Tag: Islamic Extremist

The Roots Of The Islamic State

College of Political Knowledge

Subject:  Islam and IS

 

By now every American is an expert on ISIS or ISIL or IS, whichever acronym you choose to use….but the fact is they know very little or nothing at all.  Sure they are or at least claim to be an Islamic organization and that one point can be argued…..from what I have learned of Islam they are NOT…the word is NOT…..an Islamic anything….they are an authoritarian group of thugs and brutes….but that is an argument for another day……

The question should be….where did IS get their ideals…..what drives them to do unspeakable things in the name of a religion that wants NOTHING to do with them?

IS, AQ and Boko Haram have their beginnings in a sect of Islam known as wahhabism which is not the mainline Islam faith but has become a strong contender….now you may ask what is wahhabism?

This movement, commonly known as the Wahhabi movement, grew out of the scholarship and preaching of Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab, a scholar of Islamic jurisprudence who had studied in Mesopotamia and the Hijaz before returning to his native Najd to preach his message of Islamic reform.

Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab was concerned with the way the people of Najd engaged in practices he considered polytheistic, such as praying to saints; making pilgrimages to tombs and special mosques; venerating trees, caves, and stones; and using votive and sacrificial offerings. He was also concerned by what he viewed as a laxity in adhering to Islamic law and in performing religious devotions, such as indifference to the plight of widows and orphans, adultery, lack of attention to obligatory prayers, and failure to allocate shares of inheritance fairly to women.

Under the Wahhabis, however, the ban extended to all intoxicating drinks and other stimulants, including tobacco. Modest dress is prescribed for both men and women in accordance with the Quran, but the Wahhabis specify the type of clothing that should be worn, especially by women, and forbid the wearing of silk and gold, although the latter ban has been enforced only sporadically. Music and dancing have also been forbidden by the Wahhabis at times, as have loud laughter and demonstrative weeping, particularly at funerals.

The Wahhabi emphasis on conformity makes of external appearance and behavior a visible expression of inward faith. Therefore, whether one conforms in dress, in prayer, or in a host of other activities becomes a public statement of whether one is a true Muslim. Because adherence to the true faith is demonstrable in tangible ways, the Muslim community can visibly judge the quality of a person’s faith by observing that person’s actions. In this sense, public opinion becomes a regulator of individual behavior. Therefore, within the Wahhabi community, which is striving to be the collective embodiment of God’s laws, it is the responsibility of each Muslim to look after the behavior of his neighbor and to admonish him if he goes astray.

There you have a quick and simple explanation of the religious extremism that IS is functioning under…..you see Islam has its extremist adherents just like Christianity….the actions of IS are no more typical of Islam than the snake handlers are typical of all Christians…….but these far out religious nuts will be used to fuel the hate for all things Muslim.  Ant that is truly sad and just a bit pathetic.

I keep hearing that the Saudis need to step up and work with the West in their attempts to de-nut IS…..I have a problem with that.  I do not trust the Saudis to be good faith partners in the attempt to control IS……now you want to know why, right?

Chatham House professor Paul Stevens says: “For a long time, there was an unwritten agreement … whereby al-Qaida’s presence was tolerated in Saudi Arabia, but don’t piss inside the tent, piss outside.” Coates Ulrichsen warns that Saudi policy on Syria could be “Afghanistan on steroids”, as elements of the regime have turned a blind eye to where funding for anti-Assad rebels ends up.

Although Saudi Arabia has given $100m (£60m) to the UN anti-terror programme and the country’s grand mufti has denounced Isis as “enemy number one”, radical Salafists across the Middle East receive ideological and material backing from within the kingdom. According to Clinton’s leaked memo, Saudi donors constituted “the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide”.

Saudis connection with funding extreme groups will make them an unreliable partner…..they will throw money at the problem but only to stay on the good side of the US……..I think if everyone is truly serious about beheading IS then there must be some pull back from Saudi Arabia……for they are all talk and will be useless in the fight against IS.

 

 

Do Not Equate ISIS With Islam

Opinion from the desk of the Editor:

To the Right wing morons:  do not look now but your narrative just got f*cked!

I know many people are on the bandwagon of hating Islam because of what ISIS is doing….the ethnic cleansing, beheading, executions and destruction…..and no amount of people coming forward to condemn these actions will change too many minds on the fact that they are haters……basically because they want to hate.

But all that aside…ISIS is using Islam as their justification when in reality they are just thugs and in NO way should reflect the teachings of Islam….as a matter of fact they, ISIS, is doing just the opposite……

“[IS] issued a statement with many changes, cancellations and amendments to the school curriculum,” a Raqqa-based activist told Syria Direct Wednesday, “including the cancellation of school material about [Syrian] nationalism, Christianity and Islam as well as art, music and philosophy.”

That report coming out of Syria……ISIS is cancelling the studies of Islam………do I need to give the slower of my readers a moment to digest that?  Let me repeat it for the slower……..ISIS is cancelling studies of Islam.

Now does that sound like a Muslim organization to you?  Especially from one that uses Islam as a pretext to commit crimes against humanity?

