Thursday, November 5, 2015
Al Qaeda in the Philippines Sets Ransom for Two Canadians and One Norwegian at $60 Million
The story comes from DAWN.
Filipino militants demand $60 mln ransom for three foreigners
MANILA: Suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen have demanded more than $60 million for two Canadians and a Norwegian they are holding in the jungles of the southern Philippines in the largest ransom the Muslim militants have sought for their hostages in years.
Army Brig Gen Alan Arrojado said Wednesday the Philippine government maintains a no-ransom policy, adding there would be no let-up in efforts by his troops to secure the hostages' freedom in the safest way possible.
In the video circulated online by the US-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi websites, the kidnappers and their captives said for the first time that the Abu Sayyaf was behind the Sept. 21 kidnappings in an upscale marina on the southern resort island of Samal.
In the first video of the hostages last month, the kidnappers demanded a stop to military offensives but did not identify themselves.
In the latest video, the hostages and one of the mostly masked kidnappers said a ransom of 1 billion pesos ($21 million) must be paid for each of the captives to secure their freedom.
The militant said the captives would be killed if the ransom was not paid but did not give any deadline.
One of the hostages, Canadian John Ridsdel, pleaded for Canada's prime minister and people to heed the ransom demand "as soon as possible or our lives are in great danger."
A militant, who did not wear a mask, pointed a knife at him and the two other captives as each of them spoke. A fourth female captive seized from Samal who has been identified by authorities as a Filipino citizen was not allowed to speak in the video.
The hostages were seen sitting on a clearing with the more than a dozen heavily-armed militants standing behind them. Two black flags were displayed in the background.
Aside from Ridsdel, Philippine authorities have identified the other hostages as Canadian Robert Hall, Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad and Filipino national Maritess Flor. They were abducted at gunpoint from a yacht-berthing resort on Samal in Davao del Norte province in the south, scene of a decades-long Muslim rebellion in the largely Roman Catholic nation.
The United States and the Philippines have separately blacklisted the Abu Sayyaf as a terrorist organization for kidnappings, beheadings, extortion and bomb attacks. The Al Qaida-linked militants have been weakened but have survived more than a decade of US-backed offensives.
Following the Sept. 21 kidnappings, Philippine authorities vowed to strengthen security in the south. But three weeks later, gunmen abducted a former Italian Catholic missionary from his pizza restaurant in southern Zamboanga Sibugay province.
The abductions highlight the long-running security problems that have hounded the southern Philippines, a region with bountiful resources, but which also suffers from poverty, lawlessness and decades-long Muslim and communist insurgencies.
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Pakistan woman 'set on fire for refusing marriage proposal' dies
Hillary Clinton on treatment of women by Islamic countries: "chirp, chirp, chirp"
The story comes from Times of India.
Pakistan woman 'set on fire for refusing marriage proposal' dies
MULTAN: A young Pakistani woman died on Tuesday after a rejected suitor set her ablaze for refusing his marriage proposal, a doctor said.
Sonia Bibi, 20, was admitted to hospital last month, where she told police that her former lover Latif Ahmed had doused her with petrol and set her alight after she turned down his proposal.
Medical staff had originally said she would recover, but a doctor in Multan's Nishtar hospital said that Bibi's injuries had become infected and that she died on Tuesday morning.
About 45 to 50 percent of her body had been burned in the attack, doctor Naheed Chaudhry, the head of the hospital's burns department told AFP.
The incident took place in a remote village of Multan district in central Punjab province. Police have arrested the 24-year-old suspect.
Bibi had told police that she had fallen out of love with Ahmed, and preliminary investigations suggested he had set her on fire "after she refused to marry him".
Hundreds of women are murdered in Pakistan each year in cases of domestic violence or on the grounds of defending family "honour".
The Aurat Foundation, a campaign group that works to improve the lives of women in Pakistan's conservative and patriarchal society, says more than 3,000 women have been killed in such attacks since 2008.
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Barack Hussein Obama Calls the Iraq War an "occupation" by America?
So I'm reading the article below over at DAWN about how Barack Hussein Obama is trying to spin his way out of the fact that he is sending ground troops to Syria when I run across this statement from Obama:
"I have been consistent throughout that we are not going to be fighting like we did in Iraq with battalions and occupations. That doesn't solve the problem."
