BREAKING: US begins air strikes in Syria
- Thread starter 88m3
- Start date
ADevilYouKhow
Rhyme Reason
The observatory is saying there are casualties.so when the ground troops landing
I know Isis was long gone before those drones lit up the sky
sf has probably been there for years, lol.
I fukk with the dems for that reason alone though.
shyt is funny.
We can do shyt under that guise of supreme trolling and coded language
So tell them to stop making it so easy for us to day
The government isn't the worry.
I'm saying...ya'll think the US just dropped Tomahawks without nikkas on the ground guiding them?
Them SF boys been on the ground since 2011 probably
Theres a LOT of shyt that goes unreported.
Its already been explained and is basic common sense.
Cheney: 'No Fair' That Obama Gets to Bomb Syria
NEW YORK -
In an appearance on Fox News today, former vice president dikk Cheney said it was "no fair" that President Obama gets to bomb Syria. "I'm envious as hell," he told Sean Hannity. "That was on my bucket list."
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
UN aims to block jihadist recruits
David Cameron said the UN should "win the battle of ideas not just the battle of military might"
Continue reading the main story
Islamic State
David Cameron has said the UK is ready to "play its part" in fighting Islamic State, which he called an "evil against which the whole world must unite".
Speaking at the UN in New York, the prime minister said "past mistakes" must not be an "excuse" for inaction.
He spoke as US and Arab jets continued bombing Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria, after attacks began on Tuesday.
The UK cabinet will discuss plans for air strikes against IS in Iraq later, with Parliament due to vote on Friday.
In his UN speech, Mr Cameron said the Iraqi government had made a "clear request" for international military assistance against IS, which has taken control of large parts of Iraq and Syria in recent months.
He said this provided a "clear basis in international law for action".
Analysis
by Nick Bryant, BBC United Nations correspondent
David Cameron's address at the UN felt like a dress rehearsal for the speech he'll deliver in the House of Commons on Friday, and his target audience seemed to be parliamentarians as much as diplomats in the hall.
Other than a few cursory words about Middle East peace, Ukraine and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, it was devoted almost exclusively to making the case for British air strikes in Iraq.
Referring to the war there a decade ago, a conflict lodged so firmly in the minds of parliamentarians, he said that past mistakes should not become an "excuse for indifference or inaction".
He was also careful to spell out the legal case for air strikes in Iraq, a touchier issue in Westminster than it is in New York.
Mr Cameron said he did not believe Western countries should send ground troops in to fight, but there was a place for action by armed forces.
As well as air strikes, he said Western forces could equip, train and support those who are "fighting on the front line for their societies and for their countries and for their freedom".
He said IS, also known as Isil and Isis, had killed people of "every faith and none" and had "murderous plans to expand its borders well beyond Iraq and Syria and to carry out terrorist atrocities right across the world".
A new IS video purportedly shows new recruits
Mr Cameron said it was "right" to learn lessons from the past - especially from the 2003 invasion of Iraq - but leaders must not be "frozen with fear".
"Isolation and withdrawing from a problem like Isil will only make matters worse," he said.
"We must not allow past mistakes to become an excuse for indifference or inaction."
He also said:
Mr Cameron said IS had recruited fighters from around the world, including 500 from Britain.
One of these Britons "almost certainly" killed the two American journalists and the British aid worker whose beheadings featured on IS videos posted online in recent weeks, he said.
The UN Security Council has adopted a binding resolution compelling states to prevent their nationals joining jihadists in Iraq and Syria.
US President Barack Obama chaired the session and called for global efforts to dismantle the IS "network of death".
He said more than 40 countries had offered to join the coalition against IS, which is made up of well-armed Sunni Muslim militants who aim to set up a hardline caliphate.
The US started bombing IS targets in Iraq last month and began bombing in Syria on Tuesday.
It said Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain and Qatar had all "participated in or supported" the Syria strikes, which the US military said had targeted vehicles, arms dumps and small-scale oil refineries.
The UK is considering joining the US in carrying out air strikes in Iraq
Buildings in Raqqa were damaged by the US-led air strikes in Syria
Labour and the Liberal Democrats are supporting the plan for air strikes in Iraq.
BBC deputy political editor James Landale said the government was "confident" of winning Friday's vote - but it did not propose military action in Syria due to the "the legal impediments of acting there without the support of the Assad regime".