I decided to post this because there will probably be NO other mention of this fact on FOX or WND or that idiot Infowars…….this flies in the face of their lies and will not see the light of day with them……

Just thought my readers needed to know……….

All Around The Horn

Inkwell Institute

East African Desk

When I mention the Horn of Africa I get some unusual looks….most Americans only know of the region from a movie night when they watched “Black Hawk Down”………It refers to the countries of Eritrea, Somalia, Ethiopia and the area around the mouth of the Red Sea…..Americans sent a bunch of troops into Somalia to try and head off the rise in militancy…….it was a disaster and we pack up and headed for home…only after many Americans had lost their lives…..

Recently the Somalia militants have attacked the presidential palace and a mini battle took place……..

Militants have stormed the presidential palace in Mogadishu, though the BBC reports that Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is not there today. A police official said the attack started when a car bomb exploded outside the presidential complex. Gunmen then entered the palace, their entry apparently made easier because many members of the military police were traveling with Mohamud. A firefight is still ongoing. The Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, which lost control of the Somalian capital in 2011, has vowed to step up attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

They were beaten off……since the military is a weak entity and the militants seem to always have the upper hand…..who could have put together a successful operation to thwart the militants attack?

U.S. military advisors have secretly operated in Somalia since around 2007 and Washington plans to deepen its security assistance to help the country fend off threats by Islamist militant group al Shabaab, U.S. officials said.

The comments are the first detailed public acknowledgement of a U.S. military presence in Somalia dating back since the U.S. administration of George W. Bush and add to other signs of a deepening U.S. commitment to Somalia’s government, which the Obama administration recognized last year.

The deployments, consisting of up to 120 troops on the ground, go beyond the Pentagon’s January announcement that it had sent a handful of advisors in October. That was seen at the time as the first assignment of U.S. troops to Somalia since 1993 when two U.S. helicopters were shot down and 18 American troops killed in the “Black Hawk Down” disaster.

Now I ask again…..who do you think would have the expertise to successfully thwart a militant operation?

Iraq–The Road To Destruction

Inkwell Institute

Middle East Desk

Since the opening days of 2003 there has been a major desire to control Iraqi oil….we even started a war to gain access to it……I know…I know……the war was never for oil….that ay be true but it was about the oil.  All that is old hat, right?

Since we started invading then occupying the country…the only thing that has remained constant has been the violence, the deaths and the destruction.  Even after we pulled out of Iraq the violence has continued without end.  democracy, as it is called, has NOT solved the problems of the country.  Now the real consequences of our invasion is becoming evident……the destruction of the nation of Iraq.

First, it was the Kurd looked to the invasion as a way to get a homeland of their own…..and then the riff between sunni/shi’a added to the violence and the deaths….that has never changed….even today they are killing each other over some riff in the religion from 1000 years ago.

In a land where AQ had no solid foothold….the elimination of Saddam gave them a chance for that foothold and they took it.  It has taken a couple of years but the destruction of Iraq has begun in earnest……

In walks ISIS….the Jihadist Islamic State Of Iraq and Syria…..in the last couple of months ISIS has gained control of Ramadi and Fallujah and just the other day they took control of Mosul and now they have taken another city….the home of Saddam, Tikrit….

Stability is deteriorating quickly in Iraq, where officials are confirming that Islamist militants have seized control of a second city, Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit. Officials tell the AP that the provincial governor based in Tikrit is missing, while the New York Times notes that militants encountered precious little resistance and appear to be on their way to Baghdad. They’ve taken over the town of Baiji, an oil-refining center with 200,000 residents, and they’ve done so “without firing a shot,” the Times notes. The militants hold a power station that supplies Baghdad and beyond, and residents in the capital fear the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) could come their way next.

And with Iraq having lost control of its second-largest city to the Islamist militants, some 500,000 Mosul residents have fled, a watchdog says. “The situation is chaotic inside the city, and there is nobody to help us,” a government worker tells the BBC. An Iraqi provincial official has indicated that leaders are strategizing to retake Mosul, but troops are showing fatigue. “The state is weak,” a deserting soldier tells the Times. “This will be an endless battle.” The US says it will continue to provide “some security assistance” to Iraq, but the government must “step up to the plate” in a push against ISIS, the Guardian reports. The group, the State Department says, is “not only a threat to the stability of Iraq, but a threat to the entire region.”

The US has issued all kinds of warnings about ISIS….but guess what morons?  We caused this!  We can blame everything on everybody but this situation is one of our own making…….the people of Iraq can thank the US for their misery.

Not only did the US and her allies destroy most of the country but we created an atmosphere where ISIS could operate.  At the rate that the situation in Iraq is accelerating……the country we know as Iraq has 5 maybe 10 years left as entity…….and the West has created this situation and they have NO idea how to reverse the energy that they have unleashed.

Then a report comes out of the region that the US has been caught off guard by the deteriorating conditions in Iraq….pause here for “I told you so moment”……….this says it all for America’s foreign policy…….how pathetic is this?

Destruction In Mali

This is not a country that many Americans give two shakes in Hell about…..but that is a mistake to take the happenings in Mali, with their current civil war, with a grain of salt.  There could be far reaching consequences for not paying attention.

