"ISIS Is About To Destroy Biblical History In Iraq" Topic

"More than two and a half millennia ago, the Assyrian King Senaccherib descended on his enemies "like the wolf on the fold," as the Bible tells us—and as Lord Byron wrote in cantering cadences memorized by countless Victorian schoolchildren: "His cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold; And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea."

The Assyrian and Babylonian empires appear throughout the Old Testament as examples of ruthless grandeur and godless decadence. The Bible says Sennacherib's army was destroyed by the Angel of the Lord. The Israelites were carried off to Babylon, where they wept by the waters. And since the middle of the 19th century, archeologists have labored mightily to unearth the mythical and the verifiable past in the extraordinary cradle of civilizations they used to call Mesopotamia and now call Iraq…"

Full article here
link

This is depressing…

Amicalement
Armand

Yes, they've been destroying "idolatrous" shrines and tombs all over Syria and Iraq. Very sad.

Remember when the Taliban dynamited the Buddhas of Bamiyan back in 2001? Before and after:

Barbarians…

Yet we cannot say the word 'crusade' Argh these 'things' (actually my blood pressure is so up thinking about it I'd rather not think. We 'westeners' have been the bastion of civilisation far too long and we've been fat too decent for too long too. I cry at the shameful waste and to think it st*rted with the downfall of a dictator. I'm ashamed.

Of course, this is nothing compared to what ISIS would do to Christians and Jews if they had the power. It would make the Holocaust look like just a warm-up lap.

I can say Crusade. It's easy. "Crusade" :)

Barbarians is right

No – "Barbarians" would imply that they are still human.

Barbarians (at least the one's that sacked Rome) wanted the life-style of those they fought. They had some taste. These monsters have no taste, no scruples and are mindless fools following a false prophet…

Crusaders!

(I am Spartacus)

It's time for the West to get our hands dirty.

Looting reliefs for the British Museum doesn't seem like such a bad idea after all, does it?

It's time for the West to get our hands dirty.

No. They are not worth the life of a single Pennsylvania National Guardsman. I hope we took plenty of pictures.
A Pomerian grenadier? OK. Let them step up. We did our bit.

ISIS Is Not Al Qaeda

"The al Qaeda offshoot terrorist group conquering parts of Iraq is gaining strength thanks to prisoner releases and its social media magnetism for foreign fighter recruits.

As its ranks grow, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, sometimes called the Islamic State, has become the first terrorist organization to plan and execute a two-front land war, presenting yet another challenge to the United States in its long war against Islamic extremists.

Last week, ISIL showed it could capture towns and territory in Syria and Iraq at once. Al Qaeda and its franchises have not accomplished such a feat…"

Full article here
link

Maybe we have seen nothing yet?

Amicalement
Armand

"No. They are not worth the life of a single Pennsylvania National Guardsman. I hope we took plenty of pictures."

Ditto.

There is a move in the US to prosecute those who armed ISIS, via Syrian "Rebels", for treason.

According to Seymour Hersh's latest expose in the London Review of Books, from early 2012 MI6 was helping the CIA transfer weapons from Libya to the Syrian rebels. Funding for this ‘rat line' came from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. After the September 2012 attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi (likely targeted because of its role in these arms transfers), Hersh notes that the US – and presumably Britain – ended its involvement, although the rat line continued without them.

Quoting Jordanian security sources, in March 2013 the Guardian reported that US, UK and French personnel were training Syrian rebels in Jordan in an effort to strengthen secular elements of the Syrian opposition. According to the Guardian ‘UK intelligence teams are giving the rebels logistical and other advice in some form.' Relatively small in size, this training programme is likely run from the joint operations room in Amman staffed by the eleven countries that form the Friends of Syria group, including the US, Saudi Arabia, France and the UK, according to the Wall Street Journal. The joint operations room coordinates the training of rebels in Jordan and the supply of money and weapons to rebel groups in southern Syria.

A British government effort to fund terrorists in Syria was defeated in Parliament. But they drew up plans to arm and train 100,000 Syrian "Rebels".

Daily Telegraph

Isis is actually fighting a war on 3 fronts. the 3rd is the Kurds. but from what I heard the Kurds have actually taken control of at least one city from ISIL, Tikrit.

This all started with the US backing islamic fighters in Afghanistan against the USSR invasion. It built up under the US noses which let it grow as a counterweight to Soviet influence in the east. So it is only fair that we demand that the US gets dirty (and moreover, that the US lets the Russians do so) and works to end this mess the US is mostly responsible to let grow to what it has become.

Should have just left Sadam right where he was and constrained him with sanctions like the UN wanted. It would have saved thousands of our and hundreds of thousands of their lives and we would have less of a security problems than we do now. Also, we would be some trillion dollars richer.

Should have just left Sadam right where he was and constrained him with sanctions like the UN wanted. It would have saved thousands of our and hundreds of thousands of their lives and we would have less of a security problems than we do now. Also, we would be some trillion dollars richer.

Bernhard, that is a statement worth repeating in full. It's what a lot of us were advocating before the invasion, but our voices were drowned out by the drumbeat of war. Sad, and we'll be reaping the harvest for years to come.

I totally agree … the US made 2 strategic mistakes … #1 Help arming the Muj against the USSR … #2 The 2nd Invasion of Iraq … Very short sighted, of course hindsight is usually 20-20. But in some cases many don't learn from their past mistakes. Now that being said, ISIS is a threat not only to the region. But to the West … as just like AQ and others, they continue to make terrorists threats and take actions as well, and export their idealogy outside of the regions of the ME, SWA and Africa … I agree no more ground troops …
Which leaves massive Cruise Missiles, Drones and CAS strikes … the collateral damage would be horrific … But if the locals can't stop the [large] lunatic fringe, then what choice will the non-islamic world have ? If these fanatics are bent on creating a caliphate in those regions … and inturn the world ?

Hopefully the U.S. can acquire some really great bargains on antiquities. What does 1 drone missile strike cost? Better to use that money buying the legacy of the region.

When your enemies are killing each other, let them have at it.

They are very good at killing each other …

Sell weapons to both sides. It's the only way to be sure.

I was just reading last week about how the illegal antiquities market was helping fund terrorist organizations.

It is ironic but the best hope could lay in a stronger Iran imposing stability by having its own area of influence. Other than letting authoritarian, non religious regimes quell with religious issues (read panarabism etc. imposing over islamism). Agree that after much political correct trash, truth is that western museums having much oriental art and antiquities in their warehouses is the best option for such things to survive.

"It is ironic but the best hope could lay in a stronger Iran imposing stability by having its own area of influence"

That would mean kicking the Saudis and the Gulf states to the curb.

Iraq used to be the regional policeman. Say, what happened to that Saddam Hussein fellow?

Some referred to Saddam as "the Devil you know" … I think he would now be generally considered by the West a better option then ISIS … again, hindsight is usually 20/20 …

I hope they're shipping the contents of the Baghdad museum off somewhere safe.

Its a proper mess, no easy way out now. When we left in late 2011, you could see the way it was going under the Shiite government.

I hope they do ship the museum off somewhere…

When the US/NATO finally leaves Afghanistan, I believe we will see similar … With factions, tribes, ethnicities etc., going medieval again … still, etc. …