However, former UK Attorney General Dominic Grieve told BBC Newsnight the Iraqi government's request for help could make it possible for the UK to take military action in Syria without breaching international law.
He said there was evidence that some attacks were "spilling over the border" from Syria into Iraq, so the UK could use "reasonable, necessary and proportionate means" to help Iraq defend itself.
He said it might also be possible to make a legal case for intervening in Syria under the "doctrine of humanitarian necessity" to protect people from IS genocide.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29357116
David Cameron said the UN should "win the battle of ideas not just the battle of military might"
Continue reading the main story
Islamic State
David Cameron has said the UK is ready to "play its part" in fighting Islamic State, which he called an "evil against which the whole world must unite".
Speaking at the UN in New York, the prime minister said "past mistakes" must not be an "excuse" for inaction.
He spoke as US and Arab jets continued bombing Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria, after attacks began on Tuesday.
The UK cabinet will discuss plans for air strikes against IS in Iraq later, with Parliament due to vote on Friday.
In his UN speech, Mr Cameron said the Iraqi government had made a "clear request" for international military assistance against IS, which has taken control of large parts of Iraq and Syria in recent months.
He said this provided a "clear basis in international law for action".
Analysis
by Nick Bryant, BBC United Nations correspondent
David Cameron's address at the UN felt like a dress rehearsal for the speech he'll deliver in the House of Commons on Friday, and his target audience seemed to be parliamentarians as much as diplomats in the hall.
Other than a few cursory words about Middle East peace, Ukraine and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, it was devoted almost exclusively to making the case for British air strikes in Iraq.
Referring to the war there a decade ago, a conflict lodged so firmly in the minds of parliamentarians, he said that past mistakes should not become an "excuse for indifference or inaction".
He was also careful to spell out the legal case for air strikes in Iraq, a touchier issue in Westminster than it is in New York.
Mr Cameron said he did not believe Western countries should send ground troops in to fight, but there was a place for action by armed forces.
As well as air strikes, he said Western forces could equip, train and support those who are "fighting on the front line for their societies and for their countries and for their freedom".
He said IS, also known as Isil and Isis, had killed people of "every faith and none" and had "murderous plans to expand its borders well beyond Iraq and Syria and to carry out terrorist atrocities right across the world".
Mr Cameron said it was "right" to learn lessons from the past - especially from the 2003 invasion of Iraq - but leaders must not be "frozen with fear".
"Isolation and withdrawing from a problem like Isil will only make matters worse," he said.
"We must not allow past mistakes to become an excuse for indifference or inaction."
He also said:
- the international community should support "representative and accountable" Middle Eastern governments to fight IS - not go "over their heads"
- "partners" in the region could include Iran - though he met the Iranian president on Wednesday and said there were "severe disagreements" between the two countries
- it was "dangerously misguided" to suggest working with the Assad regime in Syria, which is also fighting IS
- all nations must stop "so-called non-violent extremists from inciting hatred and intolerance"
Mr Cameron said IS had recruited fighters from around the world, including 500 from Britain.
One of these Britons "almost certainly" killed the two American journalists and the British aid worker whose beheadings featured on IS videos posted online in recent weeks, he said.
The UN Security Council has adopted a binding resolution compelling states to prevent their nationals joining jihadists in Iraq and Syria.
US President Barack Obama chaired the session and called for global efforts to dismantle the IS "network of death".
He said more than 40 countries had offered to join the coalition against IS, which is made up of well-armed Sunni Muslim militants who aim to set up a hardline caliphate.
The US started bombing IS targets in Iraq last month and began bombing in Syria on Tuesday.
It said Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain and Qatar had all "participated in or supported" the Syria strikes, which the US military said had targeted vehicles, arms dumps and small-scale oil refineries.
Labour and the Liberal Democrats are supporting the plan for air strikes in Iraq.
BBC deputy political editor James Landale said the government was "confident" of winning Friday's vote - but it did not propose military action in Syria due to the "the legal impediments of acting there without the support of the Assad regime".
However, former UK Attorney General Dominic Grieve told BBC Newsnight the Iraqi government's request for help could make it possible for the UK to take military action in Syria without breaching international law.
