2014 in Iraq

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Journalist James Wright Foley beheaded by ISIS. 2011 short piece on his kidnapping by Jon Lee Anderson:
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/libya-four-missing-journalists

the one where, as balls alludes (Eazy), Tuesday, 19 August 2014 21:01 (nine years ago) link

So what I picked up so far is that ISIS won't stand much of a chance if they try to expand north (wd mean fighting Kurds in Kurdish territory) or south or east (wd mean fighting Shia in Shia territory). Is this accurate? Are they likely to try, regardless?

cardamon, Tuesday, 19 August 2014 21:10 (nine years ago) link

I'm not sure how much of it is our airstrikes and how much of it is Kurds/Shia. But I would guess they'd have a much harder time fighting and governing in Kurd or Shia territory than they have had so far.

'arry Goldman (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 19 August 2014 21:31 (nine years ago) link

kinda feel like their next best move if they're serious is saudi arabia. if they don't, it'll say a lot about how tight saudi family is w/ IS

Mordy, Tuesday, 19 August 2014 21:43 (nine years ago) link

if they're serious [about reestablishing the caliphate]. they need to put off jordan + israel as long as possible

Mordy, Tuesday, 19 August 2014 21:44 (nine years ago) link

pretty much

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 19 August 2014 23:11 (nine years ago) link

I understand that choosing sides in Middle Eastern conflicts is difficult, but ISIS is making it pretty fucking easy.

Matt Armstrong, Wednesday, 20 August 2014 01:18 (nine years ago) link

Eh idk if its between them and the saudi royal family...

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 20 August 2014 02:20 (nine years ago) link

I still think that's a pretty easy call tbh

'arry Goldman (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 20 August 2014 15:53 (nine years ago) link

this is such a load of shit

Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Wednesday, 20 August 2014 23:33 (nine years ago) link

this shit is so hard for me to understand. reading about this, and the couple of suicide bombers from Australia (Abu Bakar al-Australi the 18 year old for ex). like that the west has produced at least a few hundred of these guys is a fact that is harder to reconcile than it should be.

busted (art), Thursday, 21 August 2014 00:05 (nine years ago) link

Yep.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/21/world/middleeast/isis-pressed-for-ransom-before-killing-journalist.html?_r=0

This piece is in part about how mideast extremists have been getting millions kidnapping Europeans

curmudgeon, Thursday, 21 August 2014 03:20 (nine years ago) link

This piece is so weird

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_world_/2014/08/20/james_foley_killing_the_strangely_modern_production_values_of_isis_propaganda.html

― polyphonic, Thursday, 21 August 2014 00:06 (3 hours ago) Permalink

If you've actually watched Clanging of the Swords IV, it's hard not to be struck by this, the production values and editing are extremely impressive for brutal totalitarian propaganda.

'arry Goldman (Hurting 2), Thursday, 21 August 2014 03:49 (nine years ago) link

yeah clanging of the swords (and uh its titling like a new mixtape release or something) is absolutely the scariest thing i've ever seen, knowing that its not just some MTV-sponsored militarist fantasy but a compilation of real horror slickly packaged induces soul vertigo

BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Thursday, 21 August 2014 04:02 (nine years ago) link

islamic extremists so repressed that they need to make snuff porn to get off. the west needs 2 get on their level, put these culture tourist terrorists to a prime-time televised guillotine http://oi43.tinypic.com/dggkra.jpg

͡ᵒಠಠ ͜ʖ ͡ಠಠᵒ (am0n), Thursday, 21 August 2014 05:37 (nine years ago) link

insha'allah, amon

'arry Goldman (Hurting 2), Thursday, 21 August 2014 05:39 (nine years ago) link

waterboard obama

͡ᵒಠಠ ͜ʖ ͡ಠಠᵒ (am0n), Thursday, 21 August 2014 05:42 (nine years ago) link

defend the indefensible

the late great, Thursday, 21 August 2014 06:17 (nine years ago) link

al-zarqawi: classic or dud

͡ᵒಠಠ ͜ʖ ͡ಠಠᵒ (am0n), Thursday, 21 August 2014 06:57 (nine years ago) link

it's nuts hearing the BBC interview these Jihadis describe the beheadings they've done in crisp English accents

Mordy, Thursday, 21 August 2014 13:15 (nine years ago) link

the btl commenters on british newspaper websites of all political complexions were enthusiastically voicing the good point well made truism that, to be quite honest with you, what is the difference between westerners joining the idf and joining isis?

Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Thursday, 21 August 2014 14:42 (nine years ago) link

one difference is that the IDF doesn't claim to be at war with the west. this guy on the radio was talking about how he encourages all english muslims to kill english soldiers.

Mordy, Thursday, 21 August 2014 14:44 (nine years ago) link

Crisp English accents? Don't think so.

FYI Macedonia (Tom D.), Thursday, 21 August 2014 14:45 (nine years ago) link

i'm telling you what i heard. let me see if i can find the interview

Mordy, Thursday, 21 August 2014 14:45 (nine years ago) link

the beheader in the foley video was certainly british. crisp accent, no, but clearly british. declare war on the UK.

akm, Thursday, 21 August 2014 14:47 (nine years ago) link

here it is:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p024r9pt

he talks about the beheadings he's done at 4:00 minute mark

Mordy, Thursday, 21 August 2014 14:49 (nine years ago) link

well, uk ilxors will probably be able to ferret out why his accent isn't UK representative better than me, but he sounded very English to my US ears

Mordy, Thursday, 21 August 2014 14:50 (nine years ago) link

Crisp British accent makes him sound like Patrick Stewart

FYI Macedonia (Tom D.), Thursday, 21 August 2014 14:52 (nine years ago) link

one difference is that the IDF doesn't claim to be at war with the west. this guy on the radio was talking about how he encourages all english muslims to kill english soldiers.

