Terrorism

Aljazeera English | (Video News Report) | – – Aljazeera English: “Dozens killed in Istanbul nightclub shooting”

Iraq: ISIL Attacking Civilians in Mosul Retreat

Human Rights Watch | – – Calls ‘Unbelievers’ Valid Targets (Erbil) – Fighters with the [so-called] Islamic State [Group} (also known as ISIL) have indiscriminately attacked civilian areas in eastern Mosul with mortar rounds and explosives, and deliberately shot at fleeing residents, Human Rights Watch said today. Iraqi and coalition forces have also killed and […]

Central Intelligence Agency

The last Time we had a President bored by Intel Briefings, we got 9/11

contributors

By Ronald Stockton | (Informed Comment) | – – Former CIA head and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta recently said that if President Elect Trump refuses intelligence briefings and something bad happens, he would be responsible. These are ominous words. I just finished Panetta’s memoir, Worthy Fights. Two things stood out. First, that much of […]

Bashar al-Assad

Why Russia and Regime want all of Aleppo before Trump is sworn in

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In the past two days, the Syrian Arab Army and its Shiite militia allies (Hizbullah from Lebanon and others from Iraq) has taken a third to forty percent of the Eastern Aleppo pocket. The northeast zone of the pocket has collapsed, with rebel fights apparently declining […]

Displaced and Refugees

Raining Bombs: Mosul Fight hits Trapped Civilians

contributors

By a Special Correspondent | Mosul | (Niqash.org) | – – Inside their homes, a lack of food and water; outside, bombs, snipers and crossfire. Yet many Mosul locals are choosing to stay in the city, even though it’s a war zone. Despite the fact that extremists have been driven out of their Mosul neighbourhood, […]

Iraq

After ISIL, is there any hope of Iraqi National Unity?

contributors

Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – The fight against the [so-called] Islamic State [group, or IS] has united Iraqis. Details of a new Shiite-sponsored plan that will try and make that unity last leaked in Baghdad last week. If the extremist group that caused Iraq’s current security crisis starting mid-2014, have done […]

Counter-Terrorism

Real-Life Trolling: How Provocation Works and How to Respond

contributors

By Joshua Cole | ( The Michigan Daily) Yesterday was the anniversary of the attacks in Paris at the Bataclan concert venue and other locations throughout the city. These terrorist attacks in 2015 were provocations intended, as my colleague Juan Cole, a history professor put it, to “sharpen the contradictions” within French society. The goal […]

Counter-Terrorism

Sting & Gandhian anti-Terrorism: Your Paris vacation can help cripple ISIL

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Sting, 65, played a concert at the Bataclan Theater where ISIL terrorists killed 90 innocent people a year ago, in one of the worst attacks in the West in recent years. Although the attackers appear to have told their victims the strike was in revenge for […]

Iraq

Iraq’s Mosul Campaign: ISIL using civilians as Human Shields

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – All Forces Should Take Necessary Precautions to Protect Civilians (Erbil) – In areas around Mosul, the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, is forcibly evacuating civilians under their control with its fighters, apparently to use them as human shields. There are also grave concerns that ISIS is rounding up […]