COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Meet Jamal Maarouf, Our Guy in Syria, The Most Moderate Rebel Leader Supported by the US




Visiting Hawija, a town controlled by Isis’ extremists
niqash | Shalaw Mohammed | Hawija | 27.06.2014



The area south of the Iraqi city of Kirkuk is now controlled by Sunni Muslim extremist fighters – and part of this includes Hawija, a large, mostly Sunni Muslim town. Although there have been clashes between the Sunni Muslim extremists and the Iraqi Kurdish military who control Kirkuk, the road between the two centres is still open. It is only being used by a few cars: People returning to Kirkuk after visiting their relatives in Hawija or people from Hawija fleeing to Kirkuk, afraid of further problems in the area.

To get to Hawija you need to go through the Kiwan area, which is now known as the “death strip”. The two opposing forces, the Sunni Muslim extremists led by the group, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, and the Iraqi Kurdish military, known as the Peshmerga, are stationed on either side of the road. Both sides are on high alert. If anyone fires a bullet over the other side, fighting breaks out. 

Hawija was taken over by Sunni Muslim extremists and members of local Sunni Muslim tribes around June 16 after the Iraqi army withdrew.

As you pass the last Peshmerga checkpoint, the soldiers there advise you not to go any further unless it is extremely important. People are being killed on this road and also being abducted by ISIS, they say.

“Be careful, they will ask you well prepared questions about why you’re going into this area and they will verify the information you give them,” one of the soldiers told me. “If you give them the wrong information, you will be in a lot of trouble.”

I had already taken his advice. I studied at the art school in Hawija for several years, I know a lot of people there and I thought it wouldn’t be difficult to enter the area if I carried my ID card from the art school.

After driving for around 40 minutes past the last Peshmerga checkpoint, we came to another checkpoint. And when we saw the black flag of ISIS we knew that we had reached their area. The checkpoint was only a few kilometres outside of the Hawija district. Two masked men waved the car down and came towards us.

The taxi I was in had two other passengers, a Sunni Muslim man and woman, and they were not afraid about coming here because they were originally from Hawija.

When the men got to the car, one of them asked me why I was going into Hawija; I quickly pulled out my art school ID and said I needed to pick up my graduation certificate so I could apply for a job. The masked man told me that the art school was actually closed and that there are no new jobs going in Kirkuk. So why are you picking it up and what are you actually going to do with it?, he asked.

I explained that I knew some of the art school staff and that they were going to help me get a job.

He checked my ID card again, carefully, and then he gave me a copy of the Koran. He gave the other passengers a Koran too. “May God be with you,” he said and let us pass.

Haider, our taxi driver, who drives this road almost every day, said that from the very first day that ISIS took over they had been giving out copies of the Koran to each and every one of his passengers.

As we entered Hawija the first thing we saw was the building that was formerly used by the Iraqi army’s 12th Division. A large sign now hangs over the main entrance, reading “ISIS – Secret Operations Room” in big white letters. According to Iraqi Kurdish officials, ISIS now has an intelligence section so it can better monitor its rivals’ operations. 

We didn’t stop driving. We passed by many buildings. One of them was the art school where I had studied. There was no sign on the building but masked and unmasked gunmen surrounded it. I asked what had happened to the art school and was told that ISIS had turned the school into a detention centre where members of the police and army and other locals were imprisoned.

In the past, the most important building in Hawija was the headquarters of the district council. This building has now become the centre for tribal relations. “ISIS – Public Relations – Tribal Section” was written in large letters on the building’s wall.

Asking around some of the locals later, they say that ISIS is adopting a different, more moderate strategy here. It is fostering good relations with local Sunni Muslim tribes and has told them that they will be in charge in this area. It has also assigned local individuals to start a dialogue with other Sunni Muslim tribes in the area to try and get them to enter into alliances with ISIS too.

However our taxi driver also tells us that although ISIS has informed the tribes that they own the city, the extremist group has also said that the city will operate under ISIS’ rules. Anyone who violates those rules will be punished by 80 lashes, the taxi driver explains.

We drive on. The former Hawija police headquarters has become the ISIS military headquarters. There’s a sign saying “Main Unit – The Army of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria”.

The town looks relatively normal and people are moving around even though work in all state institutions has ceased. There are a lot of cars carrying militants and flying their distinctive black flags driving around the city and according to the locals, some of those cars probably also contain members of local tribal militias; however these have been instructed not to carry any flag other than ISIS’. 

It is clear to everyone who lives here that ISIS is the most senior authority in the town. That is even though the Naqshbandi army has been involved in resistance activities in the area for some time. The group, which has strong links to the outlawed Baath party and which calls for ongoing resistance against the “Safavid”, or Iranian and Shiite Muslim, occupation of Iraq, is classified as a terrorist organization by many. In 2012, the Naqshbandi army tried to attack Hawija’s council buildings but the Iraqi army was able to wrest control back from them.

Hawija was also the site of ongoing Sunni Muslim anti-government protests that were eventually closed down violently by the Iraqi army in early 2013, resulting in as many as 50 deaths. 

So perhaps it is no surprise that ISIS have found sympathetic allies here.

ISIS have turned the Abdul Wahid mosque and the Shahidan mosque into Islamic law courts and there they act as if they have the highest judicial authority. A Hawija doctor told me that any person who violates ISIS rules is trialled in one of these two mosques and also sentenced there. 

I was also told that ISIS will soon announce a wali, or guardian, for Hawija and for the other parts of Kirkuk province that they control – this includes Rashad, Zab, Riyadh and Abbasi. Once a wali is appointed, ISIS plan to re-open various institutions and businesses that are closed.

One of the employees at Hawija’s courts said that most of the district government’s staff had left town and those who had stayed were not going to work because they were worried that the central government would just consider this time an open vacation, which was what they were apparently doing in Mosul. The staff also know that ISIS won’t be paying their salaries.

