The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant Megathread

[derspiess]

Didn't know they had a Martin Luther King Party over there.

[Zanza]

I hope her death will help provoke support for more resistance to ISIS in Germany

Is there a lack of support for resistance against ISIS in Germany? 

[Valmy]

Is there a lack of support for resistance against ISIS in Germany? 

Unless I am misinformed on the matter I am talking about a more active sort of support.

[Zanza]

Is there a lack of support for resistance against ISIS in Germany? 

Unless I am misinformed on the matter I am talking about a more active sort of support.

We are sending weapons, vehicles and other supplies to Iraq and Kurdistan and have up to 100 soldiers in the area to train the locals using that equipment. Not as active as some, but not inactive either.

[KRonn]

Is there a lack of support for resistance against ISIS in Germany? 

Unless I am misinformed on the matter I am talking about a more active sort of support.

We are sending weapons, vehicles and other supplies to Iraq and Kurdistan and have up to 100 soldiers in the area to train the locals using that equipment. Not as active as some, but not inactive either.

I've read before that Germany has been sending weapons to the Kurds, which is good because they're apparently not receiving what they need from the US via the Iraqi government. So thankfully someone is sending directly to them, which is what I think Germany is doing.

[Valmy]

Is there a lack of support for resistance against ISIS in Germany? 

Unless I am misinformed on the matter I am talking about a more active sort of support.

We are sending weapons, vehicles and other supplies to Iraq and Kurdistan and have up to 100 soldiers in the area to train the locals using that equipment. Not as active as some, but not inactive either.

As in more Germans going to fight ISIS with the Kurds.  And I did not mean it as a slam on German involvement.

[Zanza]

As in more Germans going to fight ISIS with the Kurds.  And I did not mean it as a slam on German involvement.

It's actually a felony to recruit Germans to fight in foreign conflicts. It's not illegal to fight a war for an individual, but Germans fighting in the area, no matter which side, are illegal combatants. Not sure if we want to encourage that.

[CountDeMoney]

Didn't know they had a Martin Luther King Party over there.

http://youtu.be/TENs8J_ZGE0

[Valmy]

It's actually a felony to recruit Germans to fight in foreign conflicts. It's not illegal to fight a war for an individual, but Germans fighting in the area, no matter which side, are illegal combatants. Not sure if we want to encourage that.

We will be doing nothing of the sort.

[grumbler]

Didn't know they had a Martin Luther King Party over there.

Maybe you are confusing Martin Luther and Martin Luther King, Jr? 

[crazy canuck]

Is there a lack of support for resistance against ISIS in Germany? 

Unless I am misinformed on the matter I am talking about a more active sort of support.

We are sending weapons, vehicles and other supplies to Iraq and Kurdistan and have up to 100 soldiers in the area to train the locals using that equipment. Not as active as some, but not inactive either.

I've read before that Germany has been sending weapons to the Kurds, which is good because they're apparently not receiving what they need from the US via the Iraqi government. So thankfully someone is sending directly to them, which is what I think Germany is doing.

Canada has also been sending arms directly to the Kurds.  We have also unfortunately had troops killed in an apparent mix up at a Kurdish checkpoint.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

basically a life not worth living

If the Flemish wanted that kind of life they would have become Calvinists like the Dutch.

nah, we'e have created a softer kind of Calvinism (caused by all the fat due to eating at those interminable Burgundian banquets. And the United Provinces would have been even stronger that they were)

[mongers]

A French former hostage of ISIS gives an interesting insight into the character of some of their jihadis captors.

Islamic State ex-hostage Henin: Asking for pity is stupid
By Lucy Williamson
BBC News, Paris

A French hostage, held for 10 months by the British militant known as "Jihadi John", has been speaking to the BBC about his time in captivity, and his interactions with his jailors.

Nicolas Henin was marking the publication of a children's book written in captivity with fellow French journalist Pierre Torres.

The book, Will Daddy Hedgehog Ever Come Home?, was written for Henin's five-year-old daughter, and is published this week. It was written by the two journalists in secret at night, on a scrap of cheese wrapping.

..........

He also described the discussions between the prisoners and their Islamic State captors.

Such contacts were often important to secure vital food and medicine. But they also revealed jarring details about their captors' backgrounds and interests.

"I noticed that these jihadists have little to do with the local culture - Arab or Muslim culture - they are children of our societies.

"They speak our language, they have the same cultural references we do. They watch the same movies as us, play the same video games our children play. They are products of our culture, our world."

They watched everything, Henin says, "from the Teletubbies to Game of Thrones."

Nicolas Henin: "The recruits are fragile people - once pushed to commit a crime there is no way they can turn back."

'Fragile people'

He refused to talk specifically about Mohammed Emwazi, otherwise known as "Jihadi John", on the grounds that fellow prisoner, British journalist John Cantlie, is still held hostage by the group.

Others, including British aid worker Alan Henning, and Americans James Foley, Stephen Sotloff and Peter Kassig have since been executed by their captors.

A Russian engineer, Sergey Gorbunov, who was killed during Henin's time there, was remembered in a small ceremony by the rest of the prisoners, he says.

"Everyone paid tribute to him. John Cantlie spoke first and then we held a minute's silence."

Talking to some of his captors during his 10 months as a hostage, he says he saw flickers of doubt "and a lot of bad faith, because they had to justify it to themselves, and some of their acts [were] impossible to justify."

Henin said he believed that many jihadists began with a genuine desire to help victims in Syria.

But, he said, "these are fragile people. As soon as they arrive, [their recruiters] hook them and push them to commit a crime, and then there is no way they can turn back."

"I remember with a couple of [the captors], we had discussions that showed their convictions were a bit fragile," he told me, "and that they maybe even had regrets about what they were doing."

Beyond that, connection was very difficult. A bit of chat might help, but "no pity for sure because they are totally closed to pity," he told me.

"[Asking for pity] is the worst thing you can do. It's stupid. Never try it."

Full article here, worth the full read:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-31806085

They do sound rather like people who've joined a cult and now have no way back?

[The Brain]

Good. We don't want them back.

[Martinus]

Now, we should find a way how to eliminate them *before* they join ISIS.

By the way, an interesting point I heard being made recently, about "moderate Muslims". During the Spanish civil war, there were lots of Western volunteers going to Spain to join the Republican side. If the conflict with ISIS is really an internal conflict within the Muslim world, where are all the Western "moderate Muslim" volunteers travelling to the Middle East to join the fight against ISIS? Anyone seen any?