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Feds: Illinois Teen Sought to Join Islamic State

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Photo Credit: AP Photo / Sun-Times Media, Al PodgorskiBy Associated Press.

A 19-year-old American left a letter expressing disgust with Western society before trying to board an international flight in Chicago, the first step in his plan to sneak into Syria to join the Islamic State group, according to a federal criminal complaint released Monday.

Mohammed Hamzah Khan, who lived with his parents in the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook, was arrested Saturday at O’Hare International Airport trying to board a plane on the first leg of connecting flights to Turkey, which borders Syria. He is charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist group, which carries a maximum 15-year prison sentence.

Investigators said Khan left a three-page, handwritten letter in his bedroom for his parents that expressed anger over his U.S. taxes being used to kill his “Muslim brothers and sisters,” an apparent reference to a bombing campaign against Islamic State militants.

“We are all witness that the western societies are getting more immoral day by day,” he wrote, then signed letter, “Your loving son,” according to court documents.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: AFPWHY ISIS AND HAMAS WEAR MASKS

By SHMULEY BOTEACH.

The biblical story of Saul teaches us a powerful lesson regarding the individual’s moral choice and what that choice may lead to.

In ancient Israel, as the era of the judges was ending, it came time for the Israelites to finally have a king. Saul was God’s first choice. He had the strength and support necessary to protect the Israelites and, under God’s command, once and for all destroy the threats and specter of death that the Israelites had lived under for centuries. And yet when it came to the key battle with the sworn enemy of the Israelites – the nation of Amalek – Saul thought he would be more compassionate than God Himself, ignoring His command by sparing the life of the Amalekite king Agag – the Bin Laden of his time.

Later on in his life, Saul wrongly believed that a young shepherd named David was a challenge to his throne and pursued him with his army. Mistakenly convinced that a village of priests had aided David’s escape, Saul in a fit of paranoia massacred the village.

That’s quite a moral shift.

How did such a promising young man who was hand-picked by God end up going down such a wicked path? The Talmud offers this famous response: “Those who are kind when they should be cruel will end up being cruel when they should be kind.”

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Parents of Ex-Army Ranger Held by ISIS Release Letter Written by Son

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsThe parents of a former Army Ranger threatened with beheading by the Islamic State militant group released a letter written by their son earlier this year in which he said he was afraid to die, but was at peace with his conversion to Islam.

Ed and Paula Kassig said in a statement Sunday that they had been told by a former hostage that their son Peter had voluntarily converted to Islam sometime between October and December of last year when he shared a cell with a Syrian Muslim. They said that their son “took Islam’s practices seriously, including praying the five daily prayers and taking on the name Abdul-Rahman.”

The Kassings also released a letter written by their 26-year-old son in which he thanked them for their strength and commitment and appeared to try to prepare them for his death.

“I am obviously pretty scared to die but the hardest part is not knowing, wondering, hoping, and wondering if I should even hope at all,” Kassig said in the letter, according to his parents. “I am very sad that all this has happened and for what all of you back home are going through. If I do die, I figure that at least you and I can seek refuge and comfort in knowing that I went out as a result of trying to alleviate suffering and helping those in need.”

Kassig was taken captive by the Islamic State group Oct. 1, 2013, in Syria, where he was providing aid for refugees fleeing that country’s civil war.

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Biden Continues to Apologize; First Turkey, Now UAE

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Photo Credit: Olivier Douliery / Abaca Press / MCTVice President Joe Biden apologized to the United Arab Emirates Sunday for charging that the oil-rich ally had been supporting al Qaida and other jihadi groups in Syria’s internal war, his second apology in as many days to a key participant in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State extremists.

The White House said Biden telephoned Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed of Abu Dhabi to say that his recent remarks “regarding the early stages” of the conflict in Syria “were not meant to imply that the Emirates had facilitated or supported” the Islamic State, al Qaida or other extremist groups in Syria.

But his apology, one day after expressing similar regrets to Turkey, left open whether the Emirates had supported the rise of al Qaida during the early stages of the war in Syria.

Biden was answering questions at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government Thursday when he veered off the official talking points to declare, “Our allies in the region were our largest problem” in preventing the spread of al Qaida in Syria.