“ISIS is calling people in the alleys and the markets to go back to work,” says this former administrator, who stayed Hawija but who didn’t want to give his name. “But only a few people are responding to those calls.”

The fact that the provincial authorities are no longer running anything is making life very difficult for locals. Water and electricity are only available for a few hours a day, the prices of market goods have risen and there are fuel shortages.

Rubbish has been piling up on the main streets over the past few days; but groups of local young people have started a cleaning campaign because they’re convinced that if they wait for the municipal authorities to clear anything away, they’re going to be waiting for a very long time.


The Hawija district is also one of the biggest grain producers in Iraq, with around 4,500 farmers working here according to Kirkuk’s Directorate of Agriculture. However the granary doors in Hawija are currently closed and farmers cannot bring their crops there. 

One farmer we met in the city told us that there were probably over 100,000 acres of grain waiting to be harvested. “If they [ISIS] don’t find a solution soon we will loose all our grain this year,” he complained.

And even if the granary does open again, the other problem facing the farmers is how to get their crops out of the district when movement between Hawija and Kirkuk remains dangerous and difficult.


Most of the people we talked to in Hawija said that they would never allow Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s army to rule over them again. But they also all expressed their doubts about ISIS; they just don’t know what is going to happen next and what the future holds, under the rule of this group.

137 comments:

  1. Israel is the only developed nation (with a fertility rate of three) that loves life sufficiently to bring more children into the world than are required to replace the existing population. Even the US has fallen below replacement as Hispanics assimilate into Western culture and younger evangelicals behave more like their secular peers. Israel today, as at the time of the prophets, remains a unique and irreplaceable light unto the world, the paragon of a nation, the hope of all humanity. Today it is the proof that modern men and women can embrace life and raise themselves above the tragic fate of the peoples since the dawn of man. Anti-semitism is the vicious grudge that death harbors against life. We are tired of refuting the clumsy calumnies that are thrown at Israel each day in the liberal media. Our response is in the imperative: “Choose life!”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ha, ha, ha!

      The disinformation flows out of "O"rdure like shit through a goose.

      Delete
    2. He is so tired of Apartheid and False Flags he i trying to bring the conversation back to abortion.

      I told him he would yearn for this day, and I was right, again

      har di har har.

      Delete
    3. "O"rdure is so tired of Apartheid and False Flags he is trying to bring the conversation back to abortion.

      But the truth remains, the Zionists murdered 252 Jewish refugees on the "Patra", the Zionist chose death, not life for their Jewish cousins.

      That's the reality of Zionism, the reality of modern Israel.
      It is a death cult, founded on terrorism and sustained by terrorism.

      Abortion, "O"rdure's comical attempt to change the focus of the conversation.

      Delete
    4. jack stands with Hamas and Iran.

      I stand with Israel.

      Delete
  2. Jack HawkinsTue Jul 15, 04:22:00 PM EDT
    "O"rdure is so tired of Apartheid and False Flags he is trying to bring the conversation back to abortion.

    But the truth remains, the Zionists murdered 252 Jewish refugees on the "Patra", the Zionist chose death, not life for their Jewish cousins.

    That's the reality of Zionism, the reality of modern Israel.
    It is a death cult, founded on terrorism and sustained by terrorism.

    Abortion, "O"rdure's comical attempt to change the focus of the conversation.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jack HawkinsTue Jul 15, 04:18:00 PM EDT
    He is so tired of Apartheid and False Flags he i trying to bring the conversation back to abortion.

    I told him he would yearn for this day, and I was right, again

    har di har har.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jack HawkinsTue Jul 15, 04:17:00 PM EDT
    ha, ha, ha!

    The disinformation flows out of "O"rdure like shit through a goose.

    ReplyDelete
  5. It’s like the old joke: Why do Jewish men die before their wives? Because they want to. Civilizations for the most part die because they no longer want to live. That is the nub of my 2011 book How Civilizations Die (and Why Islam Is Dying, Too). They cease to believe in their own future and distract themselves from the prospect of extinction as best they can. Hellenistic Greece was the first universal demographic disaster; it gave us prototypes of the steam engine and the computer (via Hero of Alexandria) as well as the modern literary forms. But even wealthy men exposed their daughters and the population imploded. When Aristotle taught that men naturally seek the good, the overwhelming preponderance of evidence had already turned against him. Most men seek nothingness. Soon the last surviving remnants of the classical world will disappear. In another generation, more people will speak Hebrew than Greek.

    Hamas wants to die, obviously and visibly. That thought horrifies Westerners. As a number of Israeli commentators observe, Hamas doesn’t particularly care about having a Palestinian State. It wants to destroy the Jewish State and is willing to die in the process. It wants to die in such a way that Israel will die, too. There is something utterly surreal to Hamas crowding civilians around military targets, and Israeli pilots declining to attack them. It recalls joke about the sadist and the masochist. The masochist says, “Beat me!,” and the sadist says, No…suffer.”


    Hamas, to be sure, proposes to die in an accelerated time frame and a particularly disgusting fashion, but it should be kept in mind that self-willed extinction is the norm. West of the Indus, Israel is the only survivor among the thousands of little nations that flourished between 10,000 BC and 600 AD. To be sure, there have been plenty of small tribes that wanted to live but were trampled by conquering hordes. The rule, however, is that civilizations die of their own disgust with life. Most of the industrial nations are dying, some very quickly. Most of the Muslim world would rather die than accommodate modernity (although some of it may choose to cease to be Islamic).

    I do not mean to sound cruel, but the best thing you can do for victims of a dying culture is: Don’t be one of them. Individuals who want to live have the option of changing cultures. I do not mean that Israel (or anyone else) should go about killing off enemies in order to satisfy their death wish. God forbid: life is still sacred to us even if it is repugnant to them. Neither do we have to commit suicide in order to accommodate our crazy neighbor’s death-wish. We might try to talk him down from the roof, but we are entitled to step aside when he jumps. It is not in our power to persuade suicidal civilizations to carry on living. Ultimately it is our job to contain the damage to ourselves. We cannot help but accept some civilian deaths while engaging an enemy that seeks the maximum number of civilian casualties.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All of this is anathema to liberals, whose premise is that human agency can fix all problems. Enlightenment materialism posited a natural man who either sought self-preservation (Hobbes) or naturally pursued his own best interests (Locke) or was inherently good before corrupted by civilization (Rousseau). Satanic laughter from around the Levant drowns out the squeaky, thin voices of the Enlightenment. One no longer needs to read about it in books. The Middle East has become “How Civilizations Die: The Reality Show.”

