[WND] The Taliban, to whom Joe Biden gave billions of dollars worth of American war machinery when he abruptly pulled U.S. troops out of Afghanistan, is boasting once again about the windfall it took.
The handover of the war weapons made the Taliban, at the time, one of the best-equipped militaries in the world.
The Gateway Pundit reported the terrorist organization has taken to posting videos and images of the stockpiles that Biden left behind.
Viewer caution: Please be seated prior to watching this video.
[ToloNews] The Chargé d'Affaires of the US Mission to Afghanistan, Karen Decker, said that in the past eighteen months the US has contributed nearly $1.5 billion in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.
Speaking at a virtual meeting, Decker noted that this aid has been spent on education, nutrition, health, and in the areas of internally displaced persons and the reintegration of immigrants colonists.
"One of the most important, and I think really important thing, that I took away from the conversations we had in Dubai was the need for a really robust, ongoing set of discussions with the Afghan private sector," Decker said.
According to Decker, Washington will continue its aid to Afghanistan to prevent a humanitarian crisis.
The Chargé d'Affaires of the US Mission to Afghanistan said she considered the Doha agreement unfulfilled and called for an intra-Afghan dialogue.
"I agree with you that the Doha agreements are unfinished, and that we still believe there is both a requirement for intra-Afghan dialogue to determine the future government for Afghanistan," Decker added.
"Afghans' internal issues are related to Afghans themselves. Internal and political issues should not be used as a means of political pressure. Political issues are distinct from these issues, and if there are any, the Islamic Emirate engages in active diplomacy and will resolve them through understanding," said Bilal Karimi, the Islamic Emirate's deputy front man.
Political analysts have diverse views on aid to Afghanistan.
"I'm sure we would have been in a lot worse situation if there hadn't been assistance. Any kind of assistance is useful. Even if it's a very modest sum of money, the arrival of aid and money has an impact on a nation's economy," said a political analyst Wali Frozan.
"Afghans, unfortunately, endure incredibly severe poverty, and I don't believe that humanitarian aid can help to reduce this suffering. If that worked, the problems of the people would have been resolved in the last 20 years," said Mohammad Salim Kakar, another political analyst.
Following the political shift in Afghanistan, the majority of US aid has been sent in packages of $40 million in cash under the heading of humanitarian assistance and each has been deposited in one of the country's commercial banks.
#3
“Following the political shift in Afghanistan, the majority of US aid has been sent in packages of $40 million in cash under the heading of humanitarian assistance and each has been deposited in one of the country's commercial banks.”
That is not how humanitarian aid is delivered.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
03/29/2023 19:23 Comments ||
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[IsraelTimes] The British Labour party’s executive leadership votes to bar former party head Jeremy Corbyn from running as a candidate with the party in the next election.
The move, backed by current party chief Keir Starmer, means Corbyn — who was ousted after an extensive antisemitism scandal — would not receive the party’s backing in a future election.
Corbyn could still run as an independent candidate.
Sadly, former Labour MP George Galloway’s Respect Party dissolved itself in 2016, but no doubt a political home can be found for the thoroughly socialist Jew hater, as was done for Mr. Galloway after he was kicked out of Labour.
Last night, Corbyn said Starmer had "denigrated the democratic foundations of our party" with his planned move.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] I’m thinking that a fancy suicide that harms only themselves doesn’t count as Page 1 action against the target society, but I’m open to arguments that Page 2: WoT Background is not the right place for this story.
Harrowing footage shows officers running away from cell as it fills with plumes of smoke and flames
Blaze occurred at a detention center in Mexican city Ciudad Juarez after inmates set their mattresses ablaze amid fears they were to be deported
At least 40 male migrants have died while a further 28 were hospitalized, Mexican authorities said Tuesday
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[REGNUM] Senator Lindsey Graham questioned US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken about whether the cartels control parts of Mexico. Blinken replied that one could agree with this fact. The Secretary of State also said that Mexican authorities should do more to detect and intercept shipments of fentanyl. Graham couldn't help but ask - wouldn't it be better to simply declare the cartels terrorist organizations and "act in accordance with US law?"
