powerful allies such as the United States, the African Union and the United Nations.

IRAQ AND SYRIA

What's the threat? Iraq and Syria have their own unique problems. Keeping their countries united is a major, continuing challenge for both. They both have been dealing with violence for years, from various sources. But one thing that unites them -- besides a shared border -- is ISIS. This terror group can trace its origins to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who in the early 2000s led the group then known as al Qaeda in Iraq. A U.S.-led offensive put that group on the ropes, but didn't knock it out. The self-declared Islamic State has emerged in recent years as a powerful, successful force in taking over vast swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq. It's not just that ISIS has conquered so much territory. It's how: with large-scale killings, highly publicized beheadings and basically treating "unbelieving" civilians -- meaning anyone who doesn't subscribe to its extreme, twisted version of Islam -- as almost subhuman, then daring to somehow justify its barbarity.

When even al Qaeda "disowns" you, there's a good chance that most of humanity will agree that you've gone way too far.

What's up with the governments? Syria wasn't ISIS' first home, but it is where the militant group was effectively reborn. Capitalizing on the nation's instability during the years-long civil war, ISIS emerged as one of the most powerful threats to President Bashar al-Assad's government. Al-Assad is fighting back, though his government's ability to topple ISIS -- which has made the northern Syrian city of Raqqa its de facto capital -- is questionable, given its many other armed foes, the impact of international isolation on its economy and capability and the drain from years of war. Iraq has things going for it that Syria does not, such as more powerful international allies like the United States, an effective regional fighting force in the semi-autonomous Kurds and a government that has become more open to bridging the country's Sunni-Shiite divide. And yes, a U.S.-led coalition has provided much-needed airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq, as well as Syria. But this group hasn't provided ground troops. That has left tribal militia and Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, both of whom Baghdad has long been reluctant to support militarily, and sometimes overmatched Iraqi troops to battle ISIS to retake territory.

What's next? More fighting, more fighting, and likely more fighting. While it's difficult to ascertain exactly how strong ISIS is, reports indicate that it is attracting people from around the world. Some join its fighters in Iraq and Syria; others opt to lash out in the West or elsewhere, the latest example being the Danish terror suspect who swore fidelity to al-Baghdadi, the ISIS leader, on Facebook. The groundswell of international opposition to ISIS is growing, not just in the West but also in the Middle East, where nations such as Jordan and Egypt have made big, public points of going after the group. But can ISIS be totally defeated if no one outside of Iraq and Syria puts troops on the ground?

AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN

What's the threat? When it comes to threats to peace and stability, the Taliban is exceptional, in part, because it once ruled a country and because of its staying power. Nineteen years after it assumed control of Afghanistan and nearly 14 year after it lost power during the U.S.-led onslaught following the September 11 terror attacks, the Taliban remains a violent, conservative force in both Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan. There are Taliban branches in the two nations, and they sometimes publicly differ. The Afghan Taliban, for instance, criticized the "deliberate killing of innocent people" after December's slaying of 145

victims, mostly children, at a school in Peshawar by the Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. But in terms of ideology and tactics, there's not much difference. On both sides of the nebulous border, Taliban have been blamed for attacks on both civilians, government soldiers and officials alike.

What's up with the governments? Both the Afghan and Pakistani governments have had a two-pronged approach to the Taliban: engage them in peace talks and also engage them on the battlefield. The former hasn't produced anything resembling peace in either country. Now their governments are publicly doubling down. After the Peshawar school attack, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said, after the "unsuccessful" talks, "there was no option other than to engage in an operation against these people." "The Taliban, these extremists, the terrorists, they are the biggest threat to peace in this region, to peace in Pakistan, to the existence of Pakistan," Defense Minister Khawaja Asif has said. Neighboring Afghanistan hasn't gotten much calmer, either, since Ashraf Ghani became president last year. Violent attacks are frequent, with scant hints of a diplomatic breakthrough.

What's next? Probably more of the same. While U.S. and NATO troops were on track to nearly completely pull out of Afghanistan by the end of 2016, that process has been adjusted. Ghani told CBS' "60 Minutes" that he thinks U.S. President Barack Obama should "re-examine" his timeline. Pakistan's military offensive against the TTP continues. But will the Pakistani government, with its long reported ties to the Taliban, put its full might behind defeating the group? That's an open question, as is whether the Afghan and Pakistani governments could really defeat the Taliban militarily, at least without significant outside help.

