ISIS on the SKIDS?

Since Bob Dylan wrote the song,  Americans have been entranced by 'ISIS' - the all-wummin chief goddess of ancient Egypt and the head-lopping semi-political threat to world peace that loons so large in its 'world interests' these days.  It seems that that creation of the 'Arab Spring' (TM) - Arabs willing to 'rise up' and do to each other and their countries what only a handful would do when encouraged by the invading forces of Iraq and Afghanistan, are the single 'positivity' to emerge from America's centennial Asia pivot. They're 'bad guys' doing to 'worse guys' what America needs to be done.

But those who have done so much are now in trouble.

And now they need some help - not the Arab ones, they can go twist - but the real ISIS - the ones who will generate the next decade's worth of security funding - the thousands and thousands of 'foreign fighters' who flocked into ISIS training camps, learned jihad and small unit tactics and are now poised to do to Europe and all points west what they've done to Syrian and Iraq.   But they need to escape Assad's trap in Syria.

Enter the greatest farce for good on earth and its third 'prong' of the modern military assault, the vertical insertion - in this case vertical evacuation. Which is reportedly what US choppers are being used to do -  extract ISIS fighters from south central Syria and replace them with Syrian 'Freedom Fighting' forces. A win-win situation -  ISISs live to fight another day and the anti-Assad coalition picks up some new territory to be used to balkanize Syria.

A new fly in the ointment appeared this week when US forces operating in central Raqqa province in Syria were reportedly attacked by CIA-armed Syrian Free Army forces, operating with the Turks. These forces were greeted coldly when they first appeared in Syria,  and more lately have been demonstrated to be importing increased supplies of heavy vehicles - supposedly to turn over to Kurdish forces.  Reports that the FSA forces working with the Turks are virtually useless for operations but provide a 'cover' for Turkish forces being in Syria ( to support anti-Assad forces and to do something to prevent a Syrian Kurdistan along the southern border). The US is currently operating with the Kurds in Raqqa - something the Turks would rather not see.

               Watch Joe Biden at 10:12 - "It's was all our pals" ... and America didn't know???

At the same time US spokespeople are blaming Assad for them having to take out the ISIS fighters being renditioned out of the Lebanon front.  These aren't good enough bad guys or, more likely America's best bad guys like those mentioned above - so they qualify for some airborne termination.  The claim is that a number of them have been eliminated when they get out of the blast radius that might hurt the beautiful babies in the buses with them.

Get 'im while he's squattin'.

                                                  Rockin' & Rollin' - Real Mercs

The War on ISIS; Kill 'em All. Let Allah Sort them Out

Re: Omelet, making a .. and the requisite eggs, broken

Listen to women screaming in the background.  I think there assholicism at work here.


One of the success stories of modern times was the one about how the Iraqi Armed Forces - which fled before the invasion of their country by ISIS from Syria, were able to re-form their ranks and, re-armed and advised by western 'coalition forces' began the slogging match that has taken two years to liberate much of their captured country.   Remarkable in those early day stories were those of ISIS brutality and the terrorization of innocent civilians - Yazidis and Kurds.  To-day the shoe is on the other foot - ISIS is getting it in the neck.  But so too are those 'civilians', again.  This time they are guilty of 'siding with the terrorists'. While the west bemoaned the 'brutality' of Assad regime 'tamping-down insurgent (ISIS) forces in Syria', we cheered the 'liberation' of  Kirkkuk, Fallujah  and of late Mosul.  We watched, and later awarded,  the sometimes staged atrocities laid at the door of an evil regime and gave a fee pass to similar evils done by those we call our allies. We just either ignored it, or told the story a different way - theirs.  In the one country there is nothing more evil than the government and nothing better than freedom fighters, in the other there is nothing worse than the same freedom fighters and nothing better than the government.  In both situations the same horrors are still being perpetrated still on ordinary people and civilians.