“The Saudis, the Emiratis; what were they doing?” he said. “They were so determined to take down (Syrian President Bashar) Assad and have a proxy Sunni-Shia war, they poured hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad. Except that the people who were being supplied were (Jabhat) al Nusra and al Qaida, and the extremist elements of jihadis coming from other parts of the world.”

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Pentagon Official: The President Is Lying To America — About Us, And About ISIS

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By Joseph Miller.

President Barack Obama has taken a lot of flack since his Sunday night “60 Minutes” interview, in which he blamed the intelligence community for his failure to tackle the threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. And that is right and proper. Because not only was his excuse of blaming us a lie, but when questioned on his lie, White House press secretary Josh Earnest doubled down with a whole new lie — both of which are easily, publicly proven false.

On Sunday, Obama said the intelligence community had underestimated the rise of ISIS, saying in an interview with CBS, “Our head of the intelligence community, Jim Clapper, has acknowledged that, I think, they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria.”

But we know that isn’t true, as nearly a dozen administration officials have testified to the threat posed by ISIS publicly over the last year.

The fact that the president chose to use the word “they” instead of “we” immediately drew condemnation from friend and foe alike, who saw it as the president’s attempt to pass the buck.

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Prominent Democrat: The only people who ‘underestimated’ ISIS were in the White House

BY NOAH ROTHMAN.

“I think, our head of the intelligence community, Jim Clapper, has acknowledged that I think they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria.”

That was President Barack Obama’s response to CBS reporter Steve Kroft who asked the president if he was surprised by the rapid rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria – a group which he had previously dismissed as al-Qaeda’s “jayvee” team.

As Ed Morrissey observed, it took only hours for The Daily Beast’s Eli Lake to find well-connected sources willing to denounce the president’s dishonest buck passing. Using some rather coarse language, one frustrated former Pentagon official accused the president of either being mendacious or ignoring his intelligence briefings. Morrissey observed that even New York Times reporters found the president’s testimony in his own defense wanting.

Now, even some Democrats are jumping ship. Former Rear Admiral Joe Sestak, a two-term Democratic member of the House of Representatives, a House Armed Services Committee member, and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2010, was asked on Monday how it was possible for the intelligence community so gravely underestimate ISIS. Sestak appeared to surprise his MSNBC interlocutor when he noted that the only people who got ISIS wrong work in the Obama administration.

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ISIS to Attack US with Ebola? Jihadists 'to Send Infected Militants' to America to Spread Disease

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Photo Credit: Wikimedia CommonsIf latest reports are to be believed, the Islamic State militants might be conspiring to deliberately infect jihadists with the deadly Ebola virus and send them to America in order to spread the disease in the US – an event that could see America being attacked in a new pseudo-war.

The Israeli News Agency, a site which claims to be Israel’s first online news organisation has confirmed the authenticity of the report saying it “clears all news items relating to Israeli security with the Israel government press office.”

The agency said, citing “Israeli security sources”, that dozens of ISIS fighters in Syria have fallen ill and had symptoms of Ebola. This news quickly ignited a new conspiracy theory claiming that ISIS is planning to send Ebola-infected militants into the US to spread the disease.

“While Western nations fighting the Islamic State might consider this reported Ebola outbreak among radical jihadists to be welcome news, there is a very big, very dangerous downside to Islamic terrorists being carriers of the virus,” Norvell Rose, the winner of numerous journalism honours, writes for WesternJournalism.com.

Read more from this story HERE.

ISIS Beheads ANOTHER Hostage, Threatens to Kill American War Vet-Turned-Aid-Worker Next

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Photo Credit: APBy Jon Gambrell and Jill Lawless.

An Internet video released Friday purports to show an Islamic State group fighter beheading British hostage Alan Henning, the fourth such killing carried out by the extremist group now targeted in U.S.-led airstrikes.

The video mirrored other beheading videos shot by the Islamic State group, which now holds territory along the border of Syria and Iraq, and ended with a militant threatening a man they identified as an American named Peter Kassig.