He said there was evidence that some attacks were "spilling over the border" from Syria into Iraq, so the UK could use "reasonable, necessary and proportionate means" to help Iraq defend itself.
He said it might also be possible to make a legal case for intervening in Syria under the "doctrine of humanitarian necessity" to protect people from IS genocide.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29357116
Ritzy Sharon
Don't Make Me Pull The Oud Out
Ahh, the almighty NSA
Why am I being monitored? Where's my freedom of speech goddamit?
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
US government tweets and deletes photos of dead jihadists
State Department Twitter account posts pictures of corpses said to be ISIL fighters and then quickly deletes them
The tweet that was deleted by Think Again Turn Away Photo: TWITTER
By Raf Sanchez, Washington
5:48PM BST 25 Sep 2014
A US government Twitter account tasked with countering jihadist propaganda triumphantly posted pictures of dead Islamic State fighters only to delete them a short while later.
The US State Department runs a number of social media accounts to push back against Isil and al-Qaeda and convince young Muslims not to enslist with the jihadists.
The "Think Again Turn Away" Twitter account posted pictures of the corpses of four jihadist fighters reportedly killed in US air strikes in an apparent warning to those thinking of taking up arms.
"Secretary of State: Strikes against #ISIS in Syria mark major step towards getting job done #thinkagainturnaway," the tweet read.
Yet by Thursday the tweet had been deleted from the State Department account.
Related Articles
The account is run by the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications (CSCC), a unit of the State Department intended as America's answer to the digital propaganda put out by Isil and al-Qaeda.
Unlike many of the more staid US government Twitter accounts, Think Again Turn Away sends out caustic tweets and often engages in online spats with jihadists Twitter users.
In an interview with The Telegraph in May, Alberto Fernandez, the head of the CSCC, acknowledged there was "a fine line" between taking on the jihadists and overstepping bounds of taste.
"I worry about it all the time. Snarky is good but you can take it too far," Mr Fernandez said.
The Twitter account tends to post images of jihadist brutality and photographs of US victories over them with drone strikes or on the battlefield.
"What we're doing is very different from anything else in US government public communications," said Mr Fernandez, a career diplomat and a fluent Arabic speaker. "Our goal is not to make people love the US. Our goal is to make al-Qaeda look bad."
The CSCC was created in 2011 and for the last three years its team of operators have worked in Arabic, Urdu and Somali in an effort to counter jihad.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ets-and-deletes-photos-of-dead-jihadists.html
State Department Twitter account posts pictures of corpses said to be ISIL fighters and then quickly deletes them
The tweet that was deleted by Think Again Turn Away Photo: TWITTER
By Raf Sanchez, Washington
5:48PM BST 25 Sep 2014
A US government Twitter account tasked with countering jihadist propaganda triumphantly posted pictures of dead Islamic State fighters only to delete them a short while later.
The US State Department runs a number of social media accounts to push back against Isil and al-Qaeda and convince young Muslims not to enslist with the jihadists.
The "Think Again Turn Away" Twitter account posted pictures of the corpses of four jihadist fighters reportedly killed in US air strikes in an apparent warning to those thinking of taking up arms.
"Secretary of State: Strikes against #ISIS in Syria mark major step towards getting job done #thinkagainturnaway," the tweet read.
Yet by Thursday the tweet had been deleted from the State Department account.
Related Articles
- British jihadists are nothing like the freedom fighters of the Spanish Civil War
21 May 2014 - Syria's sick and injured refugees being forced to return home, report warns
21 May 2014 - Tweeting at terrorists: US's social media battle with online jihad
21 May 2014
The account is run by the Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications (CSCC), a unit of the State Department intended as America's answer to the digital propaganda put out by Isil and al-Qaeda.
Unlike many of the more staid US government Twitter accounts, Think Again Turn Away sends out caustic tweets and often engages in online spats with jihadists Twitter users.
In an interview with The Telegraph in May, Alberto Fernandez, the head of the CSCC, acknowledged there was "a fine line" between taking on the jihadists and overstepping bounds of taste.
"I worry about it all the time. Snarky is good but you can take it too far," Mr Fernandez said.
The Twitter account tends to post images of jihadist brutality and photographs of US victories over them with drone strikes or on the battlefield.
