Category Archives: Terrorism

Caliphate, Iraq, Media, Syria, Terrorism

Seeking the Caliphate: Advice to Wayward Journalists and Concubines…….

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

Kenji Goto of Japan was beheaded today, as seemed inevitable if the ISIS Caliphate did not receive the freed Sajida Al Rishawi. It is becoming gradually, and painfully, obvious that two types of travelers, fellow travelers, now head into harm’s way at their own risk. They should know the potential consequences by now. These two are:

  • Foreign journalists who seek information or a scoop or glory in harm’s way. They should know by now that these Wahhabi cutthroats go by identity and have no respect for non-combatants. A foreign journalist is the same to them as a foreign soldier. Just stop doing it, and if you do go in, be ready to bear the consequences. If I go there I fully expect to get beheaded, why shouldn’t these foreign journalists expect the same? Just don’t do it.
  • Foreign women who seek their glory in warming the beds of the cutthroats. They should by now know the consequences: if you get in, you are in for the long haul.
  • If you want to report on human tragedy there are many other places that need world attention more than Iraq and Syria. Go to North Africa, or the Sahel, or Yemen, or Pakistan: seek your resurrection and glory elsewhere. Just stay the hell out of Syria and Iraq. Ditto if you are a European woman who wants to shack up with Jihadists. 

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter

Al-Qaeda, Caliphate, Culture and Sports, Sports, Terrorism

The ISIS Caliphate, Holy Super Bowl, and a Cabal Called NFL………

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

Suddenly the Caliphate of ISIS has disappeared from the headlines all across the United States. It is like some giant hand has pulled a giant switch toward “off” before the weekend. From cable TV to the major networks to printed media. Even online: the headlines are no more about ISIS or Kenji Goto. Even Benyamin Netanyahu and his not-very-diplomatic sleeper mole deep inside the U.S. Congress have been pushed back.
Back in Mosul and Raqqa the pious Jihadi upper echelon huddle over maps and headlines trying to figure it out. What has sucked the air, media air, from the Caliphate? At least in America, Reagan’s city on a hill they dream of sacking, they are below the radar now. Abu Bakr al-Samarrai and his Wahhabi and Chechen and European aides point the finger at a small point on the map. A place they, and most other people on earth, have never heard of: Phoenix.
What is this holy Super Bowl that now pre-occupies America? Is it like the funny little bowls their priests dip their fingers in during their Satanic rites? Is it like their other holy shopping seasons? Christmas? Black Friday? And who are these Seahawks and Patriots and Goodell? And what are New England and Seattle? What about Deflategate and Las Vegas odds? What about this new mantra I hear:”I’m just here so I won’t get fined, boss“? What do these strange words mean?
One young man, a graduate of another faraway place called Tempe, whispers in the ear of the Caliph. He nods, strokes his beard, looks thoughtful and summarizes it:
“I see. It is a temporary deliberate madness created by a powerful cabal called the N.F.L. They aim to get the people to spend more money buying things they would be embarrassed to wear for the rest of the year. To create the illusion of common interests and equality. And to divert attention away from the glories of the Caliphate. Let’s us wait until after Sunday. Meanwhile, we should all watch this Super Bowl tomorrow. I root for Seattle, WTF that be……..“.
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter

Caliphate, Japan, Jordan, Terrorism

The Grim Jordanian Luck of Kenji Goto………

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

Kenji Goto, the Japanese being held hostage by ISIS is lucky in one respect. The other hostage whose release is being negotiated now is a Jordanian air force pilot from a prominent (humorless) Jordanian tribe. My unreliable Jordanian source reports that there has been a lot of pressure from his clan for a deal to get him out through a deal with the terrorists. She added something roughly to the effect that: “Nobody in Jordan gives a rat’s ass about Kenji Goto. They want Mu’ath…“, only more colorful.
If Mu’ath is still alive. If not, then Kenji Goto’s luck, and Sajida Al Rishawi’s luck, may run out…….
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter

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Caliphate, Japan, Jordan, Terrorism

Western Delusions about Kenji Goto, Al Rishawi, and Jordan……….

