(CNN)ISIS is holding many more Assyrian Christians hostage than previously thought -- and it is reportedly planning to release a message Wednesday threatening to kill them.At what point does this become more than murder and kidnapping and tip into genocide against Christians?
Osama Edward, founder of the Assyrian Human Rights Network, told CNN that the extremist group is now believed to have 150 hostages, citing the latest information from the network's team on the ground.
Initial estimates put the number seized at between 70 and 100 people, among them women, children and the elderly.
The video message will be directed to President Barack Obama and other members of the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, Edward said from Stockholm, Sweden.
The president says that this is not a religious war. ISIS would beg to differ...whether slaughtering Christians or those they consider apostates, they're killing for and about religion.
But back to the issue at hand.
When do we start calling this genocide?
I hate to use the old internet meme, but in this case its applicable. When did the Nazi atrocities tip into genocide? I really don't know. I've never seen it quantified.
One thing is clear. ISIS is different. This war is different. Hearts and minds has never worked and will definitely NOT work with these people.
if a homo would've been beheaded the WHOLE NATO and EU (including politicians) would race bare feet to wipe ISIS of and bring any living homo to the US or EU and give them homeless children for adoption and make the kids call the hairy dudes "mom" in front of the class
ReplyDeletethat about sums it up. i never thought i would live to see the day where Christians were actually being hunted and killed. no wonder so many Christians here in the US are believing that we're seeing the beginning of the end. worse though is that all the talk about the President being a Muslim is really starting to ring true to me. his statements have been...off. way off. i'm in my office chair and i can see this, so why can't the national leadership. its almost like they want to keep the public distracted long enough to get something done. what that is i don't know but personally i'm getting alarmed, pissed and ready to fight.
ReplyDeleteSolomon you say that ISIS needs to be eradicated but how do you propose to do that? We can't just do it by bombing and you yourself have said "I'm tired of the waste of blood and treasure.
ReplyDeleteEspecially the lives of Soldiers and Marines in that God forsaken
region. I will be clear. The people of that region have not shown
themselves to be worthy of our sacrifice. As a matter of fact, the more
we give, the more they demand. In my mind its time to break that
dependency. The first step is to either nuke the region or step away
and let them deal with their homegrown problems." Obviously nuking the middle eats is out of the question so what do you propose? Abandon the people in the middle eats to ISIS? Maybe the "free" people could beat ISIS, but what happens if they lose? Are you willing to wait and find out? ISIS is committing atrocities they have killed near 5600 civilians in Iraq and are on track to kill many more this is getting close to the 8800 civilians killed during the Bosnian Genocide however still not even close to the Rwandan Genocide that killed 500,000-1,000,000 people.
Now short of straight up military intervention which is one one the worse options and one I do not endorse. What else can we do to beat ISIS in your mind?
Also Genocide is defined as a systematical destruction of or a good portion of an ethnic, racial or religious groups. So technically you could say that ISIS is committing genocide in the middle east.
i contend that you saying that ISIS can't be destroyed from the air is false. remember when they captured huge stores of American designed equipment and went on parade with banners hanging from those vehicles? you do as was done in WW2. you saturation bomb the area. the people of Germany and Japan had to pay the price for the arrogance of their leaders. the people living in ISIS controlled areas will have to suffer for their conquerors too. we have orbits of B-52s and bomb them till they're back to the time they think they're living in.
ReplyDeletethe very idea that you think you know the numbers killed is .... weird. all you've done is setup a bunch of strawmen. all you're doing is seeking to allow this barbarity to go on and wring your hands and state that we're powerless.
i disagree. the thing that frightens you more than the enemy is the idea of employing our full military power to deal with the bastards.
but instead of shooting down my ideas, why don't you step to the plate and tell me what you think we should do. the difference between academics and warriors is that academics see a problem and talk about it instead of working to solve it. warriors are given problems from policy makers and move to solve those problems.
which camp do you fall in...academic or military?
http://www.counter-currents.com/2013/09/standing-with-syria/
ReplyDeleteSaturation bombing would work. I was thinking mostly along the lines of what we are doing now. But saturation bombing would work.
