DTN News: Islamic State - ISIL, ISIS or IS Top Stories / Headlines News Dated September 19, 2014

DTN News: Islamic State - ISIL, ISIS or IS Top Stories / Headlines News Dated September 19, 2014

 Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth 

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - September 19, 2014: Comprehensive daily news related to Islamic State - ISIL, ISIS or IS Top Stories / Headlines News for the world of TODAY.

*Comprehensive daily news related to Islamic State - ISIL, ISIS or IS Top Stories / Headlines News for the world of TODAY

1. 

   Obama: ISIS threat against US, allies 'doesn't frighten us'

   CNN-15 hours agoShare

   STORY HIGHLIGHTS ... ...We can destroy ISIL without having our troops fight another ground war in the Middle East." ... As top U.S. military leadership approved a plan to strike ISIS in Syria, the Senate on Thursday ... be the first in a series of messages on behalf of the group that calls itself the Islamic State.

   ISIS? ISIL? The Islamic State? We really still can't decide?
   Public Radio International-Sep 18, 2014

   Obama Cant Destroy the Islamic State Without Irans Help
   Politico-Sep 14, 2014

   Charles C. Haynes: Why branding ISIS matters
   Baxter Bulletin-Sep 18, 2014

   House Passes Bill to Train and Equip Syrian Rebels
   TIME-Sep 17, 2014

   

   Public Radio International

   

   Politico

   

   TIME

   

   USA TODAY

   

   Regina Leader-Post

   

   ABC News

   Explore in depth (5,405 more articles)
2. 

   USA TODAY

   Obama outlines ISIS strategy: Airstrikes in Syria, more US forces

   CNN-Sep 9, 2014

   They are known as ISIS, ISIL and Islamic State. .... After his meeting with top congressional leaders at the White House on Tuesday, Obama ...

   Obama's ISIL strategy to dominate Sunday talk shows
   USA TODAY-Sep 13, 2014

   Obama's ISIS speech: How the US will degrade and destroy Islamic ...
   NEWS.com.au-Sep 10, 2014

   WSJ/NBC Poll: Almost Two-Thirds Back Attacking Militants
   Wall Street Journal-Sep 10, 2014

   Haynes: Why branding of ISIS matters
   Monroe News Star-Sep 11, 2014

   

   Wall Street Journal

   

   The Guardian

   

   WCPO

   

   Politico

   

   CNN

   

   Public Radio International

   Explore in depth (10,534 more articles)
3. 

   Steven Sotloff beheaded by Islamic State - latest

   Telegraph.co.uk-Sep 3, 2014

   Nato summit Wales: Isil and Ukraine top agenda - latest .... 17.44 The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) controls an area the ... "Former captives said that he continued observing Jewish holy days and praying while in ISIS custody. ... home safety, this obviously was not how the story was meant to end.

   Steven Sotloff 'beheaded' by Islamic State according to new video
   NEWS.com.au-Sep 3, 2014

   Sotloff beheading video: White House confirms authenticity
   MarketWatch-Sep 3, 2014

   Explore in depth (5,228 more articles)
4. 

   Six Strategies Obama Could Use to Fight the Islamic State

   Politico-Aug 30, 2014

   Top Stories, Videos & Photos ... After a summer in which Islamic State militants have rampaged through Iraq and Syria, declared an Islamic ...

   Why Obama Backed Off More ISIS Strikes: His Own Team Couldnt ...
   Daily Beast-Aug 30, 2014

   President Obama Says 'We Don't Have a Strategy Yet' to Bomb ISIS ...
   ABC News-Aug 29, 2014

   Explore in depth (2,112 more articles)
5. 

   Airstrike kills 40 Islamic State fighters

   USA TODAY-Sep 18, 2014

   WASHINGTON — A U.S. air strike near Mosul on Thursday killed 40Islamic State militants near a terrorist training camp, according to a senior ...

   Charles C. Haynes: What we call ISIS does matter
   Muncie Star Press-9 hours ago

   Explore in depth (224 more articles)
6. 

   Australia Raids Thwarted ISIS Beheading Plot

   ABC News-7 hours ago

   The Islamic State plot to carry out random beheadings in Sydney ... "The regrettable reality is that to mount the kind of attacks which ISILin Syria ...

   Ali Baryalei, an Afghani aristocrat who became the Islamic State's ...
   Herald Sun-11 hours ago

   Australian Police Thwart ISIL Beheading Plot
   WLTX.com-Sep 18, 2014

   Explore in depth (1,571 more articles)
7. 