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

“The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) demanded the release of a woman being held in Jordan for allegedly attempting to carry out a series of terrorist attacks in 2005, Reuters news agency reported. In a broadcast carried by the Al-Bayan radio, which transmits in areas the group controls, ISIS described Sajida al-Rishawi as “our sister” asking for her release in exchange for the freedom of Kenji Goto, a Japanese hostage held by the militants. Rishawi is a would-be Iraqi female suicide bomber on death row in Jordan in connection with triple hotel bomb attacks in Amman that killed 60 people…………….”

Sometimes Western pundits and media experts seem delusional about the Middle East. Take the example of the remaining Japanese hostage held by ISIS, Kenji Goto. There is serious talk among Western ‘experts’ that perhaps the humorless Kingdom of Jordan might release an Iraqi terrorist in exchange for him, as the terrorists have demanded. They mean an Iraqi woman, Sajida Al-Rishwai, who participated in bombings in Amman hotels that killed tens of people during the days of Al-Zarqawi. She claims she was coerced by her husband, which is very likely, although she failed to detonate it in the end.
They actually think that Jordan could release the woman, Rishawi, as ISIS is demanding in exchange for the Japanese man. I have some bad news for them.
Can you imagine the uproar in Jordan if the woman is released in order to free a Japanese hostage in Syria? At a time when ISIS is holding a Jordanian Air Force pilot who was shot down over Syria? If the Jordanian pilot is indeed a hostage and not just a defector from the humorless Jordanian Air Force. Which reminds me: we have not read much about how he happened to end up in the hands of ISIS.
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter

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Al-Qaeda, Arab Politics, Caliphate, Terrorism

Greatest Enemy Within: Desperados of Arabia and Europe……..

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

Desperado- Linda Ronstadt

Back to my last post.

Reports claim that the Caliphate of the Wahhabi Islamic State is still expanding its territory in spite of months of allied bombings. Which means that there is something missing in the broader strategy that has been used to counter its expansion and push it back.

The logical conclusion is that bombing, killing, or arresting some of them may be necessary to keep them off balance, but it is not enough. We go back to the idea of the swamp and how to drain it. That should be back as part of the longer-term solution. It requires political changes across the Arab world: the so-called Arab Spring failed miserably with one possible exception. The old regimes are still in control, from the Persian Gulf to the Nile. It also requires recognizing the elephant in the European room: the need for some changes in race relations across Europe. Racism and Jihadist terrorism feed each other in Europe now.

Repression and oligarchy rule in the Arab world might fit into some short-term Western strategy of cultivating ‘cooperative’ regional alliances, but it should be clear by now that the downside is too costly. When people are shot at in the streets, they not only blame those who pull the trigger, they also blame those who supply the guns and the tear gas. And who wouldn’t?

Desperate living conditions in the Middle East and in some European cities make pliable desperate young men and women open to the Jihadist narrative. The Wahhabi narrative can be a compelling narrative if you are in a desperate situation. In some cases it is the only compelling narrative in town. If you believe that many Frenchmen are eager for the five or six million Muslims among them to participate and vote in elections, then I’ve still got that old perfect lame camel for sale.

Despair in the Middle East and in some European cities. It is the greatest enemy, an even greater enemy than the comical bloodthirsty new Caliph or the doddering Al Zawahri and his men and their stale message.

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter

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Al-Qaeda, Caliphate, Terrorism

Has Success Spoiled the Jihadi Terrorists?…….

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

“Al Qaeda is on the run”
“Al Qaeda is being defeated”
“Mission Accomplished“
“Oh, grow up, will you?” Me

After the Al-Qaeda attacks of September 2011 on New York and the Pentagon, it was inevitable that emulating them would be harder, nearly impossible. Before that, major Al Qaeda operations were mostly confined to Asia, Yemen and some attacks on residential complexes housing Americans in eastern Saudi Arabia in the 1990s. Those caused some American deaths and casualties, but they were not spectacular.