Imagine sending an 'expeditionary force' with one objective: to find and terminate any citizens of your country found to be in arms fighting for what is defined as a 'terrorist force'.  It's payback like that that makes one hope that either they have no friends or relatives left behind, or the ones they might have are the 'solid citizen' variety.  The US started the innovative thinking that citizens lose their natural rights to life, liberty and being happy when they leave the USA and 'put themselves in the gun sights' of the US military - or the US military for whatever reason puts its gun sights on them.

France sends in a 'hit squad'.

And shit happens.

They must have gotten this idea from Assad? And they have been 'doing this for thousands of years', anyway.

That French snuff squad?

Kurdish 'payback' or ethnic cleansing?

Fallujah - the Third Time Round

The third Battle of Falljuah (Iraq) seems to be coming to a close as forces of the Iraqi government close in on whatever ISIS forces are holding on to the city. Concerns are being expressed for civilians trapped in the city and yesterday morning it was reported that ISIS was killing those who were trying to leave. That seems to be a fairly standard report coming out of these things.

Yesterday i happened to find a report on YouTube from a Vice News reporter traveling with an  Iraqi Army special forces unit, 'the Golden Division',  as they moved in on Fallujah.  The parts of the operation depicted involved the 'liberation of two outlying towns just north of Fallujah.

Fallujah is no stranger to danger in the mess that is modern Iraq.  It first became a news item, for civilized people, when the denizens of the place killed three American 'contractors' back in the days when Bushco's 'mission accomplished' was starting to derail itself. They killed, burned and strung-up the corpses and, for their pains, received the gentle ministrations of a US Marine regiment. The first assault just seemed to annoy the locals - at least those who weren't killed - and they 'forced' the Marines to do it all over again,  bigger and better, a few months later.  Fallujah was pacified, and largely flattened.

When the town was rebuilt,  it was as some kind of 'model' for what civilization was going to look like in Iraq. The centre of the city was a fortified FOB to protect government and police buildings. It was hoped that the surviving Sunnis would 'see sense' and, like many other Sunnis,  accept Uncle Sammy's gratitude. They did and they and started hunting down "AQ terrorists" for him.

Things were looking good until the Americans decamped,  leaving a lightly-armed Sunni Anbar facing the Shia-dominated, and American-armed  Iraqi government.  It didn't take long for an 'insurrection' to occur.  The Sunnis re-staked their  claim on Anbar and fought the Shia forces to a stand-still.  The Sunni revolt was still underway when ISIS came driving down from the north and captured the place,  two years ago in November.

After the Iraqi Army was  routed so badly the US had to form a new coalition to help and returned to Iraq.  Now the US-backed Iraqi government, after training and re-equipping,  is poised to hit back.  What seems apparent is that the Sunnis of Anbar are about to get the 'comeuppance' they were 'due' five years ago. And because they've been lying-down with the devil, they're going to  get the Shia version of Islamic, and Iraqi,  justice - in spades.

One of the things that is most noticeable about the clip attached, is the eminent humanity displayed by the unit commander,   who,  although he's pretty convinced he's dealing with some bad dudes, shooting at him, he's also pretty sure some are hiding among the civilians he takes.  But he, repeatedly hectors his men,  'Don't hit them!'.  At least on camera and, incidentally, after they do.

 Given the 'injustice' we are told America rescued Iraqis from, most of the men we see sitting captive will be lucky if all they get is a good hiding.  In one scene the commander's mask slips as he goes, in person, to arrest a family who, he was told denounced a woman's son to ISIS.  "I'll break your teeth."  seemed a mild promise of worse to come as a man and his three sons were frog-marched off for 'investigation'  in Baghdad.

But if the commander is not as good as the good guys might hope, he closes the report by warning that the forces following behind him are real villains.

 Yesterday a news story reported that the assault on Fallujah was being 'delayed'  because of 'communications problems' in the attacking units.  I would bet that that problem is the one the fighting commanders have to deal with when the rievers, rapists and real killers show up. I'm pretty sure everybody knows this operation will either make peace, or set Iraq up for another decade of  sectarian violence.   Or the drift into sectarian statelets with continued strife.

