Category: Terror War

There has been speculation lately that the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed recently. That’s been reported before, but rumors are swirling that region of the world now, according to Reuters which reports that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has “confirmed information” in that regard;

Russia’s Defence Ministry said in June that it might have killed Baghdadi when one of its air strikes hit a gathering of Islamic State commanders on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Raqqa. But Washington said it could not corroborate the death and Western and Iraqi officials have been skeptical.

Reuters could not independently verify Baghdadi’s death.

“(We have) confirmed information from leaders, including one of the first rank who is Syrian, in the Islamic State in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zor,” said Rami Abdulrahman, the director of the British-based war monitoring group.

In Iraq, U.S. Army Colonel Ryan Dillon, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State, said he could not confirm the news.

From New York Magazine;

The U.S. military and other analysts made clear their skepticism. The U.S. confirmed that Russia did conduct a strike in that area on that date, but as to al-Baghdadi’s fate, a Pentagon spokesman said: “We have no information to corroborate those reports.” The circumstances surrounding his alleged death were also questionable. It struck experts as unlikely that so many high-level ISIS leaders would all meet together in the middle of a military hot zone, making themselves vulnerable to a targeted strike. And, of course, al-Baghdadi has a reputation for getting “killed” or critically injured, over and over again.

Politico reports;

Army Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend didn’t go so far as to say that he believes Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead, but he did acknowledge in a briefing with Pentagon reporters that he has not seen evidence that he is still around.

“I really don’t know. … I don’t have reason to believe that he’s alive. I don’t have proof of life,” Townsend said….

Well, alive or dead, at least he’s keeping journalists busy with something other than Russian connections to President Trump.

Hawaii Now reports that Ikaika Erik Kang, 34 a soldier stationed in Hawaii has been arrested by the FBI;

FBI special agents and SWAT arrested Ikaika Erik Kang, 34, on Saturday evening at his Waipahu apartment.

FBI spokesman Arnold Laanui said Kang is with the 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks in Wahiawa.

Fox News reports that Kang was arrested for his connections to ISIS and the arrest was the culmination of a year-long investigation. (Not a “year-long infestation” like the article says)

Added from NBC News;

Kang’s service record shows that he was an air traffic control operator with the 25th Infantry Division at U.S. Army Pacific Command.

He was deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and South Korea and has been awarded the Army Commendation Medal, the Achievement Medal, the Humanitarian Service medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, among others.

From the Associated Press;

Kang enlisted in the Army in December 2001 just months after the Sept. 11 attacks. He served in Iraq from March 2010 to February 2011 and Afghanistan from July 2013 to April 2014.

Kang was assigned to the headquarters of the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade.

They say he was a Sergeant First Class.

…And it’s PTSD:

Kang’s father, Clifford, said that his son may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from his tours overseas.

The other day we talked about Omar Khadr, the Guantanamo alum who won a $10.5 million settlement with the Canadian government for his mistreatment by Canadian interrogators during his stay at the tropical resort village. Khadr pleaded guilty seven years ago to the murder of American Army Sergeant Christopher Speer while the sergeant was treating Khadr’s wounds.

Today, we read in the Toronto Sun that the former special forces soldier who was wounded by Khadr in the grenade attack that killed Speer, Layne Morris, is accusing Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau of treason for justifying the settlement to Canadian taxpayers;

“The fact is Chris Speer and myself were fighting with Canadians in Afghanistan. We were alongside the PPCLI (Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry). There was a Canadian flag flying along with the American flag at our base there, so it’s quite a thing that now Canada is giving millions to a guy who would attack a compound where Canadians were serving.”

Canada, he predicts, will regret this dark deal.

“As a general rule, and in every other case that I have ever heard of, you keep money out of the hands of people who build bombs or would throw hand grenades at our soldiers,” said Morris.

The fact that Canada didn’t, he said, raises red flags for him.

“I don’t see this as anything but treason,” said Morris. “It’s something a traitor would do. As far as I am concerned, Prime Minister Trudeau should be charged.”

Morris and Speer’s widow have filed a lawsuit to keep Khadr from seeing any of the money, according to CTV;

“He shouldn’t be getting a dime,” said Morris. “He should feel grateful that he’s walking the streets in the first place and ought to feel privileged to be able … to be a productive and contributing member of society.”

Morris and Tabitha Speer, the widow of Sgt. Chris Speer, who was alleged to have been killed by Khadr, filed a lawsuit to try and stop any money from reaching Khadr’s hands. Two years ago, Speer and Morris won a US-$134.1 million judgment against Khadr.

CTV also quoted Khadr in another article;

“My past: I’m not excusing it, I’m not denying it. We all do things that we wish we could change. All I can do right now is focus on the present and do my best to become a productive member of society, a good person, a good human being. Look at my actions and judge me on that.”