― Mordy, Thursday, 21 August 2014 15:44 (1 minute ago)

that difference, might, just, have become apparent to them in the last fortnight, thanks to this 'black beatle' { (c) the daily mail } executing a journalist

no mention of which member of the chirpy troubadours he takes after, perhaps lennon, with his ample antisemitism and capacity for violence against other lesser beatles and against women, and who, in the manner of a true soldier, lived by the gun and died by it

Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Thursday, 21 August 2014 14:53 (nine years ago) link

the btl commenters on british newspaper websites of all political complexions were enthusiastically voicing the good point well made truism that, to be quite honest with you, what is the difference between westerners joining the idf and joining isis?

― Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Thursday, 21 August 2014 14:42 (21 minutes ago) Permalink

While I have little respect for westerners who join the IDF, I think this is a really bad and stupid equivalency. The IDF is an occupying army that has done many immoral things, but it is not a totalitarian conquesting force seeking to control the entire middle east. It doesn't kill indiscriminately as policy, it doesn't take sex slaves as policy, it does, contrary to popular believe, take at least some steps to reduce civilian casualties.

'arry Goldman (Hurting 2), Thursday, 21 August 2014 15:08 (nine years ago) link

then you have your work cut out if you want to be a contrarian in the daily mail comment boxes next time the country they refer to as israhell commits genocide in gaza

Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln (nakhchivan), Thursday, 21 August 2014 15:13 (nine years ago) link

lol I think I misread the tone of your post that I was responding to

'arry Goldman (Hurting 2), Thursday, 21 August 2014 16:05 (nine years ago) link

It really isn't much fun to argue the differences between Israel and ISIS in the midst of Israel bombing the shit out of Gaza and generally being a pretty difficult to defend country though.

'arry Goldman (Hurting 2), Thursday, 21 August 2014 16:06 (nine years ago) link

Been reading calls for Obama and Cameron and others to create a Gulf War multi-country united entity against IS, but here's a NY Times take--

In another era, the campaign against ISIS might have merited the massed divisions and the soaring rhetoric of 2003. But this campaign is the step-child of that war.

The appetite for the fray has been drained by years of conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan.

curmudgeon, Thursday, 21 August 2014 17:50 (nine years ago) link

Has anything worthwhile and reality based been written about the motivations of British guys going to join ISIS?

cardamon, Thursday, 21 August 2014 19:36 (nine years ago) link

Just seen summary items like this that don't get into the motivations really

http://www.newsweek.com/twice-many-british-muslims-fighting-isis-armed-forces-265865

curmudgeon, Thursday, 21 August 2014 20:24 (nine years ago) link

it would have to be speculation anyway right? I would assume nobody is over there interviewing these dudes (for pretty clear reasons) at least not from the western press

busted (art), Thursday, 21 August 2014 20:35 (nine years ago) link

I'm wondering what kind of propaganda videos the British volunteers were watching - did they all go over before the beheadings and sex slavery started (or when this was covered up, if it was) or are those things what they sign up for? Did they go ever in one group or is there a continuing flow of people? etc

cardamon, Thursday, 21 August 2014 20:41 (nine years ago) link

Clanging of the Swords IV was really popular

Mordy, Thursday, 21 August 2014 20:44 (nine years ago) link

The claim of 1500 "fighting for ISIS" looks deliberately misleading. There might be 1500 who have gone to fight in Syria, and that looks like a guess on Mahmood's part, but there's no way to tell who they are fighting for. It wasn't that long ago that ITV were running vaguely admiring pieces about second generation Syrians putting medical degrees on hold to join the effort to topple Assad.

Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Thursday, 21 August 2014 20:48 (nine years ago) link

Yeah, there was a Kurdish man on my local news last night going over to join the Pesh Merga, again presented fairly admiringly

cardamon, Thursday, 21 August 2014 20:50 (nine years ago) link

well, we know for a fact that at least some english citizens are fighting for IS

Mordy, Thursday, 21 August 2014 20:51 (nine years ago) link

Obviously, but not how many - which was what the article claimed to present.

Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Thursday, 21 August 2014 20:52 (nine years ago) link

uk media has definitely struggled with the war in syria which gives all sides the chance to throw some of the tropes back. is it true, as an assad regime official claimed on c4 news, that james foley was captured by the fsa & sold to isis?

ogmor, Thursday, 21 August 2014 21:04 (nine years ago) link

Most reports have just said he was 'captured by a local warlord' who then joined up with ISIS but it doesn't sound like anyone is sure of the details.

Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Thursday, 21 August 2014 21:10 (nine years ago) link

it feels horrible to complain about the media in light of foley's sacrifice but i've been pretty disappointed w/ a lot of the mid east coverage lately. i have yet to see anything else like that Vice reporter who embedded w/ FSA and actually went on a sortie w/ them. maybe this foley situation is why -- it's just too dangerous to get close.

Mordy, Thursday, 21 August 2014 21:11 (nine years ago) link


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