#BREAKING Turkey, US sign deal to train Syria rebels, officials say

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) February 19, 2015

Two days ago reports began to hit the media about the U.S. providing “Moderate Syrian Rebels” with equipment and technology to enable them to call in air strikes. The Wall Street Journal reported:

WASHINGTON—The U.S. has decided to provide pickup trucks equipped with machine guns and radios for calling in U.S. airstrikes to some moderate Syrian rebels, defense officials said. But the scope of any bombing hasn’t been worked out—a reflection of the complexities of the battlefield in Syria.

Military officials point to U.S. airstrikes, called in by Kurdish fighters, that helped drive Islamic State fighters from the city of Kobani as the model for the new campaign. (link)

The term “moderate” has been a source of contention amid those who have followed the ideology of the Syrian uprising since the fighting began around August/Sept of 2011.
When Syria first erupted there was a general sense of opposition to the leadership of Bashir Assad. However, as time progressed more and more severe jihadists flocked to Syria from battlefields in surrounding nations.
Eventually this power struggle led to the rise of the most powerful among them forming what is now known as ISIS. (more…)

(Via New York Mag) If you’re a lady walking down the street and you come upon a kitten covered in Nutella posing next to a poster of the nail emoji, beware! ISIS operatives could be lurking nearby, ready to recruit you and make you their jihadi brides — at least according to CNN.

On a segment aired Wednesday morning, CNN anchor Carol Costello discussed how ISIS is exploiting women’s three known weaknesses — Nutella, kittens, and emoji — to recruit them for the caliphate. (more…)

Perhaps it’s just my cynical nature when it comes to the Obama Administration having researched their Machiavellian tendencies over the past six years. – However, someone, someone inside, someone very close to President Obama, has just set him up for a crow eating dinner.
This is no accident, mistake or ideological oversight.  Parts of this are a set-up.
President Obama supposedly penned an Op-Ed today through the LA Times. But I doubt seriously, having read the limited attributable writing of Barack Obama personally, it was actually the brain synapses of President Obama who constructed the literary words.
Obama does not write well, nor does he express his own opinions in writing well – his op-eds while attending Harvard affirm my opinion.
That said, whoever did write this on his behalf set him up for a massive fall. Within the first few paragraphs of the article itself you find this seemingly innocuous admission. Innocuous until you realize the scope of the inferred reversal: (more…)

The Egyptian Embassy issued the following press release 2/16/15:
This morning, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi paid a visit to Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Abbassiya to pay his respects to Pope Tawadros II, the Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark. The President offered his condolences for the innocent Egyptian citizens, who fell victim to the heinous act of terrorism that took place in Libya yesterday. The President expressed his sympathy to the families of the victims, affirming that they will receive all necessary care and support from the competent state authorities.

Spokesman for the Presidency Ambassador Alaa Youssef stated that the President’s visit to the cathedral was motivated first and foremost by his sense of patriotism as an Egyptian citizen before his role as President of Egypt and of all Egyptians. Ambassador Youssef noted that the President made his visit to the Cathedral spontaneously without waiting for any ceremonial arrangements or a formal procession. (more…)

Al-Baghdadi is the town recently captured by ISIS as they work to surround the 300+ U.S. Marines stationed at al Assad Air Force base to aid and support the central Iraqi military. This past week a probe attack was launched against U.S. military stationed at the air base.  The attack was presumably launched from the staging ground in the town of Al-Baghdadi.
In another alarming development, today the BBC is reporting that ISIS militants have burned to death 45 people in this town in western Iraq.  According to the report the local police chief, Col Qasim al-Obeidi, is saying members of his security forces are some of the 45 victims.

It was less than a week ago when ISIS fighters captured much of the town near the air base. Now local officials are claiming a compound within the town -said to house the families of other security personnel and local officials- is under attack. Police Chief al-Obeidi is pleading with the central Iraqi government as well as the coalition and international community for assistance. (more…)

Ansar al-Sharia was one of the benefactor al-Qaeda organizations in Libya 2011 who benefited from the weapons given by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.N Ambassador Susan Rice, and White House advisor Samantha Power. Clinton, Rice and Power convinced President Obama to intervene in Libya and support “the rebels”.

The “rebels” were later admitted to be members of Ansar al-Sharia in the coastal region of Benghazi toward Derna, in Eastern Libya.  In the summer of 2011 this was one faction within what was called the ‘Libyan Islamic Fighting Group’ (LIFG).
After several years of turmoil and factional fighting, in 2014 the LIFG rebranded -and united- most of the Libya Islamist groups under the term “Libyan Dawn”. Libyan Dawn was the name used as the civil war raged and by mid-summer Tripoli came under Islamist control.
In December of 2014 Libyan Dawn, aka LIFG, aka Ansar al-Sharia, aka Hillary’s Rebels declared allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS). It was this group, now considered ISIS in Libya who executed the Coptic Christians last weekend. (more…)

Marie Harf joined Chris Matthews on MSNBC yesterday to advance an ideology we have actually heard before. When discussing radical Islam, and more specifically ISIS, according to Harf:

“We’re killing a lot of them and we’re going to keep killing more of them. So are the Egyptians, so are the Jordanians. They’re in this fight with us. But we cannot win this war by killing them. We cannot kill our way out of this war. We need in the medium to longer term to go after the root causes that leads people to join these groups, whether it’s lack of opportunity for jobs”.

Now pause for a moment, turn your head at a 25° angle, cross your eyes, pretend she is in direct eye contact with yourself…. and ask the obvious:  “Dear Ms. Harf, if that be true – then why in sam kittens is President Obama asking for AN AUTHORIZATION OF MILITARY FORCE” ? {{Mic Drop}} (more…)

In response to the killing of 21 Coptic Christians in Libya Egypt’s President Fattah al-Sisi has called for the international community to join in a united response.
In the leadership role which would normally be filled, or at least bolstered by a determined U.S. President, Egypt’s al-Sisi has asked the United Nations Security Council to convene and organize a response to “an active terrorist threat”. Sisi was visiting with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on the same day that Pope Francis condemned the attack calling the victims “Christian Martyrs”.

“Today I read about the execution of those twenty-one or twenty-two Coptic Christians. Their only words were: ‘Jesus, help me!’ They were killed simply because they were Christians.”

Italy’s Renzi and Egypt’s el-Sisi appeared together and spoke at length about the need for a united international community to accept the face of the enemy and engage with strong force to eliminate the growing threat. The Egyptian presidential spokesperson Alaa Youssef relayed the details of the diplomatic conversation between Renzi and Sisi.
Renzi affirmed his country’s support and willingness to assist with Egypt’s ongoing efforts.  Three days ago, Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said his country was ready to join a U.N-led force to combat “an active terrorist threat”.  Following that statement Renzi called Monday for the United Nation Security Council to send a United Nations-led “mission” to Libya as fast as possible. (more…)