   ISIS Not as Dangerous to US as al Qaeda, Top Terror Official Says

   ABC News-Sep 3, 2014

   ISIS poses a significant threat to Americans, but the militant Islamic... no credible information that ISIL is planning to attack the UnitedStates," ...
8. 

   Syrian Kurds warn of mounting crisis as ISIS advances, takes more ...

   CNN-43 minutes ago

   STORY HIGHLIGHTS ... The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or "Islamic State," as the group calls itself, took 39 villages ... arming of Syrian rebels as top U.S. military leadership approved a plan to strikeISIS in Syria. ... We can destroy ISIL without having our troops fight another ground war in the Middle East.

   NYT Reporter Receives Threatening Messages Over IS Story
   RIA Novosti-15 hours ago

   Explore in depth (499 more articles)
9. 

   Top US military officer: US ground troops to fight ISIS, if necessary

   CNN-Sep 17, 2014

   STORY HIGHLIGHTS ... Washington (CNN) -- America's top military officer raised the specter Tuesday of U.S. troops in ... should accompany Iraqi troops on attacks against specific ISIL targets, I will recommend that to ... group that calls itself the Islamic State would not include American "boots on the ground.
10. 

    Feds: NY store owner plotted to send jihadists to Syria, kill US troops ...

    CNN-Sep 18, 2014

    ... and a world away from the Middle East, where ISIS (also known asISIL and the Islamic State) has waged a brutal campaign in recent years.

*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth 
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - ISLAMIC STATE OF IRAQ AND SYRIA (ISIS): Arab Allies Pledge To Help U.S. Fight Islamic State #2 (Images)

DTN News - ISLAMIC STATE OF IRAQ AND SYRIA (ISIS): Arab Allies Pledge To Help U.S. Fight Islamic State #2 (Images)

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth 
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - September 13, 2014: A day after President Barack Obama outlined a strategy to combat Islamic State militants, Washington's international allies didn't make clear how far they would go to join military operations even as they pledged their support.

Mr. Obama vowed to "degrade and ultimately destroy" the extremist group which has grabbed territory across Iraq and Syria and harbors ambitions for more. After a day of consulting with Secretary of State John Kerry in Saudi Arabia, most of Iraq's neighbors signed onto a statement of support.

In the communiqué, leading Arab states committed to working with the U.S. to cut off the flow of foreign fighters and funds into the Islamic State,


Turkey—which has opposed allowing the U.S. to use bases on its territory for airstrikes against Islamic State—didn't sign the communiqué. Nearly 50 Turkish diplomats are being held by militants in the Iraqi city of Mosul, which Islamic State captured in June.

*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth 
*Speaking Image - Creation of DTN News ~ Defense Technology News 
*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated
*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - ISLAMIC STATE OF IRAQ AND SYRIA (ISIS): Arab Allies Pledge To Help U.S. Fight Islamic State

DTN News - ISLAMIC STATE OF IRAQ AND SYRIA (ISIS): Arab Allies Pledge To Help U.S. Fight Islamic State
*Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ISIS
*Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ISIL
*Extent of Cooperation in Military Operations Still Unclear

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources Reuters
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - September 13, 2014: A day after President Barack Obama outlined a strategy to combat Islamic State militants, Washington's international allies didn't make clear how far they would go to join military operations even as they pledged their support.

Mr. Obama vowed to "degrade and ultimately destroy" the extremist group which has grabbed territory across Iraq and Syria and harbors ambitions for more. After a day of consulting with Secretary of State John Kerry in Saudi Arabia, most of Iraq's neighbors signed onto a statement of support.

In the communiqué, leading Arab states committed to working with the U.S. to cut off the flow of foreign fighters and funds into the Islamic State,

Turkey—which has opposed allowing the U.S. to use bases on its territory for airstrikes against Islamic State—didn't sign the communiqué. Nearly 50 Turkish diplomats are being held by militants in the Iraqi city of Mosul, which Islamic State captured in June.

In Europe, Germany said it wouldn't take part in airstrikes, while the U.K. said it wasn't ruling out participation. Several dozen European and other countries agreed during this month's North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Wales to support the campaign, but as of Thursday, many were still weighing the specific nature of their involvement.

At the core of the emerging alliance, said U.S. and Arab officials, is an agreement with the Saudi government for it to host a training facility for thousands of Syrian rebel fighters who are combating both the Islamic State and President Bashar al-Assad's regime. Administration officials said Wednesday the deal was in place, but said late Thursday talks were still ongoing.