I know what could happen in some far off country that could effect me here in the US?

Let me explain.  Recall back to the days after the USSR removed itself from Afghanistan…..the semi civil war that took place and finally brought the Taleban to power…..and recall that they are extremists in Islam….one of their first acts after seizing power was to destroy some 1000 year old Buddhist statues that had been carved inside mountains…..(if you do not remember just Google it)…..

Something similar is happening in Mali…..the people in control of the North of the country are Salafist….an extreme form of Islam coming out of Saudi Arabia…..and these “people” and I use the term loosely have fallen into the same rhythm as the Taleban……

West African Islam has been deeply influenced by Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam that favours a metaphorical interpretation of the Qur’an and focuses on the spiritual development of the individual. West African Sufism is also known for its cult of the Marabouts, ‘enlightened’ individuals who mediate between God and humankind and who are also worshipped after they die.

The groups who have now seized power in northern Mali are followers of a very different movement: fundamentalist Salafism from Saudi Arabia. Their brand of Islam has no historical roots in West Africa and it rejects Sufism and the mystical veneration of saints as a heresy.

It is the fundamentalist Islam imported from Saudi Arabia and its animosity towards Sufism that has led to the tragic destruction of irreplaceable symbols of West Africa’s cultural heritage. Salafist literalists have already destroyed at least three historical mausoleums and they say they intend to raze them all to the ground. Historic mosques and libraries with manuscripts are not safe from these barbarians either. The manuscripts would fetch a fortune on the black market. There is a risk that important testimonies of a rich African scholarly tradition will disappear forever.

I know….what is the big deal?

European historians long claimed that Africa had no written history or intellectual tradition and that the first light of civilization arrived there with the European colonization. But if there is one city in Africa that dispels this myth, it is Timbuktu.

This city on the northernmost part of the river Niger, at the edge of the Sahara, was a thriving centre of commerce from the 13th century. There, Arabs from the north traded with various African tribes in gold, salt and other commodities. Europeans first arrived to the city in the 19th century, but Arabic scribes like the famous Moroccan explorer Ibn Battuta described the city with admiration some five hundred years earlier.

Timbuktu is best known for its historic mosques and mausoleums, where Sufi saints are entombed. But only recently did people realize that, aside from a centre of trade, the city was also a significant centre of intellectual life. In the late 1990s, an international research team found a number of private libraries where prominent families from Timbuktu kept tens of thousands of medieval manuscripts. Written in Arabic and in African languages, the manuscripts showed the world that 13th-century West African scholars were deeply engaged in the study of religious subjects but also logic, mathematics, astronomy, medicine and natural sciences.

I was in Mali when I was working as a researcher and visited many of the places mentioned……would be a real shame to have this much history destroyed…especially in the name of God.

Once again extreme fundamentalists are endangering history!  Just as the Catholic Church destroyed Maya texts and the Taleban destroyed Buddhist sites….these pigs are endangering a rich cultural history by their moronic attitudes.  And keep in mind that the Taleban let AQ show up and work their magic and we could be looking at the same for Mali.  And if that occurs how long will it be before drones start destroying what is left of their history in the name of killing AQ operatives?

Black Hawk Down (Again?)

On Wednesdays I try to post something international…..hot spots where I see a problem will arise that could force the US into doing something stupid or at least ill advised……

Black hawk Down……Remember the movie?  If you do then you will also know that it was based on a true story that took place in 1994….for those that are not sure what really happened…….

Somalia in 1994 after an American Black Hawk helicopter was shot down in Mogadishu and the bodies of crew members were displayed before the television cameras.

The sight was horrific….but what lead to that point?

Operation Restore Hope, when, in the final days of the presidency of George Bush senior, on December 5, 1992, 30,000 US troops were sent into Somalia under the pretext of delivering food aid to starving children.President Bill Clinton continued what became ever more openly an occupation. He was forced to pull US troops out of Somalia in 1994 after an American Black Hawk helicopter was shot down.

Now that you have had a refresher course in the US actions on the Horn of Africa….it will bet you are asking why would I re-hash the past….and I can say….Glad you asked!

The Obama administration is preparing a new military intervention in Somalia under the pretext of humanitarian concern for starving drought victims. The media has fallen into line with a campaign mixing crocodile tears and hand-wringing with denunciations of the Islamist movement al-Shabaab, which is blamed for the deepening crisis.US officials blame this organisation for the present famine. “The relentless terrorism by al-Shabaab against its people has turned an already severe situation into a dire one that is only expected to get worse,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared last week.

Back in 1990, it was those darn pesky “warlords” that were causing the hunger and the famine in Somalia and today it is those darn pesky al-shabaab that is doing it……and once again the media is helping the administration to build a case for intervention in another country with the US military…..is the US posturing to do just that?

I am not saying that it is inevitable that the US will intervene militarily….only that the possibility is there and with our record….it should be expected!  Why?  We have made the same mistakes over and over…..look at Afghanistan…..the same mistakes the Russians made…..and now it sounds like a rev up to “humanitarian” aid to Somalia……Does Libya ring a bell?