Just like the neocons' plan for that  'New American Century' in west Asia foretold.

Strange

 "The road to heck passeth through procrastination" - cleaning up some 'old' ideas.

 Just when you think things have gotten as funny, stupid, tragic, etc as they're  going to get,  along come the next thing, worse (or better).  In this instant it's another sad story of Putin 'doing it' (although he is never directly accused).

As we all know one of the blowback effects of the strife in Ukraine has seen both sides setting-up ministries to handle the necessary 'skew' on news, the amplification of outrages and the 'toning' of accusations.  There are - we are told -  an army - Putin's Army - of internet commentators   scanning for stories and either bolstering Putin's misdeeds or making mock of the poor valiant Ukrainians. Apparently there are a number of patriotic, nation-loving people who do the same thing for Kiev. So when 'Peace-President' Poroshenko was mentioned in the Panama Papers a tide started rising about him and his promises to divest himself of his oligarchy, so as to run the country for somebody else' benefit and not his own. Something had to be done, enter Putin's army and the cockamamie story posted in a recent New York Times. Although the writers claim their 'contact' indicated he was hired by Ukraine, you can bet your  Vyshyvanka that Putin did it -  to make Porko look better.

A Hoax Cloaked in An Ukrainian Interview


The Hindustan Times is a unique rag,  often breaking stories from Asia well-before they appear in western media.  They are BIG on 'the evils of ISIS' stories but sometimes that even can get obfuscated. One of their more garish tales was the execution of 15 potential 'Brides' in an unnamed marketplace somewhere - for, apparently, refusing to be brides.   This sad tale started in the HT early in the day, by noon it was featured by the Jerusalem Post and made it to America in time for the dinnertime news. It was like all others of its ilk,  a memory by the next day.  Strangely enough,  the same story surfaced datelined two weeks prior to the 'big' HT reveal,  on the website of a Catholic newsfeed organization in the USA and penned by one of their staffers.

HT provided this bit of human interest which typically went on to make the rounds of western media. It was, later on, displayed as a lesson learned from the gallant Israelis who featured "door knocking" - a targetting missile on the roof -  as a replacement for the formerly-used method of placing a phone call to warn that destruction was imminent.


Door Knocking

In this instant, the report accompanied the much-circulated story of the US destroying ISIS cash reserves.  It is a telling breakthrough in humanitarianism that such bomb strikes on other 'terror targets' are often decried for the later arrival of a second missile  - intended  to disrupt any rescue effort.  Could you imagine the crowd of possible 'collateral damage' that would have gathered to pick up any flying bills?   Things are looking up.

Brennt Paris? Nein Mein Fhurer.

Like the cinematographic marvel that described Dietrich Von Choltitz' defiance of a  Fuhrerbefehl in order to save the City of Light, there will probably be a couple of 'cinemas' come out of 'Paris - the bulwark of latter-day democracy and freedom'.  I've been waiting to see how things shake-out after the latest 'terrorist outrage' and, as I expected, there's more of 'wag the dog' in the reaction than there seemed to be in the perpetration.

One of the nice things about having all the perpetrators wind-up either killing themselves (preferred) or being killed in subsequent security operations, it that it leaves the sheeple wondering 'why' and the way open for somebody to fill-in their blank. The narrative belongs to the survivors, usually the distaff side of the perpetrators' cause, if there is one. In most western democracies, under such attack, is there any permissible cause to be killing innocent citizenry or upsetting 'routine life' - unless they are rioting coloured people?  And such it was in Paris.

But, as in other such instances,  a couple of points are noteworthy.

