Having run out of sedans and swimming pools for its view of creative and fun forms of execution, ISIS is now returning to an old favorite of beheadings. In the latest video, they executed women for sorcery in Syria and earlier beheaded a street magician as immoral under Islam and Sharia law. Two women were executed with their husbands.
Two women were the latest victims of ISIS and its extreme view of Islamic justice. The group has been targeted possible sorcerers or practitioners of “witchcraft”.
Street performers have been deemed sorcerers if they merely do magic tricks for children. Optical illusions are deemed black magic under the primitive Sharia judgments of ISIS. The dead man’s image shows a broken bag full of prayer beads laid near his body. Such trinkets and charms are also viewed as black magic and blasphemy.
By the way, if this all seems incredibly medieval and bizarre, our closest allies also execute people for magic and sorcery, including Saudi Arabia. As we have discussed, Sharia courts regularly punish or kill people viewed as consorting with “genies” and engaging in black magic.
The United States has employed Napoleon’s playbook until it is old and worn. But still usable. The shibboleths of democracy and liberty are still being used to justify wars of aggression and national conquest. The ideas themselves are also still being used to destabilize rivals far beyond the edges of the hot spots of military conflict. Plus ca change….
Paul, you made a keen observation. Indeed, who benefits from ISIS? ISIS has weakened the national states of both Syria and Iraq. ISIS has driven quite strong nails into the coffin of secular Arab unity. The days when a secular tyrant like Assad or his father– or Gamel Abdel Nasser– the days when a secular Arab strongman could unite the Arab states into a war against Israel as in 1967 seem long gone and not likely to soon recover. Of course Iran still has coherence as a national entity, but ISIS could expand into a threat against them too.
Ergo, ISIS is accomplishing the geopolitical ends of Israel, the Saudis, and thus indirectly the United States, which is strongly aligned with Israel and Saudis, against Syria, Iran, and their geopolitical ally, Russia.
I am gratified that the other commenters here can see this clearly and have so well explained it for the readership. The analogy to Carter aiding the Mujahadeen of Afghanistan back in the days of the USSR was particularly apt.
President Kennedy, 1961:
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”
President Clinton, 1998 (while announcing Operation Desert Fox):
“In the century we’re leaving, America has often made the difference between chaos and community; fear and hope. Now, in a new century, we’ll have a remarkable opportunity to shape a future more peaceful than the past — but only if we stand strong against the enemies of peace.”
President Bush, 2001:
“As long as the United States of America is determined and strong, this will not be an age of terror; this will be an age of liberty, here and across the world.”
Saddam: What We Now Know (link) by Jim Lacey* draws from the Iraq Survey Group (re WMD) and Iraqi Perspectives Project (re terrorism).
Explanation (link) of the law and policy, fact basis for Operation Iraqi Freedom.
UN Recognizes ‘Major Changes’ In Iraq (link) by VP Joe Biden on behalf of the UN Security Council.
How Obama Abandoned Democracy in Iraq (link) by OIF official and senior advisor Emma Sky.
Karen S. It was much worse than that…tens of millions dead in WWII.
To Tom and Karen
There were 17 million deaths in WWI and 20 million wounded.
U.S. deaths were 53,402
Deaths in WWII were much higher.
It was Germany’s responsibility to curb the growth of the Nazis. They failed to act when they would have been easy to beat. They grew in scope and killed so many innocent people. Then it took a World War, and the loss of hundreds of thousands of people to beat them for good.
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I worry that I am watching history repeat itself.
@ Personanongrata
1, July 1, 2015 at 8:13 pm
“ISIS Executes Women and A Street Magician For Sorcery in its Latest Claim of Upholding Islamic Values While Relying Upon US Government Supplied Munitions, Intelligence, Air Support, Training, Funding, Medical, Logistics.”