Regards Cees,

Libya's War on Christians by Raymond Ibrahim FrontPage Magazine February 17, 2015

The disputed fate of the 21 Coptic Christians abducted in Sirte, Libya is now clear and visible for all to see on video: while holding them down, Islamic State members shove their fingers in the Christians' eyes, crane their heads back, and slice away at their throats with knives—all in the name of Allah and Islam, all as the slaughtered call out on the "Lord Jesus Christ." In the video, the lead executioner waves his dagger at the camera while boasting of the Islamic State's savagery: Oh people, recently you have seen us on the hills of as-Sham and Dabiq's plain [Syrian regions], chopping off the heads that have been carrying the cross for a long time. And today, we are on the south of Rome, on the land of Islam, Libya, sending another message.He adds: "We will fight you until Christ descends, breaks the cross and kills the pig" (all eschatological actions ascribed to the Muslim "Christ," Isa).

As opposed to the Obama administration's reactions to Islamic State beheadings of Americans and others—namely, strong assertions that such actions are not Islamic—Egyptian President Sisi responded to the slaughter of Egyptian citizens by immediately sending fighter jets to bomb Islamic State targets in Libya.

What did these Coptic Christians—or, as the Islamic State refers to them, "The Humiliated Followers of the Coptic Church"—do to deserve such treatment? According to Catholic Pope

The Islamic State is calling on Muslims to find and slaughter more Coptic Christians.

Francis, "They were killed simply for the fact that they were Christians. It makes no difference whether they be Catholics, Orthodox, Copts or Protestants. They are Christians!"Far from being satisfied with the slaughter of these 21 Christians, the Islamic State is calling on Muslims to find and slaughter more Coptic Christians. (Copts make for the majority of Christians in Libya, having migrated there from neighboring Egypt to find work during the reign of Moammar Gaddafi; most of them are desperate to return but need aid from the Egyptian government to cross the Libyan desert.)In its online English magazine Dabiq, after justifying the slaughter of the 21, the Islamic State concludes that "it is important for Muslims everywhere to know that there is no doubt in the great reward to be found on Judgment Day for those who spill the blood of these Coptic crusaders wherever they may be found."And indeed, spilling Coptic Christian blood in Libya—and being rewarded for it—has been ongoing for some time now. This most recent beheading, which received a decent amount of media attention, is only the latest in a long line of Muslim persecution of Christians in Libya.A few days before the 21 Christians were abducted (in two separate incidents), a Christian father, mother, and young daughter were slaughtered in the same region, Sirte. On December 23, Islamic militants raided the Christian household, killing the father and mother (a doctor and pharmacist, respectively) and kidnapping 13-year-old Katherine. Days later, the girl's

body was found in the Libyan desert—shot three times, twice in the head, once in the back Nothing was stolen from the household, even though money and jewelry were out in the open. According to the girl's uncle, the motive was that "they are a Christian family—persecuted."In short, as I wrote nearly a year ago, it continues to be "open season on Christians in Libya." Last February 2014, after Ansar al-Sharia—the "Supporters of Islamic Law," now an Islamic State branch—offered a reward to any Benghazi resident who helped round up and execute the nation's Coptic residents, seven Christians were forcibly seized from their homes by "unknown gunmen," marched out into the desert and shot execution style 20 miles west of Benghazi.Days later, another 24-year-old Coptic Christian was shot in the head by "unknown gunmen" while unloading food in front of his grocery stand in Benghazi. On the next day a corpse was found, believed to be that of yet another Copt—due to the small cross tattooed on his wrist traditionally worn by Egyptian Christians.This is to say nothing of the churches attacked, of Christian cemeteries desecrated, and of 100 Christians—including Western ones—arrested, tortured (some dying) for possessing Christian "paraphernalia" (like Bibles and crosses) in the post "Arab Spring" Libya the Obama administration and its allies helped create.Needless to say, such atrocities were unheard of under Gaddafi's "authoritarian" rule (just as they were unheard of in Saddam Hussein's Iraq, just as they were unheard of in Syrian regions formerly under Bashar Assad, etc.).Muslim slaughter of Christians is the litmus test of how "radical" an Islamic society has become. In every single Mideast nation where the U.S. and its Western allies have interfered—Iraq, Egypt (under Morsi), Libya, and ongoing Syria—the slaughter of Christians there is a reflection of the empowerment of forces hostile to everything Western civilization once stood for. It also means that the barbarous Islamic State—far from waning and being limited to portions of Iraq and Syria—is growing stronger, now well entrenched in Libya too.Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, a Judith Friedman Rosen Writing Fellow at the Middle East Forum and a CBN News contributor.

Anti-Christian atrocities were unheard of under Moammar Gaddafi's authoritarian rule.

He is the author of Crucified Again: Exposing Islam's New War on Christians (2013) and The Al Qaeda Reader (2007).

This map, circulated widely as outlining an ISIS five-year plan, (Published 2014 + 5 is around 2019/2020: equal to AQSL 2020 Grand-plan) has been largely debunked, but may be indicative of the widest extent of their ambitionshttp://media.vocativ.com/photos/2014/07/BqRsLiSCEAIcJtp1903858211.png