Tag Archives: ISIS

Caliphate, Culture, Jihadis, Sex, Terrorism

Fires of the ISIS: New Uniforms in a Salafi Red Light District…….

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

So why did Daesh or ISIS change their uniforms? During their brave taunting of the lone Jordanian captive and his burning, they seemed to be dressed like an army. Their uniforms almost looked like American or other armies in a desert environment.
Still, they kept their faces covered. Which means they don’t want their faces to be seen:

  • It is probably not out of modesty, only their women and sex slaves are supposed to do that. Unless they have their own fatwa that men should also cover their faces.
  • It can’t be fear of being recognized, since they are supposedly eager to die and go to wherever they seem to think they will be going.
  • They can’t be saving it all for the anticipated post-mortem renewable houri virgins. They are reported to have a robust local market for sex slaves that puts to shame a certain district of Amsterdam and certain streets of Paris and certain ‘ranches’ in Nevada.

FYI: I did not watch the ‘burning’ video and have no interest in watching any of their videos. Just saw some still pictures on TV news.

Cheers

Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter

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Afghanistan, Caliphate, Libya, Syria

Washington’s Liberation Theology: Charlie Wilson’s Wars………

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

Saw Senator John McCain on TV when I woke up this morning. He was making the rounds of cable networks. He was asked as expected about ISIS (ISIL, DAESH). He answered with the same old mantra of the past three or four years: “No Fly Zone, Free Syrian Army“.

Except the old Free Syrian Army that he and the Arab princes had been pushing in Syria is no more. It has been completely Wahhabi-ized, as ‘we’ warned of so long ago. The ‘moderate’ Syrian rebels, the wine-sippers, have left their five-star hotels along the Turkish border and departed for Paris, Abu Dhabi, Doha, and other venues. As ‘we’ predicted two years ago, it is now ISIS, DAESH, Al-Nusra, Ahrar Al-Sham, WTF, etc.
It is amazing how they go back to the same playbook that created this mess to start with. The playbook of Afghanistan in the 1980s: Western weapons and Wahhabi oil money used in tandem to liberate a Muslim country from its present and hand it over to the joys of Wahhabism:

  • We saw it in Afghanistan after 1989, when the Mujahideen took over ‘liberated’ Kabul and set to destroy it, before handing it over to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda to finish the job. But that was okay, we got a good Hollywood film out of Charlie Wilson’s War.
  • We saw it again in Libya, when NATO used a loophole in a UN resolution to bomb the country and hand it over to the current warring Wahhabi terrorist groups who now dominate it and are in the process of destroying it. Afghanistan Redux on the Shores of Tripoli.
  • They pushed for a repeat in Syria, and Obama and Hillary Clinton made the right political noises about the longevity of Bashar Al Assad.
  • Meanwhile John McCain and his sidekicks started their own war on the Syrian-Turkish border, with a lot of help from Turkish fundamentalists and repressive Arab oil princes eager to explore the delights of a democratic Syria where free speech would reign.

Can you repeat the same mistakes and expect better results? Miracles do happen.
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter

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Caliphate, Jihadis, Jordan, Muslims, Terrorism

Daesh or ISIS after the Fire: How the West Should Win?………

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

It is the moment of truth for the United States…….

  • Forget this silly select incomplete coalition that basically caters to the whims and desires of some repressive Arab allies.
  • Forget self-serving sectarian Arab allies who keep on urging more wars and their strategies that serve their own goals.
  • Forget the Turks whose Islamist government has done so much to enable the ISIS Caliphate and other Jihadi groups in Syria and Iraq. Remember the Erdogan Trail?
  • Forget doddering John McCain and his pals in the Senate who seem to live in the bygone era of jingoistic gunboat diplomacy and colonialism.
  • Forget about the various Jihadis, overt and covert, who claim to want to liberate Syria for their own image of freedom and justice and the American way of life.
  • It is time to realize that there is no viable alternative to a shift on Syria. Forget the nonsense about Sunni Crescent or Shi’a Crescent. The real threat now is the Wahhabi Crescent stretching across Iraq and Syria, and beyond that to its financiers and supporters across the Middle East and Europe.
  • Do a reset if you will. Redraw this coalition to make it wider and more effective and not based on the whims of impotent allied regimes that effectively created ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
    Cheers
    Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter

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Al-Qaeda, Caliphate, Iran, Iraq, Sectarian

Iraqi Alibi: One American Sectarian View of the ISIS Rampage……..

