Free Republic

U.S. military officials believe that the Iraqi offensive to retake Mosul from the militant group ISIS could come as early as April and involve between 20,000 to 25,000 Iraqi troops. The plan could be delayed depending on training and equipment schedules for the Iraq troops that would be involved in the offensive, a U.S. Central Command official said, noting that ISIS is on the defensive and that the U.S. military plan against ISIS is “slightly ahead of the campaign.” The official provided unusually detailed plans in a briefing for Pentagon reporters about the long-awaited push by Iraqi forces to retake...

Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) president Grover Norquist has written a letter to several members of the NRA’s board of directors fervently denying allegations of his ties to Muslim Brotherhood leaders as “conspiracies.” Norquist is currently facing re-election for his position on the NRA’s board of directors, all while these accusations against him have come under renewed attention—and could dominate discussion of his NRA role in the coming weeks. In the letter obtained by Breitbart News, Norquist accuses Center for Security Policy (CSP) president Frank Gaffney, a former official in Ronald Reagan’s Pentagon, of being a “stalker” he has had...

Muslim Leader Who Called Israel a ‘Suspect’ After 9/11 Meets with Biden at White House Critics call Salam Al-Marayati anti-Israel and soft on terrorism BY: Adam Kredo February 18, 2015 5:00 am A controversial U.S. Muslim leader who has been highly critical of Israel and said that the Jewish state should be on the “suspect list” in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks participated on Tuesday in a White House summit on Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) that featured Vice President Joe Biden. Salam Al-Marayati, founder of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), tweeted out a photo of himself at...

ISIS closing in? Terror group seizes Iraqi town 5 miles from Marine base Islamic State has reportedly seized al-Baghdadi, in Iraq’s Anbar Province, 5 miles from an air base staffed by U.S. Marines, as the terror group continues its push beyond its bases in Syria and Iraq in an attempt to establish militant affiliates in other countries. Hundreds of Islamic State fighters reportedly captured most of al-Baghdadi, which is 55 miles from the capital Ramadi, on Thursday. On Friday, Iraqi soldiers had retaken several government buildings, but the soldiers withdrew early Saturday, handing the town back to the militants, The...

It sounds like some kind of mysterious demographic whodunnit: "The case of the missing Jews." Except it´s no real mystery. After years of hostility, both at the government and personal level, declining fertility rates and growing emigration, Jews now make up their smallest share of Europe´s population in hundreds of years.

When Islamic extremists snatched more than 270 girls from the Chibok boarding school in Nigeria in the dead of night, protests broke out worldwide. The U.S. pledged to help find them, and the #BringBackOurGirls hashtag was born. Some 10 months later, most are still missing. The Boko Haram extremist group sees the mass kidnapping as a shining symbol of success, and has abducted hundreds of other girls, boys and women. The militants brag to their new captives about the surrender of the Chibok girls, their conversion to Islam and their marriage to fighters. "They told me the Chibok girls have...

President Obama has raised some eyebrows by suggesting that the shooting at a Kosher supermarket in Paris last month was “random.” It was a comment the president made in making the case that the media overstates the terrorist threat and that his job fighting terrorism is akin to a big-city mayor fighting crime. Asked about the president's suggestion that the market was not targeted by the group because it was Kosher, White House spokesman Josh Earnest doubled down on Obama's characterization that the selection of target was "random." Here's my exchange with Earnest at today's White House press briefing:

Why does the Obama administration ignore the will of the people, the will of Congress and even the will of the international community? Thanks to Obama’s ideology of narcissistic self-empowerment there is no unity in the United States or on the international stage unless it is the unity of our enemies. Why is this President so small? Why does he treat Congress, the Constitution and those Americans who object to his pursuit of dictatorial powers as mere speed bumps; a sideshow which detracts from what he “knows” to be right? This country has been prosperous and free because government stayed...

A top Iranian military leader claims that U.S. officials have been “begging us” to sign a nuclear deal during closed door negotiations with Tehran over its contested nuclear program, according to recent comments made to the Iranian state-controlled media. Mohammad Reza Naghdi, the commander of the Basij, a paramilitary group operating under the wing of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC), recently claimed that the “Americans are begging us for a deal on the negotiation table,” according to comments published in Persian and independently translated for the Washington Free Beacon. Naghdi added that American officials routinely “plea” with Iran in...

Recent TV news segments, op-ed pieces, public debates and letters to the editor have debated the issue of whether it is unfair, bigoted, overbroad or dangerous to implicate Islam in the reign of violence and terror that has embroiled much of the world over the past several years. Where does the truth, as difficult as defining "truth" is, lie? Rarely in the debate is there much factual data. In 2013 the PEW Research Center conducted extensive surveys on attitudes in the Muslim world. The results (at least to this writer) are stunning. • Three hundred million Muslims believe that Sharia-prescribed...

