As readers no doubt realize, the ISIL terrorist army in Syria and Iraq has burned alive a Jordanian POW pilot, and Jordan has reacted with a swift and firm military retaliation against ISIL. I will not include the ISIL-released video of the Jordanian pilot being burned alive. It is too gruesome, and I believe it should not be shown out of respect for the pilot’s surviving family members. I join the world in offering that family and the nation of Jordan compassionate sympathy for the deceased pilot and complete support for all efforts Jordan takes to eliminate ISIL. If ISIL thought that this grisly execution would intimidate Jordan into a meek response, it backfired on ISIL badly.
The first link reports that Jordan vowed a “harsh war” against ISIL, and it has been sending dozens of air strikes at ISIL targets. The second link continues in the same vein, but adds an important piece of information. Not only has the grisly execution caused a harsh Jordanian response vs. ISIL, it has induced the UAE to re-join the war vs. ISIL. The UAE had withdrawn its fighter jets from the war against ISIL, but has now re-sent a squadron of jets to Jordan, presumably to be active in the war vs. ISIL. One does wonder what it will take to induce Turkey and Saudi Arabia to come out of their torpor and start taking meaningful military action vs. ISIL.
The third link is especially troubling, and includes information that the American media is not likely to allow Americans to see. In an article by Khaled Abu Toameh, it reports that the US State Department actually “hosted a Muslim Brotherhood delegation” even though the Muslim Brotherhood is seen by many moderate Moslems as a terrorist or terrorist-supporting organization. The coziness of the US State Department with the radical Muslim Brotherhood “shocked…many Egyptians and moderate Muslims.” One Middle East expert is cited as stating that the White House is offending some of America’s closest allies, and that the Muslim Brotherhood called for a “war against their fellow Egyptians” just days after this event! It also reports that the Egyptian media is attacking the actions of the Obama administration in acting as an ally of the Muslim Brotherhood. The article concludes with the striking observation that “most moderate Arabs and Muslims no longer see the US as an ally in the war against Islamic terror groups. What is even more disturbing is that they view the US as an ally and friend of the terrorists.”
You may want to read that last quote again to let it really sink in. Egyptians and moderate Muslims are seeing the Obama-led USA as “an ally and friend of the terrorists.” I’ll bet you won’t see this damning foreign judgment about the Obama administration and its policies in your American media. [My thanks to Yair Davidy, whose website, britam.org, brought this link to my attention.]
Have you noticed that the Obama administration has so far shown no serious interest in seriously waging war against ISIL? US efforts have been limited to tactical airstrikes only against ISIL. As far as I know, I’ve neither read nor seen any media reports about any strategic US air attacks vs. ISIL. A strategic air strike would be B-52 and/or B-1 bomber raids against ISIL staging areas, barracks, oil facilities, and armored columns with JDAM munitions that would guarantee anything hit on the ground would no longer be useful as a an ISIL asset. A massed B-52 strike vs. ISIL targets would amount to a “shock and awe” strategic strike vs. ISIL. It also seems evident that without “boots on the ground” from several nations, ISIL will not be rolled back. The only effective “boots on the ground” so far have been the Kurdish Peshmerga. It may also be that if Obama has to commit US ground forces to fight ISIL, this action would be a huge admission on Obama’s part that he made a terrible policy blunder in taking all US troops out of Iraq too soon. If there had been effective US strike force still in Iraq when ISIL was forming and expanding, those US forces would have nipped ISIL “in the bud,” and the Iraqi army would not have lost its nerve against ISIL–abandoning territory and weaponry to ISIL forces.
Also included for your information is the last link which is from a website that cites a debka.com report. It reports that ISIL attacked a Tripoli, Libya hotel and killed an American and a Briton, as well as launched major attacks vs. Egyptian forces in the Sinai Peninsula. It also cites that some of Saddam Hussein’s ex-generals are leading the ISIL military attacks and decisions. ISIL is not a ragtag group of bandits; they are organized and have skilled military leadership. Obama’s “coalition” vs. ISIL barely exists and has been largely losing the war vs. ISIL. Perhaps Jordan’s decision to actively go to war against ISIL will turn the tide and induce other nations to go all-out in attacking ISIL.
Whether this develops into a much larger war or whether it is one of the many “wars and rumors of wars” that Jesus Christ prophesied would occur in the latter days prior to his Second Coming (Matthew 24:6) remains to be seen. Given the exceptionally brutal cruelty of ISIL which they themselves have broadcast to the world, it is surprising the world is so inert against them.
- http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/02/05/jordan-king-harsh-war/22911337/
- http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/02/07/jordan-vows-to-completely-wipe-out-isis/
- http://unitycoalitionforisrael.org/uci_2014/?p=13225
- http://thenewstalkers.com/m/discussion?id=6450411%3ATopic%3A1409699