Once again security forces were able to identify the perpetrators quickly,  almost within  minutes. Lucky happenstance - an abandoned rental vehicle loaded with weapons - led to rented hotel rooms and the identification of a number of the terrorists and the 'Belgian connection' which continues to generate news (see below) Had there been a dumped corpse in the trunk, that car might well have sat, ignored, until the pong  disturbed the neighborhood - but when everybody's looking in back windows for a 'bum' it was quickly identified. Or maybe they left it parked in the roadway.  A passport found in the street led to the notion that Syrian Jihadis might have be on a mission from God to pose as refugees and infiltrate the vulnerable EU.   The discovery has EU member-states shoring-up the internal 'grenzen' and fortifying the outer wall - to stop refugees.  And then there was the logo. Somebody went diligently to work to create something to portray the times, faster than Parisian came up with caps and 'liberty trees'  and altars to celebrate the Revolution a couple of centuries ago.

Presidente Hollande was 'on the air', again within minutes,  promising France that revenge was in the air that 'relentless attacks' were in the offing and that the target was clear - ISIS, or as a preceding step perhaps a regime change in Syria. He announced to the French that their country was 'at war'. As if what France's membership in NATO and it's involvement in 'Yugoslavia' (vestigial), Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Mali, CAR, Djibouti and a number of other places weren't actual 'wars'.  This is 'vrai laine' - all that's needed is a UN mandate and some willing allies.  The only real ally - or at least 'relentless' - seems to be Vlad Putin.


Needless to say outrage was worldwide and spread by a media slavering for the sort of sensation that sells paper. Even Charlie Hebdo rose to a suitably moronic  'Gallic' reaction to the shooters

                                     "Zey av zee weapons, F*ck them! We av zee Champagne!"


The rest of the world looked for stories of courage under fire, lucky escapes, tragic deaths and who to blame. All were intrinsic to the story, and Paris is famed, or infamous,  for its 'paparazzi'.  But the main intent, or message, was to instill fear of imminent repetitions. The fear spread faster than a Tsunami. Populations at far remove from Paris were demanding military action. France was placed under a state of National Emergency that will last until February at least. Belgium started-off with police raids - they netted no real suspects - but warnings of 'imminent attack' were announced yesterday and  to-day EU headquarters and no doubt the NATO command complex, is under guard and lock-down  security.

In related news  - according to the world press,  ISIS claimed responsibility for downing a Russian airliner the week before -  that resulted in increased Russian air attacks on Syria.  In Mali,  AQ - now ostensibly an 'ally' against ISIS in Syria - attacked a hotel in Bamako killing a number of westerners.
In the west,  the Syrian refugees are being tarred with the terrorism, despite any substantial evidence of a link. Plans to locate some of those fleeing the war there are being squelched by those afraid of actually 'importing terror'.  In other news it has been reported that Syrians have been fleeing to the west surreptitiously for the four years since trouble broke out and during the years of economic hardship leading up to it.  What put so many on the road, just recently, is another story as yet untold.

The plight of the refugees and the call to help, in my estimation, is a really good 'cover' for western governments to use to distract from the on-going process used to create refugees in the first place. They've found a winner with this, as it adds to the notion that 'they hate us just for trying to be kind'.
And it creates another subset of 'losers' in Syria, and other places, when the illegals are sent back, or the 'evil doers' aren't selected for resettlement.  The Polish foreign Minister called for arming, and training Syrian refugees in military camps before returning them to 'liberate' their homeland.  This wouldn't be far from the truth, for collecting pay as a 'rebel', or an ISIS jihadi,  beats starving in the dark and being suspected as a traitor..

Warnings of attacks on Jews by somebody, and by ISIS on the US military,  have been announced. While actual attacks on Israeli Jews have seen a number stabbed, and lot more Palestinians (and a couple of mistaken identities) shot or beaten to death by 'scared' or  vengeful Israelis.

The UN voted for 'action' on the incident, in response to France's pleas,  but thus far no definition of the action, or call for participants, has been made.  The only possible dissenting voice on the UNSC could be China - unless Ukraine opposes Russia on principal.