Rantburg files drug cartel activities under War on Terror, originally because the goals and activities of transnational jihadi groups and those drug cartels that supply European, North American, and Australian users have been long intertwined.
Overseas, almost the entire month of March, the information space is shaken by a scandalous exchange of remarks between American politicians and the President of Mexico. The United States says that Obrador is collaborating with the cartels, threatening to designate them as terrorist organizations and send his own military contingent to Central America to restore order. Mexican authorities deny all accusations, recalling the US attack on the Nord Stream gas pipeline. How can this squabbling end and is the US really going to send troops to Mexico?
#1
...First, don't listen to anything Lindsey Graham says. He's an idiot. (ASIDE: My wife and I were at USC's Koger Center on Monday night to see the live tour of Who's Line Is It? - packed house, and they damn near got a standing ovation when they slammed him)
Secondly, I would ask The Authorities to imagine the fun if they suddenly started executing military strikes on Mexico.
#2
Want to stop drug use in the US? Close. The. Border. Crack down on drug sales in big cities where all the activity is concentrated in places the police know about already.
Still arrest users, but make sure "rehabilitation" is so boot-camp like that they never do it again.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/29/2023 8:25 Comments ||
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NB: Co-sponsor Our Rights DC is an Antifa group, per Andy Ngo. Article moved to Fifth Column, Page 2: WoT Background.
[Washington Stand] Although it’s only Tuesday, Americans have lived through several sobering breaking news stories already this week, ranging from the aftermath of the tornado that ripped through Mississippi to the Nashville school shooting that left three adults and three children dead. And based on the Left’s latest call to action, leaders worry the violence may only continue.
A transgender activist group, referred to as TRAN (Trans Radical Activist Network), will be hosting an event called "Day of Vengeance" in Washington, D.C. from March 31 through April 2. Attendees are encouraged to wear a mask and arrive at the Supreme Court at 11 a.m. on Saturday. Although details are still being finalized, TRAN has heavily advertised for the event by posting graphics on TikTok and promoting their motto, "The time is now."
"The Trans/Non-Binary/Gender Non-Conforming/Intersex communities are facing astronomical amounts of hate from the world," the activist group states on their Day of Vengeance website. "The trans/non-binary/gender non-conforming/intersex communities have always existed. ’We’re Here, We’re Queer, and We aren’t going anywhere’ needs to be echoed loudly."
The "nationwide network of activists and community organizers for transgender/non-binary rights" have also announced their plans to raise funds that will allow transgender-identifying individuals in the state of Virginia to receive firearms and self-defense training. TRAN tweeted an encouragement to their selective viewers to attend the dance at a Richmond club, saying, "Come boogie with us and defend trans life!"
The "Day of Vengeance" is set to occur the same week a Wayne State University (WSU) professor was suspended for his threatening words against "right-winged speakers." College of Liberal Arts and Sciences professor Steven Shaviro wrote a Facebook post, claiming it is "far more admirable to kill a racist, homophobic, or transphobic speaker than it is to shout them down."
"The transgender community is, by definition, mentally troubled," said Joseph Backholm, senior fellow for Biblical Worldview and Strategic Engagement at Family Research Council. "That doesn’t mean they will all become school shooters any more than it means all young white men will become school shooters because some have been. But denying that a troubled population is troubled isn’t going to make anything better, but that’s what we’ve been doing for a while now."
#3
Try calling for a Conservative Day of Vengeance (or maybe a White Day) and see how quickly the organizers are tossed in a DC jail. More of the Two Tiered Tolerance System.
#11
Try calling for a Conservative Day of Vengeance (or maybe a White Day) and see how quickly the organizers are tossed in a DC jail. More of the Two Tiered Tolerance System.
Well, of course. We all saw what happened on Jan. 6, 2020. And, of course, we all know it won't happen to the trannies.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/29/2023 12:45 Comments ||
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#12
Trans community fears backlash from next week's ultra violence.
[NPASyria] The Canadian government said that the Federal Court of Appeal misinterpreted the Charter of Rights and Freedoms when it directed officials to secure the release of men detained in prisons for Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) Death Eaters in northeast Syria.
