Barbarism

The September 5, 2013 Daily Caller carries a report of threats of what will be done if Obama attacks Syria:

And in an unprecedented statement, a former Iranian official has warned of mass abductions and brutal killings of American citizens around the world and the rape and killing of one of Obama’s daughters should the United States attack Syria.

Alireza Forghani, the former governor of southern Iran’s Kish Province, threw down the gauntlet last week. Forghani is an analyst and strategy specialist in the supreme leader’s camp and closely aligned with Mehdi Taeb, who heads the regime’s Ammar Strategic Base, a radical think thank, and thus speaks with the blessing of the Islamic regime.

“Hopefully Obama will be pigheaded enough to attack Syria, and then we will see the … loss of U.S. interests [through terrorist attacks],” he threatened. “In just 21 hours [after the attack on Syria], a family member of every U.S. minister [department secretary], U.S. ambassadors, U.S. military commanders around the world will be abducted. And then 18 hours later, videos of their amputation will be spread [around the world].”

A similar act was committed in a video of the torture of William Buckley, a CIA station chief who was abducted in Beirut in 1984 and later killed by Hezbollah on Iran’s order. That video was dropped off at the U.S. Embassy in Athens. Former CIA Director William Casey later described what he saw in the video: “They had done more than ruin his body. His eyes made it clear his mind had been played with. It was horrific, medieval and barbarous.”
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/09/05/iran-threatens-brutal-attacks-on-americans-obama-family-if-us-hits-syria/#ixzz2e8aijwa7

This should not be a surprise.  The Koran approves of sex with female slaves (non-believers taken in battle) [Sura 23:6].  This is the reason that al-Qaeda and its affiliates have repeatedly engaged in rape, at Beslan, in East Timor, and elsewhere.  Do not read this threat as bizarre or non-Islamic.  It is squarely in the mainstream of Islam.  Muslims who want to believe otherwise are good and decent people who have let civilized values and good consciences take precedence over the Koran's clear teachings.

There are many arguments against Obama's plan for Syria:

1. Syria is no direct threat to the United States at this time, and does not have a long history of directly threatening or attacking us.

2. Syria is no direct threat to our allies at this time.

3. An attack, at least an attack that we are likely to perform, is unlikely to impair Syria's ability to continue violating the Chemical Weapons Convention, nor will it make much difference in reducing these crimes against civilians or rebels.

4. If our attack changes the balance of power in the Syrian civil war, it is likely to be putting a bunch dominated by al-Qaeda and at least Islamist rebels in charge of Syria.

5. It is not clear that Obama and those around him have either the wits or the courage to follow such attacks through to a successful conclusion.

There are strong arguments for cutting off the head of the snake: Iran.  But that requires more guts and wits than Obama or the American people have.  It will probably take nuclear weapons going off in American cities before we finally are prepared to face reality on this.

Another Depressing Reminder That Good Guys in Syria Are Hard To Find

This September 5, 2013 New York Times article discusses how brutal many of those trying to overthrow Assad are:

The prisoners, seven in all, were captured Syrian soldiers. Five were trussed, their backs marked with red welts. They kept their faces pressed to the dirt as the rebels’ commander recited a bitter revolutionary verse.

“For fifty years, they are companions to corruption,” he said. “We swear to the Lord of the Throne, that this is our oath: We will take revenge.”

The moment the poem ended, the commander, known as “the Uncle,” fired a bullet into the back of the first prisoner’s head. His gunmen followed suit, promptly killing all the men at their feet.

This scene, documented in a video smuggled out of Syria a few days ago by a former rebel who grew disgusted by the killings, offers a dark insight into how many rebels have adopted some of the same brutal and ruthless tactics as the regime they are trying to overthrow.

The article goes on to discuss the question of how many of the rebels are connected to al-Qaeda, and how many are "moderates."  But even secular forces, such as this charming bunch, seem to be pretty brutal.

One of the comments on the article pointed out that Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt have all been at least in part the result of U.S. intervention to promote Arab democracy in the last couple of years.  The results of this supposed "smart diplomacy" argue for leaving well enough alone.

There are those who argue that "Muslim democracy" is pretty much a hopeless task.  I am not convinced that it is impossible, but Obama's crowd is making Bush's efforts in Iraq look pretty sad.