      Israel is the only developed nation (with a fertility rate of three) that loves life sufficiently to bring more children into the world than are required to replace the existing population. Even the US has fallen below replacement as Hispanics assimilate into Western culture and younger evangelicals behave more like their secular peers. Israel today, as at the time of the prophets, remains a unique and irreplaceable light unto the world, the paragon of a nation, the hope of all humanity. Today it is the proof that modern men and women can embrace life and raise themselves above the tragic fate of the peoples since the dawn of man. Anti-semitism is the vicious grudge that death harbors against life. We are tired of refuting the clumsy calumnies that are thrown at Israel each day in the liberal media. Our response is in the imperative: “Choose life!”

      http://pjmedia.com/spengler/2014/07/15/israel-is-the-exception/

      Delete
    2. It's all the lapsed Catholics around no longer following Holy Father's teaching on birth control that are ruining the world.

      Delete
    3. ...once again, the idiot obsessed with religious, ethnic and racial bias reminds everyone why I have to clean up after the old fool.

      Delete
  6. Jack HawkinsTue Jul 15, 04:18:00 PM EDT

    He is so tired of Apartheid and False Flags he i trying to bring the conversation back to abortion.

    I told him he would yearn for this day, and I was right, again

    >>>>>har di har har <<<<<<

    Jack 'Hamasass' Hawkins, you are subconsciously trying to imitate my copy righted internet chuckle.

    But it should be :

    hardeharhar

    a variation :

    har de harhar

    Imitation is a form of flattery, but really, you are spooky.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Jack 'Hamasass' Hawkins, you are subconsciously trying to imitate my copy righted internet chuckle.

      Right. And I invented 'badum tish'.

      Lordy, you are something.

      .

      Delete
    2. I know it !!!!

      And I would never pilfer your badum tish.

      Never !!

      Delete

  7. The Blog
    Obamacare Misses Its Target on the Uninsured by Half
    10:05 AM, Jul 15, 2014 • By JEFFREY H. ANDERSON

    In March 2010, Obamacare was about to be voted upon by the House of Representatives, and the Democrats were in the process of deciding whether to ignore public opinion at their peril. At that time, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that Obamacare would cost $938 billion over a decade and would reduce the number of uninsured people by 19 million as of 2014 (with a reduction of 1 million prior to 2014 and 18 million in 2014 alone). Unimpressed, the American people overwhelmingly opposed the intrusive overhaul — with 20 of 21 polls taken that month showing it to be unpopular, most of them by double digits. The Democrats willfully passed Obamacare anyway and lost 63 House seats that November.
    Obamacare

    Two years later, the Supreme Court declared Obamacare’s coercive Medicaid expansion to be unconstitutional as written, and the CBO adjusted its projection for the number of uninsured accordingly. It projected that Obamacare would reduce the number of uninsured by 14 million as of 2014 (2 million before 2014 and 12 million in 2014 alone), at a 10-year cost of $1.677 trillion — or $739 billion more than the 2010 projection. (This February, the CBO projected that Obamacare’s 10-year cost would eclipse $2 trillion.)
    Related Stories

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    More by Jeffrey H. Anderson

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    Cronyism and Coercion

    In February of this year, the CBO projected that Obamacare would reduce the number of uninsured by 13 million as of 2014. In April, the CBO had seen enough of the Obama administration’s skillful rollout of Obamacare to reduce that estimate to 12 million.

    Now the Urban Institute finds that Obamacare has actually reduced the number of uninsured adults by 8 million since the rollout began last fall. (Gallup shows a similar number.) That’s far short of the number of newly insured that the CBO projected in April of this year, in February of this year, or in 2012 — and it’s less than half the tally the American people were told Obamacare would hit when they opposed it in 2010.

    Yet Paul Krugman says that “health reform is — gasp! — working.” Only in Washington could something that fails to hit even half of its original target be considered a gasp-inducing success. No wonder Obamacare is every bit as unpopular now as it was before the party that passed it took its initial Obamacare-induced “shellacking” four years ago.

    It’s time for a well-conceived conservative alternative that will fix what the government had broken even before Obamacare was passed, shift things in a conservative direction from the pre-Obamacare status quo, and lead to the full repeal of perhaps the worst legislation in American history.
    Share This Article with Friends
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    Respond to the Writer Respond to Writer

    More Jeffrey H. Anderson »

    http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obamacare-misses-its-target-uninsured-half_796636.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      .

      Speaking of entitlement costs, the 2014 Trustee Report on Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid trust funds was, by statute, supposed to out by April 1. Over the last decade, the report kind of comes out whenever the trustees get the time to put it out. I have seen no explanation for the delays over the past few years.

      Could this years delays be do to the election coming up in three months?

      Perhaps it is just viewed as unimportant. After all, the trust funds only account for about 38% of government spending.

      Or perhaps Obama wants to keep his record of ignoring the statutory requirements of the laws intact.

      .

      Delete
    2. .

      Could this years delays be due...

      .

      Delete
  8. 3 wives and 13 kids in a cave?

    Perhaps that might moderate some, but it would drive most people nuts.

    The man must be a man of great composure, to be sure.

    hardeharhar

    ReplyDelete
  9. http://news.yahoo.com/kurds-enter-syria-turkey-fight-jihadists-133410460.html
    Kurds enter Syria from Turkey to fight jihadists

    ReplyDelete
  10. Bob OreilleTue Jul 15, 05:47:00 PM EDT

    The Blog
    Obamacare Misses Its Target on the Uninsured by Half


    Bob, as everyone knows, the CBO is filled with Repub shills. They are lying because they are racial bigots and hate the poor and sick.