Government lawyers are seeking to overturn the January ruling by Federal Court Judge Henry Brown, who interpreted a citizen’s right to enter Canada as a right to expect the government to rescue and return citizens.
In late January, Global Affairs Canada, the country’s chief diplomatic body, ruled out bringing back four foreign-born mothers of ten Canadian children. The women had given birth to the children of their Canadian husbands. Global Affairs Canada gave the women one and a half weeks to decide whether to send the children to Canada by themselves or whether they should remain in the camps.
Government lawyers argue that the Federal Court made errors in its ruling. They said the court misinterpreted the Charter of Rights and Freedoms when it directed officials to "take extraordinary measures" to secure the release of the men.
Family members of the men, as well as several women and kiddies, argued in the Federal Court proceedings that the Global Affairs Canada, the country’s diplomatic body, must arrange for their repatriation, saying that refusing to do so violates the Canadian Charter.
The government insisted that the Charter does not obligate the government to repatriate the Canadians held in Syria.
The Roj and al-Hawl camps, which are run by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), house around 57,300 ISIS-linked individuals, including nearly 10,000 foreigners.
Canada has so far only repatriated two children and one woman from the camps.
Yazidis who fled ISIS genocidal campaign in Sinjar, Iraq, to Canada voiced their concern over the return of former ISIS members to the country, as they are unlikely to face trial due to a lack of evidence.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/29/2023 04:09 ||
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Link ||
[10 views]
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[IsraelTimes] Indonesia could lose its chance to host a global youth soccer tournament, and its chance to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, after refusing to welcome a team from Israel.
FIFA cancels an important preparatory step after regional governors and protesters demanded Israel’s team be excluded, and the tournament, planned for May 20-June 11, appears to be on hold.
The official draw for group assignments in the Under-20 World Cup, was supposed to take place in Bali Friday, but FIFA canceled the event after the island’s governor, Wayan Koster, called for a ban on the Israeli team playing there.
The Israeli team, which will participate in the Under-20 world tournament for the first time, had been expected to be based in Bali, home to one of the six stadiums scheduled to be used for the tournament.
[IsraelTimes] Offer values NewMed, a key stakeholder in Israel’s Leviathan offshore gas field, at about NIS 14.1b ($4b); tentative deal is called a ‘testament’ to Israel-UAE ties.
[NPASyria] On Tuesday, Norway announced the repatriation of two sisters along with their three children, who were held in a camp for Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) family members in northeast Syria.
Norwegian authorities said that the conditions were appalling in Roj camp in Derik countryside, far northeast Syria, where they were housed.
"The camps have extremely poor and dangerous living conditions. These camps, where no child should have to live, have housed these Norwegian children for a considerable amount of time," said Anniken Huitfeldt, Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs.
On Tuesday, the Department of Foreign Relations of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) announced receiving a Norwegian delegation headed by Charge d Affaires of the Norwegian Embassy in Baghdad, Eric Hussam. The department said it handed over two women and three children.
The two Somali-born sisters, then were 16 and 19, secretly travelled from Norway to Syria in late 2013 to take part in a "popular uprising against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... ’s government," the Norwegian authorities noted.
The Norwegian foreign minister stated that the two women themselves have asked for help to return with their kids though they know they will be detained upon arrival in Norway.
The children are at the age of six, seven, and eight. The sisters’ situation, as well as other similar cases involving children from other European nations trapped in Syria, has received a lot of attention in Norway.
Huitfeldt pointed out that the US, the UN, and the AANES have all supported repatriation in these situations due to insecurity in the region.
The Roj and al-Hawl that are the most dangerous camps globaly house around 57,300 ISIS-linked individuals, including nearly 10,000 foreigners.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/29/2023 04:07 ||
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[8 views]
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#1
The two Somali-born sisters
So, actual repatriation would entail sending them to Somalia, not to Norway.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/29/2023 7:31 Comments ||
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[NPASyria] As military cooperation between Russia and Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... in the military field is growing, Russia is helping Iran to got advanced digital-surveillance capabilities and deeper cooperation cyberwarfare.
People familiar with the issue say the US sees this "burgeoning military alliance" between the two countries as a threat.
