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..... "Jim was taken from us in an act of violence that shocks the conscience of the entire world," he continued. "He was 40 years old - one of five siblings, the son of a mom and dad who worked tirelessly for his release. Earlier today, I spoke to the Foleys and told them that we are all heartbroken..." Obama then turned to the subject of IS itself. Over the past day, the terror group threatened to not only 'drown Americans in blood,' but also to kill another journalist, Steven Sotloff. The Sunni Muslim group follows Al-Qaeda's hard-line ideology, but...

U.S. fighter jets and drones stepped up attacks on Islamic State targets in Iraq and the Obama administration was weighing sending more boots on the ground -- even as the group released a graphic video showing the beheading of American journalist James Foley. A senior U.S. official also told Fox News that military planners are weighing the possibility of sending more American forces to Iraq mainly to provide additional security “in and around Baghdad,” at the request of the State Department. The official said the Pentagon is seriously considering sending fewer than 300 personnel, but there has been no final...

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Al al-Sheikh, the highest religious authority in the country, said Tuesday that the militant groups Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) and Al-Qaeda were "enemy number one of Islam" and not in any way part of the faith. Although the mufti and other senior Saudi preachers have condemned ISIS, Al-Qaeda and other groups before, the timing of Sheikh's statement is significant given the gains by militants in Iraq. "Extremist and militant ideas and terrorism which spread decay on Earth, destroying human civilization, are not in any way part of Islam, but...

Yesterday Pope Francis endorsed military action to stop the Islamic State (formerly the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) from persecuting religious minorities, especially Christians and Yazidis, in Iraq. The pope’s statement is to be welcomed—albeit with serious reservations. As various experts noted, the Vatican is typically opposed to any sort of military action. James Bretzke, a priest and professor of moral theology at Boston College, told USA Today that “popes in recent history have all lined up against any military intervention, including World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War and, most recently, the U.S. invasion of Iraq...

ERBIL, Iraq—U.S. airstrikes have driven some ground commanders of the Sunni radical group Islamic State from northern Iraq across the border into Syria, Iraqi officials say. The retreat into eastern Syria, where Islamic State has built up an operational base amid the chaos of civil war over the past few years, doesn't reflect a broader exodus by the group, which continues to solidify its grip on Iraqi territory under its control, these officials said. But it does illustrate a scramble in the leadership ranks of the group, formerly known as ISIS or ISIL, in the immediate aftermath of the U.S....

WASHINGTON — U.S. officials say military planners are weighing the possibility of sending more American forces to Iraq mainly to provide additional security around Baghdad. A senior U.S. official says the number of troops currently under discussion would be fewer than 300, but there has been no final decision yet by Pentagon leaders. The talks come as American fighter jets and drones conducted nearly a dozen airstrikes in Iraq since Tuesday when Islamic State militants threatened to kill a second American captive in retribution for any continued attacks.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. officials say military planners are weighing the possibility of sending more American forces to Iraq mainly to provide additional security around Baghdad. A senior U.S. official says the number of troops currently under discussion would be fewer than 300, but there has been no final decision yet by Pentagon leaders. The talks come as American fighter jets and drones conducted nearly a dozen airstrikes in Iraq since Tuesday when Islamic State militants threatened to kill a second American captive in retribution for any continued attacks. A U.S. official says the strikes came in the hours after militants...

With the emergence over the past 18 months of the Islamic State (IS), the West, led by the U.S., now finds itself in a world war, whether we want to believe it or not. The Islamic State is not simply an Iraqi problem or a Syrian problem. IS has metastasized into a worldwide organization with 20,000 recruits from Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Somalia, the U.S., Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Spain, India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Germany. Even worse, Jihadists from Boko Haram in Nigeria, Abu Sayyef in the Philippines, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in Northwest Africa and...

President Obama condemned the beheading of journalist James Foley and ISIS in a strongly worded statement to reporters moments ago, but didn’t offer specifics on how the U.S. would react policy-wise to ISIS killing Americans. “Today, the entire world is appalled by the brutal murder of Jim Foley by the terrorist group, ISIL. Jim was a journalist, a son, a brother, and a friend. He reported from difficult and dangerous places, bearing witness to the lives of people a world away,” Obama said from Martha’s Vineyard. (snip) “Let’s be clear about ISIL. They have rampaged across cities and villages, killing...

Those 13-year-olds in Gaza sure grow up fast. Maybe it’s hormones in the milk. Or maybe they haven’t been 13 year olds in this century.Elder of Ziyon notes something rather odd about one 13-year-old boy slain by the brutal Zionist overlords of doom. The Hamas Interior Ministry reported that 13-year old Ibrahim Jamal Kamal Naser was killed on July 19.Here is the shahid poster of “13-year old” Ibrahim Nasser, killed on that same day in that same place, by the Abu Rish Battalions of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades Maybe a really old 13. A 13-year old who has been...