"What we're doing is very different from anything else in US government public communications," said Mr Fernandez, a career diplomat and a fluent Arabic speaker. "Our goal is not to make people love the US. Our goal is to make al-Qaeda look bad."
The CSCC was created in 2011 and for the last three years its team of operators have worked in Arabic, Urdu and Somali in an effort to counter jihad.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...ets-and-deletes-photos-of-dead-jihadists.html
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
UAE’s First Female Fighter Pilot Led Mission Against ISIS
BY HAYES BROWN
POSTED ON SEPTEMBER 25, 2014 AT 9:16 AM UPDATED: SEPTEMBER 25, 2014 AT 12:32 PM
Major Mariam Al Mansouri, the UAE’s first female fighter pilot and leader of the UAE’s mission against ISIS
CREDIT: UNITED ARAB EMIRATES AIR FORCE
The United Arab Emirates on Thursday confirmed rumors that its first — and so far only — female fighter pilot flew as part of the U.S.-led mission to strike targets in Syria. Not only did she fly, an official said, she led and will continue to lead the UAE’s pilots assigned to future missions against the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS).
On Monday night, the United States and five Arab nations launched the first airstrikes against ISIS positions in Syria, after months of American pilots taking on the group in Iraq. Among the Arab countries, the United Arab Emirates sent four F-16 pilots into combat. Soon after, rumors began circulating that Major Mariam Al Mansouri, who last year became the first female Emirati Air Force pilot, had taken part in the mission.
After Fox News’ Brett Bair tweet on Wednesday that he had verified that Mansouri was the team leader for the fighter pilot wing, Emirati Ambassador to the U.S. Yousef al Otaiba officially confirmed the news on MSNBC. “I got a lot of e-mails yesterday about the story and I finally got the approval,” Otaiba said. “So, here it goes: on ‘Morning Joe,’ I can officially confirm that the UAE strike mission on Monday night was led by a female fighter pilot.” He added that she is “fully qualified, highly trained combat ready pilot and she led the mission.”
Mansouri joined the Emerati Air Force in 2007, soon after the country began allowing women to join. According to an interview with Deraa Al Watan magazine last year, before she was allowed to join up, Mansouri “bided her time by spending several years working for General Command before becoming the first woman to join the airforce when the academy finally opened its doors to female recruits.” In the interview she said that competing with her male counterparts was never an issue, instead saying she “focused on competing with herself to improve her skills.”
The U.S. pilots taking part in the mission had apparently not heard Mansouri’s story before, according to an anecdote from Otaiba. “Actually, funny story is the U.S. tanker pilots called in for air refueling and asked for the UAE mission and when they heard a female voice on the other side they paused for 20 seconds,” he said. But despite rumors that ISIS is afraid of female soldiers and pilots, the opposite turns out to be true. As Vox has noted, ISIS itself has all-female battalions, called “al-Khansaa” and “Umm al-Rayan,” that operate in Syria. “ISIS female fighters wear full burqas and carry rifles; they exist to force other women to comply with ISIS’s vision of sharia law,” Vox reported.
Meanwhile, the hosts of Fox News’ The Five were impressed with Mansouri’s role in the ISIS campaign, but chose an odd way to show it. “The problem is, after she bombed it, she couldn’t park it,” Greg Gutfeld said. “Would that be considered boobs on the ground, or no?” added Eric Bolling. Watch the exchange here:
Amid all the recent attention given her, Mansouri is continuing to fly missions against ISIS. On Wednesday evening, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and U.S. struck several oil wells the militant group controlled in the eastern part of the country. In all, U.S. Central Command said in a statement, the coalition used “a mix of fighter and remotely piloted aircraft to conduct 13 of airstrikes against 12 ISIL-controlled modular oil refineries,” using the U.S. government’s preferred acronym for the group. “These small-scale refineries provided fuel to run ISIL operations, money to finance their continued attacks throughout Iraq and Syria, and an economic asset to support their future operations. Producing between 300-500 barrels of refined petroleum per day, ISIL is estimated to generate as much as $2 million per day from these refineries.”
