Military Dominance Under Obama, Lost

Just about every country across the globe relies on the United States military for defense, support and technology. Yet under the current sequestration which was concocted by the Obama White House, the United States and NATO’s competitive edge is no longer a possibility or probability as compared to Russia and China.

The Air Force’s continued budgetary constraints are limiting its ability to maintain dominance over competitors such as China and Russia, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall said Sept. 17.“Today, the predominance that our military has enjoyed for decades confronts powerful enemies,” Kendall said at the Air Force Association’s annual conference at National Harbor, Maryland. Kendall was pinch-hitting for Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, who could not make it to the keynote address. Rather than deliver his own speech, Kendall read from Hagel’s prepared remarks.

 
The Air Force is tasked with being the greatest air power in the world, he said, but is being asked to maintain its edge with fewer resources. And the reason it has fewer resources is the current budget environment, he said.
The Obama White House predicted that the conflict with Islamic State, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Iraq and Syria will bleed into the next administration, but at what cost and why?
At issue in Washington today is the The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) which has passed the Senate. The dispute is this legislation required security clearance to gain access to the language and most have not read the framework while the entire bill is not fully written much less accessible. Another why? Well maybe it has something to do with China. One must ask could Barack Obama be setting the table for a future conflict with China and or Russia all while sequestration is destroying our military dominance and readiness?
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is now being touted as the answer to U.S. security concerns with the People’s Republic of China. This is just the latest argument from TPP proponents to advance fast track trade negotiating authority in Congress and to ease passage for the TPP under expedited and preferential procedures. Unfortunately, this argument just doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. Over the last several years China has assumed an increasingly aggressive role in Asia. Its posture challenges the interests of many of its neighbors; Japan, for example, has scrambled jets repeatedly as China has tested the perimeters of its defense and confronted fishing and other vessels. China has challenged the maritime interests of other nations in the South and East China Seas. China has laid claim to small land masses as a way of expanding its territorial interests and is shoring up small reefs with airstrips and outposts to counter the interests of others in the region. China has tried to establish offshore oil rigs in waters claimed by Vietnam and is directly countering the interests of other nations in the region.
The following is a May 21, 2015 letter from Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and ranking member Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter asking the Pentagon not to invite the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy to the international Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercises in 2016 due primarily to China’s extensive reclamation efforts in contested areas in the South China Sea. Letter is found here.
There is no doubt that not only is there no defined campaign strategy to deal with ISIS in Syria and Iraq, but looking ahead there is no strategy to deal with China and Russia.

“Obama has not done a damn thing so far to confront ISIS; doesn’t that show that there is no will in America to confront it?”

This is what Qassem Suleimani said about U.S. President Obama, who has become the laughing-stock throughout the Muslim world, even accusing Obama as “being an accomplice in the plot”.

Suleimani is no small fry. He could only advance to his stature as result of Obama’s exit strategy in Iraq to become the head of Iran’s Quds Force as well as Iran’s appointee, to manage Iran’s external affairs (specifically in Iraq), which made him the most powerful operative in the Middle East. The U.S. has no say so in Iraq and Suleimani is flexing his muscle to tell the world that Iran is now roosting in Iraq.

In Iran, the daily newspaper Javan, which is seen as close to the Revolutionary Guard, quoted Soleimani as saying the U.S. didn’t do a “damn thing” to stop the extremists’ advance on Ramadi.

 

Hillary/Bill, Pritzker, Port Canaveral, Pay to Play

Hillary Endorsed Communist Control of U.S. Ports

During a cross country tour to blast the controversial port management deal with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and announce her plan to introduce legislation to block it, Hillary Clinton has failed to mention a few important details.

First, is that her fear of port security in the hands of a foreign government–in this case the Arabs – should not stop the flow of money to her husband, who happens to be in the UAE creating a scholarship program for the Bill Clinton Foundation. The Dubai government is said to be donating big bucks.

The New York Democrat says she’s still opposed to the deal and plans to introduce legislation that would block Dubai Ports World or any other company owned by a foreign government from operating US ports. As of today, we have almost 50 members of congress introducing bills to stop the UAE port deal. If only they would propose as much legislation to protect US borders.