“Obama, you have started your aerial bombardment of Shams (Syria), which keeps on striking our people, so it is only right that we continue to strike the neck of your people,” the masked militant in the video said.

National Security Council Spokesperson Caitlin Hayden confirmed that Kassig was being held by Islamic State militants, in a statement issued Friday evening.

“At this point we have no reason to doubt the authenticity of the video released earlier today. We will continue to use every tool at our disposal — military, diplomatic, law enforcement and intelligence – to try to bring Peter home to his family,” Hayden said.

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‘We will bring them to justice’: Obama promises revenge as ISIS executioner Jihadi John beheads British aid worker and threatens to kill American war vet-turned-aid-worker next in horrific video

By WILLS ROBINSON and CHRIS PLEASANCE.

ISIS have threatened to execute an American war veteran after Jihadi John beheaded British aid worker Alan Henning.

Peter Kassig, 26, a former Army Ranger from Indianapolis, was shown kneeling in the desert at the end of the video of the murder posted online by the terror group.

During the video, the masked militant sends a message to President Obama admitting that U.S. ‘aerial bombardments’ are putting them under strain, before adding: ‘It’s only right we continue to strike the necks of your people.’

Mr Henning, a 47-year-old father-of-two, was kidnapped on Boxing Day last year as he delivered aid to Syrian refugees.

The clip, which is in English with Arabic subtitles, shows Jihadi John stepping forward to cut Mr Henning’s throat before the screen turns black, then shows his body lying on the desert floor.

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U.S. Soldiers in “War” with ISIS Not Eligible for Medals?

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With 1,600 military “advisers” on the ground in Iraq, 2,300 of our troops being deployed to the Middle East as a “special purpose marine air ground task force,” and ongoing airstrikes being conducted in Iraq and Syria against ISIS’s jihadist army, it is absolutely stunning that our military personnel are NOT eligible for certain military medals.

Why? Because the Obama Administration refuses to call our fight against ISIS terror a military campaign.

It’s not only outrageous; it’s insulting to the brave men and women our Commander-in-Chief has put in harm’s way, has sent into a war zone, to defend freedom.

Make no mistake; ISIS is at war with America. They are slaughtering Christians. They have amassed huge wealth and sophisticated weapons. They are a jihadist army.

To tell those who we’ve tasked with defeating them – and President Obama told the American people that’s what we are going to do – that they can’t receive commendation medals in this fight is preposterous.

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Mark Levin Calls for Investigation into Obama Intel Briefings

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Photo Credit: White HouseBy Wynton Hall.

On Tuesday, conservative radio talk show host Mark Levin called for an investigation into the contents of President Barack Obama’s daily intelligence briefings that warned of the Islamic State’s (ISIS) rise years ago–a claim substantiated by Obama’s own national security staff in comments to the Daily Mail.

“He was aware of all of it, if he had read his intelligence briefings,” said Levin. “He is the commander-in-chief. The reason they put together that daily intelligence briefing–Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and sometimes two or three times a day, depending–is so he’ll read it. That’s the least he can do, because most presidents, all previous presidents, have had it explained to them, so they can ask questions right there on the spot and interact. But not Obama.”

Levin said an investigation is needed to find out “what Obama knew and when he knew it” about the Islamic State’s rise to power.

Read more from this story HERE.
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Photo Credit: Mark Levin: ‘Have You Noticed Nothing Really Works Under This President?’

By Susan Jones.

“[H]ave you noticed really works under this president, from the Secret Service to immigration to the economy?” conservative talk-radio host Mark Levin asked Fox News’s Sean Hannity Wednesday night.

“Is there anything this president, from your perspective, has done well?” Hannity asked Levin.

“No. There’s not a thing he’s done well,” Levin replied. “And here’s the problem, Sean. People who support big government, centralized government, liberalism — well, congratulations, you have it. And it’s an absolute disaster.

“And here’s what’s remarkable to me. He doesn’t go back and actually look at something, have some circumspection, say, You know, we’re going to fix Obamacare. Let’s pull back. Maybe we bit off more than we can chew. It’s full speed ahead, the foot on the gas pedal.

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Want to Stop ISIS? Secure the Border

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Photo Credit: ISIS videoBy Shawn Moran.

