The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant Megathread

[PJL]

Three state solution. Have fun.

Agreed. It will be messy in the short run, but it will stabilise things in the longer run.

[Valmy]

Hey look things went pretty much how the Iraqi experts predicted they would back in 2003.  Well either this or a new military dictator.

[Valmy]

Three state solution. Have fun.

Agreed. It will be messy in the short run, but it will stabilise things in the longer run.

Sometimes war does solve problems.  Pity about all those religious and ethnic minorities.

They better not do what Europe did: they slaughtered each for centuries to establish these homogenous nation states.  Then as soon as they were done they let in a bunch of new minorities and then were surprised when the radical right wing started rising again.

[CountDeMoney]

We gave Iraqis Abrams tanks?

With scrap prices the way they are, you'd have to pay someone to take them.  At least, by giving them to a non-profit, we got a nice tax writeoff.

And think what we saved on shipping!

[DGuller]

Are the old Abrams tanks so devoid of any secrets that we don't mind giving a few samples to Iranians?  Or have they already been analyzed in detail by all our potential enemies?

[Razgovory]

We gave Iraqis Abrams tanks?

I imagine they are the export models the Egyptians have.

[KRonn]

Are the old Abrams tanks so devoid of any secrets that we don't mind giving a few samples to Iranians?  Or have they already been analyzed in detail by all our potential enemies?

That's about what I was also wondering as to why we'd give Iraq Abrams tanks with the secret, classified armor.

[Viking]

We gave Iraqis Abrams tanks?

I imagine they are the export models the Egyptians have.

The Egyptian ones are built in Egypt. The Egyptian ones are M1A1s while the Iraqi ones are export models designated M1A1M. The export version is without Uranium Armour.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_Abrams

[Syt]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-28381455

Iraqi Christians flee after Isis issue Mosul ultimatum

Iraqi Christians are fleeing Mosul after Islamist militants threatened to kill them unless they converted to Islam or paid a "protection tax".

A statement issued by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) was read out at the city's mosques.

It called on Christians to comply by midday on Saturday or face death if they did not leave the northern city.

Isis has control of large parts of Syria and Iraq and said last month it was creating an Islamic caliphate.

The ultimatum cited a historic contract known as "dhimma," under which non-Muslims in Islamic societies who refuse to convert are offered protection if they pay a fee, called a "jizya".

"We offer them three choices: Islam; the dhimma contract - involving payment of jizya; if they refuse this they will have nothing but the sword," the Isis statement said.

"Christian families are on their way to Dohuk and Irbil," in the neighbouring autonomous region of Kurdistan, Patriarch Louis Sako told the AFP news agency.

"For the first time in the history of Iraq, Mosul is now empty of Christians," he said.

The patriarch, one of the most senior Christian clerics in Iraq, said militants had been seen tagging Christian houses with the letter N for "Nassarah", a term used for Christians in the Koran.

Community destroyed

Iraq is home to one of the world's most ancient Christian communities but its population has dwindled amid growing sectarian violence since the US-led invasion in 2003.

Prior to 2003, the number of Christians in the city had been as high as 60,000, but that had dropped to about 35,000 by June this year, Mr Sako said.

He said another 10,000 fled Mosul after Isis took control at the beginning of June and numbers dropped have fallen rapidly since.

Isis issued a similar ultimatum in the Syrian city of Raqqa in February, calling on Christians to pay about half an ounce (14g) of pure gold in exchange for their safety.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

's gonna be a long winter.

[Syt]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/24/isis-women-girls-fgm-mosul-un

Isis orders all women and girls in Mosul to undergo FGM

UN says 'fatwa' issued by militant group in and around Iraqi city could affect 4 million

The militant group Islamic State (Isis) has ordered all girls and women in and around Iraq's northern city of Mosul to undergo female genital mutilation, the United Nations says.

The "fatwa" issued by the Sunni Muslim fighters would potentially affect 4 million women and girls, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, Jacqueline Badcock, told reporters in Geneva by videolink from Irbil.

"This is something very new for Iraq, particularly in this area, and is of grave concern and does need to be addressed," she said.

"This is not the will of Iraqi people, or the women of Iraq in these vulnerable areas covered by the terrorists," she added.

No one was immediately available for comment from Isis, which has led an offensive through northern and western Iraq.

[Valmy]

I eagerly await all those totally not anti-semites and totally pro-humanists to march all around Europe to protest ISIS on this.

[KRonn]

Oh man, what a horrible, savage procedure that is on women.          I'm sure many of the Iraqis who sided with ISIS have had some serious second thoughts, more and more as time goes on!

[DGuller]

I eagerly await all those totally not anti-semites and totally pro-humanists to march all around Europe to protest ISIS on this.

I don't think anti-Israeli sentiment is about anti-Semitism.  I think it's about two things:  the inability of people who lived in peace their whole life to comprehend that war is a nasty business, and the bigotry of low expectations.  Israel is a western state, so it's expected to act in a civilized manner, whereas you can't really expect anything other than brutal violence from the Arabs.

[Tamas]

I eagerly await all those totally not anti-semites and totally pro-humanists to march all around Europe to protest ISIS on this.

I don't think anti-Israeli sentiment is about anti-Semitism.  I think it's about two things:  the inability of people who lived in peace their whole life to comprehend that war is a nasty business, and the bigotry of low expectations.  Israel is a western state, so it's expected to act in a civilized manner, whereas you can't really expect anything other than brutal violence from the Arabs.

You would have a point if it wasn't totally about anti-Semitism. I have yet to encounter somebody who was anti-Israel in these matters and didn't have funny ideas about the role of Jews in the world.