Clinton said critical infrastructures like seaports must be operated by the United States, not foreign-owned companies. However, Hillary Clinton critics have pointed out that during her husband Bill Clinton’s administration, several ports — including a US naval base — were turned over to companies based in communist China, as well as other nations.

Enter the corrupt Export Import Bank, and Barack Obama’s dear Chicago friend Penny Pritzker, the U.S. Commerce Secretary. The Ex-Im Bank even has a written policy where rules and requirements are flexible and relaxed. This is where the fraud and collusion becomes a common daily occurrence especially within the Obama administration.

BREVARD COUNTY • PORT CANAVERAL, FLORIDA — As Congress is threatening to cut funding for the Export-Import Bank and negotiations for two significant international trade agreements are in progress, business leaders and port officials met with Obama Administration officials.

Those meeting with federal officials included Florida Ports Council representatives Port Canaveral CEO John E. Walsh, Steve Cernak with Port Everglades and Paul Anderson with Port Tampa Bay.

Obama administration officials included U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and other senior Administration officials to brief them on how international trade policy affects their businesses and communities.

America’s strategic infrastructure compromised: Did Clinton pay-to-play arrangement hand over port container operations inside national security nexus to wealthy foreign associates?

Shipping_containers_at_Clyde

(1776 Channel) Beginning next month, ocean shipping container operations at Florida’s deep-water Port Canaveral, teeming with U.S. Navy nuclear submarines, NATO-ally nuclear submarines, and record numbers of cruise ships, and situated close to Kennedy Space Center, will be controlled by Gulftainer, a foreign company from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with close ties to former President Bill Clinton.

(L to R) Former Special Assistant to President Clinton, former White House Chief of Staff under President Obama and current U.S. Secretary of Treasury Jack Lew, chairman of Gulftainer's executive board Badr Jafar, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton (Image credits: Wikimedia Commons)
(L to R) Former Special Assistant to President Clinton, former White House Chief of Staff under President Obama and current U.S. Secretary of Treasury Jack Lew, chairman of Gulftainer’s executive board Badr Jafar, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton (Image credits: Wikimedia Commons)

 

 

Port Canaveral is home to critical national security operations and infrastructure. A plethora of space and defense installations and programs, many of them highly classified, are situated either inside the port or within the immediate vicinity:

• NASA Kennedy Space Center and Visitor Complex
• Patrick Air Force Base
• Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
• U.S. Navy Trident submarine base (Trident Turning Basin)
• Top secret Air Force space plane
• National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) spy satellites
• Department of Defense/Boeing GPS satellites
• SpaceX resupply missions to the International Space Station
• SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket
• NASA Orion deep space capsule project and test launches
• United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy Rocket
• United Launch Alliance Atlas V Rocket
• Nuclear submarines resupply operations
• Lockheed Martin Fleet Ballistic Missile Eastern Ranger Operations
• Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC) – Seismic, hydroacoustic and satellite monitoring of nuclear treaty signatory nations
• Air Force Space Command/45th Space Wing
• Air Force 920th Rescue Wing (Combat Search and Rescue)
• Craig Technologies Aerospace and Defense Manufacturing Center
• Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS)
• U.S. Coast Guard Station Port Canaveral
• Department of Homeland Security – Customs and Border Protection
• Numerous defense contractors (too many too list)
The Gultainer deal, which has alarmed the military, was approved by Treasury Secretary Jacob ‘Jack’ Lew, a former senior adviser to President Clinton.

An unnamed source tells 1776 Channel that “the defense establishment is unhappy” about the deal between Gulftainer and Port Canaveral.

Gulftainer’s exclusive arrangement with Port Canaveral was negotiated in secret under the code name ‘Project Pelican.’

The 35-year lease grants Gulftainer exclusive rights to operate an intermodal container terminal inside Port Canaveral, near sensitive Department of Defense and NASA installations.

Recently-installed Port Canaveral CEO John Walsh concealed the Pelican Project and the identity of Gulftainer from the public until June 24, 2014, by which time Gulftainer officials from the UAE had already arrived in Florida for a signing ceremony.

The abruptly-announced deal between Gulftainer and the port immediately became a lightning rod for criticism due to multiple security concerns.

To deflect those objections, Port Canaveral CEO Walsh employed the Obama administration’s standard talking point: “We can’t be racist.”