Well, that’s an eye-opening report, to put it mildly, and thanks very much for finding and posting it here. It doesn’t quite rise to the level of being shocking, however, in view of what National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski said back in 1998:
“Zbigniew Brzezinski:
How Jimmy Carter and I Started the Mujahideen
by Alexander Cockburn And Jeffrey St. Clair
“Q: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his memoirs [From the Shadows], that American intelligence services began to aid the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan 6 months before the Soviet intervention. In this period you were the national security adviser to President Carter. You therefore played a role in this affair. Is that correct?
Brzezinski: Yes. According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan, 24 Dec 1979. But the reality, secretly guarded until now, is completely otherwise: Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention.
“Q: Despite this risk, you were an advocate of this covert action. But perhaps you yourself desired this Soviet entry into war and looked to provoke it?
Brzezinski: It isn’t quite that. We didn’t push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would.
“Q: When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they intended to fight against a secret involvement of the United States in Afghanistan, people didn’t believe them. However, there was a basis of truth. You don’t regret anything today?
Brzezinski: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter: We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire. [my emphasis]
“Q: And neither do you regret having supported the Islamic [integrisme], having given arms and advice to future terrorists?
Brzezinski: What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war? [my emphasis]
“Q: Some stirred-up Moslems? But it has been said and repeated: Islamic fundamentalism represents a world menace today.
Brzezinski: Nonsense! It is said that the West had a global policy in regard to Islam. That is stupid. There isn’t a global Islam. Look at Islam in a rational manner and without demagoguery or emotion. It is the leading religion of the world with 1.5 billion followers. But what is there in common among Saudi Arabian fundamentalism, moderate Morocco, Pakistan militarism, Egyptian pro-Western or Central Asian secularism? Nothing more than what unites the Christian countries.
http://www.counterpunch.org/1998/01/15/how-jimmy-carter-and-i-started-the-mujahideen/
According to this new report by Dr. Ahmed, Islamic fundamentalists are again (or still) being used as pawns on the “Grand Chessboard.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grand_Chessboard
ISIS Executes Women and A Street Magician For Sorcery in its Latest Claim of Upholding Islamic Values While Relying Upon US Government Supplied Munitions, Intelligence, Air Support, Training, Funding, Medical, Logistics.
Pentagon report predicted West’s support for Islamist rebels would create ISIS
Anti-ISIS coalition knowingly sponsored violent extremists to ‘isolate’ Assad, rollback ‘Shia expansion’
by Nafeez Ahmed
A declassified secret US government document obtained by the conservative public interest law firm, Judicial Watch, shows that Western governments deliberately allied with al-Qaeda and other Islamist extremist groups to topple Syrian dictator Bashir al-Assad.
https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/secret-pentagon-report-reveals-west-saw-isis-as-strategic-asset-b99ad7a29092
@ Karen S
1, July 1, 2015 at 6:11 pm
“ISIS just crucified 2 children this week for not fasting properly during Ramadan. There are no words to express my heartbreak.”
The statistics cited below are quite dated and have no doubt been added to since their initial collection:
“Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International issued a pair of reports in October, fiercely criticizing the secrecy that shrouds the administration’s drone program, and calling for investigations into the deaths of drone victims with no apparent connection to terrorism.In Pakistan alone, TBIJ estimates, between 416 and 951 civilians, including 168 to 200 children, have been killed. [emphasis added]
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/23/obama-drone-program-anniversary_n_4654825.html
“An expert on drone casualties has told reporters that the use of unmanned aerial vehicles by American forces has caused 10 times the number of deaths brought on by more conventional aircraft. Speaking to The Guardian’s Spencer Ackerman, Larry Lewis of the Center for Naval Analyses claimed United States-led drone strikes in Afghanistan are not only more likely to cause civilian casualties than traditionally piloted planes, but the impact of UAVs is 10-fold what would be found by using more antiquated air ships.
” ‘Lewis has conducted multiple studies on the use of drones in Afghanistan and made his recent determination after reviewing data pertaining to air strikes that occurred there between mid-2010 and mid-2011,’ Ackerman reported.