    ReplyDelete
  11. http://news.yahoo.com/hamas-homemade-rocket-industry-bypasses-crumbling-supply-lines-171534693.html
    Hamas homemade rocket industry bypasses crumbling supply lines

    Bunk!

    Where are they getting the propellant and explosives? For that matter where are they getting metal for the tubes? Hamas is entirely dependent upon the outside world for its every need.

    And, what a legacy: “’What you are seeing today is not metal and power, what you see today is blood. Thousands of people paid with their lives so that we and our people can see this day - the day Israeli leaders stood before their nation to say: 'Sorry, Tel Aviv was hit', the commander said, speaking before the latest conflict.”

    And Israel is to blame, just as it was responsible for the Black Death. How dare I judge these cretins as mentally deficient?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Moderate means if a seventy year old woman goes out without a male family escort, she only gets fifty lashes, not a hundred.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Comical redeployment of the NASI

    It's all about Jack

    ReplyDelete
  14. Replies
    1. If it's a problem for you, allen, irregularity or constipation, go get an enema.
      Robert Peterson told us how well it cleared his bowels.
      Betcha it'll work for you, too.

      You could go to Tel Aviv and find a helper, they charge by the hour, cheaper that an RN, I'd betcha.

      Delete
  15. http://news.yahoo.com/israel-warplanes-hit-syrias-golan-killing-four-ngo-104700364.html
    Israel warplanes hit Syria's Golan, killing four: NGO


    ...Syria out of the Golan

    ...Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon

    ...Hamas out of Gaza

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep.

      "Almost the entire Syrian side of the Golan Heights is now under the control of rebel forces, including radical Islamist groups, a senior Israeli military commander in the area said Friday."

      Read more: Anti-Assad rebels said to seize 95% of Syrian Golan Heights | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/anti-assad-rebels-said-to-control-95-of-syrian-golan-heights/#ixzz37a5jcNfS
      Follow us: @timesofisrael on Twitter | timesofisrael on Facebook

      Delete
    2. Israel, the Islamic State's air force.

      Israel prefers al-Qeada.

      Delete
    3. "Syrian Golan. She's ours anytime we want her."

      "I think we now want her."

      Delete
    4. That is just who your Ambassador Oren said Israel wanted there.
      Did not even take your team a year to accomplish that mission.

      Delete
    5. Eleven months from articulation to accomplishment.

      Get what you pay for.

      Be careful what you wish for ...

      Delete
    6. Just as I am responsible for happens on my property and insure for that, Syria is responsible for controlling her territory.

      I take the position that Syria no longer exists in any meaningful way. That being the case, Israel will do what it has to do to protect its citizens, including the occupation of the entire Golan. For those offended, take it up with the chaplain.

      Delete
  16. Who would have ever guessed?

    ...Tattoo removal surges 440% over past decade

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The two best days in a tattoo lover's life: the day you got it, and the day you got it removed.

      Delete
    2. I dunno Bob, I don't think I wanna remove these: http://www.cleanposts.com/images/2/26/Tat1.jpg

      Delete
  17. Israel may someday act as Kurdistan's air force.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To far a way, Robert Peterson.
      Get a map, learn to use the scale...
      Then read the specs for the F-16

      Delete
    2. Then there are the Turks.
      They fly F-16s, too.

      It has been a long time since the Israeli have flown against airplanes that were not on the ground, now.
      Then the US has that pesky NATO Treaty with Turkey, that would complicate things, too.

      Delete
    3. Learn to think.

      They, like build an airfield.

      Delete
  18. .

    Part of the increase in the budget appears to be for new hard drives. Another one crashed.

    April Sand, a prior co-worker of Lois Lerner and now a lawyer for the FEC, is being investigated for Hatch Act violations. And, surprise, surprise, her computer has now crashed.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Federal computers are quite old, pre-XP.
      Little wonder they are are crashing, Microsoft will no longer support those systems.

      Delete
    2. If they're on the Intranet they run 7. XP and Windows 98 and Windows 2000 are offline legacy boxes that run test sets and the like.

      Delete
    3. From 2003 ...
      Most taxpayers are younger than the computer system that the I.R.S. relies on to maintain its master files on individuals and businesses -- all the records of who they are, where they are, their income, taxes paid, and the amounts they still owe or are owed as refunds.

      The I.R.S. says it can still process returns and send out refunds on time, but its dependence on the 1960's-era Assembler and Cobol computer languages makes it difficult ...


      ////////////

      Levin then blamed Republicans for repeatedly cutting funds the IRS would have used to modernize its IT system.

      “Was her computer crash a conspiracy? No,” he said. “Was the Internal Revenue Services’s system for backing up its email system entirely underfunded and wholly deficient? Clearly yes.”

      “In fact, Congress has cut the IRS budget for operations, which includes what it spends on computers and other information technology, every year for the last five years.”

      Levin concluded by saying the government needs to “invest” more in the IRS to improve its information management system. “Lost data under the Bush administration, coupled with the number of computer crashes at the IRS, clearly demonstrate the need for government agencies to have adequate budgets to invest, upgrade and maintain information technology,” he said.

      Levin’s comments were echoed by Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), who accused Republicans of purposefully underfunding the IRS in order to undermine the progressive taxation system.


      http://www.theblaze.com/blog/2014/06/20/dem-answer-to-irs-scandal-more-money-for-new-irs-computer-system/

      Delete
  19. Bob OreilleTue Jul 15, 07:09:00 PM EDT
    Israel may someday act as Kurdistan's air force.


    There has been talk of Israeli basing rights. These talks had to do with an Israeli attack on Iran. I think Kurdish self-preservation my be a strong incentive for hosting the IAF.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They'd get caught on the ground, by the Iraq/Iran air force.

      Then there are still the Turks, too.