Joe Kasper, Chief of Staff to Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), when asked today by 1776 Channel to comment on the “We can’t be racist” argument made by CEO Wash last summer, objected strongly:

“That claim is b***s**t — only an irrelevant and ignorant person would say that.” – Joe Kasper – Chief of Staff to Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA)

Rep. Hunter sits on the House Armed Services Committee and is also chairman of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee.

Last summer Port Canaveral CEO John Walsh and other port authority officials appeared to dodge questions about the deal from the conservative Washington Times.

The connections between the wealthy UAE family that owns Gulftainer and former President Bill Clinton and his associate Jack Lew appear to have remained undetected last summer, despite the availability of information from open-source documents and websites.

 

Treasury Secretary Lew eventually rubber-stamped the controversial Gulftainer deal with no national security oversight or review.

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) of the House Armed Services Committee opposed the Gulftainer lease on national security grounds. Rep. Hunter expressed his concerns about Gulftainer in a letter to Secretary Lew, to no avail.

Hunter’s Chief of Staff Joe Kasper also commented today to 1776 Channel about the absence of a Gulftainer – Port Canaveral deal national security review:

“There were no assurances whatsoever that this … arrangement was thoroughly reviewed and considered for national security risks. The request was made but I don’t think the administration gave it any real attention” – Joe Kasper, Chief of Staff to Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA)

PORT CANAVERAL, FL April 22, 1994  A port quarter view of the British nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine HMS Vanguard (SSBN-50) arriving in port. NASA's giant Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the Kennedy Space Center and various space launch pads can be seen in the distance. UAE's Gulftainer is building an intermodal container terminal on the same side of the port as the U.S. Navy submarine base. (Image credit: US Navy/OS2 John Bourvia/Wikimedia Commons)
PORT CANAVERAL, FL April 22, 1994 A port quarter view of the British nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine HMS Vanguard (SSBN-50) arriving in port. NASA’s giant Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the Kennedy Space Center and various space launch pads can be seen in the distance. UAE’s Gulftainer is building an intermodal container terminal on the same side of the port as the U.S. Navy submarine base. (Image credit: U.S. Navy/OS2 John Bourvia/Wikimedia Commons)
Map of Port Canaveral, Florida showing  Gulftainer's area of operations, US Navy Trident submarine base and Canaveral Air Force Station.
Map of Port Canaveral, Florida showing Gulftainer’s area of operations, US Navy Trident submarine base and Canaveral Air Force Station.

Port Canaveral is home to critical national security operations and infrastructure. A plethora of space and defense installations and programs, many of them highly classified, are situated either inside the port or within the immediate vicinity:

  • NASA Kennedy Space Center and Visitor Complex
    • Patrick Air Force Base
    • Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
    • U.S. Navy Trident submarine base (Trident Turning Basin)
    • Top secret Air Force space plane
    • National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) spy satellites
    • Department of Defense/Boeing GPS satellites
    • SpaceX resupply missions to the International Space Station
    • SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket
    • NASA Orion deep space capsule project and test launches
    • United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy Rocket
    • United Launch Alliance Atlas V Rocket
    • Nuclear submarines resupply operations
    • Lockheed Martin Fleet Ballistic Missile Eastern Ranger Operations
    • Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC) – Seismic, hydroacoustic and satellite monitoring of nuclear treaty signatory nations
    • Air Force Space Command/45th Space Wing
    • Air Force 920th Rescue Wing (Combat Search and Rescue)
    • Craig Technologies Aerospace and Defense Manufacturing Center
    • Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS)
    • U.S. Coast Guard Station Port Canaveral
    • Department of Homeland Security – Customs and Border Protection
    • Numerous defense contractors (too many too list)

The Gultainer deal, which has alarmed the military, was approved by Treasury Secretary Jacob ‘Jack’ Lew, a former senior adviser to President Clinton.

An unnamed source tells 1776 Channel that “the defense establishment is unhappy” about the deal between Gulftainer and Port Canaveral.

Gulftainer’s exclusive arrangement with Port Canaveral was negotiated in secret under the code name ‘Project Pelican.’

The 35-year lease grants Gulftainer exclusive rights to operate an intermodal container terminal inside Port Canaveral, near sensitive Department of Defense and NASA installations.