Be Careful Who Your Enemy's Enemies Are

As horrified as I am by the apparent use of nerve gas by the Syrian government, many of those opposing the Syrian government are al-Qaeda or at least Islamist.  This August 22, 2013 New York Times article by an American photojournalist kidnapped by Syrian rebels is a pretty sobering reminder that we might be better off letting the two sides kill each other -- if we could figure out how to protect the noncombatants.

Muslims Defending Coptic Churches

In spite of the best efforts of the Muslim Brotherhood to blame the Coptic Christians of Egypt, it appears that Muslims are showing up to defend Coptic churches from attack.

I remembered the defiant words of the Orthodox Pope, uttered the day before, when he told the Muslim Brotherhood and the extremists and terrorists with them:  “If you burn the churches we will pray with our brothers in the mosques, and if you burn the mosques,  Muslims will pray with us in the church, and if you burn them both, we’re all going to pray together in the streets protecting each other”.
I remembered the words of the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, when the Muslim Brotherhood started torching churches and attacking Christians. He announced that whosever does this is outside of the religion of Islam and all of us must fight him.

Good to see this.  I know that in Iraq, Muslims recognized that al-Qaeda attacks on Christian churches were an attack on civilization, and made a point of being present for rededication of churches that had been attacked.

A Reminder Of What Sort of People We Are Fighting

Although many progressives barely seem to be aware of it.  From July 6, 2013 Associated Press:

POTISKUM, Nigeria (AP) -- Islamic militants attacked a boarding school before dawn Saturday, dousing a dormitory in fuel and lighting it ablaze as students slept, survivors said. At least 30 people were killed in the deadliest attack yet on schools in Nigeria's embattled northeast.

Authorities blamed the violence on Boko Haram, a radical group whose name means "Western education is sacrilege." The militants have been behind a series of recent attacks on schools in the region, including one in which gunmen opened fire on children taking exams in a classroom.

Western education is a sacrilege?  Compared to burning to death a bunch of kids?

So Maybe The Ricin Letters Weren't About Gun Control....

NBC News is reporting that the FBI has arrested a woman who told them her husband sent the letters -- but that they arrested her suggests that she was the sender, trying to cause trouble for hubby.  (Wouldn't it be enough to burn dinner?)  Something tells me that gun control was merely a ruse to get her husband in very serious trouble.

Good Jonah Goldberg Article About "Syria's Religious War" in National Review Online Today

He makes the point that what started out as a somewhat liberal and secular opposition to Assad has turned into a Shiite vs. Sunni religious war -- and there is almost certainly no positive result for the U.S., no matter who wins.  I would make the point that as long as Islamic fanatics are killing each other, they are too busy to be trying to kill us.  It's tragic for the non-combatants in the way, but short of occupation and imperialism, I don't see a way to stop this madness.

Ways Not To Make Friends For Gun Rights

Mailing terrorist threats with ricin in the letters while complaining about gun control.  Yeah, this could be a gun control advocate trying to make our side look bad.  But there are tens of millions of people who passionately oppose gun control; it isn't much of a stretch to imagine that one of those tens of millions have the strategic planning capacity of a bagel.

I am actually pretty pleased with how seldom anyone on our side gets arrested for doing something this stupid.  Here's a hint: making threats to overthrow the government if you actually plan to do that isn't exactly keeping the advantage of surprise, is it?

Terrorism Charges Filed in Boise

From May 16, 2013 Boise channel 6:

Fazliddin Kurbanov, 30, was arrested Thursday morning in Boise after a federal terrorism investigation.

Charges were filed Thursday afternoon in Boise and Salt Lake City against Kurbanov who was a United States citizen living in Boise currently.

The charges filed came after a federal grand jury in Boise returned a three-count indictment charging Kurbanov with one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. In addition, one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and one count of possessing a destructive device.

And in case you notice the byline on the report--yup, that's my son.

Not All Cultures Are Equal

Someone mailed me a gruesome picture purportedly of a Syrian pilot's head being grilled by one of the resistance fighters.  Fake atrocities are a fundamental part of warfare, but I see this May 14, 2013 Telegraph article refers to a variety of acts of cannibalism by the Syrian resistance, and the leaders of that resistance defending such acts:

A Syrian rebel militia leader filmed cutting the heart and organs out of a regime soldier's corpse and putting it in his mouth has defended his actions as legitimate vengeance.