Wall Street Journal said in a report that the collaboration has emerged and flourished after Iran provided Russia with drones for its war in Ukraine and agreed to provide short-range missiles to and shipped tank and artillery rounds to the battlefield.
However, the man who has no enemies isn't anybody and has never done anything... Iran has denied "allegations" that Iranian drones were used by Russia in its war against Ukraine.
Two years ago, Russia and Iran signed a "cyber-cooperation agreement" towards sophisticated cyber capabilities that Iran has long worked to develop.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine in February, 2022, Russia has provided Iran with communication-surveillance capabilities as well as eavesdropping devices, advanced photography devices, and lie detectors.
Iran used the internet in easing impacts of the protests of last year.
"Given Russia’s superior capabilities, any amount of knowledge transfer would improve Iran’s cyber capabilities," said Annie Fixler, a cyber-policy analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank that is often critical of Iran.
Iran and Russia have deepened an alignment since the start of the Syrian war as they helped the Syrian president crack down protests called for his toppling, according to Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar, an associate professor specializing in Middle East politics at Texas A&M University’s Bush School of Government and Public Service.
"Feeling cornered by the U.S. and its allies, both Iran and Russia seem determined to make this alliance work," Tabaar said.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/29/2023 04:07 ||
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[9 views]
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[NPASyria] Forest cover in parts of the Ottoman Turkish-occupied region of Afrin in northwestern Syria may have decreased by about 57 percent since 2018, a new report by the PAX, a Dutch peace initiative, said.
The organization released a report highlighting deforestation across Syria’s western regions, which it says may have decreased by 20-30 percent since 2011. In the course of a century, Syria’s forests have gone from covering between 15 and 32 percent the country to merely 2.6 percent.
For Afrin, PAX looked at two of the region’s most heavily forested areas — the Kurd Mountain and Mount Barsa — as well as the smaller Mahmoudiyah forest in Afrin city. The total forested area here decreased by 57 percent — from an initial 6,577 hectares to 2,826. The findings clearly show that deforestation started in 2020, after the area was taken over by the Ottoman Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) during the Ottoman Turkish-led so-called Operation Olive Branch in 2018, the report said.
The city of Afrin and its countryside was occupied by The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... in 2018 following military operation "Olive Branch" to push away the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) under the pretext of protecting Turkey’s "national security".
The operation caused the displacement of about 300,000 of the original inhabitants of the Kurds of Afrin who have been taking shelter in 40 villages and five camps in Shahba region since then.
In the Kurd Mountains, which divide the Jindires and Sheikh al-Hadid subdivisions, the researchers found a 56 percent loss of forest cover, beginning with a "huge spike" in 2020. "Local media reports mostly linked this to the need for fuel for fire and heating. The massive tree cutting led to completely barren lands and forest thinning," the report added.
Additional factors include wildfires, deforestation for the use of land for agriculture, as well as to construct settlements, such as the Kuwaiti-funded Amal settlement north of the village of Kafr Safra. Most of the Kurd Mountain area is controlled by Sultan Suleiman Shah, a Ottoman Turkish-backed militia.
The researchers also looked at the Mount Barsa area, between the Maydanki lake and the town of Sharra, in a region where the Ottoman Turkish-backed Sultan Murad Division predominates. Here, the forests have decreased by 59 percent. 1,082 hectares of forested area have "completely disappeared," the report read.
Similarly, in Afrin city, the Ottoman Turkish-backed factions have almost completely razed the forested Mahmoudiya hill, which overlooks the city. Here, around 43 percent of the hill has been deforested to make way for an IDP camp.
Local human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... groups have also decried the cutting down of tens of thousands of olive trees by the Ottoman Turkish-backed factions, often for punitive purposes. Much of the olive harvest has also been illegally gathered by the militias and sold to Turkey. The loss of Syria’s olive exports overall was valued at $1.5 billion.
The report concludes that, in Afrin, "logging for fuel and trade continued unabated as a source of livelihood and funding for both local residents and military factions."
[NPASyria] A prominent figure of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) revealed on Tuesday that the SDF has captured 2,720 murderous Moslems of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) after the liberation of the town of Baghouz from ISIS.