” ‘Lewis told the Guardian he found that the missile strikes conducted by remotely piloted aircraft, commonly known as drones, were 10 times more deadly to Afghan civilians than those performed by fighter jets,’ Ackerman wrote. [emphasis added]
“Lewis said that statistic comes from viewing classified information about the number of civilian casualties, data which he is legally prohibited from sharing. But while his findings in full or only accessible to those with proper standing, an unclassified executive summary of his report offers a mere glimpse into how deadly America’s drone wars really are.” [emphasis added]
http://rt.com/usa/drones-death-casualties-civilian-558/
Thank you, Ken Rogers, for this.
ISIS just crucified 2 children this week for not fasting properly during Ramadan. There are no words to express my heartbreak.
They seem to be focusing on children – they have released videos of children fighting in cages, training with them, and they have “Cubs of the Caliphate” like some terrorist Boy Scouts club. Plus they torture and murder children for doing anything Haram, “forbidden by Islam”.
Their morality is stuck in Medeival times.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/07/01/isis-executioners-spare-no-one-killing-74-children-for-crimes-including-not/
“If there be trouble, let it be in my time, so that my child may live in peace.” Tom Paine
The more we let this cancer grow, the greater the likelihood that we will become embroiled in a massive war. I hope we choose a better leader in 2016. My family has a very long history of military service, so I have a small idea of the terrible cost. Iran. China. North Korea. Russia. ISIS. Boko Haram. Saudi Arabia. I see war gathering on the horizon because of our incompetence today. Losing our strong global position has emboldened our enemies, and it may be our kids who pay the price.
Karen – this is not just a cancer but a massive tumor. However, it is up to the Muslim world to remove it.
bam bam
1, July 1, 2015 at 4:07 pm
“Ken Rogers
“Brutal occupation? Think again, mister. Israel is an oasis in the middle of a massive s%$t hole in the Middle East.”
With the massive documentation of the brutality of the Israeli Occupation by innumerable individuals and agencies, it’s very difficult to view your ignorance of it as being anything other than willful.
Although it may not help you overcome yours, the following excerpt from a speech delivered by Miko Peled, son of Israeli General Matti Peled, may assist others in overcoming any gaps in their knowledge by people who are at least willing to learn the history of Israel and Palestine and how Israeli and US governments have, with their barbarous treatment of the Palestinians, fomented the enmity of so many non-Palestinian, as well as Palestinian, Arabs in the Middle East.
(In my earlier post I referred to the “60-year Israeli Occupation,” which came from doing the math off the top of my head. It’s actually been “only” a 48-year Israeli Occupation).
March 30, 2011
My Speech for Palestine Awareness Week at SDSU.
By Miko Peled
“I want to begin by thanking the members of AIPAC, the Jewish Zionist community, who are here tonight. I am glad that they decided to set aside time to express solidarity with the people of Palestine. I know that you will listen to the tapes and view the recordings of my remarks tonight and you will study them well and hopefully you will realize that you are supporting evil. [emphasis added]
“You see, I too came from a deeply Zionist background, far more Zionist and Jewish than most of you here tonight. My grandfather was a signer on the Israeli declaration of independence, and my father, a general, one of the giants who planned and executed Israel’s most definitive military victories, namely 1948 and 1967. So I know what you were taught and I know what you think. But it’s time to sweep away the Zionist myths and uncover the truth so that we may all finally live in peace. The myths I will address tonight are the three most common myths:
“1. The myth of 1948
“2. The myth of the existential threat of 1967
“3. The myth of the Jewish democracy
“I want to read to you a passage from my upcoming book, The General’s Son: ‘Growing up, we were taught to believe that the Arabs had left Eretz Israel partly on their own and partially at the directive of their so called leaders, and that therefore taking their land and homes was morally OK. It never occurred to us that even if they did leave willingly, we had no right to prohibit their return. But then Israeli historians had found that what Palestinians have been saying for decades was true.’