Hamas' military chief is believed to have been killed in an airstrike in Gaza early Wednesday, Israeli intelligence sources tell Fox News. Israeli officials said Wednesday the country's military targeted Mohammed Deif after militants fired rockets at Israeli cities just hours before a temporary cease-fire was set to expire. The Times of Israel reported that a house believed to be the home of Deif was hit early Wednesday. Dief has escaped numerous Israeli assassination attempts in the past. It was not immediately clear whether he was there at the time of the attack. A Hamas spokesman said Deif was not...

(Reuters) - German Development Minister Gerd Mueller accused Qatar on Wednesday of financing Islamic State militants who have seized wide areas of northern Iraq and have posted a video of a captive American journalist being beheaded. "This kind of conflict, this kind of a crisis always has a history ... The ISIS troops, the weapons - these are lost sons, with some of them from Iraq," Mueller told German public broadcaster ZDF. "You have to ask who is arming, who is financing ISIS troops. The keyword there is Qatar - and how do we deal with these people and states...

For all the misgivings Americans may have about the Iraq War — its rationale, its execution, and its aftermath — there is at least one thing of which to be proud: our support of a free, autonomous, and democratic Kurdistan. The story of the Kurds and their steadfast support of an Iraq free from fascism of either the Baathist or Islamist type is one worth telling and retelling. It’s one of uncommon moral clarity. The Kurds are not a monolithic people; there are very real cultural and political differences between Kurds in Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Iran. Nonetheless, they share...

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri has said that the elusive head of the terror group's "military wing", Mohammed Deif, is still "alive and well" despite an IDF assassination attempt which killed his wife and son. "The occupation will pay for its crimes against the Palestinian people," declared Abu-Zuhri, who added a chilling warning to the people of southern Israel. "The residents of the Gaza periphery will return to their homes only by the decision of the commander Mohammed Deif and one Israeli commitment to stop the aggression and lift the siege," he threatened. Adding to the threats, Hamas spokesperson Fawzi...

James Foley was one of a new breed of activists calling themselves journalists. He didn’t travel to report on a story, but to promote an agenda. And the agenda was obvious from his Twitter feed.Any human life lost is tragic, but a moral individual would have much more empathy for the Syrian Christians who suffered at the hands of Foley’s favorite Jihadists than one of their pet propagandists. Foley came to Syria to support the Sunni Islamist rebels against the Syrian government.He cheered on the Sunni Muslim terrorists fighting to ethnically cleanse the Christians of Aleppo. In the conflict...

"Appalled"? Really? Gee, why didn't President Obama go all out and announce that he was "dismayed" by the ISIS beheading of an American journalist. Was "appalled" really the strongest reaction this administration could muster? Apparently, yes. Here was the White House statement: "we are appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American journalist, and we express our deepest condolences to his family and friends." Let's try out a statement that an American president who truly represented our nation's values and interests might have issued: "The search is underway for those who were behind these evil acts. I have directed...

The British accent in the video that depicted the despicable and cowardly murder of an American journalist has raised concerns in the UK about the background of the ISIS jihadist. The Washington Post’s report on the butchery includes this nugget that should have Americans thinking twice, too: In an interview with the BBC, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond acknowledged that the apparent executioner spoke with a British accent and said the video seemed to be genuine.Hundreds of Britons are believed to have traveled to Syria to fight in the country’s civil war, including many who have joined the Islamic State.“We’re...

....“U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron cut short his summer vacation to return to London and chair urgent meetings on the threat posed by ISIS in Iraq and Syria..... ... Obama went back to his vacation on Martha’s Vineyard Tuesday evening....

You would have thought that Barack Obama and David Cameron, the nominal leaders of the free world, would have had it all figured out by now. Obama, in the sixth year of his presidency and Cameron in his fourth as prime minister, have both nevertheless been loath to identify the growing menace that threatens the survival of the West. [SNIP] The ISIS phenomenon has stunned the world. Much like the Mongol hordes that swept out of the Central Asian Steppe in the 13th Century, this is a force which seems to have emerged from nowhere -- anti-modern, highly focused in...

In a wide-ranging interview with the New Yorker, President Barack Obama compared Al-Qaeda-linked militants in Iraq and Syria to junior varsity basketball players, downplaying their threat as small-league. He also shared what he thought were the chances of reaching Middle East peace agreements. New Yorker editor David Remnick pointed out to the president that the Al Qaeda flag is now seen flying in Falluja in Iraq and in certain locations in Syria, and thus the terrorist group has not been “decimated” as Obama had said during his 2012 reelection campaign. “The analogy we use around here sometimes, and I think...