American air attacks alone won't be enough to stop ISIS according to Daniel Serwer of John Hopkins University. He joins the News Hub to discuss. Photo: Islamic State

Among other uncertainties, U.S. and Arab officials said discussions about Mideast governments providing basing and overflight rights to American warplanes are ongoing. Also unclear is whether any of the leading Arab states would join in U.S. airstrikes against militants in Iraq and Syria. Qatar and the United Arab Emirates joined in the 2011 air campaign in Libya that helped overthrow strongman Col. Moammar Gadhafi.

Adding urgency to the effort, the Central Intelligence Agency in a new estimate Thursday said the size of the militant group at least doubled over the summer. Islamic State "can muster" between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters, said agency spokesman Todd Ebitz, citing a new review of intelligence reports from May through August.

In the agreement reached in Saudi Arabia, countries said they would participate in military efforts "as appropriate," which U.S. officials defended, saying it was reasonable to allow countries to decide on the extent of their participation.

"It was important; we made progress; the coalition is growing and now it has a clarity of purpose with the region, which is essential to our possibilities of success," Mr. Kerry told reporters in Jeddah.

In the cases of Turkey, European and Middle Eastern allies, U.S. officials said there was time to allow for "a deliberate, prudent process."

"'What role can you play? What are we all going to do together?'" State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said, describing the nature of the discussions. "That process will be ongoing."

The U.S. military began a laborious process of gearing up for military training operations following new instructions Wednesday from Mr. Obama, preparing for expanded airstrikes in Iraq and the start of a first-ever air campaign in Syria. Officials said some components of the plan could take several months to come together.

Part of the military training operations will depend on congressional action to approve a $500 million funding request from the Obama administration. The request faced procedural and political obstacles on Thursday.

Overall, the process reflected the difficulty of forming a new international coalition to confront a growing regional threat.

In the communiqué signed by Arabic countries, officials pledged to curb the promotion of the Islamic State's radical Islamist ideology through their religious centers, media outlets and social media sites.

"There is no limit to what the kingdom can provide in this regard," Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said following the meeting with Mr. Kerry in Jeddah. "The kingdom is determined to face and overcome this scourge."

Mr. Kerry said he would continue his efforts to enlist Mideast support for the U.S. campaign during stops in Turkey, Egypt and France in the coming days.

U.S. officials also said the annual gathering of the United Nations General Assembly in New York this month will be a key venue to promote Washington's operations against Islamic State.

Russian and Syrian officials on Thursday indicated they would challenge Washington's strategy.

Russian officials said the Obama administration would need to get a U.N. Security Council resolution to launch military strikes inside Syria against the Islamic State. Syrian officials said they supported military operations against the terrorist organization but only if they are coordinated with Mr. Assad and his military leaders.

"There should be no mistakes," Syria's deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, told NBC News on Thursday. "Betting on other forces is a very big mistake."

Mr. Kerry at a news conference brushed off the Kremlin's suggestion that U.S. military action in Syria would violate international law.

"I'm really rather surprised that Russia would dare to assert any notion of international law, after what has happened in Crimea and eastern Ukraine," he said.

For many Arabic governments, a request to commit forces is considered likely to be met with deep reservations, said Alaa Batayneh, a member of Jordan's Senate who served as the country's energy minister until last year.

"Having boots on the ground is a red flag for many countries, and Jordan is one of them," Mr. Batayneh said.

For Saudi Arabia, in particular, the stakes are high in the campaign against Islamic State, which has vowed carry its fight to the kingdom's monarchy. But as one of the leading Sunni Muslim states, Saudi Arabia is hesitant to commit its troops to a war against fellow Sunni Muslims, however extreme they might be, for fear it would generate a domestic backlash.

"The Saudis need to respond and fight. The knife is on their necks, and they can't rely on the U.S. fighting the fight for them anymore," said a Lebanese security official familiar with the discussions over Arab troop deployments.

The Lebanese army has been fighting Islamic State since the militants streamed across the border last month.

While Saudi Arabia has funded and armed Syrian rebels, the training operation would be a new step in its commitment to bring down Mr. Assad's regime, said Jamal Khashoggi, an analyst close to the government.

"When you open training camps for groups that fight another government, that's a declaration of war" with potentially deep repercussions, Mr. Khashoggi said.

—Carol E. Lee, Ahmed Al Omran, Mohammed Alakraa and Jeffrey Sparshott contributed to this article.