Recently-installed Port Canaveral CEO John Walsh concealed the Pelican Project and the identity of Gulftainer from the public until June 24, 2014, by which time Gulftainer officials from the UAE had already arrived in Florida for a signing ceremony.

The abruptly-announced deal between Gulftainer and the port immediately became a lightning rod for criticism due to multiple security concerns.

To deflect those objections, Port Canaveral CEO Walsh employed the Obama administration’s standard talking point: “We can’t be racist.”

Joe Kasper, Chief of Staff to Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA), when asked today by 1776 Channel to comment on the “We can’t be racist” argument made by CEO Wash last summer, objected strongly:

“That claim is b***s**t — only an irrelevant and ignorant person would say that.” – Joe Kasper – Chief of Staff to Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA)

Rep. Hunter sits on the House Armed Services Committee and is also chairman of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee.

Last summer Port Canaveral CEO John Walsh and other port authority officials appeared to dodge questions about the deal from the conservative Washington Times.

The connections between the wealthy UAE family that owns Gulftainer and former President Bill Clinton and his associate Jack Lew appear to have remained undetected last summer, despite the availability of information from open-source documents and websites.

Treasury Secretary Lew eventually rubber-stamped the controversial Gulftainer deal with no national security oversight or review.

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) of the House Armed Services Committee opposed the Gulftainer lease on national security grounds. Rep. Hunter expressed his concerns about Gulftainer in a letter to Secretary Lew, to no avail.

Hunter’s Chief of Staff Joe Kasper also commented today to 1776 Channel about the absence of a Gulftainer – Port Canaveral deal national security review:

“There were no assurances whatsoever that this … arrangement was thoroughly reviewed and considered for national security risks. The request was made but I don’t think the administration gave it any real attention” – Joe Kasper, Chief of Staff to Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA)

Gulfainer USA (GT USA) is a unit of UAE’s privately-held intermodal container terminal operator Gulftainer, which in turn is a unit of Crescent Enterprises, part of the Crescent Group conglomerate.

The UAE’s Jafar family, which owns and controls both the Crescent Group and Gulftainer, has both direct and indirect connections to former President Clinton, a 1776 Channel investigation has discovered.

Two brothers, Majid Jafar and Badr Jafar, stand at the helm of the Jafar family business empire.

Majid Jafar, 38, is CEO of UAE-based Crescent Petroleum, the petroleum unit of the Crescent Group.

Badr Jafar, 35, is Managing Director of the Crescent Group, President of Crescent Petroleum and CEO of Crescent Enterprises, the parent of Gulftainer.

campaign is funded by the Varkey GEMS foundation, a contributor to the Clinton Global Initiative.

“The Varkey GEMS Foundation has helped to facilitate more than 2,300 commitments through the Clinton Global Initiative to date. Upon funding and implementation, these commitments will have a total value of over $70 billion.” – Varkey Foundation Website

Majid Jafar met with former President Bill Clinton and other global leaders, including the Director-General of UNESCO , at the Global Education and Skills Forum, held in Dubai from March 15-17, 2014.

A group photograph taken during the forum provides key evidence that Crescent executive Majid Jafar not only served as co-Chair of the Business Backs Education campaign alongside former President Bill Clinton, but also physically stood next to former President Clinton at a time when Gulftainer was secretly seeking to establish operations at Port Canaveral. That deal would soon require approval from Clinton’s long-time friend, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.

“It has been my honor to know Jack, his wife and his family for a long time now” Bill Clinton told an audience at the Clinton Global Initiative’s CGI America 2013 conference in Chicago. Clinton interviewed Secretary Lew on stage during that event.

Treasury Secretary Lew granted approval to the Port Canaveral Gulftainer deal, without a national security review, on September 26, 2014, almost exactly six months after Bill Clinton and Crescent Petroleum CEO Majid Jafar stood on stage together at the Global Education & Skills Forum 2014 in Dubai.

American Shipper announced that “in an e-mail to American Shipper, Canaveral Port Director John Walsh said he has been notified by the Treasury Department that the concession agreement with Gulftainer is considered a simple lease, not an asset sale, and does not warrant further review on national security grounds.”