ReplyDeleteI got the numbers on people killed by ISIS from a UN report written last July so the info is outdated.
The idea of using the full military might of the US does not frighten me. I would love to see it happen. I think anyone who is left in ISIS held territory are complicit with what ISIS is doing and deserve the same fate as ISIS utter annihilation. My honest to God not moderate opinion is that the US should go to war with a vengeance. To avenge all the innocents killed by ISIS and for the thousands of soldiers and marines who died in that land for that land. If we do not beat ISIS those soldiers and marines will have died for nothing.
If I had my way I would be over there fighting. Making a difference. Not sitting here debating. I would be acting to destroy a threat to my family, my loved ones, and my country.
I thought the solution was to give ISIS more jobs. Couldn't Obama just get some sort of ISIS jobs bill passed, maybe something like a goat herding internships. Surely, with enough love and affection they will change their evil ways.
ReplyDeleteSince some years ago we have been witnessing the early stages of a
ReplyDeleteGlobal Jihad, where Islam is at war with the rest of humanity. Islam has
always had those tendencies, but modernity (i.e. globalisation, WWW)
has given it the right conditions to mastecize and affect every part of
the globe.
Politicians will never say we are in a war with Islam
because they fear the catastrophic effect that would have. We would also
hold them accountable for getting in this mess (e.g. allowing mass
immigration from majority muslim countries). Hence, I don't think we
will see a "Coalition to defeat Islam" or a War on Islam that is
orchestrated by Western Governments.
In my view, we are now
living in the age of Open Source Warfare. I mean that if you fear the
growth of Islam and want to see it pushed back, the State is not going
to do it for you. You have to do it yourself. Early evidence are the
individuals going to fight ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
It doesn't
mean we have to drop everything and fly into Erbil, buy an AK in the
market and head for the nearest Peshmerga unit. Likewise, bashing
comments in to blogs and FB won't save our civilisation either. I
believe there is a middle ground which involves organisation, training
and action (within the bounds of law of course).
Reading news and
blog post about Christians being masacred just leaves me thinking what
are we (collectively) going to do about it.
I doubt any serious action is going to be taken while Barry O is in office. He has made it perfectly clear that he does not view Islam as a problem. This is what happens when pacifists are in control.
ReplyDeleteI think you are being kind by calling those in charge as pacifists. They are doing their best to stir things up with Putin. So 20th century.
ReplyDeleteAs a society, we would require balls to call it a genocide. Esp. when Christians are involved.
ReplyDeleteYou're right. Obama is all over the map on his foreign policy. He's limp noodle when he should be firm and confrontational when he should be diplomatic.
ReplyDeleteTo add insult to injury, Obama who due to his rudderless policies and perception as an effete politician has contributed greatly to the current environment of chaos, death and mayhem was given a Noble Peace Prize. The sad thing is half of the United States still approves of his job performance thus far.
I could have written that paragraph for myself.
ReplyDeleteIran builds a 'carrier' mockup and blows it up in wargames LOL
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UpKq9kCHbE
Much as only white people can be racist, only men sexist ect, genocide can't be none Christians killing Christians.
ReplyDeletethat's easy then. get in the USMC's FAST Regiment, the US Army's 4th ID or the 82nd Airborne.
ReplyDeleteif you want boots on the ground then we already have that.
Sol, we all come to agree that the problem with ISIS/ISIL is much more complicated because of the arab neighbors like Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and Syria. Each country has their own "agenda".
ReplyDeleteObama and other political handlers do not want to call it "genocide" because it may infuriate the arabs. And any man with half a brain do not want to upset the arabs . To put it more bluntly, Obama does not have the guts to call it "genocide" because the arab countries TOLD HIM NOT TO. Obama and his administration works for the arabs now. He doesn't work for the American public.
But boy, I'm sure going to pi$$ myself laughing if America elects another Bush into the White House.