“In other words, when Palestinians claim something is true we doubt it, but when Israelis claim it themselves, well now, that is a different story. So Israeli historians found that Israel and Palestine are the exact same place. But when Israel was created, it was created on the ruins of Palestine.
“Now, although Palestine was not a state yet, it would have become one had it not been so thoroughly destroyed. Palestine had bustling cities where commerce and trade were taking place, they had a middle class, they had judges and scholars and a rich political life and indeed they had culture and a unique identity that set them apart from the rest of the Arab world. What the Palestinians did not have, the one thing in which they did not invest, was a military. And while they constituted the vast majority of the population, when the Jewish militias attacked, they were helpless.
“The Jewish community in Palestine at the time was small, numbering less than half a million people, but it had developed its own state-like institutions separate from those of the Palestinians. Based on the principle of Hafrada, or segregation, they had developed their own schools, a nationalized health care system, a quasi-government and a strong, well-trained militia with young men like my father who were dedicated to creating a Jewish state in Palestine, disregarding the existence of the vast majority of the population who were—Palestinians.
“In 1948 the Jewish militia became the Israeli army but between the end of 1947 and the beginning of 1949 they destroyed close to 500 towns and villages and exiled close to 800,000 Palestinians who to this day are not permitted to return. So, it turns out that the creation of Israel had not, after all, been a haphazard fight in which the Arabs fled their homes due to the directives of their own leaders. It had been a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing by the Jewish militia involving massacres, terrorism, and the wholesale looting of an entire nation. [emphasis added]
“My mother remembers the homes of the Palestinians who were forced to leave West Jerusalem. She herself was offered one of those beautiful spacious homes, but refused. She could not bear the thought of living in the home of a family that was forced out and now lives in a refugee camp. She said the coffee was still warm on the tables as the soldiers came in and began the looting. She remembers the truckloads of loot, taken by the Israeli soldiers from these homes. [emphasis added]
“Once the state was established, Israel had worked tirelessly to efface the remnants of prior Palestinian existence by demolishing towns and villages and historic sites including an estimated two thousand mosques. I recall the Israeli TV series Tkuma or ‘Rebirth,’ (an outstanding series that describes the rebirth of the Jewish people and the establishment of the Jewish state. In one interview a veteran brigade commander of 1948 was asked if it was true that the Jewish forces burned down Arab villages. He looked up slowly into the camera and said: ‘Like bonfires,’ he replied, they burnt like bonfires).
“After the war was over, the Palestinians who remained within the newly created Jewish state were forced to become citizens of a state that forced itself upon them and they were designated as ‘The Arabs of Israel’ a designation that denies them a national identity and rights. They are Arabs in a Jewish state and they are citizens of a state that is despised by all its neighbors. [emphasis added]
“Another widely accepted Zionist myth is that in 1967 Israel had to defend itself against an existential threat, as invading Arab armies were about to wipe it off the face of the earth. And it just so happened that, miraculously, the Israelis won and conquered lands to the north, east and south, defeating three massive armies.
“Well, setting aside the countless books that have been written in Hebrew, English and Arabic and documentaries that were filmed and disprove this myth, and which clearly show that Israel attacked in order to conquer, as part of the research for my book, I sat for days at the Israeli army archives reading through the minutes of the meetings of the Israel army general staff. [emphasis added]
“Here is another quote from my book: ‘In a stormy meeting of the IDF top brass and the Israeli cabinet that took place on the 2nd of June, 1967, my father, General Matti Peled, told the cabinet in no uncertain terms that the Egyptians needed at least a year and a half in order to be ready for a full scale war.
” ‘His point was that the time to strike a devastating blow against the Egyptian army was now, not because of an existential threat, but because the Egyptian army was NOT prepared for war. The other generals agreed. But the cabinet was hesitant. Between the generals and the cabinet members and Prime Minister a tug-of-war of unimaginable proportions ensued.