      A long way form their boots, and F-16s cannot hold ground.
      Read that somewhere, today.

      But they will burn on the ground.

      Dreamin' nothing more than dreamin' ...

      Delete
    2. A long way from their boots, and F-16s cannot hold ground.

      Delete
    3. The Israeli are REALLY loss adverse.
      Especially about their aircraft.

      A touch & go, refuel and fly on, that they may do ...

      But base aircraft in Kurdistan ...
      With early warning radar, in Kurdistan, being nonexistent.

      Not a chance of Israeli planes basing in such a locale.

      Delete
  20. Earlier, I could not post my story from my iPad. It is up now for anyone interested in the transition from Iraq to Isil:

    Visiting Hawija, a town controlled by Isis’ extremists

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That grain will rot in the fields ...
      The new government doe not seem concerned with the local economy.

      Delete
    2. Deuce,

      ...good read... Revolutionaries throughout history have proven to be completely inept when it comes to agriculture unless, of course, they wished to starve a population.

      Delete
  21. Hamas gets a point on the board, kills one Israeli civilian.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One Israeli is worth 1000 Arabs. this is their own calculus.

      thus Israel must kill an additional 820 arabs to make up for the points.

      Delete
    2. Just another indication that Israel is losing.
      Semitic demographics will beat the Zionists

      Delete
    3. Not when they blow their markets up 89 folks at a time, ala Asscrackistan overnight.

      Delete
    4. Israel IS a very small ship in a mighty big ocean.

      Delete
    5. Only 1/999 of the land or the people.
      The Muslim Arabs can make mistake after mistake.
      The Jewish Arabs can make only one.

      Delete
    6. One Jew is equal to 1000 arabs. this is the calculus that the arabs demand for trades and body counts.

      Even the dead, mutilated remains of 3 Israelis were worth over 1400 locked up, convicted ALIVE terrorists.

      It's amazing how much value ONE Jew has, as per the valuation by the arabs.

      So from a population point of view?

      1 israeli is worth, in population, 1000 arabs.

      Maybe that's why Israel's GNP is larger than the combined GDP of the entire arab world, even when you add in OIL.

      Delete
  22. With attention focused on Iraq and Gaza during the past month, something important slipped under the radar. No wonder Mr. Kerry would prefer to deal with pipsqueaks.


    http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/15/us-china-usa-asean-idUSKBN0FK0CM20140715

    China tells U.S. to stay out of South China Seas dispute

    ReplyDelete
  23. I have one overriding observation about the Middleeast / N. Africa:

    The is No Clean End on that Turd. Leave it alone.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Jack HawkinsTue Jul 15, 07:34:00 PM EDT

    That grain will rot in the fields ...

    .....

    Not a chance.

    It will be harvested in a few days.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alfalfa

      It wasn't ruined either.

      Delete
    2. You Muslims know best, Robert Peterson

      Delete
    3. The alfalfa, we were hoping for rain.

      In Iraq, they've got no fuel to run the tractors.
      No where to take the grain after it's harveted, if it is.

      But you Islamic farmers stick together, so you must know better than the people reporting from the field.

      Delete
  25. http://www.wnd.com/2014/07/america-no-longer-1-nation-1-people/

    BALKANIZATION BECKONS
    AMERICA: NO LONGER 1 NATION, 1 PEOPLE
    Pat Buchanan cites ways 'diversity' has harmed United States

    ReplyDelete
  26. Fundamentalism (n.) - From the root words "fund" (to give money) and "amentalism" (without brains)

    ReplyDelete
  27. Meanwhile, 37% of Ms Republicans would support a return of the Confederacy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thirty Seven Freakin' Percent !

      Delete
    2. And, only 41% were against it.

      The rest had to "think" about it.

      So, 59% of Ms Republicans were either in favor of, or open to, the idea of a resurrection of the Confederacy.

      Delete
    3. Cliven Bundy was Not an outlier.

      Cliven Bundy IS the Republican Party.

      Delete
    4. Living on Welfare, and dreaming of the return of the slaves.

      Delete
    5. I'd like to see the boys in blue kick some peckerwood ass a second time.

      Delete
    6. Theodore RooseveltTue Jul 15, 08:33:00 PM EDT

      "Our allegiance must be purely to the United States.
      We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance.



      “But if he is heartily and singly loyal to this Republic,
      he is just as good an American as any one else.”

      ….

      The man who calls himself an American citizen and who yet shows by his actions that he is primarily the citizen of a foreign land, plays a thoroughly mischievous part in the life of our body politic.

      He has no place here; and the sooner he returns to the land to which he feels his real heart-allegiance, the better it will be for every good American.”

      Delete
    7. There are a bunch of illiterate wanna be revolutionaries on Facebook.
      A more ignorant bunch I've never seen, but for Robert P.

      They tried to deny the French involvement in the Revolutionary War.
      Did deny that it was part of a 'World War'.

      Keep going on about the 3%.
      Think that the US military will side with them.
      Deny the reality of Ruby Ridge & Waco.
      Do not seem to realize that the Combat Engineer Vehicles at Waco were US Army armor.

      Delete
    8. They NEVER want to discus General Sherman and the ruination of Atlanta.

      Delete
  28. Jack's been dreaming of leading a march on Washington D.C. at the head of a militia. And that's only a beginning.

    Deuce dreams of a world without Lincoln.

    Rufus dreams god only knows what, a world where you can take money from the other guy at will, if you have a rationale.

    Bob dreams of a world where the courts still hold sway, and Idaho has almost nothing to do with the rest of country.

    And I'm just talking domestic policy.

    Particularly with people from Mississippi, and Arizona.



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And a world where he can order other people about on morals, based on his singular point of view.

      Bob dreams of a world where the courts still hold sway, and Idaho has almost nothing to do with the rest of country.

      Particularly with people from Mississippi, and Arizona.

      And I'm just talking domestic policy.

      ;)

      Delete
    2. Document those claims. Robert Peterson.