The video of ISIS barbarians burning to death a Jordanian pilot sure makes one empathize with Israel. Thirty years ago, Israel was an oasis of sanity surrounded by nation-states essentially hostile but essentially tamed. Now, Israel is surrounded by an exploding movement of bloodthirsty ISIS murderers. Contrary to what President Obama would have you believe, the I in ISIS doesn’t stand for International. What is exploding around Israel in the Middle East is now a modern death cult. Only in a culture as warped and backwards as the Middle East could a video of a human being burned alive in...

Women should "remain hidden and veiled", only leaving their homes in exceptional circumstances, according to an Islamic State manifesto intended as a recruitment tool. The document includes a curriculum for teaching young girls how to be homemakers and mothers who are "sedentary, still and stable" - and condemns the notion of gender equality. Circulated widely on jihadist forums, the text was apparently released in an attempt to recruit women living in Saudi Arabia. A plan for "the ideal education of our girls" is also included, which takes place when they are between seven and 15 years old. Religious studies, knitting,...

The head of a UN inquiry into potential war crimes committed during the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict has resigned amid allegations of anti-Israel bias. William Schabas acknowledged he had previously done work for the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), and did not want this to compromise the probe. Israel had accused Prof Schabas of "clear and documented bias" against it. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the investigation should now be scrapped. The inquiry's panel, which was commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHCR), is due to issue its findings in March. Mr Netanyahu said council was "an anti-Israel body" whose...

One of the best 30-or-so minutes on radio since I've been listening beginning in the early 1940s. One caller and one scheduled guest. KSFO Morning Show Podcast It's a four hour show. Pick the 30 January hour 0500 - 0600. The caller (27:30) is a military Afghanistan vet who explains the Taliban in concise and precise language. (Hint: there are two kinds of 'em.) The scheduled guest Jan Morgan (36:20) owns a shooting range in Arkansas who will not permit Muslims as customers. She describes an incident when she did permit 'em but no more.

The State Department hosted a delegation of Muslim Brotherhood-aligned leaders this week for a meeting about their ongoing efforts to oppose the current government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt, who rose to power following the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi, an ally of the Brotherhood, in 2013. One member of the delegation, a Brotherhood-aligned judge in Egypt, posed for a picture while at Foggy Bottom in which he held up the Islamic group’s notorious four-finger Rabia symbol, according to his Facebook page. That delegation member, Waleed Sharaby, is a secretary-general of the Egyptian Revolutionary Council and a spokesman for...

In the wake of the most recent attacks in Paris, the airwaves have been full of myths about Muslim communities in Europe. However, history tells a rather different tale: Muslims are far from alien from European culture; in fact, they are central to it. The links between Europe and Islam date back to the very first generation of Muslims. We know of the famed rule of Muslim Iberia (now known as Spain and Portugal), which created a thriving multi-religious society, something that was then a novelty in Europe. Several hundred years earlier, after Muslim Spain had begun, you might have...

The release of the film American Sniper has led to an increase in threats against Muslims in the US, according to an Arab-American civil rights group. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) has written to director Clint Eastwood and star Bradley Cooper. Their film is based on US soldier Chris Kyle's service in Iraq from 2003-09. The ADC said a "majority of the violent threats we have seen over the past few days are result of how Arab and Muslims are depicted in American Sniper". The organisation, which describes itself as the largest Arab civil rights organisation in the US, said...

NEW DELHI: The latest census data on the population of religious groups, set to be released shortly, shows a 24% rise in the Muslim population between 2001 and 2011, with the community's share of total population rising from 13.4% to 14.2% over the 10-year period. While the growth rate of the Muslim population has slowed from around 29% between 1991 and 2001, it is still higher than the national average of 18% for the decade. The data accessed by TOI showed that the most rapid rise in the share of Muslims in the total population was witnessed in Assam. Muslims...

In France, no-go zones are officially called Zones Urbaines Sensibles, or Sensitive Urban Zones. According to some reports, there is hardly a city in France that does not have at least one ZUS. There are estimated to be more than 750 such zones in France. According to the Washington Times, “France has Europe’s largest population of Muslims, some of whom talk openly of ruling the country one day and casting aside Western legal systems for harsh, Islam-based Shariah law.”

Prosecutors in southern France say five Russians from the Chechnya region have been detained on suspicion of preparing an attack. Local prosecutor Yvon Calvet said the suspects were detained January 19 in the town of Beziers near the Mediterranean coast, around 70 kilometers from Montpellier. French media reports say the five are also suspected of hiding a cache of explosives that was found near a stadium in Beziers