Okay. A couple of things here:
- In the context of the world at this moment, who are the only people to use reference of "occupation?" You're right, it is the militant Muslims of the Middle East when referring to the nation of Israel supposedly "occupying" Palestine (so-called Palestine). So the CHRISTIAN midwestern values President of America refers to the Iraq War as an American "occupation" ???
- Obama says "that doesn't solve the problem" - oh, i see....that doesn't solve the problem like the brilliant plan Obama had to withdraw EVERY single U.S. troop from Iraq - let's see, the result of doing that created what? Nirvana?
Obama says Syria deployment doesn't break no 'boots on ground'
WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama said on Monday the planned deployment of dozens of United States (US) special forces to Syria to advise opposition forces fighting self-styled Islamic State (IS) did not break his promise not to put "boots on the ground" in the Syrian conflict.
"Keep in mind that we have run special ops already and really this is just an extension of what we are continuing to do," Obama said in an interview on "NBC Nightly News" in his first public comments on the deployment since it was announced on Friday.
"We are not putting US troops on the front lines fighting firefights with ISIL," Obama said, using another acronym for IS.
"I have been consistent throughout that we are not going to be fighting like we did in Iraq with battalions and occupations. That doesn't solve the problem."
In announcing the measure, the White House said the troops would be on a mission to "train, advise and assist" and would number fewer than 50.
The introduction of US forces on the ground marks a shift after more than a year of limiting the Syria mission to air strikes against IS.
Before last year, Obama, who has been averse to committing troops to Middle East wars, had ruled out an American presence on the ground in Syria.
In a nationally televised address in September 2013, Obama said: "I will not put American boots on the ground in Syria." Over the past year, however, he has emphasized that he would not send US "combat" troops there.
The Obama administration is under pressure to ramp up the US effort against IS, particularly after the militant group captured the Iraqi city of Ramadi in May and following the failure of a US military program to train and arm thousands of Syrian rebels.
Russia and Iran have increased their military support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's fight against rebels in the 4-1/2-year-old civil war.
Do You REALLY Think the Federal Govt Will Strip an American Mosque of Charitable Status For Refusing To Marry Gays?
Let's start this whole legalized gay marriage thing out right. I want a lesbian couple to walk into an Islamic mosque here in America and demand to be married. They will be thrown out on the street with their strap-ons and two headed dildos. THEN, I want to see the Federal government actually go through with a stripping of that mosque of their tax exempt status.
To the homosexual community in America, to the LGBT community in America, to the militant gays in America.....I DARE you to ask to be married in a mosque. I DOUBLE DARE you.
Blogger and the Homosexual Community and the Muslims of America and the First Amendment
The First Amendment is under attack right here at Holger Awakens.
My blog post in which I asked the question, "Will the Federal Government REALLY strip an Islamic mosque of tax-exampt status for refusing to marry gays?" has been removed from this blog by the people at Blogger.
Apparently, either a homosexual or a Muslim or a homosexual Muslim decided to file a complaint regarding that blogpost so since ONE PERSON objected to my blogpost, it has been removed.
Now, I have plans to repost that blog post for everyone. A word of warning - if this blog somehow "disappears" or you see it idle for a number of days, you can be assured that the Communists at Blogger have decided to completely shut down free speech in America.
Stay tuned.....
UPDATE: It appears that a certain homosexual photographer from San Francisco is the culprit in this attack on the blog. Apparently she didn't want her photograph used in such a straight forward manner as is presented here at Holger Awakens. I thought it would be some good free advertising for her. Oh well, I guess you just can't please some people.
Stay tuned....post is coming back at you with a slight improvement ...a new photo by a photographer who doesn't shoot photos out of her ass.
Monday, November 2, 2015
Islamic State battles Iraqi forces near Samarra
Islamic State fighters overrunning an Iraqi position near Samarra
The story comes from The Long War Journal.
Islamic State battles Iraqi forces near Samarra
The Islamic State and Iraqi Shiite militias have engaged in heavy fighting near the historic city of Samarra in central Iraq. Islamic State jihadists gained control of some areas west of Samarra after Iraqi forces withdrew, claimed a Shiite militia loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al Sadr.