The September attacks made Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda household names in most of the world. They also attracted new money and volunteers to the Wahhabi terrorist group. Still, there were no further attacks in the West of the kind that was widely expected. With time there was widespread acceptance of such cliches like “Al Qaeda is on the run“, “Al Qaeda is being defeated“. Other versions of “Mission Accomplished“. Which brings us to Iraq and Syria and the wider Arab uprisings that exploded in the spring of 2011.

The Wahhabi terrorists established a foothold, a base of operations in Western Iraq. They were struggling to get traction by 2010, when the Syrian uprising started in 2011. Wahhabis from the Persian Gulf essentially bought and took over the Syrian uprising. They quickly shifted the political uprising in Syria into a sectarian conflict of the kind they have been good at instigating in the Gulf region and across the wider Islamic world. Money and volunteers and weapons quickly found their way into Syria, and Iraq, allowed by a helpful Islamist regime in Turkey. What I once called the Erdogan Trail was started. Money from the Gulf region, volunteer Jihadis from all over the world, and arms continued to flow through Turkey and into Syria.

The sudden availability of big money would spoil anyone and anything. Couple that with weapons and pliable potential volunteers, and you have the makings of an earthly Jihadi paradise, or hell, depending on your point of view. The Wahhabi Jihadis started splitting away from the distant ‘headquarters’ in relatively faraway Pakistan. Even moving the HQ of the Saudi mothership, Al-Qaeda In the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), to nearby Yemen did not seem to stem that trend.

Several years ago we wrote, I and others, of Al-Qaeda franchising its activities to local groups in Africa, the Arab world or the Far East. But apparently the franchises soon started declaring their independence from their distant colleagues. That was strengthened after the death of Bin Laden, the only charismatic leader in the old Al-Qaeda leadership structure. The doddering Egyptian Al-Zawahri is not an inspiring type of person, nor are the few Arab Salafis around him.

Success has spoiled the Wahhabi terrorists, and turned them into a bunch of rival groups. But wait, that has not been bad for the Jihadis. It has been good for the “cause”. Just look at the geography: they now control large swathes of territory in the Arab world, North Africa, and Northwest Africa. For the first time in modern history. They probably have a few small swathes of territory in several major cities outside the Middle East as well.

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter

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Europe, Muslims, Sectarian, Terrorism

Salafi Sectarian War and Terrorism in Europe……..

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

Jan 2, 2015:  Reports of  protests against anti-Muslim attacks in Sweden.

Jan 5, 2015: Neo-Nazi anti-Muslim immigrant rallies in Germany.

Jan 7, 2015: Salafi terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

Jan 9, 2015: Two hostage situations involving Salafi terrorists in the                              Paris area.

What has gone below the radar in recent years is the low level Muslim vs. Muslim campaign being waged across Europe. It is a one-way Salafi vs. (other) Muslim campaign. It is overshadowed by the general Jihadi threat in Europe and by the sectarian war being waged by Wahhabi salafis against everybody else in the Middle East and by the Western military campaigns in the Middle East.

It is one-sided campaign in Europe by Salafis against other Muslims, especially Shi’as. It verges on violence, although it is more political so far. Salafi (Sunni) groups automatically strongly oppose the establishment of Shi’a mosques in European cities and try to derail them. Even as they complain of European prejudice against Muslims (which also exists).

Sometimes it gets violent. Recently a Belgian court sentenced a Moroccan to 27 years in prison for setting fire to the largest Shi’a mosque in Brussels and killing its Imam. He was acquitted of committing “terrorism” but convicted of setting the fire and causing death. This is not the first time Salafi terrorist plots have been uncovered in Europe against other Muslims (usually Shi’as). A Salafi who was arrested recently in North America admitted that he had plans to attack Shi’a establishments.