      Excepting hat Idaho has almost nothing to do with the US.Idaho lowest individual income in the entire country.
      Economically it is Third World, barely above the economic level of that black hole for US foreign aid, Israel, in Arabia..

      So sad that people there are so poor, both materially and spiritually.

      Delete
    3. Jack speaks of "document that"....

      He calls me an Israeli, which I take as a complement, but alias, I am JUST an american. He cannot "document that"

      Now when I reported the man behind the persona "jack hawkins" to the AZ FBI for making death threats, the man behind the mask, CONFIRMED my pronouncement. Thus "documented" my allegations of illegal behavior.

      Delete
  29. And, of course, Jack rat Hawkins dreams of a world without Jews.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Document that Robert Peterson.

      Delete
    2. Bob, that is quite accurate.

      The online persona "Jack Hawkins" has been quite clear as to his genocidal thoughts about Israel and Jews.

      I will vouch for this.

      Delete
    3. Document it, your voucher is inconsequential, NASI.

      That was the determination of the FBI, your word is worthless.

      Delete
    4. And how would you KNOW what the FBI determined?

      Back to the same old issue... IF you claim you saw the report and or were told about it, you are leaking information about on an ongoing investigation about YOURSELF, that is a criminal act by the AZ FBI and an agent can lose their job and or actually serve prison time.. OR you are just a liar..

      Which is it?

      You received information about an investigation by the FBI about yourself? Or you are a liar?

      Delete
    5. I hope that if what you say is true the agent that leaked the information will be prosecuted. think of the savings of money once their retirement is stripped and they are fired and or imprisoned.

      Delete
    6. It was so determined because I'm still here, no arrest, no conviction.
      Your claims were rejected for lack of documentation.

      They were fictional.
      I know that because ....

      ... read the book

      Delete
    7. Regardless of your hopes "O"rdure, your word is worthless, without documentation nothing you say is believable.

      That has been documented.
      Time and again.
      Hell you are not even the "O"riginal.

      Delete
    8. Document your accusations Jack...

      Or shut up...

      I am the Original. And you can't document shit.

      Delete
    9. Jack ass wrote:
      It was so determined because I'm still here, no arrest, no conviction.
      Your claims were rejected for lack of documentation.


      Arrest and conviction sometimes doesn't happen in a day or even a month or a year.

      You are now on the radar of the AZ FBI as a potential criminal stalker. I have in fact ID'd you as one making death threats.

      JUST because they have arrested you YET? Doesn't mean you are innocent...

      Just means they need more evidence...

      Sleep tight pro to-felon...

      Delete
  30. The freak wave of hard-drive crashes afflicting the Obama Administration – and nobody else on Earth – continues. By an amazing coincidence, the new story is about an old colleague of IRS scandal kingpin Lois Lerner at the Federal Election Commission, who in an even more amazing coincidence was also under investigation for partisan political activity.

    http://humanevents.com/2014/07/15/another-mysterious-hard-drive-crash-for-the-obama-administration/

    ReplyDelete
  31. Those "Facebook Revolutionaries" certainly don't want to read about This:

    At 4:45 p.m., commanded by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the 12th Infantry Regiment, Fort Howard, Maryland, and the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, supported by six battle tanks commanded by Maj. George S. Patton, formed in Pennsylvania Avenue while thousands of civil service employees left work to line the street and watch. The Bonus Marchers, believing the troops were marching in their honor, cheered the troops until Patton ordered[citation needed] the cavalry to charge them—an action which prompted the spectators to yell, "Shame! Shame!"

    After the cavalry charged, the infantry, with fixed bayonets and tear gas (adamsite, an arsenical vomiting agent) entered the camps, evicting veterans, families, and camp followers. The veterans fled across the Anacostia River to their largest camp and President Hoover ordered the assault stopped. However Gen. MacArthur, feeling the Bonus March was an attempt to overthrow the U.S. government, ignored the President and ordered a new attack. Fifty-five veterans were injured and 135 arrested.[12] A veteran's wife miscarried. When 12-week-old Bernard Myers died in the hospital after being caught in the tear gas attack, a government investigation reported he died of enteritis, while a hospital spokesman said the tear gas "didn't do it any good."[16]

    During the military operation, Major Dwight D. Eisenhower, later the 34th President of the United States, served as one of MacArthur's junior aides.[17] Believing it wrong for the Army's highest-ranking officer to lead an action against fellow American war veterans, he strongly advised MacArthur against taking any public role: "I told that dumb son-of-a-bitch not to go down there," he said later. "I told him it was no place for the Chief of Staff."[18] Despite his misgivings, Eisenhower later wrote the Army's official incident report which endorsed MacArthur's conduct.[19

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aftermath[edit]

      Joe Angelo, a decorated hero from the war who saved Patton's life, approached him the day after to sway him. Rather than accept and listen to the man whom he had decorated himself for his bravery under fire, Patton coldly rejected him and stated "I do not know this man. Take him away and under no circumstances permit him to return." This episode was said to represent the proverbial essence of the Bonus Army, each man the face of each side; Angelo the dejected loyal soldier, Patton the unmoved government instrument unconcerned with past duties.

      Yeah, The Army Will Be On Your Side, Assholes

      Delete
    2. You have Patton confused with General Lee.

      Delete
  32. Israel keeps her citizens in the basement and protects them with weapons, Hamas keeps its weapons in the basement and protects them with the citizens. When they try to run away Hamas orders them to return to their homes because they aren't fulfilling their role protecting the rockets. The clean water those human shields drink, the power Hamas uses to machine the rockets, all of that is provided by Israel, and Gazans don't even pay the utility bill. If I didn't pay my bills, my power and water would be cut off. If Israel did the same they'd be castigated as genocidal in the media.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why sure thing, Ms T. The same people that pay you, pay for the power in Palestine.
      $3 billion per year, for almost thirty years.

      Delete
    2. Baby's still babbling about things of which she knows shit.

