Interesting article in the Washington Post describing the real life identity of “Jihadi John”, the ISIS executioner who has been seen on numerous ISIS video’s executing hostages. The executioner is identified as a rather affluent Kuwaiti national who grew up and lived in London’s west side. The details are interesting.

LONDON — The world knows him as “Jihadi John,” the masked man with a British accent who has beheaded several hostages held by the Islamic State and who taunts audiences in videos circulated widely online.

But his real name, according to friends and others familiar with his case, is Mohammed Emwazi, a Briton from a well-to-do family who grew up in West London and graduated from college with a degree in computer programming. He is believed to have traveled to Syria around 2012 and to have later joined the Islamic State, the group whose barbarity he has come to symbolize.

“I have no doubt that Mohammed is Jihadi John,” said one of Emwazi’s close friends who identified him in an interview with The Washington Post. “He was like a brother to me. . . . I am sure it is him.” (read more)

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Five days ago CNN’s Evan Perez wrote an exclusive story on CNN highlighting a 2015 DHS Sovereign Citizen report. Part of the CNN storyline stated the DHS report was alarmingly concerned with “right-wing” extremist groups.

You can see how the CNN analysis was framed by looking at this screenshot:

Within the CNN analysis they claim serious threats:

[…] ”from sovereign citizen groups as equal to — and in some cases greater than — the threat from foreign Islamic terror groups, such as ISIS”.

Except, there’s something very divergent – The actual report does not claim that the threat to police is growing, it does not conflate sovereigns with other anti-government groups, it makes no broad claims about terror on the right,  and it does not compare the sovereigns to ISIS or to any other foreign terrorists.

There is absolutely nothing in the report to suggest such an interpretation.  Heck, the words “right-wing” do not even show up in the report anywhere. (more…)

We have some really great folks on our team inside the rebel alliance.  Dennis Michael Lynch is fearless and fierce.  Bill Whittle is excellent in oration, delivery and intellectual armorment; and the way Dan Joseph asks the “why” questions, the timing and the use of silence, makes him a brilliant presenter. Watch:

As previously mentioned, there is a growing body of evidence reflecting the next strategy in the psychological operations being used by ISIS.  Essentially, the chatter is claiming that the captured Christian hostages, the Assyrians’, were specifically taken so that ISIS could put together a message for U.S. President Barack Obama.

It is difficult to know how much credibility to assign to these claims.   There is also a growing conversation about how Obama’s refusal to identify the religious motivation of  ISIS could also be driving the jihadists to intensify their ‘religious targeting’ in an effort to make Western Leaders (who refuse to identify the authentic Islam behavior of ISIS) seem like they are foolish, weak and afraid.

SYRIA – ISIS is clearly feeling the pain after weeks of intense air strikes against it by the U.S.- led coalition fighting the spread of the terrorist organization in the Middle East.

Employing its familiar tactics, the Islamic State is now threatening to execute the 150 Assyrian Christians they have taken hostage in Syria.

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Even while making the arrests, of suspected terrorists, the federal authorities maintain the air of political correctness:

“As alleged, the defendants looked to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant by flying to Turkey in a vain attempt to evade detection. And one of the defendants was prepared to commit acts of terror here —in America— if he could not travel, to include killing FBI agents.

The defendants violated the true tenants of their faith in pursuit of their radical, violent agenda. We rely on help from the community, the public, and religious leaders to be mindful of those who could be radicalized. We cannot do this alone,”….

Obviously the same sensitive definitions would not be allowed if the pesky jihadists were Amish…. so sayeth FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Rodriguez. (more…)

Media sources are hearing the possibility of an ISIS video directly intended for U.S. President Obama. The question is being raised as to whether these captured 150 Assyrians’ will be part of that message.

(Reuters) – Islamic State militants have abducted at least 150 people from Assyrian Christian villages in northeastern Syria they had raided, Christian Syrian activists said on Tuesday.

