Free Republic

BAGHDAD — Caliph Ibrahim, the leader of the Islamic State, appeared to come out of nowhere when he matter-of-factly proclaimed himself the ruler of all Muslims in the middle of an otherwise typical Ramadan sermon. Muslim scholars from the most moderate to the most militant all denounced him as a grandiose pretender, and the world gaped at his growing following and its vicious killings. His ruthless creed, though, has clear roots in the 18th century Arabian Peninsula. It was there that the Saud clan formed an alliance with the puritanical scholar Muhammed ibn Abd al-Wahhab. And as they conquered the...

Parliament is to be recalled on Friday to discuss the UK's possible involvement in air strikes against Islamic State (IS) in Iraq. Prime Minister David Cameron said MPs should respond to the Iraqi government's request for help. He added that the UK "should not turn away from what needs to be done". The Liberal Democrats are backing air strikes in Iraq and Labour leader Ed Miliband has confirmed his support, saying the UK cannot "opt out". Meanwhile, the Foreign Office has said it is "aware" of reports that a British national has died in Syria, but it has "no further...

Children in Syria are being taken from their families to be trained as Islamic State fighters and used as informants, according to a civilian who fled the city of Raqqa. Former student Abu Abrahim Raqqawi gave Sky News a chilling account of life inside the IS-controlled city where he claimed children are being indoctrinated to become jihadists. The US launched airstrikes against IS targets in Syria on Tuesday and Abu Abrahim said IS members in the city were killed after rockets struck their communications hub and a hospital used exclusively by the militants. But there are mixed feelings about the...

U.S. planes pounded Islamic State positions in Syria for a second day on Wednesday, but the strikes did not halt the fighters' advance in a Kurdish area where fleeing refugees told of villages burnt and captives beheaded. "Those air strikes are not important. We need soldiers on the ground," said Hamed, a refugee who fled into Turkey from the Islamic State advance. Mazlum Bergaden, a teacher from Kobani who crossed the border on Wednesday with his family, said two of his brothers had been taken captive by Islamic State fighters. "The situation is very bad. After they kill people, they...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)A documentary filmmaker who spent time with the Free Syrian Army said that moderate rebels are “laughing” at President Obama’s plan to arm them against the Islamic State, claiming they simply “don’t take this seriously.” Matthew VanDyke, an American filmmaker and a friend of executed journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, spoke with Fox News’s Shepard Smith about the White House’s plan to arm and train thousands of rebels affiliated with the Free Syrian Army, a more moderate rebel group that’s friendly with the West, in order to encourage them to fight the Islamic State. VanDyke warned that removing the...

Islam has no central or definitive body or figure authorized to define what exactly it is. Opinions about its essence and scope vary widely according to the political or philosophic background of its own interpreters. The current effort to establish an Islamic State, with a designated Caliph, again to take up the mission assigned to Islam, brings to our attention the question: “What is Islam?”The issue of “terror” is a further aspect of this same understanding. Many outside Islam seek to separate “terror” and “Islam” as if they were, in their usage, independent or even opposed ideas. This latter...

At the Main Event Bar and Grill in Yuma, Colorado, on Tuesday morning, locals took their usual tables to eat breakfast and talk, as country music played over the speakers. The crowd was a mix of farmers, ranchers and retirees, many of whom have spent their whole lives in the tiny town (population 3,500) on the plains in the eastern part of the state. "Either just let them wipe themselves out or drop a bomb on them and have it all over with," says a man in a Marine Corps hat upon entering the restaurant. "Just nuke 'em. Get it...

Criticism is fine and fully American, but so is uniting behind the president, the troops—and a risky plan. Hawks wanted him to act sooner. Doves didn't want him to act at all. The rest of us—the ambivalent Americans—wanted President Obama to do something. He did this: persuaded five Arab states to participate in airstrikes against militants in Syria, including an al-Qaida affiliate plotting an imminent attack against the United States. This isn't dithering. It doesn't look weak. Obama is engaged—finally, and hopefully, for good. We should root for the president and his success, because there are no easy answers in...

No link now, they are just announcing it now.

JERUSALEM, Israel -- When ISIS leader Abu al-Bagdadi established a new caliphate this summer called the Islamic State, it sent shock waves through the Middle East. The so-called Islamic State became the first caliphate in nearly 100 years. When al-Bagdadi made his announcement, other Islamist groups, like al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood, condemned it. Regardless of the internal competition, the caliphate would be a dream come true in the Islamic world. "This dream holds together some kind of feeling that under the caliphate there is going to be a wonderful Islamic world," professor Moshe Sharon, an expert on Islam,...

