Free Republic

Kidnapping infidels and releasing them for ransom or killing them, as well as enslaving them if that option is deemed most advantageous for the Muslims, is fully sanctioned in Islamic law: “As for the captives, the amir [ruler] has the choice of taking the most beneficial action of four possibilities: the first to put them to death by cutting their necks; the second, to enslave them and apply the laws of slavery regarding their sale and manumission; the third, to ransom them in exchange for goods or prisoners; and fourth, to show favor to them and pardon them. Allah, may...

The Washington Post reports this weekend that Kayla Mueller, an American held hostage by ISIS and killed back in February of this year, was kept as a sex slave by the perverted deviant in charge of the terror group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The family of Kayla Mueller said in an interview Friday that the FBI had informed them that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the emir of the self-proclaimed Islamic State, had sexually abused their daughter, a humanitarian worker.Mueller’s parents said the FBI first spoke to the family about the sexual assault in late June and provided more details two weeks ago....

<p>CONROE, Texas — A series of explosions rocked an oil field chemical supply company north of Houston on Friday, setting off a three-alarm fire that sent a broad, dense column of thick, black smoke towering into the otherwise blue skies.</p>

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil) used mustard agent in its fight against a Kurdish militia in Syria, testing has confirmed. Unnamed US government officials involved in investigating alleged chemical weapon use by Isil in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakeh confirmed mustard gas had been used, according to the Washington Post and CNN. Mustard gas, used during World War One, can cause blisters, blindness and respiratory damage and is an internationally-banned chemical weapon. Last month, members of a Syrian Kurdish militia, the People's Defence Units or YPG, reported that projectiles fired by Isil's jihadists had released...

Before her death earlier this year, American hostage Kayla Mueller was repeatedly raped by the top leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, according to counter-terrorism officials. Mueller's family confirmed to ABC News that government officials have told them that their daughter, who would have turned 27 on Friday, was the victim of repeated sexual assaults by al-Baghdadi. "We were told Kayla was tortured, that she was the property of al-Baghdadi. We were told that in June by the government," Kayla's parents, Carl and Marsha Mueller, told ABC News.

The West’s frequent use of military threats and citing of their ability to attack Iran at will has become a joke among Iranian commanders in the military, according to a high ranking military official in the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported on Wednesday. Brigadier General Mohammad Ali Asoudi alluded to the West’s hesitancy to use military force and mocked its resolve while speaking to troops in the North. “We should thank Obama for refreshing us by referring to his ‘options on the table’, including the military one; we just relax and laugh at such...

United States Secretary of State John Kerry called his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Thursday to express concern about a visit to Moscow by the commander of Iran’s covert forces, a senior State Department official said, according to AFP. General Qassem Soleimani, head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps’ foreign operations, reportedly visited Russia late last month despite being subject to UN-backed international sanctions. […] Soleimani is one of several Iranian officials targeted by a 2007 United Nations travel ban because of their alleged links to Iran’s nuclear or ballistic missile programs, but the sanctions against him are due to...

The US Ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, received several threatening letters in the course of the past week, because of his country’s deal with Iran, allowing it to gradually develop nuclear weapons. The letters included outright threats against Shapiro’s life, and his security team has received instructions to increase its presence around him. Beside the letters, no threatening calls or other threats have been received. …

Irish security services have confirmed that they feel there is a much greater risk of a “lone wolf” terror attack by radical Muslims than from so-called “dissident” republicans. Sources told the Sunday Independent that they believe the radicalization of young Muslims in Ireland to be a more serious issue than those using the title of “dissident” republicans, whom they now believe are using such names to hide their criminal activities. […] Although there have been only two known arrests made in Ireland this year of those suspected of being radical Islamists, one Irish and one Eastern European, Defense Minister Simon...

Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State (IS) jihadists in northern Iraq have reported being attacked with chemical weapons, the German defense ministry said Thursday. “We have indications that there was an attack with chemical weapons” against the Peshmerga fighters that left many suffering from “respiratory irritation,” a ministry spokesman told AFP. […] IS has previously been accused of using chlorine against Kurdish forces in Iraq. In March, the autonomous Kurdish government in northern Iraq said it had evidence that the jihadist group used chlorine in a car bomb attack on January 23. …

Barack Obama's critics think he has made two mistakes with the Iranians. The first was reaching a deal on their nuclear program. The second was thinking they would abide by it. It's a mystery why, after allegedly tricking us into giving them everything they wanted, the Iranians would be so eager to evade these easy terms. But that's what the detractors expect. "I think we have to assume that they will cheat on the deal," said Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. Worse yet, they'll get away with it. In this scenario, Iran will renege on one obligation after another, block inspectors...