The actions of Khaled al-Hamad, known by the nom de guerre Abu Sakkar, handed an instant propaganda victory to the Syrian govenrment, which accused the West of ignoring rebel atrocities. 

The video purported to show the leader of a breakaway rebel faction cutting the lungs out of a soldier’s corpse before apparently eating a small piece of the organ...

In Damascus, Ali Haider, the minister for reconciliation, said this was only one of many atrocities carried out by the regime’s enemies. “If the international media has just discovered this now, then they are coming to it very late. These type of atrocities have been happening in Syria since the beginning of the crisis,” he said. “The international community just didn’t want to admit it.” 

Mr Haider added: “We have documented hundreds of acts that are equally as horrific as the one documented in this video. We have seen one of our pilot’s heads cut off and cooked on a grill. We have seen rebels toasting their success by drinking the blood of their victims.”

 As much as I find the Assad government worthy of destruction, I am reminded that in much of the Middle East, this is not a conflict between barbarism and civilization, and between different branches of barbarism.  As much as it hurts to see innocent bystanders suffer from such wars, it is rather like what happened when Iraq and Iran went to war against each other in the early 1980s: both were enemies of not only the U.S., but of all civilized notions of proper behavior.  You do not want to applaud, but it is hard to justify spilling even one ounce of American blood or spending one penny of tax dollars to "help" either side.  The more time that various forms of barbarism kill each other, the less time they have to hurt us.

 

Just More Islamophobia, I'm Sure

From May 14, 2013 CBS Boston:

BELCHERTOWN (CBS) – Shortly after midnight Tuesday, seven people were caught trespassing at the Quabbin Reservoir.

State Police say the five men and two women are from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore, and “cited their education and career interests” for being in the area. The men told police they were chemical engineers and recent college graduates.

The Quabbin, in Belchertown, is one of the country’s largest man-made public water supplies. Boston’s drinking water comes from the Quabbin and the Wachusett Reservoirs.

Note the time: "shortly after midnight."  Isn't that when college students usually make unauthorized visits to public water supplies?

The Benghazi Story Just Gets More Ugly

And this report is from CNN, May 6, 2013:

In an interview with congressional investigators, the former top diplomat in Libya expressed concern that more could have been done by the military on the night of September 11, 2012 and morning of September 12, 2012, to protect those being attacked at the U.S. compound and annex in Benghazi, Libya. Specifically, he wondered why the military did not send a plane as a show of force into Libyan airspace, and why four U.S. Special Operations soldiers were not permitted to travel to Benghazi on a Libyan plane the morning of September 12....

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hear from Hicks and others in a Wednesday hearing on the Benghazi tragedy, which ended in the deaths of four Americans – US Ambassador Chris Stevens, information officer Sean Smith, and former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, a member of the committee, tells CNN that “military personnel were ready, willing, and able, and within proximity, but the Pentagon told them they had no authority and to stand down.”

And CBS, May 6, 2013, is reporting the same:

The deputy of slain U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens has told congressional investigators that a team of Special Forces prepared to fly from Tripoli to Benghazi during the Sept. 11, 2012 attacks was forbidden from doing so by U.S. Special Operations Command South Africa.

The account from Gregory Hicks is in stark contrast to assertions from the Obama administration, which insisted that nobody was ever told to stand down and that all available resources were utilized. Hicks gave private testimony to congressional investigators last month in advance of his upcoming appearance at a congressional hearing Wednesday. 

You might almost get the impression that winning re-election was more important than protecting U.S. diplomats.

Bomber #2 In Custody

Here at CBS Boston.  I am not generally impressed with the quality of Twitter, because 140 characters limits you to stuff that is only slightly more thoughtful than a bumper sticker, but Instapundit pointed to a great one:

“This week is so bad that an Elvis-impersonating conspiracy theorist sent poison to Obama and THAT'S LIKE THE TENTH BIGGEST STORY.”

What Sort Of Person Names His Son Tamerlan?