      Israel gets paid for those utilities. It takes the money from the transit fees of shipments through Israel to the occupied territory.

      Delete
    3. She supports the republican politics, but wants the blueboys to shoot their peckerwood asses when they "Confederate."

      Delete
    4. The people living there, Israelis - that's the One State solution.

      And that is what the reality of the situation is.
      That there is a Civil War in Israel, well, that's par for Third World countries.

      Delete
    5. She supports the republican politics, but wants the blueboys to shoot their peckerwood asses when they "Confederate.

      Newsflash: Lincoln, Grant, and even Longstreet were GOP.

      Delete
    6. .

      Where are they getting the propellant and explosives? For that matter where are they getting metal for the tubes? Hamas is entirely dependent upon the outside world for its every need.

      More true than you know.

      But the Gazans should be grateful. I mean the calories of the foodstocks allowed in by Israel are carefully calculated to assure at least a subsistence level, well, that is if someone there doesn't eat more than his share.

      .

      Delete
    7. Rufus IITue Jul 15, 10:08:00 PM EDT
      Baby's still babbling about things of which she knows shit.

      Israel gets paid for those utilities. It takes the money from the transit fees of shipments through Israel to the occupied territory.



      Not for the last 6 months. Hamas routinely doesn't pay it's bills.

      Delete
    8. I won't bet the farm on what happened "the last six months," but Israel doesn't wait for Hamas, or Fatah, or anyone else, to pay them. They take their money up front from the fees.

      Delete
  33. Float on the thoughts. Life is not all hell on wheels.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5o7DP8jQiM

    ReplyDelete
  34. QuirkTue Jul 15, 10:35:00 PM EDT
    More true than you know.


    Hardly.

    ReplyDelete
  35. I have been up to see the Congress and they do not seem to be able to do anything except to eat peanuts and chew tobacco, while my army is starving.

    Robert E. Lee


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. American politicians have always looked after the troops. General Washington had a few things to say on that score.

      Delete
  36. That cigarette is going to take six minutes off his lifespan.

    https://www.google.com/search?q=photo+of+oldest+brazilian+man&espv=2&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=XO3FU8KzEoinyAStyIDgDQ&ved=0CBwQsAQ&biw=1680&bih=917#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=Myorgs5xEFfHjM%253A%3BUSSJqLSt_tGT8M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fcdn.images.express.co.uk%252Fimg%252Fdynamic%252F78%252F590x%252Fsecondary%252F181071.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.express.co.uk%252Fnews%252Fworld%252F488922%252FIs-this-the-world-s-oldest-man-Brazilian-Pensioner-could-be-126%3B590%3B500

    ReplyDelete
  37. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Rufus IITue Jul 15, 10:48:00 PM EDT
    I won't bet the farm on what happened "the last six months," but Israel doesn't wait for Hamas, or Fatah, or anyone else, to pay them. They take their money up front from the fees.


    You are a moron. Stick with something you know, whatever that may be. That brown is starting to show through.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Rufus IITue Jul 15, 10:48:00 PM EDT
    I won't bet the farm on what happened "the last six months," but Israel doesn't wait for Hamas, or Fatah, or anyone else, to pay them. They take their money up front from the fees.


    I want to see the link on that, asshole.

    ReplyDelete
  40. First, this:

    Life in Gaza is not easy amid constant power outages caused by limited electricity supplies and fuel shortages.

    Gaza is in the midst of an acute power crisis, with blackouts lasting for up to 12 hours and a shortage of generator fuel.

    Connect with Al Jazeera World



    Abdul Aziz Abu Safiea, who works for the Gaza Electricity Distribution Company, says: "It's a strange job that only exists in Gaza. I cut the power off and reconnect it according to a set timetable.

    "I cut off the power to every home in Gaza for at least eight hours every day. Every second, one-third of Gaza's population is without electricity."

    The frequent power shortage puts at risk the lives of cardiac and dialysis patients and babies in incubators, and increases the daily hardship among the general population.

    Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are a people under siege. Israel occupied Gaza and the West Bank back in 1967. Although Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza in 2005, they have maintained a blockade on the territory.

    As a result, over 1.5 million Palestinians suffer to this day from high levels of poverty and dependence on aid.

    The blockade has prevented the reconstruction of Gaza's infrastructure - badly damaged during Israel's
    successive military assaults on Gaza in recent years.

    Living without dignity

    Gaza's electricity sector remains deficient. Israel refuses to allow in the spare parts needed to rebuild the broken-down infrastructure. Limited amounts of fuel reach Gaza from Israel and Egypt - well below the bare minimum required.

    Fathi Barakat, a Palestinian, says: "When it's hot, we can't tolerate the heat inside these houses. We stay outside. The fans and fridge broke down because of the heat. We live without dignity."

    His wife Sabah adds: "We always have to check the electricity schedule. To know what time the power cuts [are] and for how long. We live our life around power cuts."

    Power cuts also mean that children experience prolonged periods of darkness at a time when they have to study. Often there is no option but to do their homework by gas lamps or candlelight.

    Gaza: Left in the Dark portrays the many obstacles and complications of life in Gaza caused by the shortage of electricity.

    Life Without Dignity

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      One of the biggest oxymorons I've heard: Sharon's 'Disengagement' Policy.

      Under the policy, Israel retained control over Gaza’s borders, airspace, coastline, infrastructure, power, import-exports, etc. Nothing gets in or out except through and Israeli checkpoint. Imports and exports, quantity and type, are controlled. How far off the coastline fishermen are allowed to go is controlled. Gas reserves in Gazan waters cannot be exploited unless the gas is pumped through Israel. The Gazans are walled in by security barriers on the land and an Israeli blockade at sea. A Devils Island of the ME you might say.

      .

      Delete
    2. That policy means Gaza is part of Israel,

      It is an Apartheid State, because of how it manages Gaza and the West Bank and the people that live there

      Delete
    3. What do you expect them to do, Quirk?

      They like to launch missiles, you know.

