Free Republic

Dr. Sebastian Gorka .. about the massacre in Nice, and the role terrorism plays in the Islamist drive for global supremacy... Islamists have been telegraphing mass-casualty attacks using vehicles as weapons for a very long time ... if people in the West would ever “wake up” to the ISIS caliphate’s determination to impose Islamic law on the entire world... Fox viewers understand it. The military that I have the honor of working with, and the FBI agents that I work with, they get it. That’s not the problem,” said Gorka. “The problem is the decision-makers, the people sitting in the...

Baghdad Wakes to Sounds of Helicopters, Talk of a People’s 'Revolt' Sharon Behn May 21, 2016 4:58 AM BAGHDAD— Baghdad woke Saturday to the early morning sounds of helicopters flying overhead, most of them heading in and out of the fortified International Zone after protesters defied bullets and tear gas to storm the area. As they fled the gunfire and tear gas Friday afternoon, some carrying their injured friends across the bridge away from the IZ, the anti-government protesters vowed they would return – but with weapons. Many are followers of Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr who, like many of the...

The suicide bomber who blew up a youth soccer match late last month left barely a dent in the hard, dry earth, and only a faint scorch on a concrete wall nearby. But he gouged a chasm of grief in the heart of the small community that lost more than two dozen of its sons in a single moment, at 6:15 on the evening of March 25. A total of 43 people died in the bombing at the game, according to figures provided by the local government. Of those, 29 were boys younger than 17 who had either been participating...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Three important events in the fight between Sunnis and Shiites took place this week, including the removal of global sanctions on Iran, and Pakistan's announcement that it would respond to any attack on Saudi Arabia. Is the world's only Muslim nuclear nation about to intervene in the Middle East? Three very important events took place recently in the Sunni-Shiite battle of titans being waged across the eastern part of the Arab world, the region between Turkey to the north, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Iran in the east. The most important event is the removal of...

February 11 marked the thirty-seventh so-called Islamic revolution's anniversary in Iran. Since then, more than 8 million Iranians have fled their homeland to escape the rule of terror and bloodshed. I am among those who voted against this stone-age regime with their feet. Although some observers had expected a degree of moderation after the so-called moderate president of the Islamic Republic (I.R.), Hassan Rouhani, reached an agreement with the world powers regarding the nuclear deal and the end of the sanctions, nothing has changed. Political executions by the I.R. have continued to mount. Indeed, during the past 12 months, hundreds...

The latest issue of Islamic State's online magazine targets the terror group's fellow Muslims even more than the West. Dabiq, as the English-language publication is called, devotes a majority of the 56 pages in the latest issue to justifying the killing of Shia Muslims. In numerous articles, the magazine goes to great lengths to give a theological basis for killing members of the minority Muslim sect that controls Iran and Iraq and has been at odds with Sunni Muslims for over a millennia. "The magazine spends so much time justifying the killing of innocent Shiites that it suggests that ISIL...

Sudan and the tiny island kingdom of Bahrain said Monday they would sever ties with Iran, as Saudi Arabia did late Sunday. The United Arab Emirates announced it would downgrade ties to Tehran to the level of the charge d’affaires, while other nations issued statements criticizing Iran. The concerted campaign by Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia highlights the aggressive stance King Salman and his son, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, have adopted in confronting Iran, a longtime regional rival. "What we have seen during the last 24 hours is unprecedented... It shows you Saudi Arabia has had enough of Iran and...

Three Sunni-led countries joined Saudi Arabia on Monday in severing or downgrading diplomatic ties with Iran, worsening a geopolitical conflict with sectarian dimensions in one of the world’s most volatile regions. The diplomatic protests from the three countries — Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates — came as Iran accused Saudi Arabia of using an attack on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran two days earlier as a pretext for diverting attention from its problems. Iranian protesters ransacked and set fire to the embassy on Saturday, along with the Saudi Consulate in Iran’s second-largest city, Mashhad, after the Saudis executed...

BAGHDAD — Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday and gave all Iranian diplomats 48 hours to leave the kingdom, as escalating tensions over the execution of an outspoken Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia marked a new low in relations between the two Middle Eastern powers. The surprise move, announced in a televised news conference by Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, followed harsh criticism by Iranian leaders of the Saudi execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and the storming of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran by protestors in response. Mr. Jubeir said that the kingdom would not allow...

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei continued his diatribe against Saudi Arabia following the execution of of prominent Shi’ite Cleric Nimr-Al-Nimr. “The hand of God will take vengeance against Saudi leaders,” Khamenei said on Sunday morning. Khamenei told Iranian national TV that “for the unjust spilling of blood of this holy man, who suffered and was downtrodden, there will no doubt be heavenly vengeance taken upon Saudi politicians.” Khamenei also said that it was “a political mistake” taken by the Saudis, who are the greatest political and religious rival to Iran in the Persian gulf. Additionally, Khamenei’s website published an...

Gunmen kidnap 26 from Qatari hunting group in Iraq Gunmen kidnapped 26 members of a Qatari hunting party in southern Iraq, officials said on Wednesday, the second high-profile seizure of foreign nationals in the country in three months. Posted December 16, 2015 12:35 GMT "Twenty-six Qatari hunters were kidnapped at about 3:00 am (0000 GMT) by unknown gunmen," according to a police major from Muthanna province, where the kidnappings took place. A local council member from the province confirmed the number of people kidnapped but did not specify their nationality. "Unknown gunmen in dozens of pick-up trucks attacked a place...