The question is, did Bill Clinton engage the Jafars/Crescent in quid pro quo skid-greasing to ram the Gulftainer deal through the U.S. Treasury Department in exchange for the Clinton’s favorite commodity: cash?

The Clintons have a history of accepting money in the UAE.

“Bill and Hillary Clinton have carefully cloaked the foreign money they’ve accepted in the garb of charitable fundraising. But alongside the hundreds of millions donated to the Clinton Foundation were tens of millions in personal income from foreign sources, devoid of disguise, a naked example of using political power for personal enrichment. Nowhere has this transaction been as apparent as in the Clintons’ relationship with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In return for millions in speaking and consulting fees, which went right into their personal bank accounts, the former president and former secretary of State — and possible future president — showered favors on the rulers that run this repressive and anti-Semitic government.” – Quote from opinion piece by Dick Morris, former adviser to President Bill Clinton, published on March 17, 2015 at TheHill.com

It is an established fact that Bill and Hillary Clinton have demonstrated little to no interest in protecting U.S. national security. The reality is quite the opposite, in fact.

Case in point: Bill Clinton’s “transfer of sensitive missile technology to China.”

Helping Arab companies trying to get an initial toehold on a U.S. port is not a new phenomenon for Bill Clinton either. “Bill Clinton helped Dubai on ports deal” headlined the Financial Times in 2006.

Badr Jafar reportedly dated supermodel Naomi Campbell from 2005 until 2006 according to the New York Daily News.

Campbell was romantically linked to Bill Clinton in 2002 by the London Evening Standard, citing a report from the New York Post, although Campbell’s representatives denied the allegations.

Campbell reportedly flew aboard now-convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s aircraft with President Clinton in 2002, according to flight logs.

Supermodel Naomi Campbell flew aboard  now-convicted billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein's jet with former President Bill Clinton in 2002, according to flight logs.  Campbell would go on to become the girlfriend of  Crescent Enterprises CEO Badr Jafar from 2005 until 2006, according to the NY Daily News
Supermodel Naomi Campbell flew aboard now-convicted billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s jet with former President Bill Clinton in 2002, according to flight logs. Campbell would go on to become the girlfriend of Crescent Enterprises CEO Badr Jafar from 2005 until 2006, according to the NY Daily News

Handing over a critically sensitive, strategically important port that plays an integral role in America’s national security infrastructure, that is laden with military and government installations, to a foreign entity, is an invitation to terrorism.

ISIS Adheres to Sun Tzu

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

This week, very few documents taken from Abbottabad, Pakistan during the bin Ladin raid have been released. Yet of those published, it was clear that Usama bin Ladin studied his enemy and carefully planned all terror operations.

Islamic State, ISIS is doing the very same thing and what is more they published what they know, telling the enemy in advance of their knowledge and predicted targets.

In both cases, these terror groups know their enemy after careful and continued study. The United States under Barack Obama continues to fall short of being a student in the Art of War and refuses to both offer a strategy or refine it in cases of al Qaeda and Islamic State.

 

SPECIAL – ISIS Praises Texas Jihadists in New Issue of Dabiq, the Jihadi Group’s Official Magazine

Not surprisingly, the ninth issue of the Islamic State’s (ISIS) digital English-language magazine, Dabiq, heaped praise on Nadir Soofi and Elton Simpson – the two radicalized Muslims and Phoenix, Arizona roommates killed in a May 3 firefight in Garland, Texas for their attempt to storm into the Curtis Culwell Civic Center in Garland, Texas with long guns to kill as many attendees of the Stop Islamization of America and the American Freedom Defense Initiative  where a contest for the best cartoon of Prophet Muhammad was being held.

 

Homeland Security Today reported early on that evidence quickly was unearthed tying the two shooters – especially Simpson — to radical Islamist social media – including a suspected ISIS member in Syria.

On March 29, American ISIS operative with the alias Abu Khalid Al Amriki claimed on Twitter he was in contact with ISIS supporters in the US and that one of them was prepared to carry out an operation.

Only minutes before and after their attempted attack was thwarted — when law enforcement shot both men dead — Abu Hussain Al Britani appears to have had foreknowledge of the attack. He tweeted from his “AbuHussainAlBritani” Twitter account just before the attack that, “The knives have been sharpened; soon we will come to your streets with death and slaughter! #QaribanQariba [soon, soon].”