A Syrian Christian group representing several NGO’s inside and outside the country said it had verified at least 150 people missing, including women and elderly, who had been kidnapped by the militants.

“We have verified at least 150 people who have been adducted from sources on the ground,” Bassam Ishak, President of the Syriac National Council of Syria, whose family itself is from Hasaka, told Reuters from Amman. […] (more…)

I make no attempt to hide my hopeful view of Egyptian President and Muslim leader Fattah el-Sisi.  I had given up believing in a modern secular Muslim leader, until we discovered el-Sisi

Having watched and researched the entirety of the mid-East Islamist Spring from well before it even appeared on the horizon of Western interest, there was an overwhelming sense of dismay -albeit within a small circle- at a very predictable chain of events. 

As a direct consequence of President Obama’s 2009 efforts – by the end of 2011 things actually seemed hopeless.  Syria began their civil war; Bahrain was trying to stop one from starting; Iran had killed/jailed the freedom alliance (Green Movement); Tunis was in a state of turmoil; U.S. policy was destroying stability in Libya; Yemen was in crisis mode;  Saudi Arabia was pumping money into their citizenry to stop anxiety; and Egypt was being leveraged to the Muslim Brotherhood.

When you look at those events from the perspective of the average person, the family trying to do their best to give their kids a better life, things were beyond grim…. it wasn’t an “Arab Spring”, it was an Islamist Spring – and the dark forces of hate, pride, envy and anger all seemed to be relishing in the bloodshed… (more…)

This argument was made by all reasonable people back when the White House decided it was more politically opportune to trade GITMO detainees for Bowe Bergdahl. The newsworthy aspect is the confirmation from the other hostage’s family.

WASHINGTON DC – The brother of an American woman who was killed after spending months as a hostage of Islamic State militants says Kayla Mueller’s situation worsened after the government [Obama] traded five Taliban commanders for a captive U.S. soldier.

The militants increased their demands after the May swap for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, Eric Mueller told NBC’s “Today” in an interview that aired Monday.

“That made the whole situation worse because that’s when the demands got greater,” he said. “They got larger. They realized that they had something.”

Mueller’s death was confirmed Feb. 10 by her family and U.S. officials. The Islamic State group claimed she died in a Jordanian airstrike, but U.S. officials have not confirmed that. The Pentagon said it didn’t know how she was killed. (more…)

Last week, following confirmation of 45 Iraqi’s burned alive by ISIS in Anbar Province, we heard about another event of even more staggering proportions. 150 Civilians in the Baghdadi District, all of them belong to Abu Ebaid tribe, and we have been seeking confirmation.

However, in the interim, it is now reported an additional 43 people are confirmed dead in yet another mass execution in the same area. This is all happening a few miles from al Assad Air Force where U.S. marines are currently stationed to assist the Iraqi military.

Two of the three reports now confirmed; if the second is confirmed that would mean more than 200 people burned alive by the savages of ISIS in the past week. (more…)

Annoying does not seem to adequately identify the frustration projected toward the U.S. media anymore. “Willfully Blind” seemingly seems entirely more appropriate.

Back in 2011 when Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice, Samantha Power and eventually President Obama, engaged in a decision to strike militarily against Gaddaffi in support of Libyan opposition forces (later determined to be al-Qaeda), Jeh Johnson was part of President Obama’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) as Johnson represented the chief legal counsel to the Pentagon.

A little known fact about that controversial time is that Jeh Johnson, the legal counsel, told President Obama his military action was illegal. Yes, Jeh Johnson as part of the OLC told Obama the executive office lacked legal authority to strike militarily against Libya because the Libyan uprising posed no direct threat to the United States, and President Obama had not requested congressional authority.

This was in June of 2011, this was even reported in the NEW YORK TIMES:

WASHINGTON — President Obama rejected the views of top lawyers at the Pentagon and the Justice Department when he decided that he had the legal authority to continue American military participation in the air war in Libya without Congressional authorization, according to officials familiar with internal administration deliberations.  

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