The Real Winner of America’s War on ISIS: Bashar al-Assad

By: Joshua Keating

Source: http://www.slate.com

Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the fairly obvious point yesterday that it will be impossible to deal a definitive blow to ISIS by attacking it on only one side of the increasingly irrelevant Syrian-Iraqi border. Here’s the New York Times:

“This is an organization that has an apocalyptic end-of-days strategic vision that will eventually have to be defeated,” said the chairman … in his most expansive public remarks on the crisis since American airstrikes began in Iraq. “Can they be defeated without addressing that part of the organization that resides in Syria? The answer is no.”…

“It requires a variety of instruments, only one small part of which is airstrikes,” he said. “I’m not predicting those will occur in Syria, at least not by the United States of America. But it requires the application of all of the tools of national power—diplomatic, economic, information, military.”

Despite Dempsey’s remarks, it’s not really clear that “defeating” ISIS is actually President Obama’s goal in this conflict. But that could change. Assuming that the U.S. does reluctantly take on the project of defeating ISIS, or at least substantially degrading it, that decision will inevitably deepen America’s even-more-reluctant involvement in the conflict in Syria.

Why we collectively condemn ‪‎ISIS‬

By: Omar Suleiman

The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) cared for the innocent men, women, and children that belonged to the “other side” even as he suffered from injustice himself and the loss of his family and closest companions. Despite losing Khadijah (ra), Hamza (ra), etc. he never became bitter or unethical. Protecting civilians from all sides is also part of Jihad. The oppression of Bashar and Al-Maliki doesn’t justify the taking of a single innocent life be it a Muslim, Christian, Yazidi, etc. So I openly condemn #ISIS and speak out against them for the havoc they are wreaking upon the people of Iraq and Syria.

I’ve read all the conspiracy theories about where they come from and it is definitely strange how they appeared out of nowhere and starting attacking other groups fighting the Assad regime and are suddenly the richest terrorist organization in the world. It’s also perplexing how the American government helped fund them in Syria but is now bombing them in Iraq. None of it makes much sense at all. But any sane Muslim with a basic understanding of Islam should be disgusted by the taking of innocent life by this group just as we are disgusted by Israel’s massacre of innocent Palestinians, America’s droning of innocent people around the world, etc. Be just even if it be against your families and against yourselves.

And to the #ISIS fanboys that keep tweeting curses, insults, and pictures of beheadings to me (whose names always seem to end with Al Amreeki for some reason), your rhetoric further reinforces to me and everyone else that this group is the manifestation of the khawarij in this era. May Allah guide all of you back to the Sunnah. Ameen

Monkey Attacking Lion (Video)

Successful are those who work hard to promote goodness without attacking others as that is a sign of insecurity, inferiority or failure.

 Successful are those who work hard to promote goodness without attacking others as that is a sign of insecurity, inferiority or failure.
 El éxito de los que trabajan duro para promover la bondad sin atacar a los demás, ya que es un signo de inseguridad, inferioridad o fracaso.
 Succesvolle mensen zijn die hard werken om goedheid te bevorderen zonder anderen aan te vallen als dat is een teken van onzekerheid, minderwaardigheid of falen.
 Succès sont ceux qui travaillent dur pour promouvoir la bonté sans attaquer les autres que c’est un signe d’insécurité, d’infériorité ou d’échec.
 Erfolgreich sind diejenigen, die hart arbeiten, um das Gute zu fördern, ohne andere anzugreifen, wie das ist ein Zeichen von Unsicherheit, Unterlegenheit oder Misserfolg.
 Chénggōng de shì nàxiē shuí nǔlì gōngzuò, yǐ cùjìn shàn bù gōngjí biérén, yīnwèi zhè shì bù ānquán, zìbēi huò shībài de biāozhì.
 Framgångsrik är de som arbetar hårt för att främja godhet utan att angripa andra som det är ett tecken på osäkerhet, underlägsenhet eller misslyckande.
 Успешное те, кто упорно трудиться, чтобы способствовать богу, не атакуя других, как, что является признаком неуверенности, неполноценности или неудачи.
 Başarılı bu güvensizlik, aşağılık ya da başarısızlık bir işareti olarak başkalarına saldıran olmadan iyilik tanıtmak için çalışıyoruz kişilerdir.
 Di successo sono quelli che lavorano duramente per promuovere la bontà senza attaccare gli altri come questo è un segno di insicurezza, di inferiorità o il fallimento.
 Sukses adalah mereka yang bekerja keras untuk mempromosikan kebaikan tanpa menyerang orang lain karena itu adalah tanda ketidakamanan, rendah diri atau kegagalan.