Free Republic

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., faced criticism Wednesday after voting "present" on a House resolution to formally recognize the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as a genocide. The measure, H.Res.296, passed the chamber by an overwhelming 405-to-11 margin, representing a forceful rebuke to Turkey following the NATO ally's recent incursion against the Kurds along the Turkish-Syrian border. Two other House members also voted "present" with Omar: fellow Democrat Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, and one Republican, Paul Gosar of Arizona. But it was Omar's vote that drew the dismay of Armenian advocacy groups and political organizations. Omar's "votes and...

The weekend raid that resulted in the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was named after Kayla Mueller, an American aid worker killed in Syria in 2015 while being held captive by the sadistic ISIS leader. During his Sunday morning announcement from the White House, President Trump twice invoked Mueller’s name in addition to the names of other Americans murdered under the Islamic State’s ongoing reign of terror. (snip) But in 2016, rather than successfully hunting down terrorists including Mueller’s captors, Obama and his top national security officials hunted down Trump campaign aides. Baghdadi’s death should be a reminder—an infuriating one...

Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar was one of just two Democrats to vote 'present' on a resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Turks a century ago. Omar, who in the past has said the U.S. was 'founded on genocide,' voted present on a measure that passed the House Tuesday by a vote of 405 to 11. Democratic leadership called up the bill following Turkey's invasion of Syria. Sensitivity toward Turkey's strong opposition to the legislation has kept it at bay in the past.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on Tuesday refused to support a congressional resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide, saying it was important first to condemn the preceding "mass slaughter" of "hundreds of millions of indigenous people," as well as the "transatlantic slave trade." Omar, in a statement explaining her vote of "present" on the resolution, seemingly suggested that the century-old mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks may not have occurred at all.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has congratulated United States President Donald Trump on the elimination of Islamic State terror-movement leader Abu-Bakr Al-Baghdadi. Bin Salman said the historic operation was another step in the fight against terrorism...

Syrian and Turkish armies opened fire on each other today for the first time since Ankara began its incursion against the Kurds. Artillery and machine-gun fire was exchanged near the village of Assadiya, south of the border town of Ras al-Ain, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Six Syrian soldiers were killed, according to the war monitor. President Bashar al-Assad had bolstered Kurdish strongholds in northern Syria after Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan began his offensive on October 9 to establish a 75-mile wide, 20-mile deep buffer zone.

... There will never be peace between the Arabs and Israel. Why not? Because, as noted, the Arabs don't want peace with Israel; they don't want Israel, and will look for any excuse to avoid any kind of peace agreement. As Netanyahu once observed regarding the prospects for peace in the area: "If the Arabs put down their weapons today there would be no more violence; if the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel." Or, as Golda Meir before him observed: "Peace will come when Arabs will love their children more than they hate...

In Iran, Eshaq Jahangiri Kouhshahi, the first vice president of the President Hassan Rouhani's regime, said on Oct. 22 that $22 billion of the country's resources were taken to Istanbul and Dubai under the pretext of increasing the value of the country's troubled rial currency. However, the miserable dollar price of the rial was not reduced from the act, and the $22 billion was not returned to the country. Something else was going on. Iran is facing unprecedented economic instability, a horrifying nightmare, along with corruption, embezzlement, and looting. It's institutionalized, so what we can infer from this is that...

There are about 5,000 members of the U.S. military, mostly airmen, stationed at the huge, strategically located air base in Incirlik, Turkey, northwest of the Syrian border. The American forces at Incirlik are also the custodians of about 50 B61 nuclear bombs. Data on these weapons is classified, but at their maximum yield each is 10 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, according to Stars and Stripes. It's a "Dr. Strangelove" scenario: No one quite knows how the American contingent could manage to secretly remove the deadly nukes from their concrete vaults, bring them out to the...

Accompanied by the image of a blood-splattered cross and star of David Billboards belonging to the traditionalist Muslim Justice and Development Party (AKP) municipality are on public display in Konya, central Turkey, featuring the verbatim text of Koran 5:51 (in accurate Turkish translation). Accompanied by the image of a blood-splattered cross, and star of David, the text simply re-states Koran 5:51: O you who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians as Auliya' (friends, protectors, helpers, etc.), they are but Auliya' to one another. And if any amongst you takes them as Auliya', then surely he is one of...

The United States took two prisoners during the raid on the compound of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, officials said on Oct. 28. The Oct. 26 raid left al-Baghdadi and several top ISIS members dead, as well as several children who were killed when al-Baghdadi detonated a blast in a dead-end tunnel, President Donald Trump said over the weekend. In an update during a briefing at the Pentagon on Oct. 28, military leaders said two men were taken prisoner. “There were two adult males taken off the objective, alive,” Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said...