Almost immediately after the shooting, the two were praised by ISIS and other jihadists via social media for their martyrdom in defending the sanctity of Prophet Muhammad.

In a news bulletin by the Islamic State’s official radio station, Al Byyan, which broadcasts out of Mosul, the Islamist jihad organization claimed responsibility or the attack by Simpson and Soofi.

Since the attack in which both men were killed, federal investigators have found there was substantive advance notice of what the two avowed jihadists intended to do on various social media postings.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which monitors jihadi social media sites, pointed out that, “Abu Khalid Al Amriki, upon learning of the attack on Twitter, praised the attempt and threatened more to come. He tweeted, ‘This one should hit the front page! Dawlah [ISIS] is in America! Allahu Akbar … How much do you love the Prophet? I’m sure the brothers earned their spot next to the messenger of Allah … The drawn Sword on the one that Insults the messenger of Allah. Let this be a wakeup call for all cartoonists. We are coming for you.’”

MEMRI said, “Online ISIS supporters immediately reacted to the Texas attack by praising the perpetrators and elevating them to the rank of martyrs in the cause of jihad. For example, ISIS supporter ‘Australi Witness,’ who recently called for targeting Australian cartoonists, tweeted: ‘May Allah reward the Garland Mujahedeen with a seat right next to the Prophet in Jannah [heaven].’”

“Two of the Caliphate’s soldiers attacked an exhibition in the American [town of] Garland, Texas” which “staged a competition of cartoons that were insulting to the Prophet Muhammad,” the broadcast stated. “The brothers opened fire on the exhibition, and as a result one of the police officers in charge of protecting the exhibition was injured. The brothers were killed in the exchange of fire. We pray Allah to accept them in the highest paradise.”

In concluding, the ISIS broadcast said, “We say to the protector of the Cross, America, that what is coming will be more bitter and calamitous. The soldiers of the Islamic State will show you what will harm you, Allah willing. Tomorrow draws near.”

Meanwhile, Homeland Security Today reported, ISIS, jihadist groups may have inspired “hundreds, maybe thousands” in the US, and that directed attacks in the US are believed planned by ISIS followers.

According to MEMRI’s Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM), the foreword of the current issue of Dabiq “glorifies the attack by Soofi and Simpson, noting, ‘Their determination to support the cause of Allah and punish those who insult the Prophet (sallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) should serve as inspiration to those residing in the lands of the crusaders who are still hesitant to perform their duty.’”

The writer of the foreward goes on to state that, “Those men who have read the countless ayat and ahadith on the virtues of jihad and have made sincere dua [prayer] to Allah asking Him for shahadah [martyrdom] but have yet to act, should consider that Allah will not grant them their dua until they take a step towards this noble duty.”

The foreward further noted that it is also possible to achieve martyrdom even without emigrating to Islamic lands. It said, “Many of those who attained shahādah fighting the crusaders in their own lands had first taken steps to make hijrah to the lands of jihād. These preparatory steps were enough to demonstrate their sincerity, so they were granted shahādah without facing the difficulties of hijrah” [emigrating to Islamic lands].”

Continuing, the article stated that, “As the crusaders continue to reveal their intense hatred and animosity towards Islam through their relentless bombing and drone campaigns on the Islamic State, a new breed of crusader continues shedding light on the extent of their hatred towards the religion of truth. This breed of crusader aims to do nothing more than to anger the Muslims by mocking and ridiculing the best of creation, the Prophet Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdillāh (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam), under the pretext of defending the idol of ‘freedom of speech.’”

“Yet, such brazen attacks on the honor of the Prophet (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam), rather than deterring or disheartening the Muslims, serve as further incitement, spurring them into confronting the forces of kufr with whatever means they have available. Such was the case with Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, two brave men who took it upon themselves to remind the enemies of Allah and His Messenger (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam)

   that as long as they choose to wage war on Islam, they would have no peace and security, would not be able to walk their own streets without looking over their shoulders, and would not be able to make public appearances without being surrounding by a legion of bodyguards and security personnel,” stated the forward to the latest issue of ISIS’s magazine.