” ‘During that same stormy meeting my father said to the Prime Minister: ‘Nasser (Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser) is advancing an ill-prepared army because he is counting on the cabinet’s being hesitant. He is convinced that we will not strike. Your hesitation is working to his advantage.’) No mention of an existential threat, but of an opportunity to assert Israeli strength. Years later this was confirmed by other Generals, including the butcher Ariel Sharon.
“In the end, the cabinet succumbed to the enormous pressure placed on them by the generals and approved a pre-emptive attack against Egypt that began on June 5, 1967. Again, I quote: ‘The surprise attack led to the total destruction of Egypt’s air force, the decimation of the Egyptian army, and the re-conquest of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula in a matter of days.
” ‘The Israeli army also knew the Syrian army was in shambles, and the Jordanians were no match to the IDF strength. After the campaign against Egypt went so smoothly, the generals, turned their attention to the West Bank and the Golan Heights, two regions Israel had coveted for many years. Both had strategic water resources and hills overlooking Israeli territory, and the West Bank contained the heartland of Biblical Israel, and the crown jewel, the Old city of Jerusalem.
” ‘In six days it was all over. Arab casualties were estimated at 15,000, (15,000 dead in 6 days!) Israeli casualties 700, and the territory controlled by Israel had nearly tripled in size. Israel had in its possession not only land and resources it had wanted for a long time, but also the largest stockpiles of Russian-made arms outside of Russia. Israel had once again asserted itself as a major regional power.’
“Now here is where something of immense proportions takes place: remember this was 46 years ago (At a meeting of the General Staff after the Six Day War, Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin was beaming with the glory of victory. But when the meeting was nearing its end, my father raised his hand.<He was called on, and he spoke of the unique chance the victory offered—to solve the Palestinian problem once and for all. For the first time in Israel’s history, we were face to face with the Palestinians, without other Arabs between us. Now we had a chance to offer them a state of their own in the West Bank and Gaza. He claimed with certainty that holding on to the West Bank and the people who lived in it was contrary to Israel’s long-term strategy.
“Popular resistance to the occupation was sure to arise, and Israel’s army would be used to quell that resistance, with disastrous and demoralizing results. It would turn the Jewish state into an increasingly brutal occupying power and eventually into a bi-national state. This was nothing short of prophetic as today we live this exact reality. As he was saying this, the future leaders of the Intifada (the Palestinian uprising) were still lying in their cradles.)
http://mikopeled.com/category/the-generals-son-by-miko-peled/
Ken Rogers
You need to ask yourself this question:
Why is it that polls taken–asking whether or not Arabs or Palestinians living within Israel, would rather live under Israeli rule or the rule of any other Arab government, including a Palestinian one–result in a majority of those polled stating that they would rather live under an Israeli government. Brutal occupation? Think again, mister. Israel is an oasis in the middle of a massive s%$t hole in the Middle East. Whether your mind can comprehend it or not, the most basic of human freedoms, which we in the West take for granted, don’t exist in the Arab world.
Bam Bam:
I think what isn’t understood, especially in the United States, and other Western “Pseudo-Democracies”, is that some cultures have never historically embraced democracy and this is with support of the majority in many of those cultures.
Many, if not the majority of citizens in an autocratic state may view the Ruler as benevolent. I am not saying this is always the case. I am not saying it is right. But I am saying it is a fact.
The rapid assimilation of democratic processes takes time. It is a developing process and the United States is yet to reach the Promised Land. You are still waiting for Godot. And Godot never comes. You only need to look at your own history to understand this….
It is interesting to note that many democratic governments are elected to power with <50% electorate support and this is the price we pay for "Freedom".
As for a s%$t holes, you need to go there to understand the place. Some countries are anything but s%$t holes and there is an opportunity to learn from some of these people if intrinsic arrogance can be admitted and eliminated.
It is possible to find the Best and Worst of Things.
Expats find some countries more pleasant than living in the West. Tolerance does exist, depending where you are, together with courtesy and a mutual respect that has been long abandoned in the West. Personal safety is taken for granted and one can walk the streets safely without fear of the molestation so common in the West. There is zero tolerance to crime….