I guess $10.5 million will help him be productive, but the Canadians should track that money – Khadr’s father was a terrorist who was killed by an airstrike while meeting with other terrorist chiefs in Afghanistan. Khadr’s terrorist roots run deep.

Mick sends us a link to Fox News which reports that the holdouts in Mosul are sending in their women rigged with bombs, and that female snipers are using their own children for human shields;

The militants’ use of human shields has repeatedly slowed Iraqi advances throughout the nearly nine-month offensive to retake the country’s second largest city, and the commanders’ frustration was on display as they watched surveillance footage from the front lines.

“The women are fighting with their children right beside them,” Lt. Gen. Sami al-Aridi said as he was briefed by an officer holding a tablet computer showing drone imagery. “It’s making us hesitant to use airstrikes, to advance. If it weren’t for this we could be finished in just a few hours.”

Another officer in the command post suggested using Iraqi artillery, which would not require approval from the U.S.-led coalition. “They’re all Daesh, just kill them all,” the commander said, referring to the IS group by its Arabic acronym.

Yep, you can kill them now, or kill them when they grow up. ISIS set the parameters of decency in this war and the only way to bring it home to them is fight it the way they would. Yeah, yeah, “we’re better than they are”, but you can’t win the war if the enemy doesn’t know he’s been beaten. That’s why we’re still in Afghanistan, that’s why we’re in Iraq…again (for the third time) and that’s why we’re fighting in Somalia.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi congratulated his troops for liberating Mosul from the bloody hands of ISIS in a press conference today, according to the Associated Press;

“Praise be to God, we managed to liberate (Mosul) and proved the others were wrong, the people of Mosul supported and stood with our security forces against terrorism,” al-Abadi said.

His remarks came on the third anniversary of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s sermon at the al-Nuri Mosque, from where he declared an Islamic caliphate on IS-held lands in Syria and Iraq.

Also during the press conference, al-Abadi added that he has given instructions to rebuild and stabilize areas of the city already freed from the militant group.

ABC News reports that Iraq’s special forces commander, Lt. Gen. Sami al-Aridi, says that there are about three hundred ISIS fighters holed up in Mosul;

Iraqi forces moved to besiege the Old City before launching their attack in order to prevent IS fighters from fleeing to neighboring Syria, but al-Aridi said hundreds of militants still managed to escape from the Old City alone.

“They just shave their beards and walk out,” al-Aridi said. “Just yesterday we captured two among a group of women and children.”

According to Iraqi News, the commander also said that about 90% of the remaining ISIS fighters are foreigners and about a third are suicide bombers. The Federal police are depending on snipers to finish the job.

One of our Canadian friends sends us a link to CBC regarding Omar Khadr, who admitted during his ten-year stay in Guantanamo Boys’ Camp that he was the person, at the age of 15, who threw the grenade that killed American Sergeant Christopher Speer;

After pleading not guilty to five war crimes charges, including murder, in 2010 he changed his plea to guilty later that year and was sentenced to eight years plus the time he had already spent in custody. He returned to Canada two years later to serve the remainder of his sentence and was released in May 2015 pending an appeal of his war crime convictions, arguing that his admissions of guilt were made under duress.

So now he’s out and he has sued the Canadian government for $20 million to compensate him for his maltreatment while he was incarcerated. You know, despite the confession. Well, the government negotiated with him and got the final amount down to ten and a half mil.

The widow of Speer and another U.S. soldier blinded by the grenade in Afghanistan filed a wrongful death and injury lawsuit against Khadr in 2014, fearing Khadr might get his hands on money from his wrongful imprisonment lawsuit.

A U.S. judge granted $134.2 million in damages in 2015, but the plaintiffs acknowledged then that there was little chance they would collect any of the money from Khadr because he lives in Canada

The only evidence about his mistreatment came from Khadr, and, with a large payout in the balance, you just know he has no reason to lie. Not all Canadians are happy about this settlement;

Alberta Progressive Conservative Leader Jason Kenney also denounced the reported deal.

“Odious. Confessed terrorist who assembled and planted the same kind of IEDs that killed 97 Canadians to be given $10 million by Justin Trudeau,” the former federal immigration minister under Stephen Harper tweeted.

From the Globe and Mail;

Stephen Harper’s former campaign manager, Jenni Byrne, also weighed in on Twitter, as did many other Canadians.

“He wasn’t ‘accused’ of war crimes & killing U.S. army medic Christopher Speer – he pleaded guilty,” Ms. Byrne tweeted.

[…]

The Conservative Party’s Foreign Affairs Critic, Peter Kent…said. “The fact that he is living in Canada at liberty should be compensation enough. After all, he is former enemy terrorist combatant.”

Me? I’d keep a close eye on where that money goes. Khadr’s father was killed in a US drone attack on an al Qeada chieftain’s meeting – junior’s terrorism links are deep.