What some of the Wahhabi Imams in Europe teach is not just to go to the Middle East and fight the Western infidels. What the dominant message is, what resonates more, is their exhortation to go to the Middle East and fight/kill ‘other’ Muslims who are different. The thousands of civilians who are massacred every year by terrorist bombs and mass murdered in Iraq are Muslims. As are almost all those beheaded and shot in Syria.

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter

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France, Jihad, Terrorism

Paris Non-Suicidal Massacre: the Aftermath……….

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

The terrorists who attacked Charlie Hebdo in Paris are still on the loose. There is much speculation about the identity of the attackers, their allegiance, their particular connections. Could it be to the Salafi terrorists in Syria (and Iraq) who are loyal to the Caliphate? To West Africa and the Sahel region? France has always been active militarily in Africa. France has also recently participated in the air attacks on the Hollywood Caliphate of ISIS in Syria.
It is important that this was not a suicide attack. It was not meant to send three terrorists to the rewards and diversions of Paradise and to inspire others to follow suit. Here is what might happen back in the Middle East:

  • The governments of Egypt, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia may soon start campaigning to tie the Muslim Brotherhood to the attack.
  • British PM David Cameron, as usual, heartily agrees that this is an avenue to be explored. If only because the Saudi princes and Emirati potentates say so. All based on the principle that “money talks louder”.
  • Benyamin Netanyahu is no doubt trying to find a plausible Iranian-Hezbollah angle. (Plausibility not mandatory in this case).
  • Netanyahu will be supported by the Washington Post‘s David Ignatius, who can quote more of the usual credible Saudi and Bahraini intelligence officials than anyone else in the world.
  • Representative Louie Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) will call Obama a weakling ninny who is afraid to start a war against somebody………. anybody.

Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter

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Al-Qaeda, France, Jihadis, Terrorism

Wahhabi Terrorism: Why Paris? Why Now?……..

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

My first thought this morning on seeing the news was: why Paris? Why the most beautiful city in the world (it is true, not a cliché, to say that)?

During the 1980s, when I was a youngster, I used to travel occasionally to Paris on matters related to my work. I recall that several times whenever I landed at Orly or Charles De Gaulle, that would be followed by a terrorist attack. I used to, stupidly, joke that I had nothing to do with it.

Paris had several small attacks in those days, but nothing on the scale of these attacks we see nowadays. Those were the days when the Salafi Wahhabis were allies of the West in Afghanistan. Only the Russians, the Soviets, called them terrorists in those days. In the West, they were called freedom fighters. In the West, the words Mujahideen and Jihad were not dirty words yet.

Now the deed is done: the original Afghan incubator of Wahhabi terrorism is spent. It has been replaced with the Syrian (and Iraqi) incubator of Wahhabi terrorism.

Some things never change, however: petroleum fueled the Arab “Afghans” of the 1980s; petroleum fuels the terrorists of the new century. Not just financing: volunteers and weapons and, more important, a warped Salafi ideology.
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter

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Jerusalem, Terrorism

American Christian Terrorist Wingnuts Hit Jerusalem?………..

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2     ChristmasPeanuts

Have Yourself a Merry Little——-> Kenny G. Holiday 

“Adam Everett Livvix may or may not be a Christian Zionist from Texas, or he may be a fugitive from Illinois, or both. He also has claimed he was a U.S. Navy SEAL. And he was indicted in Israel last week on charges he plotted to blow up sites holy to Islam. Livvix, 30, is now in solitary confinement in the maximum-security Ayalon prison in Ramla, a city near Tel Aviv. According to the prosecutor’s submission to the court outlining reasons for the indictment, which was obtained by The Daily Beast, there would seem to be ample incriminating evidence, but there also remain quite a few mysteries. Much of the material in the dossier was gathered by the Shin Bet………..”
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter

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