Months after declaring an Islamic caliphate, Islamic State, which has seized large swaths of Syria and Iraq, is seeking to address a need of any viable nation: women. In Internet posts and social media messaging, the extremist Sunni militants are recruiting women to marry their fighters and have children, part of a larger strategy of state-building. "They are treating the Islamic State as a country that needs women," said Rita Katz, director of the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors online activity by militant organizations. "The message is: 'You are coming to marry someone immediately and have kids and cook.' They're...

Anthony Weiner’s sexting scandal left his wife Huma Abedin’s role with Hillary Clinton in doubt. But one year later, Abedin's position as Clinton’s personal chief of staff remains intact, as well as her marriage to Weiner. ... As Clinton’s personal chief of staff, Abedin was constantly at her boss’ side as Clinton toured the country promoting her memoir, “Hard Choices,” over the summer. And there she was again last weekend, standing just behind Clinton as the former First Lady worked the rope line at an Iowa steak fry, a visit widely seen as the first concrete public step by Clinton...

Rep. Tim Bishop, D-N.Y., warned during a recent speech that up to 40 radicalized U.S. citizens who have fought alongside the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL or ISIS) have already returned to the United States, where they could pose a terrorist threat. Bishop claims that of the 100 or so Americans who have traveled to the Middle East to join ISIL’s ranks, some 40 have returned and are currently being surveilled by the FBI, according to his remarks, which were filmed and uploaded to YouTube last week.

The Free Syrian Army is on the wrong side. Here's its bloody track record and disturbing alliances. Video House approves Obama's plan to combat Islamic State in a 273 to 156 vote Demonstrating yet again that we do not have an effective opposition party in the United States right now, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted Wednesday in favor of Barack Obama’s plan to arm and train “vetted” members of the Free Syrian Army. As expected,the Senate went along on Thursday. The Hill noted about the House vote that “vocal opposition” came from “both war-weary liberals and defense hawks who...

They want to keep the Christians ignorant and subservient. But Obama say, They have legitimate grievances! “Mosul, the Islamic State ‘bans Christians from school," ” Asia News, September 19, 2014 (thanks to The Religion of Peace): Ankawa (AsiaNews) – For the first time in history, Iraqi Christians who always had a “high standard of education” in the region, are being deprived of the right to study and cannot attend schools.

TheBlaze TV The 100-Year-Old Agreement You Need to Know About to Understand What’s Driving the Islamic State Sep. 18, 2014 8:45pm Erica Ritz Glenn Beck broke down the history of the Middle East on his television program Thursday, focusing on a nearly 100-year-old agreement that he says is integral to understanding the motivations of the Islamic State: the Sykes-Picot Agreement. If you do not understand the Sykes-Picot Agreement, Beck said, you cannot fully understand the Islamic State, or why the Israelis and the Palestinians will never reach a two-state solution. Though many go back to 1948 and the creation of...

BEIRUT (AP) — Islamic State fighters backed by tanks have captured 16 Kurdish villages over the past 24 hours in northern Syria near the Turkish border, prompting civilians to flee their homes amid fears of retribution by the extremists sweeping through the area, activists said. For more than a year, the Islamic State group and Kurdish militias have been locked in a fierce fight in several pockets of northern Syria where large Kurdish populations reside. The clashes are but one aspect of Syria's broader civil war — a multilayered conflict that the U.N. says has killed more than 190,000.

Americans have to face the painful reality that Arabs are, when judged by 21st century Western Standards, a crazy people. This is not meant as an insult. Early this year, the Iraqi parliament proposed a law that would permit men to marry 9 year old girls. The law had the support of a majority of parliament. The law would also permit men to beat up and rape their wives, and prevent women from leaving the house without the permission of the husband. These SOBS are supposed to be the allies of America in the fight against ISIS. The Shia regime...

Thousands of children in swaths of war-torn Syria, now controlled by dreaded Islamic State militants, can no longer study math or social studies under new diktats issued by the jihadists. While sports is banned, the children will not be allowed to learn about elections and democracy. Instead, the children will be subjected to the teachings of the radical Islamist group. And any teacher who dares to break the rules "will be punished." ... The Sunni militant group has captured a slew of Syrian and Iraqi cities in recent months as it tries to establish a caliphate, or Islamic state, spanning...

Even assuming President Obama gets the authority he wants, experts say deciding who exactly should get American aid is an exceedingly difficult task. There are vast differences among Syrian rebel fighters—a conglomerate of varying ideologies, social backgrounds, and loyalties. And the questions of who exactly is a Syrian moderate, and whether these weapons will fall into the wrong hands, loom large on Capitol Hill. There isn't a formal definition of a Syrian moderate, said Leila Hilal of the New America Foundation. But implicit in the word, she says, are a few criteria: a Syrian who is a nationalist and is...