Newroz Ahmad, a member of the General Command of the SDF, said on the occasion of the 4th anniversary of the elimination of ISIS in its last stronghold in Baghouz, in the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor Governorate, eastern Syria, "More than 285 ISIS sleeper cells were eliminated, and a number of Lions of Islam were arrested," ANHA reported.
ISIS lost its final stronghold in Syria in March 2019. The SDF, with the support of the US-led Global Coalition, defeated ISIS after fierce battles in Baghouz, bringing an end to the so-called caliphate declared by the terrorist ISIS.
After Baghouz, thousands of ISIS fighters were transferred to prisons, while their families were transferred to Hawl and Roj camps in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES)-held areas.
In addition, after the elimination of ISIS, 2,720 ISIS murderous Moslems were arrested and 397 others were killed, according to Ahmad.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/29/2023 04:06 ||
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[11 views]
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[NPASyria] The US involvement is "the glue holding together the only meaningful counter ISIS" mission. In northeast Syria, the roughly 900 US troops are involved in aerial surveillance, coordinating the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), civilian aid provision, tribal engagement, as well as medical evacuations of SDF troops, a US analyst said on Monday.
The mission has been met with some success, says Lister. At least three ISIS leaders have been killed by US operations in Syria. "Dozens" of high — and mid — ranking ISIS commanders have been targeted. "In terms of counterterrorism, we are unquestionably degrading ISIS," the piece concludes.
In a piece for Politico, a current affairs magazine, US Syria analyst Charles Lister calls the current US presence in Syria "vital and sustainable". Lister visited northeast Syria in early March, together with a US military delegation.
Yet at least 10,000 male ISIS fighters and over 50,000 women and kiddies remain detained in northeast Syria in 26 prisons and two camps — or what Lister calls "13 Guantanamos," referring to America’s illegal prison for terrorist suspects on Cuba. This is a dangerous situation, as the analyst highlights, as "prison breaks are part of ISIS’s DNA."
US forces on the ground told Lister that "we have to have a real sense of urgency to address this problem through repatriation, rehabilitation, and reintegration. This requires all arms of the US government; it requires the international community."
ISIS launched a major attack on Guweiran prison in the city of Hasakah in January 2022, which left nearly 500 people dead, including 261 SDF fighters. The administration of Hawl Camp, which holds around 52,500 ISIS-linked individuals, has repeatedly warned of an impending attack. According to the Politico piece, "multiple" major ISIS attacks against the camp have been foiled only in the last months.
Part of the problem is the fact repatriations of foreign nationals from camps and prisons is lagging behind. At the current pace, Lister says, it would take another 30 years to return everyone home. Iraq, which has at least 26,000 nationals in the Hawl alone, has accelerated repatriations. Yet, if it continues on the same path, it would take another six years to repatriate everyone. Of the remaining around 18,500 Syrians, most hail from Syrian government-controlled areas, making returns near impossible. Additionally, only 1 percent of third-country nationals have been repatriated.
Lister also acknowledges that the US presence in Syria, despite being sold as an anti-ISIS mission, is also crucial to containing Iran. "As CENTCOM has made clear, countering ISIS and preventing its resurgence is the second most vital US priority in the Middle East, but the first is facing down the threats posed by a hostile Iran, Lister writes." Attacks by Iranian-backed factions on US bases in Syria on March 23 and 24 have proven as much.
As North Press has written about before, despite — or rather because — such attacks by groups close to Iran, some US politicians have called for American troops to exit Syria. "Whenever the [US] troops leave," the articles warns, "all hell will break loose." Lister argues that stepping up, not a ramping down, US efforts in Syria is crucial now. Otherwise, "a catastrophic ISIS resurgence is just a matter of time."
#2
The farcical reasoning that the US Syria Mission is keeping ISIS from coming to the US flies in the face of them just taking a plane to Mexico and WALKING IN! If you are worried about ISIS, START with a secure border jackasses!
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Washington Stand] Although it’s only Tuesday, Americans have lived through several sobering breaking news stories already this week, ranging from the aftermath of the tornado that ripped through Mississippi to the Nashville school shooting that left three adults and three children dead. And based on the Left’s latest call to action, leaders worry the violence may only continue.
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