12/02/2015 is a significant tragic day for San Bernadino, and the USA. It also happens to be a Very significant Martyrdom Anniversary for Islam... Connections? Islamic Education Center, Atlanta http://www.zainabia.com/sample-page/calendar/important-dates/ Important Islamic Dates 1437 AH (2015 – 2016): 20 Safar, 1437 = December 02, 2015 * Arbayeen (40th Day of Imam Hussain Martyrdom Anniversary)  Muslims observe Arbaeen in Iran - The Iran Project www.theiranproject.com/ blog/ 2015/ 12/ 02/ mus... Proxy Highlight 17 hours ago ... ... elegies are recited in memory of Imam Hussein and his 72 loyal companions. The Arbaeen mourning ceremony is one of the largest religious...

The laws of several western countries, besides the Islamic ones themselves, do not permit anything critical to be said of Islam. Such laws forbid what is called "hate speech." They often include other sub-groups like homosexuals, women, or race. Such laws and customs have practically reduced responsible freedom of speech to a dead letter. Fines and jail sentences are meted out if such laws are violated. Such laws are generally based on a civil peace idea rooted in Thomas Hobbes. That is, violence is caused by religious and philosophical controversy. The only way to prevent it is by a civil...

Islamic attitudes toward non-Muslims are determined by many factors of which two are most necessary to consider. The first is Jihad or Holy War. The second is the concept of Dar Al Harb (Arabic for "House of War") and Dar Al Islam ("House of Submission") in Islamic tradition. "House of War" refers to any territory or people who are not living in submission to Islam. "House of Submission," or Dar Al Islam, refers to any territory or people living in submission to the message of Muhammad. The concept of Jihad (Arabic for Struggle) has been given two interpretations, which...

According to experts, the fundamentalist jihadists who carry out murderous attacks are Muslims whose beliefs are rooted partly in longstanding Islamic teachings. ROME - President Barack Obama refrained from describing Nov. 13's Paris attacks as "Islamic terrorism" or even radical Islamic terrorism, continuing his policy of distancing such atrocities from the religion. But that nonetheless leaves open the question: How Islamic are Islamic terrorists? To equate the attacks with "views of Islam" creates "stereotypes" that are "counterproductive" and "wrong," Obama told reporters at the G20 Summit in Antalya, Turkey, Nov. 16. "They will lead, I think, to greater recruitment into...

Najaf (Iraq) (AFP) - A top leader of Iraq's Popular Mobilisation paramilitary organisation said Monday that Baghdad had turned to Russia because the US-led coalition was not serious about fighting the Islamic State group. A spokesman for the US-led coalition retorted that it had spent $2.3 billion to train and equip Iraqi forces over the past year. "To this day, we have not seen a really serious effort to fight Daesh," Hadi al-Ameri said in the holy city of Najaf, using an Arab acronym for the jihadist organisation. "There are some who try to contain Daesh but not really eliminate...

Saturday's Washington Post had an article which quotes the usual unnamed intelligence sources saying that they are surprised to discover that al Qaeda has "reconstituted" itself. This surprise derives from, inter alia, the computer data found recently in Pakistan, intelligence sources (both ours and friends'), and simply looking at the range of activities in which the terrorists engage. This surprise is, as usual, unsettling, since it has been quite clear for some time now that al Qaeda and the other major terrorist groups — Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Jamaa, etc. — are all working together, and have been ever since...

A prisoner in Saudi Arabia, who was sentenced to death as a child, faces "death by crucifixion" after a final appeal has been dismissed. Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was arrested on 14 February 2012 when he was just 17, during a crackdown on anti-government protests in the Shiite province of Qatif. He was accused by the authorities of participation in illegal protests and of firearms offences, despite there being no evidence to justify the latter charge. Ali was initially held at a juvenile offenders facility, where he was denied access to lawyers. Evidence indicates that he was tortured and forced to...

After perilous sea voyages from neighboring Turkey, they have been stranded here for days, some for nearly two weeks, running out of money and desperate to get to mainland Greece and continue their route. The island of some 100,000 residents has been transformed by the sudden new population of some 20,000 refugees and migrants, mostly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan — and the strain is pushing everyone to the limit. ... "Why, man? Why?" one municipality worker, pointing to bottles in the sea, yelled at some young Iraqis sitting by the water throwing bread to fish. ... It doesn't help...

A travel warning for Iraq, updated by the State Department on Monday, continues to warn that “anti-U.S.” Shi’ite militias “may present a threat to U.S. citizens,” naming two groups that are playing a leading role in supporting the Iraqi government’s military campaign against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL). The two Iran-backed groups, Kata’ib Hezbollah and Asaib al-Haq (“League of the Righteous”), are at the heart of the Popular Mobilization Forces, set up last year to help Iraq’s Shi’ite-led government fight the Sunni jihadists of ISIS. Although those groups and U.S. armed forces are both supporting Prime Minister Haider...