The Islamic State’s provinces, or wilayats, of Salahadin and Shamal Baghdad [North Baghdad] have put out large photo releases detailing the fighting for several Iraqi positions west of Samarra. The images show the jihadist forces attacking the positions with heavy machine guns, rockets, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades (RPG’s), technicals (heavily armed pick up trucks), and small arms. The Islamic State also displays several checkpoints being overrun, with the jihadist group removing Iraqi and Shiite flags from the compounds.
Several photos show the dead bodies of dozens of Iraqi policemen and Shia militiamen. Many of these are too graphic to be published by The Long War Journal. Additional images highlight the “spoils” gained by the jihadist group, including small arms, RPGs, ammunition, and several vehicles. TheIslamic State also showcased its usage of several foreign suicide bombers, including jihadists from Tajikistan, Tunisia, Egypt, and Bahrain.
The fighting in Samarra has been confirmed by Iraqi officials to have been concentrated west of the city. An Iraqi official from Salahadin said that “Daesh [a derogatory Arabic acronym for the Islamic State] was able to sneak into those areas.” Additionally, the official called on the Iraqi Security Forces to send reinforcements to the government’s elements in the area. The suicide bombings west of the city are said to have happened on Oct. 28 and Oct. 29, however, fighting is ongoing.
Saraya al Salam (Peace Brigades), a Shiite militia led by Muqtada al Sadr and supported by Iran, reported today that its forces have liberated several areas that the Islamic State captured in recent days. In the same statement, the militia said that the Islamic State was able to capture these positions because of the “withdrawal of security forces.” Saraya al Salam also released videos showing its forces clearing terrain near the city and targeting the Islamic State in various areas west of the city.
The Samarra Operations Command also reported that the Iraqi Security Forces have killed 146 Islamic State fighters in the recent fighting, but this number cannot be confirmed by The Long War Journal. The Peace Brigades is the main Shiite militia tasked with protecting the city of Samarra, but other militias are also present, including Jund al Imam. In one photo released by the Islamic State, the jihadist group shows its forces targeting Jund al Imam near an Iraqi checkpoint.
The Islamic State seeks to control Samarra and towns and cites to its south in order to secure the northern Baghdad belt. Jihadist control of this area would make it difficult for Iraqi forces to resupply and reinforce military units to the north in Tikrit and Baiji. Additionally, the Islamic State seeks use this area to disrupt security in Baghdad.
The Iraqi government has allowed Shiite militias, including the Badr Brigade, Hezbollah Brigade, Asaib al Haq (League of the Righteous), and Sadr’s Promised Day Brigade, all of which are supported by Iran’s Qods Force, to reinforce beleaguered and demoralized Iraqi forces in and around Samarra. These militias have remained on the front line and have secured cities and towns, many of which are predominantly Sunni communities, along the road from Samarra to Baghdad.
Sunday, November 1, 2015
Assad's Revenge: 40 Killed In Rebel-held Damascus Suburb
Syria's President Assad got a wee bit of revenge Friday when he spilled the blood of 40 in a Damascus suburb that rebels control. Every day in Syria it is back and forth, death and dying. It's become the world's new hellhole.
The story comes from Israel National News.
Assad kills 40 in Damascus bombing bonanza
Death toll expected to rise in regime rocket and mortar barrage on market in rebel-held Damascus suburb.
Forty people were killed on Friday when rockets fired by Syrian government forces crashed into a market in a rebel-held area outside Damascus, a monitor said.
"There were 40 people killed and at least 100 wounded in the center of Douma," a town in the Eastern Ghouta suburb of the Syrian capital, Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP.
"There is still heavy fire now, with both rockets and mortars," he said, adding that the toll was expected to rise as people were still being pulled out of damaged buildings.
Rebel-held Douma lies in Eastern Ghouta, the largest opposition stronghold in Damascus province.
The region is regularly targeted by rocket fire, shelling, and aerial raids by government forces, and opposition groups there also fire rockets into the capital.
On Thursday, government air strikes in Douma hit a market and a hospital, killing at least nine people, according to the Observatory.
In August, 117 people were killed in a single day of air strikes in Douma, causing a global outcry.
Throughout Syria's brutal war, both the government and opposition forces have been criticized by rights groups for indiscriminate fire on civilian areas.
More than 250,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in March 2011.
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