Free Republic

The Pentagon moved swiftly to shoot down a New York Times report Thursday afternoon that American military forces had bombed at least two places in northern Iraq targeting fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). "Press reports that US has conducted airstrikes in Iraq completely false. No such action taken," Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, wrote on Twitter. President Barack Obama is preparing to make a statement Thursday evening, the Times reported. The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The Times reported, citing Kurdish officials, that U.S. military forces...

According to the U.N., between 35,000 and 50,000 fled to nearby Mount Sinjar and other areas, "reportedly surrounded by ISIS armed elements" and lacking water and other aid. The Washington Post detailed dire circumstances, reporting Thursday that thousands of families hiding on Mount Sinjar are desperate for help and that Iraqi government airdrops of aid are not sufficient. According to the Post, some water bottles also cracked open during the drop. Reuters reported Thursday that a rescue is underway, and some of the thousands trapped on the mountain have been brought to safety. But Wolf, in his letter to the...

The Yazidis, members of an ancient religious sect, fled when the Islamic State overran their homes. Now they’re trapped with no food or water. Will the U.S. step in to help save them? One week is as long as the average person can survive without water. In extreme temperatures, it may be less. So time is running out for the 10,000 to 40,000 Iraqis, mostly religious minorities, who have been trapped for days in barren mountains without food or water. They face a choice: return to their towns captured by ISIS forces and risk being slaughtered or stay in the...

In the summer of 2007, then-Sen. Barack Obama was asked if he was worried that his proposed withdrawal from Iraq would result in ethnic cleansing or even genocide. He scoffed at the premise. "By that argument you would have 300,000 troops in the Congo right now -- where millions have been slaughtered as a consequence of ethnic strife -- which we haven't done," he told the Associated Press. "We would be deploying unilaterally and occupying the Sudan, which we haven't done. Those of us who care about Darfur don't think it would be a good idea." Obama glossed over...

Islamic extremist group ISIS is continuing its systematic genocide of Christians, Kurds and non-Sunni Muslims in Iraq. Just this week, the group allegedly beheaded a group of Christian children and put their heads on stakes for display in a community park. In an interview with CNN, Mark Arabo, a Chaldean-American with intimate knowledge of the situation, stated, "There is a park in Mosul, where [ISIS] they actually beheaded children and put their heads on a stick and have them in the park," he reported. "More children are getting beheaded, mothers are getting raped and killed, and fathers are being hung."...

While the world fixates on the conflict between Israel and Hamas—and while most mainstream media demonize Israel for trying to survive amid a sea of Arab-Islamic hostility—similar or worse tragedies continue to go virtually ignored.

They called this the Second Wave of displacement of Christians by ISIS. The outcry is loud from the suffering Christians who are weeping and the heart wrenching testimonies are aimed at the United States to send help. In an all out offensive, Isis advanced into the Kurdish region in which residents of Qaraqosh, Iraq’s biggest Christian town, the Christians were given the same ultimatum as in Mosul; leave, convert to Islam or face death. In addition, the Iraqi Red Crescent confirmed that ISIS created a market for women slaves (Sabaya) to be displayed for sale in the marketplace.Qaraqosh was the refugee place for many...

Islamic State Pulls Down Church Crosses In Northern Iraq as 200,000 Flee Islamic State, the jihadist group formerly known as Isis, have occupied churches in Iraq, removing crosses and destroying manuscripts, witnesses report, having overrun Kurdish troops forcing 200,000 to flee Barney Henderson 07 Aug 2014 Islamic State jihadists who took over large areas of northern Iraq overnight have forced thousands of Christians to flee and occupied churches, removing crosses and destroying manuscripts, Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako has said. “(The Christians) have fled with nothing but their clothes, some of them on foot, to reach the Kurdistan region,” Patriarch Sako...

Does innocent human life matter in the Middle East if it is Christian? We ask because while Israel’s efforts to defend itself against terrorism from Hamas have provoked worldwide condemnation and demonstrations, the ethnic cleansing of a Christian community that has been in Iraq for more than 1,600 years continues with only a whimper of protest.

Qatar-backed ISIS is in the process of liquidating all traces of Christianity, and Christians, in Syria and Iraq. Qatar-backed Hamas has as its stated goal the destruction of Israel. Without any doubt, Qatar is a major United States ally, militarily, economically, and through educational proxies and agreements. President Obama, whose friendship with Islamist Erdogan is relatively well-known[ii], has, in addition, an affinity with the rulers of Qatar, the al-Thani family. Do the citizens of the United States realize the extent that the Obama administration does the bidding of Qatar? Is it not reasonable to suggest that the American public, which...

Alive but not at peace, Iraqi Christians who have fled the advance of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Mosul are recounting their nightmares about the group, while also lamenting the ostensible end of a place for their community in Iraq. Thousands fled the violence after ISIL, which now calls itself the Islamic State (IS), took control of Mosul, and many others who were left behind were forced to flee the city last week under the threat of forced conversion or execution by jihadists. Not only were the Christians harried, but their heritage that is thousands...

In Mosul, ISIS fighters have daubed the letter ‘N’ for Nazarene, or Christian, on the walls of Christian-owned houses before rounding up the residents and stripping them of their money, jewellery and even mobile phones. ‘It's a very difficult time, Mosul is empty of Christians,’ says Father Andrzej Halemba, Middle East coordinator for Aid to the Church in Need. ‘Two thousand years of beautiful history, where the Christians and Muslims for centuries had helped each other, but now it’s the end of Christianity in Mosul. It's dreadful news.’

Two Baptist chaplains said they were forced out of a Veterans Affairs chaplain training program after they refused orders to stop quoting the Bible and to stop praying in the name of Jesus. When the men objected to those demands, they were subjected to ridicule and harassment that led to one of the chaplains leaving the program and the other being ejected, according to a federal lawsuit filed Friday. The Conservative Baptist Association of America is suing Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki; the group’s suit alleges two of its chaplains were openly ridiculed by the leader of the San...