Related Images;

*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources Reuters
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DTN News - MIDEAST NEWS: A Palestinian Protester Being Arrested By Israeli Security Forces / Middle East Peace Talks In Deadlock Over Core Issue

DTN News - MIDEAST NEWS: A Palestinian Protester Being Arrested By Israeli Security Forces /  Middle East Peace Talks In Deadlock Over Core Issue
*US working on proposals to allow Israeli-Palestinian talks to go beyond deadline after about 20 meetings

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources Irish Times & Reuters
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 18, 2014: When Israel and the Palestinians agreed, under intense pressure from Washington, to relaunch direct bilateral negotiations last July, US secretary of state John Kerry set an extremely ambitious, some would say naive, nine- month deadline for the sides to clinch an elusive peace deal.

That deadline is fast approaching and although the sides have met about 20 times, in strict secrecy, there is no indication to date that the parties have been able to significantly narrow the gaps on any of the core issues.

In what appears to be an effort in diplomatic damage control, Kerry is now working on bridging proposals, a framework agreement to be endorsed by the sides, that would enable the talks to continue beyond the April deadline.

An indication of the deadlock’s depth came this week when the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot leaked off- the-record statements made by Israeli defence minister Moshe Ya’alon.

He confirmed comments made by senior Palestinian officials over recent weeks to the effect that direct peace talks have not taken place for weeks and both sides were in effect negotiating separately with the Americans.

He also made a scathing personal attack on Kerry, for which he later apologised, describing him as “messianic” and “obsessive,” saying sarcastically that he should just claim his Nobel peace prize and leave Israel alone.

Ya’alon also dismissed the American plan for West Bank security arrangements, drafted by Kerry in an effort to break the impasse in the talks, as “not worth the paper it’s written on”.

According to an anonymous official in the ruling Likud party, quoted in the Israeli media this week, the defence minister merely said out loud what prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu really thinks but could never say, so as not to pinpoint Israel as the obstacle to peace.

Over recent weeks senior Palestinian officials led by President Mahmoud Abbas have made a number of hardline speeches that left little room for optimism that an historic compromise was close.
So what are the contentious issues?

Borders 
The Palestinians seek an independent state in the entire West Bank and Gaza. Israel wants to maintain control over four West Bank settlement blocs (about 13 per cent of the West Bank), home to more than 80 percent of settlers; and in return would be prepared to cede some Israeli territory to the Palestinians.

Gaza
Gaza has always been considered an integral part of a future Palestinian state but is currently controlled by the Islamic Hamas, bitter opponents of Fatah, headed by President Abbas, which controls the West Bank. Hamas opposes the peace talks with Israel and insists Abbas has no mandate to negotiate on its behalf.

*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources Irish Times & Reuters
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US Senator Kerry Arrives In Pakistan, Meets Zardari, Gilani

US Senator Kerry Arrives In Pakistan, Meets Zardari, Gilani

(NSI News Source Info) ISLAMABAD - April 13, 2009: Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry met with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari, officials said on Monday. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani (R) and Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry meet in Islamabad to resolve recent controversial pending issues. The prime minister told Senator Kerry that Pakistan does not want the US to base its aid on conditions linked to the campaign against militancy, DawnNews reported. Meanwhile, President Zardari urged Senator Kerry to expedite the Kerry-Lugar Bill and the Reconstruction Opportunity Zones’ legislation and work out a joint strategy to counter terrorism. The Democrat introduced a bill in the US House of Representatives that would triple economic assistance for Pakistan to 1.5 billion dollars a year. A senior foreign ministry official told AFP in Islamabad that Pakistan expected the bill would be passed by Congress ‘by June this year.' US President Barack Obama has put Pakistan at the centre of the fight against al Qaeda under a new strategy dispatching thousands more troops and spending billions of dollars to turn around the flagging Afghan war. Obama last Thursday wrote to US lawmakers asking for an extra 83.4 billion dollars to pay for military efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Kerry's visit comes one week after the US military commander, Admiral Mike Mullen, and special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, held talks in Islamabad.

Who Will Rein In The War In Afghanistan?

Who Will Rein In The War In Afghanistan?