“The two lions of the Khilāfah arrived at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas three weeks ago during a convention that featured a competition to draw the Prophet (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) in an attempt to mock and ridicule him,” the article stated, noting that, “The two mujāhidīn came armed and ready to wage war, ignited a gun battle with the policemen guarding the center, and attained a noble shahādah in pursuit of vengeance for the honor of our beloved Prophet (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam).”

“Their determination to support the cause of Allah and punish those who insult the Prophet (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) should serve as inspiration to those residing in the lands of the crusaders who are still hesitant to perform their duty,” the article. Those men who have read the countless āyāt and ahādīth on the virtues of jihād and have made sincere du’ā’ to Allah asking Him for shahādah but have yet to act, should consider that Allah will not grant them their du’ā’ until they take a step towards this noble duty,” the article continued, adding, “{And if they had intended to go forth, they would have prepared for it [some] preparation. But Allah disliked their being sent, so He kept them back, and they were told, ‘Remain [behind] with those who remain’} [At-Tawbah: 46].”

Dabiq’s glorification of the Texas attack further stated that, “Many of those who attained shahādah fighting the crusaders in their own lands had first taken steps to make hijrah to the lands of jihād. These preparatory steps were enough to demonstrate their sincerity, so they were granted shahādah without facing the difficulties of hijrah.”

“As for those who continue to suffer from the disease of being indifferent towards the obligations of hijrah, jihād and bay’ah,” the article continued, “so much so that they see nothing wrong with residing amongst, and paying taxes to, the very crusaders who belittle the Sharī’ah on their news and entertainment programs, who arm the secularists and Rawāfid in Muslim lands, who imprison and torture Muslim men and women, and on top of all who burn the Qur’an and mock the Prophet (sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam), then let them prepare their flimsy excuses for the angels of death {Indeed, those whom the angels take [in death] while wronging themselves – [the angels] will say, ‘In what [condition] were you?’ They will say, ‘We were oppressed in the land.’ The angels will say, ‘Was not the earth of Allah spacious [enough] for you to emigrate therein?’ For those, their refuge is Hell – and evil it is as a destination} [AnNisā’: 97].”

“The hypocrites will sit back, the true men will step forward, and the kuffār will have no peace and no security … May Allah accept our two brothers amongst the leaders of the shuhadā’ in Jannah.”

ISIS Bombs Mosque in Saudi, 20 Killed

20 people killed after suicide bomber strikes Shia mosque

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, US-based monitoring group SITE tweeted. The militant group identified the suicide bomber as Abu ’Ammar al-Najdi, SITE said. The claim could not be independently verified. The bombing in al-Qadeeh in Qatif province was the first to target Shia Muslims in Saudi Arabia since November, when gunmen killed at least eight people in an attack during a Shia religious anniversary celebration, also in the east. Activist Naseema al-Sada told the Associated Press the suicide bomber attacked worshippers as they were commemorating the birth of Imam Husayn ibn Ali, a revered figure among Shias. Lebanon’s Al-Manar television channel, run by the Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah, carried still, blurry pictures of pools of blood inside what appeared to be the mosque where the attack took place. It also showed still images of bodies stretched out on red carpets, covered with sheets.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The Islamic State extremist group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia on Friday. Local media reports said the bombing had killed at least 21 people during midday prayers.

It appeared to be the first official claim of an attack inside the kingdom by the Islamic State, which has seized control of much of Syria and Iraq.

The group attributed the attack to a new unit, the Najd Province, named for the central region of Saudi Arabia around Riyadh. But it was unclear whether the attack was planned by Islamic State leaders, initiated independently by a Saudi sympathizer, or merely claimed opportunistically after the fact.

The attack was a sign that Saudi Arabia’s intervention in the sectarian conflict in Yemen may be escalating tensions at home.

Members of the Shiite minority in Saudi Arabia, who make up about 15 percent of the population and live mainly in the Eastern Province, have long complained of insults and discrimination by Saudi Arabia’s Sunni majority and its clerical establishment.

Annotated maps showing the Houthi rebels’ drive south, U.S. airstrikes and historical divisions.

  

During Saudi Arabia’s two-month air campaign against the Houthi movement in Yemen, which practices a form of Shiite Islam and receives backing from Saudi Arabia’s regional rival, Iran, imams at Sunni mosques and commentators in Saudi news media have frequently rallied the public around the war, in part by repeatedly denouncing Shiites as dangerous infidels.