A 25-year-old European male walks north, crossing a painted yellow line just outside an American Port of Entry. He heads towards the inspections area, careful to avoid the canine teams patrolling the pre-inspection areas. He picks a lane at random. He is carrying a larger than average backpack and is sweating, not from the weight, but from the fear that he will be stopped before carrying out his mission. This man is an ISIS jihadist. His mission is to attack America. His actions unleash a wave of terror, destruction and death, but that is just the beginning.

While first responders and Border Patrol Agents tend to the wounded and close the Port of Entry, other terrorist cells take advantage of tragedy. Several miles to the west of attack, a black Ford Suburban winds its way along deserted road, stopping near the north end of now unguarded border fence. Surveillance tapes will later show a group of six men crossing the primary border fence, scaling the secondary fence, and quickly crossing the border. Overwhelmed, understaffed and responding to a national crisis, no dispatcher or Border Patrol agent spots the illegal entry or the vehicle that drives them away. The evidence will later show the vehicle turning north, obeying all traffic laws and disappearing into American society. Otherwise occupied, understaffed Border Patrol agents will be unable to respond as more ISIS terrorist cells begin operations on American soil.

Unfortunately, this scenario is a real possibility today, because our borders are vulnerable and unsecured. But we can’t address the growing crisis through token measures or actions that provide no security. We need real solutions.

The solution is to focus on three simple strategies: (1) enforce our immigration laws; (2) support our Border Patrol Agents with additional training; and (3) give the proper number of hours for agents to effectively patrol and secure the border.

As threats from ISIS increase, the trends on the border are heading in the wrong direction. Even as encounters with illegal aliens increase, there is a decreased presence of agents and a lack of support from Washington for their efforts.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Photo Credit: AP / Pablo Martinez MonsivaisNetanyahu to Obama: Hope Iran Won’t Get Nuclear Deal It Wants from You

By Patrick Goodenough.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu praised President Obama Wednesday for leading the effort against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, but described the Iranian nuclear issue as “even more critical” and voiced the hope that negotiations with Iran would not leave it on the threshold of nuclear weapons capability.

“Israel fully supports your effort and your leadership to defeat ISIS,” Netanyahu told the president in the Oval Office during a media appearance before bilateral talks. “We think everybody should support this.”

“And even more critical is our shared goal of preventing Iran from becoming a military nuclear power,” he continued. “As you know, Mr. President, Iran seeks a deal that would lift the tough sanctions that you’ve worked so hard to put in place, and leave it as a threshold nuclear power. I fervently hope that under your leadership that would not happen.”

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Why America Won't Have Enough Money to Battle ISIS

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Photo Credit: AP / U.S. Air Force, Staff Sgt. Shawn NickelPresident Obama says that it may take the U.S. and its allies three years to defeat Islamic State of Iraq and Syria militants, with heavy dependence on stepped up U.S. airstrikes. And some defense experts say it could cost the government an additional $15 billion to $20 billion a year to pursue this hazardous mission.

The fight against ISIS is already expensive. As of late August, the United States had spent $560 million fighting the group, and continues to spend $7.5 million daily on operations in Iraq. Last week Congress authorized the administration to spend an estimated $500 million to equip and train so-called moderate Syrian rebels to help counter the fast growing threat of ISIS.

But what if the mission mushrooms into a much bigger, more intensive and considerably longer operation than Obama has outlined — one that eventually forces the U.S. to send in combat troops into Iraq again? Will there be enough money in the defense budget to achieve Obama’s goal of “degrading and destroying” ISIS while preserving a strong armed forces?

Probably not, short of a major downsizing of the military and its gold-plated retirement and health care programs or a massive increase in deficit spending, according to economist Eugene Steuerle, a budget expert with the Urban Institute.

Steuerle, author of Dead Men Ruling: How to Restore Fiscal Freedom and Rescue Our Future, argues that years of accumulated tax cuts, discretionary budget policy, and entitlement programs have set so much of federal spending in concrete that lawmakers and the administration have little flexibility to respond to major crises or problems such as natural disasters or the upheaval in the Middle East.

Read more from this story HERE.