U.S. president outsmarts Putin -- leaves him with Syria headaches as U.S. withdraws. According to conventional thinking, President Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northeast Syria opened the door to a resurgence of ISIS. “Make no mistake, President Trump ignores the national security threat posed by ISIS at our nation’s peril,” Senator Bob Menendez, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said last week. How foolish Senator Menendez and his fellow critics look now after President Trump announced on Sunday that a special operations raid, which he had approved and closely monitored, resulted in the cowardly death...

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders said Monday that part of the $3.8 billion in annual US military assistance to Israel should instead go toward humanitarian relief in Gaza. The Vermont senator, speaking at the annual J Street national conference, vowed to use American military aid as leverage to get Israel to roll back its settlement enterprise and enter peace negotiations with the Palestinians, an idea that has gained ground among some Democrats. “I would use the leverage of $3.8 billion,” he told the confab, referring to the US-Israel memorandum of understanding brokered under the Obama administration. “It is a lot...

Diplomatic Reception Room 9:20 A.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Last night, the United States brought the world’s number one terrorist leader to justice. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead. He was the founder and leader of ISIS, the most ruthless and violent terror organization anywhere in the world. The United States has been searching for Baghdadi for many years. Capturing or killing Baghdadi has been the top national security priority of my administration. U.S. Special Operations Forces executed a dangerous and daring nighttime raid in northwestern Syria and accomplished their mission in grand style. The U.S. personnel were incredible. I got to...

Carmine Sabia @CarmineSabia Charles Manson, club leader and motivational speaker, dies at 83. #WaPoDeathNotices. LegallyBae @legallybae Pol Pot, gentle field tender, farming enthusiast dies at 72 of a heart attack #WaPoDeathNotices Curtis Houck @CurtisHouck Mao Zedong, gentleman, scholar, accomplished innovator of resources, visionary on the importance of human life, dies at 82 #WashPostOrbits #WashingtonPostOrbits #WaPoDeathNotices Dan Crenshaw's Eyepatch @DansEyepatch Jim Jones, passionate community organizer and religious leader, dead at 47. #WaPoDeathNotices Actual WaPo article:https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/abu-bakr-al-baghdadi-islamic-states-terrorist-in-chief-dies-at-48/2019/10/27/0d004abc-663d-11e7-8eb5-cbccc2e7bfbf_story.html

Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued this statement after ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a U.S. military raid: “Americans salute the heroism, dedication and skill of our military and our intelligence professionals and acknowledge the work of our partners in the region. We are relieved that no U.S. personnel died in this daring raid. “The death of al-Baghdadi is significant, but the death of this ISIS leader does not mean the death of ISIS. Scores of ISIS fighters remain under uncertain conditions in Syrian prisons, and countless others in the region and around the world remain...

You know that the news of the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi during a raid by US forces came as a terrible blow . . . to the liberal media. Their first reaction was surely to worry that this success would strengthen President Trump. And so the MSM predictably is going about its business of downplaying the significance of the event—and even seeking to turn it into a negative. Take, for example, Yasmin Vossoughian, guest-hosting Joy Reid's MSNBC AM Joy show this morning, and doing her best to find the cloud on the silver lining. She managed a...

The Washington Post apparently changed the headline of their obituary of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi from "terrorist-in-chief" to describe him as an “austere religious scholar.” U.S. forces killed Baghdadi Saturday after a successful raid on a compound in northern Syria. While many celebrated the death of the serial rapist and murderer, the Washington Post left many confused by giving him the title of “austere religious scholar at the helm of the Islamic State.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that northeastern Syria is suitable for Arab people to live, but not Kurdish people, because of the area’s desert topography. “What is important is to prepare a controlled life in this enormous area, and the most suitable people for it are Arabs. These areas are not suitable for the lifestyle of Kurds ... because these areas are virtually desert,” Erdogan said, pointing to a map of the Syria, in an interview with Turkish television channel TRT. Erdogan’s remarks attempt to defend Ankara’s military offensive, “Operation Peace Spring,” against Kurdish-led militias in Syria,...

Russia's Defence Ministry has criticised the United States' decision to send armoured vehicles and combat troops into eastern Syria to protect oil fields, calling it "banditry." US Defense Secretary Mark Esper has said the move is aimed at keeping the fields from potentially falling into the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) armed group. The decision was the latest sign that extracting the US military from Syria is more uncertain and complicated than President Donald Trump has made it out to be. On Saturday, there were several troop movements in Syria...