And in Ukraine an uptick in both 'provocations' and military movements seem to be pointing at somebody perhaps thinking that Putin has taken his eye off their ball. We'll possibly see another outbreak of fighting there. Or perhaps all the sabre-rattling is to make sure the EU doesn't lighten-up on the new anti-ISIS  'ally'  living in the Kremlin.   The EU has just extended sanctions on Russia past next June and Kyiv, like TelAviv, doesn't like not being on Page One - so this could all have just been PR hype. Recent blockades of Crimea and closing airspace to Russian commercial flights just add to all the romance - (while the Russians boycott Ukrainian turnips, eggs and kielbasa while threatening to turn off the gas)

In Belgium a week of 'dragnets' have not turned-up  the one 'missing' perpetrator, the brother  of two of the dead attackers. Nor have any arms caches or bomb-making labs been uncovered as they have in France. Belgian authorities blame their lack of success on Belgians "tweeting about police activities" so that the 'jihadis' are forewarned and have time to move themselves, and their arsenals. In response to an appeal, the Belgians are being lauded by authorities for tweeting and posting pictures of cats in poses relating to security situations and warnings. Maybe now the police will be able to stop the terror,  pussy-cat style.


What's new pussy-cat?

Ramadana-ding-dong

Isis turned one this past month and, according to them who know these things, it's a 'real' , 'new', evil that seeks, not a place at the 'table', but the actual removal of said table. According to the wise, it's celebrating the feast of Ramadan in a very special way because of that.

 Counterpunch exposee!

Clear-eyed realists, (it beats the drug-induced kind) such as Canada's Steve Harper and 32 percent of all Canadians 'know' (otherwise he wouldn't have deployed half the Canadian Air Force, and all of the sniper force, to aid Iraq in their destruction of ISIS/IL) what a 'threat' they really are - even more than the evils that are Putin, and the NDP.   (Well not really - 65 percent of us recognize the 'threat' of Putin to be so great we want to send the whole army to eastern Europe. And the NDP is actually starting to 'come a winner' for Canadians!). Can we be faulted if there aren't as many targets in northern Iraq as there were in downtown Libya, or Afghanistan?  Target richness is variable, eh? But that shouldn't stop us looking, or bombing.

Naturally, you have to have security for 'the mission' and so that's why most Canadians are earning their campaign ribbon in sun-blasted Kuwait, where the fear of the 'bolshie bomber' is lessened and the 'jihadi jitters' not so bad.  Although that's equivalent to flying out of Base Trenton to a war zone around Iqualuit . Even with their 'long legs', Canada's F-18's require air-to-air refueling to get here, stay there to look/bomb and  then return to base. It's a good thing we have 'friends and allies'. I wonder what they're charging for the 'joy juice' even if delivery is free.

It makes one wonder what happened to the magnificent forces that 'shock and awed' Saddam, blasted Iraq into the middle ages and now seem to have redeployed somewhere else. Do  8 Canadian aircraft make all that much difference?

While Canada was 'holding the line' in Iraq, Isis apparently is running amok , (to 'celebrate its birthday'?), almost everywhere else. There have been on-going attacks in Nigeria, Niger and other parts of Central Africa. Isis is still fighting in Libya. ISIS took Ramadi and Palmyra in the face of the best mediocre 'bang-bang' some money could buy (We've 'trimmed that fat' in Iraq.).  It attacked the friendly AU forces in Somalia last week. It made an outrage in Pakistan. Yesterday, it struck at Egypt in the Sinai. 'ISIS fighters' (viz a guy with a gun - but completely different to shooting-up a black Bible study class) supposedly struck in peaceful Tunisia and in France with 'front page-grabbing terror attacks'. About the only thing the west can counter with, is a growing number of 'security arrests' and regular announcements that the drones have nailed another 'biggie'.  Thank goodness the Taliban haven't shared the secret of the 'invasion rowboats' - but then, they are 'enemies' of ISIS as well and, maybe, because of that, they are no longer, perhaps, as much the 'enema' we've been fighting for the past 14 years as they are  potential 'peace partners'. Or maybe they still are scumbags in need of killing,  we haven't figured it out yet.  All is couched in possibilities.