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

“The Hezbollah-ization of Iraq’s military and security forces has been overseen by the IRGC-QF, another U.S.-designated terrorist entity, which is headed by Maj. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, a man personally sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his role in propping up Bashar al Assad’s mass murderous regime in Syria. In Iraq and Syria the enemy of our enemy is not our friend, he is our enemy, too………. Another one of Suleimani’s major proxies, the Badr Corps, is headed by Hadi al-Amiri, who happens to be Iraq’s former minister of transport, in which capacity he was accused by the U.S. government of helping to fly Iranian weapons and personnel into Syria……………….”

The title of this article reads like a concocted alibi for expected failure against ISIS in Iraq. And we’ve all had the apparently mistaken belief that ISIS sprang from Al-Qaeda which sprang from Saudi money and Wahhabi ideology and volunteers! Now we have beens set straight: the Iranian mullahs are behind ISIS. Disguised as Wahhabi Jihadis.

Mr. Netanyahu doesn’t dabble much in Muslim sectarianism, otherwise I would have suspected him of being behind this article. The best of Saudi royal media couldn’t have written anything more sectarian than this piece. It almost reads as if written by a Hariri pro-Saudi (Lebanon’s March 14) journalist for NOW Lebanon, or by some American neoconservative hawk from one of their many well-funded think tanks. Making the case for yet another Western war in our region (hence the netanyahu angle)………..

This is not to deny some of the basic facts in the article. The Iraqi militias are nasty ombres. The Iranian are active and scheming in Iraq, as is almost everybody else that I can think of outside Monaco. I am not sure about the Hezbollah angle: this sounds like a “Lebanese” partisan insertion. Don’t they say that “all is fair in war and love“? Everybody seems to believe that, even if they profess not to.

But then the Iranians, and some others in the neighborhood, have been stung from Iraq in the past, invaded and attacked with WMD. The Western powers, some of whom supplied the WMD or its ingredients to the Baathists, did not seem to object to either at the time………..
Cheers
Mohammed Haider Ghuloum                          Follow ArabiaDeserta on Twitter

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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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Caliphate, Justice, Saudi Arabia

A Tale of Justice in Two Islamic States: Walking the Walk………

Shuwaikh-school1 RattleSnakeRidge Sharqeya-Baneen-15

KuwaitCox2

“Victims are commonly crucified, sometimes after they have been killed, in ISIS public executions…….. The implementation of a strict form of sharia law is clearly central to IS’s governance,” he writes. “This includes imposing the hudud (fixed Islamic punishments for serious crimes); enforcing attendance of the five daily prayers; banning drugs, alcohol, and tobacco; controlling personal appearance, including clothing; forbidding gambling, non-Islamic music, and gender mixing; and ordering the destruction of religious shrines………….”

“She remains in prison. According to some reports, the accusations against al-Hathloul are focused on her social media activity rather than her driving. A prominent Shiite cleric calls for peaceful rallies against what he calls systemic discrimination against the Shiite minority in Saudi Arabia. The Gulf state sentences Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr to death in October for “breaking allegiance with the ruler,” “inciting sectarian strife,” and supporting violence, Saudi officials tell CNN. Nimr’s family accused the court of a politically motivated decision and continue to appeal the verdict. A blogger starts the “Free Saudi Liberals” forum in 2008 to encourage discussion about Islam and particularly the intrusion of the religious police in personal lives. A Jeddah court convicts Raif al-Badawi of “insulting Islam” and hands down a 10-year prison term and 1,000 lashes.……………”

“Gruesome footage circulating on social media shows Saudi authorities publicly beheading a woman in the holy city of Mecca earlier this week. The execution is the tenth to be carried out in country in the last two weeks; setting 2015 up to be even more bloody than last year, when 87 people were punitively killed by the state………….”

So, both systems behead and crucify and stone and chop hands (but only for small theft). Both believe elections and free speech are Western heathen things and are not needed in the land of Islam. Both believe women would lose their virginity as soon as they start driving cars.
This, of course, verges on a gross exaggeration on my part, just to stress some point. There are major differences that are obvious. 

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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