By: ZP Heller

(NSI News Source Info) February 24, 2009: "We are asking here in Washington for some action, action from the Congress of the United States of America which has the power to raise and maintain armies, and which by the Constitution also has the power to declare war. We have come here, not to the President, because we believe that this body can be responsive to the will of the people, and we believe that the will of the people says that we should be out of Vietnam now." President Obama plans to send an additional 17,000 American troops to Afghanistan this spring and summer to join the 36,000 currently in the country. The United States Army 1-6 Field Artillery division conducted a joint military exercise with the Afghan National Army in the Shemgal Valley in Nuristan Province, Afghanistan. Those were the emotional words of a 27-year-old John Kerry, dressed in green fatigues, Silver Star, and Purple Heart ribbons as he shocked the country with his antiwar testimony before a crowded Senate Foreign Relations committee in 1971. Kerry's fiery thirty-minute condemnation of the war became instantly legendary for questioning the reasons our military was in Vietnam; revealing the fact that the nation had turned its back on veterans; and slamming President Nixon for refusing to pull out. It was a definitive moment for the antiwar movement made possible because chairman William Fulbright called Kerry to testify. Thirty-eight years later, Senator Kerry now sits in Fulbright's seat. Along with Rep. Howard Berman, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Kerry has the power to focus the national spotlight on a similar quagmire, the war in Afghanistan. And as the Obama administration just committed an additional 17,000 troops to Afghanistan at a cost of $775,000 per soldier every year, oversight hearings can't come soon enough. Congressional oversight has historically been essential to government accountability in wartime. It dates back to 1792, when the House used hearings to investigate the War Department for a military fiasco in Indian territory that left 600 soldiers dead. During the Civil War, a joint congressional committee forced the resignation of President Lincoln's first Secretary of War by exposing corruption and mismanagement. In World War II, Senator Truman's Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program held hundreds of hearings that eventually saved the country $15 billion (roughly $200 billion today). Senator Lyndon Johnson used oversight during the Korean War to question the efficiency and waste of military agencies. And the Fulbright Hearings were followed by decades of vigorous oversight hearings that included the Church committee investigations into CIA covert operations and intelligence gathering, the joint committees that placed the Iran-contra affair under the microscope, and the hearings used to review US military operations in Kosovo. In all of these instances, Congress upheld its responsibility to investigate military spending, expose scandal, hear expert testimony, and challenge policymakers and the implementation of foreign policy. And as The American Prospect's Robert Kuttner noted, "the most effective oversight has been bipartisan, often with the President's own party challenging his policies." Of course, our country's proud history of congressional oversight came crashing down during the majority of President Bush's time in office. From 2000-2006, the administration largely eluded oversight, as Congress failed to confront the executive branch on the invasion of Afghanistan, the erroneous prewar intelligence that led us into Iraq, and the conduct of both wars, not to mention the torture of detainees and the administration's reliance on mercenary contractors who have made hundreds of billions from these wars. But the Bush administration's years of blatant disregard for our legal system have ended. Though Congress remains deeply polarized, we have a Democratic majority in both houses, and an administration that presumably is more amenable to congressional oversight. It now falls to Congress to restore this system of checks and balances, and they can start by examining the policies and proposed military spending for Afghanistan, enlightening the American public about the true costs of a drawn-out war. As Andrew Bacevich, professor of International Relations and History at Boston University, told me, "The purpose of congressional oversight hearings ought to be an educational one. We're not playing a game of 'gotcha' or trying to embarrass anyone. Congress should inform the public about the reality of policy, soliciting a wide variety of views in order to assemble as complete a picture as possible." Bacevich, a vocal critic of the war in Afghanistan, said it appeared President Obama put the cart before the horse, making his decision to send more troops without having completed the policy analysis various institutions have been working on. He remains skeptical that we will see oversight in Afghanistan, considering there has not been any institutionalized or concerted effort to monitor how the global war on terror--what Robert Gates has called the "Long War"--has been conducted and what it aims to achieve. That said, Bacevich agreed that if any one Senator could bring about oversight, it would be John Kerry. Kerry is in the perfect position to call for hearings, not only because he chairs the Senate Foreign Relations committee, but also because he has nothing to lose in terms of political standing. Chances are he will not be President, nor will he serve as Secretary of State in the Obama administration, so if Kerry wants to leave a lasting mark, it could be through hearings and investigations that rein in the Long War. Recently, when Kerry compared Afghanistan to Vietnam during Hillary Clinton's Secretary of State confirmation hearings, we saw a glimpse of that passionate 27 year old who once brought President Nixon and the nation to their knees: "I am deeply concerned that, at least thus far, our policy in Afghanistan has kind of been on automatic....Our original goal was to go in there and take on Al Qaeda. It was to capture or kill Osama bin Laden. It was not to adopt the 51st state of the United States. It was not to try to impose a form of government, no matter how much we believe in it and support it, but that is -- that is the mission, at least, as it is being defined today."Now, if we could only urge Kerry to act boldly on that rhetoric, and, with his counterpart Berman in the House, let the hearings begin.