 What we have figured out is that Iran is behind it all.  Not, as some wags thought, Saudi Arabia and the other Arab forces of light and goodness. From Ansar al Aqba to Zeddi al Djinn ANY and EVERY  problem in the middle east leads back to Teheran - in an almost straight line! The mad ayetollehs of Teheran are plotting the demise of western civilization, don't cha no?  Just the same as did Darryl the Mede as he swept down on snoozing Nebuchadnezzar.

And just a soon as they spill the atomizer:  Kablooie! Civilization as we know it goes poop!

In the meantime - even though their economy has 'gone bust' with the sanctions program - they're shipping-off the last of the national wealth to pay for unibombers. Somebody ought to tell the Iranians. They, being the decent people they are, wouldn't stand for that and there is a perfectly good Shah ( 'Och, he's a lovely wee boy"- as Mum would say) and his court-in-waiting in New York.

Meanwhile we'll keep the table polished and gather around it the 'hard core' forces of 'piece and progress'. The world needs gay marriage and real 'love' more than it needs high explosives or even another banking fiasco. If there's one thing we can stand for and they can't,  it's human rights, and the free-market system. We don't shoot innocent sunbathers, or even drop bombs on them. Well not unless they're Russians, for, you see, them 'Islamics' don't doff their duds at the beach, where you could really scope 'em out with the drone optics and nail them. Or at least get some 'actionable' imagery to post in the trailer.

We will, for the foreseeable future, 'keep on keeping on'.  It's them invasion rowboats (robots???), eh?

ISIS

The hypnotic charms of Old Egypt's 'mother goddess', the assembler of dead Osiris little bits, Bobby Dylan's paean to loss and recapitulation and now the nemesis of western civilization are enshrined in the name ISIS - the latest civilized way of expressing an idea for english-speakers that we can hardly get our heads around. if we can't say it we'll give it an acronym - at least its not something entertaining like SPECTRE or UNCLE.

ISIS (الدولة الإسلامية - ad-Dawlah l-ʾIslāmiyyah) (al daesh) appeared as an offshoot in the Syrian civil war - one of the numerous groups attacking the Al Assad regime. Shortly after it first hit the press in the west it was announced that it had 'usurped' AlQaeda and was facing off against other rebel groups. In short order it had subsumed those who agreed with it and destroyed the ones that didn't. The latter included the very small 'moderate' rebels favoured by America. It did however 'fall heir' to a large quantity of  their US-supplied arms and resources. ISIS soon became the main contender in central and south eastern Syria and it had strong ties to the Sunni areas of Iraq, particularly the restive province of  Anbar.

There are less positive schools of thought that lay ISIS directly at the door of the CIA and or Israeli Mossad or both. If that is the case, then either there is a plan for disrupting the oil region to benefit America (what could be wrong with $30 a barrel ISIS oil?) or ISIS has, like AQ before it, escaped the control of its masters. If it isn't the case, then somebody was sound asleep at a very important switch....the same people who are now trying so sell an salutary war.

The Monster

When the Baghdad government failed to put down the Sunni uprising in Anbar, fighters from Syria soon became involved, until, this past summer, ISIS itself became involved in Iraq, removing the government presence from Anbar and a large swathe of the Iraqi northland. It was opposed, practically, only by the Kurdish forces around Basra and Kirkkuk.

It was at this point America decided that action needed to be taken to prevent a seizure of the whole of Iraq. The Iraqi government was resupplied, as were the Kurds, and an offensive mounted to 'hold' ISIS forces.  When ISIS threatened a "humanitarian disaster' the US undertook a  tactical bombing campaign in support of non-ISIS forces.

This bombing campaign has now been extended to Syria and is upgraded to a 'strategic' campaign to reduce, and eventually eliminate ISIS completely.