The Saudi Arabian news media has portrayed the Houthis as proxies of Shiite-led Iran and characterized the Yemen campaign as a vital defense against an Iranian incursion.

At the same time, Saudi Arabia’s participation in the American-led military campaign in Iraq and Syria against the Sunni extremists of the Islamic State has raised fears of a backlash from its sympathizers at home. Thousands of Saudis have traveled to join the Islamic State, which follows a puritanical school of Islam that scholars say is similar to that of Saudi Arabia.

Leaders of the Islamic State have called with increasing vehemence for their supporters to carry out attacks in the kingdom, accusing its rulers of hypocrisy. Saudi Arabia’s rulers and clerics deny any similarity between their understanding of Islam and that of the Islamic State.

Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, a spokesman for the Saudi Interior Ministry, said in an interview Friday night that investigators were examining DNA samples and other evidence to establish the identity of the bomber.

General Turki said the kingdom was already on guard for attempts by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, to establish itself in Saudi Arabia. He noted that Saudi officials had blamed the Islamic State for an attack on Shiites in the same area last fall, although the group did not claim responsibility.

Saudi Arabia also announced last month that it had arrested 65 people accused of “forming a terrorist organization related to ISIS, and their goal was to carry out terrorist attacks and enflame sectarian conflict,” the general said. He insisted that such attempts would fail “because Saudi citizens are unified.”

A group of Islamic State supporters released a video late last year that they said showed the group’s fighters killing a Danish man, Thomas Hoepner, who was shot while driving in Riyadh. The claim did not appear to come from the Islamic State’s leaders, and could not be confirmed.

Saudi Interior Ministry officials said in interviews this week that they had seen an increase in violence by Sunni extremists, including three separate attacks near the capital, Riyadh, that killed a total of three police officers and injured two others.

But sectarian conflict and violence have been a longstanding issue in the Eastern Province, which contains much of the country’s oil but lags far behind other regions in economic development. The last major outburst came six months ago, when gunmen killed eight people in the Shiite village of Dalwa, in the Al Ahsa region of the Eastern Province, at the end of the Shiite holiday of Ashura. That was the sectarian attack that Saudi officials attributed to the Islamic State.

The bombing on Friday took place in the town of Al Qudaih, near Qatif, the regional center. The area has been the site of sectarian tensions and of calls for democratic reform in the aftermath of the Arab Spring revolts four years ago, including sporadic, Shiite-dominated street protests.

Saudi Arabia, in response, has jailed at least two prominent Shiite clerics who have called for political overhauls such as adopting a constitutional monarchy. Last year, one firebrand cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, was sentenced to death for his role in leading street protests in Qatif, and his sentence set off new protests around the region.

In what appeared to be an attempt to tamp down tensions after the attack on Friday, state television broadcast a telephone call from Saudi Arabia’s senior religious authority, the grand mufti, Abdulaziz al-Asheikh, who called the attack a “painful” and “criminal” act against the “sons of the homeland.”

But on social media, some Saudis rushed to blame Iran for the bombing, asserting that it might have been carried out to provoke Shiites in Saudi Arabia to turn against the kingdom.

“Iran won’t hesitate in scarifying Shia, to create a war between Sunni and Shia,” Luftallah Khoja, a prominent Saudi religious scholar, said in a Twitter message. He blamed Iran for creating the Islamic State, as well.

A number of Saudis said they were refusing to donate blood for Shiites who were injured in the bombing. “I wish to donate, but I am afraid I would donate and a Shia would take it, and he does not deserve even my spit,” one Saudi posted online. “You donate to infidels?” another wrote.

Jafar al-Shayeb, head of the Qatif Municipal Council and a Shiite community leader, blamed the “sectarian discourse” that has spread through Saudi Arabia since the start of the air campaign in Yemen. “People feel like this is a direct result of the atmosphere that is turning everybody against each other through speeches and media and social media,” he said. “It will lead young people to sacrifice themselves and kill others in this region, and people are very angry about it.”

Frederic Wehrey, an analyst who follows Saudi Arabia at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, argued that the tension might persist even after the Yemen campaign. “Sectarianism, once you have unleashed it, you can’t bottle back it up,” he said. “It afflicts people every day.”