Tamerlan is the first name of the older terrorist, now dead.  He is named for Tamerlane, remembered today for this, from Michael Prawdin's The Mongol Empire: Its Rise and Legacy (1961), pp. 442-3:

For the first time he commanded cruelty and devastation such as made people shudder even in those cruel days, and surrounded for all time the name of Tamerlane with the gloomy aureole of the butcher and exterminator.  When he stormed the rebellious city of Sabzevar, the capital of Khorassan, he had 2,000 persons walled up alive, as a tower of horror "for a warning to all who should dare to revolt and as an indication of Tamerlane's vengeance"--this being the first time that he had commanded such an act...

The mountain cities, which defended themselves valiantly, were crownded with pyramids of skulls; and in the capital city of Sistan, which also made a strenuous resistance, after the prince had surrendered to Tamerlane, the inhabitants were put to the sword by the conqueror, "even to the centenarians, and the baby in the cradle."

I Am Sure Progressives Everywhere Are Disappointed: Chechnyans, Not Tea Partiers

From April 19, 2013 NDTV:

Watertown: The two suspects in Monday's Boston Marathon bombing have been identified as men from Chechnya.

Earlier today they killed a police officer at the MIT campus, injured a transit officer in a firefight and threw explosive devices at police during their getaway attempt in a long night of violence that left one of them dead and another still at large Friday, authorities said.

A law enforcement intelligence bulletin obtained by the AP identified the surviving bomb suspect as 19-year-old Dzhokhar A Tsarnaev of Cambridge, Massachussets.

I know that some of my readers are sympathetic to the Chechnyans because of the brutality with which the Russians have suppressed the Chechnyan independence movement.  But this bomb wasn't set off in Russia, or aimed at Russians.

Reading this account from the April 19, 2013 Wall Street Journal sounds like an episode of 24:

The hunt for the younger Mr. Tsarnayev prompted a broad shutdown of public facilities in the Boston area. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick asked people throughout Boston to take shelter and stay indoors.

The Federal Aviation Administration closed the low-level airspace above roughly four miles in northwest Greater Boston as the search goes on. Logan International Airport in Boston tweeted that it "is open and operating under heightened security." It urged fliers to check their flight status before heading to the airport.

 This account from the April 20, 2013 The Australian indicates that the dead one may have used a suicide vest:

They lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and their family had fled the Chechen civil war for Kazakhstan and appeared to have been granted asylum in the US.

Tamerlan was reported to have been killed by explosives on his body, suggesting he may have detonated a suicide vest.

If there was any question about his motivations:

"I don't have a single American friend, I don't understand them," he recently posted on his website.

On his YouTube page he posted religious videos, including a video of Feiz Mohammad, a fundamentalist Australian Muslim preacher who rails against the evils of Harry Potter.

 But apparently not against the evils of murdering complete strangers.  Priorities.

NPR Speculating About Right-Winger Behind Boston Marathon Bomb

My wife called to tell me that NPR is busily speculating that this was done by right-wing extremists, not al-Qaeda.  At this point, there is not enough to know, other than the initial reports (and somewhat contradicted by other reports) that a Saudi student was being held.

Default assumptions should be based on likelihoods, derived from recent history.  If most recent terrorist attacks were domestic extremist groups, there might be a basis for such speculation, but multiple explosions, a short time apart?  Not aimed at a government building or abortion clinic?  If there is an appropriate default assumption, it is al-Qaeda or other Islamist groups -- not a domestic right-wing group.

But that's why it is called National Palestinian Radio.

UPDATE: Hardly conclusive, but this April 16, 2013 Telegraph report indicates that pressure cooker bombs (now believed to be what was used in Boston) were described in the first issue of al-Qaeda's English-language publication for aspiring jihadis:

The recipe – along with a rationale for post-9/11 terror – was printed three years ago in al-Qaeda’s English-language promotional online magazine, Inspire.

In an article, it instructed readers on how, as its headline writers put it, to “Make a bomb in the kitchen of your Mom”.

It gave the types of explosive, timers and other ingredients needed – along with, it said, a pressure cooker.

Just A Reminder: We Are Still At War

Bombs go off at Boston Marathon, at least 12 dead; a Saudi national with shrapnel wounds is being held.

UPDATE: Count of the dead is still being widely reported as 2, not 12.  I wonder if someone saw how horribly injured some of the victims were, and assumed that they were dead.