      Delete
  41. Here, you phony asshole:

    “Israel supplies water, electricity, food and medicine to Gaza.”
    It does not. It sells 120 megawatts of electricity at full price, at most a third of demand. The bill is deducted from the customs fees that Israel collects for goods passing through its ports destined for the occupied territories. Food and medicine that Palestinian traders buy at full price enter Gaza through the crossings under Israel’s control.

    According to the Gisha Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, in 2012, 1.3 billion shekels ($379 million) worth of Israeli products were purchased in the Gaza Strip. So Gaza is also a captive market for Israel.

    Source: Haaretz dot com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I "know" how to use Google, asshole.

      Delete
    2. And, all that is nothing compared to the "water / sewage" situation.

      I don't even have the heart to go back and link That.

      Delete
    3. You people should Never debate "Israel" on the internet. It causes the curious to start researching, and, obviously, that is something you really don't want.

      Delete
    4. Where's the upfront charge? Of course, Israel charges for the utilities, but that's not what you wrote.

      No, you don't argue Israel; you take bitch slaps.

      Delete
    5. You have to be kidding allen.

      The only bitch being slapped is the 14 year old Jewish girl on the streets of Tel Aviv, sellin' her soul.

      Delete
  42. The Palestinians suffer because they are idiots who will not grasp the simple fact that Israel is going no where. They are not unlike some here. When you shoot at other people, they might just shoot back, you dumb shits.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. None of the past European crusaders could go the distance, and the Ashkenazi will not, either.
      The writing is already on the wall.

      Spengler's Universal Law #9:
      A country isn't beaten until it sells its women, but it's damned when its women sell themselves.

      Delete
    2. The Israeli do both, it sells its women and they sell themselves.
      Losers on both counts ...

      Rant and rave some more, but ...
      hat tip: allen.

      Delete
  43. "The Israeli regime has decided to use tax money collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a nine-month deadline for the so-called peace talks expired on Tuesday.

    Israeli officials said that Tel Aviv would use the tax money to offset debts to Israeli electricity and water companies. The measure by Tel Aviv is aimed at putting more pressure on the Palestinians."


    "debts" That means the Palestinians have not been paying their utility bills. That means they could not have been charged for service beforehand. So, those money grubbing Kikes do not collect upfront, moron.

    http://www.presstv.com/detail/2014/04/30/360658/israel-not-to-pay-tax-money-to-pa/
    Israel to use tax collected for Palestinian Authority

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ...forgot...Blow Me, you lying, anti-Semitic son-of-a-bitch!

      Delete
  44. Bob OreilleTue Jul 15, 08:57:00 PM EDT

    And, of course, Jack rat Hawkins dreams of a world without Jews.

    I am asked how I know this.

    The answer is easy.

    Support for Hamas, nearly a decade of anti-semitic writings here, refusal to ever criticize moslems.etc etc etc.

    It is one of the reasons hardly anyone around here can stand rat.

    ReplyDelete
  45. Here's a good interview --

    You can hear the sounds of missile sirens in the background.

    http://hotair.com/archives/2014/07/15/israel-promises-great-force-after-cease-fire-fails-civilian-killed-by-hamas-rocket/

    Israel promises ‘great force’ after cease fire fails, civilian killed by Hamas rocket
    posted at 4:01 pm on July 15, 2014 by Noah Rothman

    Share on Facebook 3K
    3K SHARES

    It seems that Israel has had just about enough of the endless barrage of rockets directed at them from the Gaza strip and, increasingly, from sites to Israel’s north.

    Hamas has spent the week moving the goalposts; shifting from one set of unacceptable demands on Israel and Egypt in order to cease hostilities to even more unacceptable demands. On Tuesday night, Cairo offered a settlement which would result in an immediate cease fire. Terms which Ed Morrissey and Jeff Dunetz noted were favorable to Israel, but which also may have prevented a ground war in Gaza. Israel accepted Egypt’s proposal immediately but Hamas refused. The missile attacks on Israel intensified.

    The intensity of the conflict in Israel is demonstrable even from the comfort of cable news studios. In an appearance with NBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Tuesday, a spokesman for Israel showed the scale of the threat cleverly by leaving his phone on during his live discussion with the host. While they were talking, a series of incoming missile alerts come in on his phone.

    It was a sobering reminder of the ubiquity and regularity of the threat rocket attacks pose to Israeli civilians, even in spite of the amazing “Iron Dome” missile interceptor system which has spared many Israeli lives.

    Many, but not all. On Tuesday, a 30-year-old Israeli man, a volunteer who delivered food to IDF troops manning a Gaza border crossing, was hit and killed by an incoming rocket.

    In response to this escalation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to use “great force” against Hamas to bring about a truce.

    The White House has warned Israel against a ground invasion of Gaza, but an escalation of that kind may be forthcoming. Israeli forces are deployed on the border and have been preparing for an incursion into Palestinian territory for some time.

    ReplyDelete
  46. 'ENDLESS WAVE' FLOODS ACROSS...

    Pregnant teen surge...

    'You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet'...

    Influx overwhelming MA town...

    Reid: 'Border is secure'...

    Hundreds of cities fight back against 'invasion'...

    NEW SHOWDOWN IN AZ...

    VIDEO: Illegals Bussed to WALMART With EBT Cards?

    SESSIONS WARNS: OBAMA ACTION 'THREATENS FOUNDATION OF OUR CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC'...

    DEAD BOY Found Floating in Rio Grande...

    95% Expect to Receive 'Permisos' to Stay...

    Coyotes Making $50,000 A Week...

    Glenn Beck pleads with migrant parents...

    'Keep your family together'... CA Health Officials Perplexed By Unusual Spike In Whooping Cough Cases...

    Doctor warns of drug-resistant tropical disease outbreak...


    drudge

    Brought to you by Obama and Company

    ReplyDelete
  47. I'll start to take rat's criticisms of everyone else seriously when I know he has given his rich bottom land, his cattle, and his horses back to the Mexicans.

    ReplyDelete