The way to deal with right-wing activists like Bentzi Gopshtain, according to radical leftist Nissan Schorr, is to attack him with a baseball bat. In fact, doing so is “my dream,” he wrote in left-wing paper Haaretz Wednesday. “I would set up a militia and go out into the street with whiskey bottles and baseball bats, and look for Bentzi Gopshtain and his friends in the Lehava group, in order to release my anger on them,” he said. […] Gopshtain, the chairman of anti-assimilation group Lehava, was summoned for questioning on Tuesday by the Judea-Samaria District Police, about his alleged...

Despite an annex in the UN adoption of the Iran nuclear deal calling on the Islamic regime to desist from nuclear-capable ballistic missile activity, Iran is planning to resume long-range ballistic missile drills in the coming months according to a key army commander. Iranian Ground Force Commander Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan announced on Thursday that six specialized military drills testing domestic rocketry are to be held by next March, reports the semi-official Fars News Agency. […] There has been a push in the Iranian parliament to resume ballistic missile drills following the nuclear deal as a show of force...

When the bipartisan advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran decided last week to mobilize opposition against the nuclear deal with Tehran, Gary Samore knew he could no longer serve as its president. The reason: After long study, Mr. Samore, a former nuclear adviser to President Obama, had concluded that the accord was in the United States’ interest. “I think President Obama’s strategy succeeded,” said Mr. Samore, who left his post on Monday. “He has created economic leverage and traded it away for Iranian nuclear concessions.” As soon as Mr. Samore left, the group announced a new standard-bearer with a decidedly...

CAMERA (The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America), Tablet and other media orgs have weighed in on whether pro Iran-deal spokespersons are taking an anti-Semitic tone. Some say: “Not to worry, there’s no anti-Semitism—but it will get worse.” CAMERA quotes US President Barack Obama as having said he will promote the Iran deal “despite the money, despite the lobbyists.” The same Obama was reported by The New York Times—which has come out editorially in favor of the deal—to have “denounced the deal’s opponents as ‘lobbyists’ doling out millions of dollars to trumpet the same hawkish rhetoric that...

A Muslim asylum seek beheaded an IKEA shopper in Sweden this week and killed another one. (Photo Bare Naked Islam) In response to the violent murders IKEA will quit selling kitchen knives in its store. It’s IKEA’s fault for displaying knives in the store.

Switzerland will on Thursday officially lift sanctions against Iran that had been suspended since January 2014, the government announced on Wednesday, according to Reuters. “The Federal Council (government) wishes today’s steps to be seen as a sign of its support for the implementation of the nuclear agreement and its interest in deepening bilateral relations with Iran,” said a statement quoted by the news agency. […] Switzerland will also introduce a new exemption clause that lets Berne implement UN Security Council resolutions on Iran, according to Reuters. The government said Switzerland wished to “promote a broad political and economic exchange with...

Air France on Wednesday responded to popular backlash and put Israel back on its in-flight maps, after shocked passengers documented how the maps wiped Israel out even while listing “West Bank” and “Gaza Strip”—areas that don’t even have flight service. […] The issue was first publicized by the pro-Israel group Stand With Us, which two weeks ago published photos of the map with the text: “Apparently, Air France removed Israel/Tel Aviv from their flight tracker map, despite the fact Tel Aviv is one of their official destinations. Additionally, they now note ‘West Bank’ and ‘Gaza Strip’ despite the fact neither...

Iraq’s prime minister announced Wednesday he will seek a popular mandate to change the country’s constitution amid widespread calls to fight corruption and curtail government spending. The announcement came as Islamic State militants ambushed a military convoy in Iraq’s western Anbar province, killing at least 14 soldiers. […] In Baghdad, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said he respects the current constitution, implemented in 2005, but believes “it is incomplete.” […] On Tuesday, lawmakers unanimously approved a reform plan proposed by al-Abadi that eliminates the three vice presidencies and the three deputy prime minister posts, dismantling part of the top-heavy government established...

Already considered a potential threat to U.S. national security, Huawei is again finding itself under scrutiny, linked to an offer to sell embargoed computer equipment to Iran. A major partner of the Chinese telecommunications gear maker offered to provide €1.3 million ($1.7 million) of Hewlett-Packard computer equipment to Iran in 2010, according to documents reviewed by Reuters. However, Huawei says neither it nor Hong Kong-based Skycom, its privately owned partner, provided the equipment to Mobile Telecommunication Co of Iran, known as MCI. …