And it works.
These are the good things….
The bad things are well published in the Public Domain.
Democracy also has its own failings; in a speech in the House of Commons on 11 November 1947, Winston Churchill said:
"No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time".
He also said: "The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”
So maybe we should think about this issue with a little more insight. Especially when a global majority may have little or no interest in politics and just want to get on with Life and avoid the problems, created by power hungry politicians with their own agendas.
Remember that origins of Freedom has its roots in the People – and the single most destructive legacy of Politics and Politicians has always been War and Pestilence.
@ Rick
1, July 1, 2015 at 2:21 pm
“Why am I not surprised a story about Muslims committing atrocities against other Muslims was immediately turned into an America and Israel bashing party? Luckily there aren’t any anti-Americans or anti-Semites here. Who knows what would happen then.”
Only extreme obtuseness or egregious dishonesty confuses criticism of Israeli and US government policies with being anti-Semitic or “anti-American” (whatever that is).
“Two generations later, another Texan, George W. Bush, grasped the ‘war president’ moniker with genuine enthusiasm.” (Lt. Colonel Astore)
“It’s a shame there’s no relationship between the truth and what so many people write.” (Rick)
“HOUSTON — Two years before the September 11 attacks, presidential candidate George W. Bush was already talking privately about the political benefits of attacking Iraq, according to his former ghost writer, who held many conversations with then-Texas Governor Bush in preparation for a planned autobiography.
” ‘He was thinking about invading Iraq in 1999,’ said author and journalist Mickey Herskowitz. ‘It was on his mind. He said to me: ‘One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief.’ And he said, ‘My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it.’ He said, “If I have a chance to invade…if I had that much capital, I’m not going to waste it. I’m going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I’m going to have a successful presidency.’
“Herskowitz said that Bush expressed frustration at a lifetime as an underachiever in the shadow of an accomplished father. In aggressive military action, he saw the opportunity to emerge from his father’s shadow. The moment, Herskowitz said, came in the wake of the September 11 attacks. ‘Suddenly, he’s at 91 percent in the polls, and he’d barely crawled out of the bunker.’ ”
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1028-01.htm
“Bush’s strategy in the [2004 Oval Office] interview (taped Saturday and broadcast Sunday) was underscored by his repeated emphasis on war, terrorism and national security — issues that he said have shaped his presidency and his leadership. He mentioned the word ‘war’ no less than two dozen times and said, ‘I’m a war president.’ ”
http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Bush-defends-record-I-m-a-war-president-He-2824326.php
“It’s a shame there’s no relationship between the truth and what so many people write.” (Rick)
Yes, Rick, tell us about it.
“UN Molestation”
Of course not…..
If UN cannot promote/create Global Justice something else must be created which can…..
We live on a changing world and it needs to be changed for the better. This requires Collective Wisdom
@ Ken Rogers
1, July 1, 2015 at 12:38 pm
Very well put.
Now just think, in no short order, this war will engulf America and as congress has seen fit to declare the average US citizen as “the enemy” we shall have decades of civil war. Such is the future for our posterity. Maybe that will be when the American people finally wake up.
Didn’t the UN recently call the US out on rights abuses and torture?
BarkinDog – I’ve never been to MO……Lived in Washington State for most of my life, and now I split time between WA. and AZ.
I think the name is fairly common….there was a guy a couple of blocks away from me with the same name, and a pharmacy in Mesa, AZ. once gave me a prescription they had ready for another Tom Nash.
Why am I not surprised a story about Muslims committing atrocities against other Muslims was immediately turned into an America and Israel bashing party? Luckily there aren’t any anti-Americans or anti-Semites here. Who knows what would happen then.
Two generations later, another Texan, George W. Bush, grasped the “war president” moniker with genuine enthusiasm.
It’s a shame there’s no relationship between the truth and what so many people write.
I am wondering if Tom Nash is from Salem, MO. I knew one guy from there with same last name.