UPDATE
This article has been updated to include video of Fox News’ reaction to Mansouri’s story. Also, a previous update to this article indicated that reports in Arabic media said that Mansouri’s family has reportedly disavowed her. As this claim has not been fully confirmed, it has been stricken from the article.
http://thinkprogress.org/world/2014/09/25/3571981/uae-female-pilot-isis/
BY HAYES BROWN
POSTED ON SEPTEMBER 25, 2014 AT 9:16 AM UPDATED: SEPTEMBER 25, 2014 AT 12:32 PM
Major Mariam Al Mansouri, the UAE’s first female fighter pilot and leader of the UAE’s mission against ISIS
CREDIT: UNITED ARAB EMIRATES AIR FORCE
The United Arab Emirates on Thursday confirmed rumors that its first — and so far only — female fighter pilot flew as part of the U.S.-led mission to strike targets in Syria. Not only did she fly, an official said, she led and will continue to lead the UAE’s pilots assigned to future missions against the Islamic State in Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS).
On Monday night, the United States and five Arab nations launched the first airstrikes against ISIS positions in Syria, after months of American pilots taking on the group in Iraq. Among the Arab countries, the United Arab Emirates sent four F-16 pilots into combat. Soon after, rumors began circulating that Major Mariam Al Mansouri, who last year became the first female Emirati Air Force pilot, had taken part in the mission.
After Fox News’ Brett Bair tweet on Wednesday that he had verified that Mansouri was the team leader for the fighter pilot wing, Emirati Ambassador to the U.S. Yousef al Otaiba officially confirmed the news on MSNBC. “I got a lot of e-mails yesterday about the story and I finally got the approval,” Otaiba said. “So, here it goes: on ‘Morning Joe,’ I can officially confirm that the UAE strike mission on Monday night was led by a female fighter pilot.” He added that she is “fully qualified, highly trained combat ready pilot and she led the mission.”
Mansouri joined the Emerati Air Force in 2007, soon after the country began allowing women to join. According to an interview with Deraa Al Watan magazine last year, before she was allowed to join up, Mansouri “bided her time by spending several years working for General Command before becoming the first woman to join the airforce when the academy finally opened its doors to female recruits.” In the interview she said that competing with her male counterparts was never an issue, instead saying she “focused on competing with herself to improve her skills.”
The U.S. pilots taking part in the mission had apparently not heard Mansouri’s story before, according to an anecdote from Otaiba. “Actually, funny story is the U.S. tanker pilots called in for air refueling and asked for the UAE mission and when they heard a female voice on the other side they paused for 20 seconds,” he said. But despite rumors that ISIS is afraid of female soldiers and pilots, the opposite turns out to be true. As Vox has noted, ISIS itself has all-female battalions, called “al-Khansaa” and “Umm al-Rayan,” that operate in Syria. “ISIS female fighters wear full burqas and carry rifles; they exist to force other women to comply with ISIS’s vision of sharia law,” Vox reported.
Meanwhile, the hosts of Fox News’ The Five were impressed with Mansouri’s role in the ISIS campaign, but chose an odd way to show it. “The problem is, after she bombed it, she couldn’t park it,” Greg Gutfeld said. “Would that be considered boobs on the ground, or no?” added Eric Bolling. Watch the exchange here:
Amid all the recent attention given her, Mansouri is continuing to fly missions against ISIS. On Wednesday evening, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and U.S. struck several oil wells the militant group controlled in the eastern part of the country. In all, U.S. Central Command said in a statement, the coalition used “a mix of fighter and remotely piloted aircraft to conduct 13 of airstrikes against 12 ISIL-controlled modular oil refineries,” using the U.S. government’s preferred acronym for the group. “These small-scale refineries provided fuel to run ISIL operations, money to finance their continued attacks throughout Iraq and Syria, and an economic asset to support their future operations. Producing between 300-500 barrels of refined petroleum per day, ISIL is estimated to generate as much as $2 million per day from these refineries.”
UPDATE
This article has been updated to include video of Fox News’ reaction to Mansouri’s story. Also, a previous update to this article indicated that reports in Arabic media said that Mansouri’s family has reportedly disavowed her. As this claim has not been fully confirmed, it has been stricken from the article.
http://thinkprogress.org/world/2014/09/25/3571981/uae-female-pilot-isis/
Then Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force General T. Michael Moseley said, "We've moved from using UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicle) primarily in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance roles before Operation Iraqi Freedom, to a true hunter-killer role with the Reaper."[6]
First flight2 February 2001
Introduction1 May 2007
StatusIn service
Number built104[1]