UAE Gets Aggressive on Terror Organizations

Posted on November 16, 2014November 16, 2014 by Denise Simon

In late August, UAE President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahayan enacted federal law number 7, which mandated the list to be published and circulated by the media to further “transparency” and “increase awareness” of terrorist threats.

The move follows a similar step taken by Saudi Arabia in March.

The groups blacklisted by the UAE were as follows:

1- UAE’s Muslim Brotherhood called Al-Islah
2- UAE terrorist cells
3- Karama organization
4- Uma Parties in the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula
5- Al-Qaeda
6- Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)
7- Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)
8- Yemen’s Ansar al-Sharia
9- Muslim Brotherhood, both the organization and movement
10- Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiyya in Egypt
11- Bait al-Maqdis group in Egypt
12- Ajnad Misr (Soldiers of Egypt group)
13- Majlis Shura Al-Mujahedin Fi Aknaf Bayt Al-Maqdis (Mujahidin Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem, or MSC)
14- Yemen’s Houthi movement
15- Hezbollah party in Saudi Arabia’s Hijaz
16- Hezbollah in the Gulf region
17- Al-Qaeda in Iran
18- Badr organization in Iraq
19- Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, also known as the Khazali Network in Iraq
20- Fath al-Islam in Lebanon
21- Osbat Al-Ansar or Asbat an-Ansar (League of the Partisans) in Lebanon
22- Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)
23- Ansar Al-Sharia in Libya
24- Ansar Al-Sharia in Tunisia
25- Al-Shabab in Somalia
26- Boko Haram in Nigeria
27- Al-Murabitoon brigade in Mali
28- Ansar Al-Din movement in Mali
29- Haqani network in Pakistan
30- Lashkar Taiba in Pakistan
31- Eastern Turkestan Islamic Movement headquartered in Pakistan
32- Mohammed Army in Pakistan
33- Mohammed Army in India
34- Indian mujahideen in India/Kashmir
35- The Caucasus Emirate by Chechen militants
36- Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)
37- Abu Sayyaf Islamist group in the Philippines
38- Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
39- Alleanza Islamic d’Italia or Islamic Alliance in Italy
40- Islamic Association in Finland
41- Islamic Association in Norway
42- Islamic Relief Organization in the UK
43- The Cordoba Foundation in Britain
44- International Islamic Relief Organization belonging to the international Muslim Brotherhood
45- Taliban movement in Pakistan
46- Abu Thur al-Fiqari battalion in Syria
47- Al-Tawheed and Iman battalion in Syria
48- The Green Battalion or Al-Khadraa battalion in Syria
49- Al-Tawhid Brigade in Syria
50- Abu Bakr brigade in Syria
51- Talha bin Ubaidallah in Syria
52- Al-Sarim Al-Batar brigade in Syria
53- Abdullah bin Mubarak brigade in Syria
54- Convoys of Martyrs brigade in Syria
55- Abu Omar brigade in Syria
56- Ahrar Shumar or Free Shumars brigade in Syria
57- Hezbollah brigades in Iraq
58- Brigade of Abu Al-Fadl al-Abbas in Syria
59- Brigades of Al-Yom Al-Mawood (Destined Day in Iraq)
60- Battalion of Omar bin Yasir in Syria
61- Ansar Al-Islam group in Iraq
62- Nusra Front in Syira
63- Harakat Ahrar ash-Sham Al Islami (Islamic Movement of the Free Men of the Levant) in Syria
64- Jaish Al-Islam (Islam Army) in Palestine
65- Abdullah Azzam Brigades
66- Kanvaz in Belgrade, Serbia
67- The Muslim American Society (MAS)
68- Union of Muslim Scholars
69- Union of Islamic Organizations in Europe
70- Union of Islamic Organizations of France
71- Muslim Association of Britain (MAB)
72- Islamic Society of Germany
73- Islamic Society in Denmark
74- Islamic Society in Belgium
75- Sariyat Al-Jabal brigade in Syria
76- Al-Shahbaa brigade in Syria
77- Al-Qa’Qaa’ in Syria
78- Sufian Al-Thawri (Revolutionary Sufian brigade) in Syria
79- Abdulraham brigade in Syria
80- Omar bin Al-Khatab brigade in Syria
81- Al-Shayma brigade in Syria
82- Al-Haq brigade in Syria

There still remains a Gulf Coalition that appears to remain aggressive on fighting terror. This coalition does include Qatar and the al Thani monarchy is pushing back hard on the pressure to be more aggressive on harboring terrorists and funding terror networks. So this weekend, the UAE delegation was led by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, and Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the Minister of Foreign Affairs was assembled to smooth out unique positions.

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar, and Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, the emir of Kuwait, also attended the meeting.

The visitors were greeted by Saudi Arabia’s deputy crown prince, Muqrin bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and the GCC secretary general Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani.

The GCC leaders had been expected to hold a meeting before their annual summit next month in Doha in an effort to overcome internal differences between Qatar and the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, who withdrew their ambassadors from Doha in March.

A GCC foreign ministers’ meeting scheduled on November 10 to prepare for the summit was postponed.

Kuwait’s parliamentary parliament speaker Marzouq Al Ghanem voiced optimism on the efforts by Sheikh Sabah, who has been leading a mediation effort, to end the differences.

“We hope the Riyadh meeting comes to a happy ending that strengthens the GCC,” he said.

It appears some differences were worked out as recalled ambassadors were deployed back to their respective assignments.

DUBAI (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain on Sunday agreed to return their ambassadors to Qatar, the Gulf Cooperation Council said in a joint statement, signalling an end to a rift over Doha’s support for Islamist groups.

The announcement came after an emergency meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh to discuss the dispute, which began in March and was threatening an annual summit scheduled to be held in December in Doha.

The question is now what will be the additional result and objectives with regard to Daesh (Islamic State), funding and providing safe havens to terror organizations? An even bigger question is just what will the U.S. State Department take from this meeting and will they follow suit? The last question is of the list of 82 above, how many have visited the White House and are those visitor logs even available or will they be redacted?

Assad’s Bloody Regime, the World Ignores

Posted on November 15, 2014November 15, 2014 by Denise Simon

Just remember the U.S. and the Barack Obama coalition against Daesh is fighting against al Nusra and Khorason which are all al Qaeda, effectually aiding the Assad regime who has used chemical weapons countless times. It should also be mentioned again that Assad continues to get support from Iran, Kerry’s new Middle East ally and Russia as Putin commits deadly hostilities against Ukraine and is moving into the Baltic States. So in effect, the United States has no more enemies but what is below is being ignored by the world. Shameful. Look carefully and ask yourself where is the ubiquitous United Nations Human Rights Council? Where is anyone on this?

Syria’s ‘hospital’ of horrors

By Abd Doumany

A medic stitches the head of a wounded boy at a makeshift clinic after a mortar fired by Syrian government forces fell in the besieged rebel town of Douma, in the outskirts of Damascus, on November 11, 2014 (AFP Photo Abd Doumany)

DOUMA, Syria, November 12, 2014 – Douma, where I live, is a Syrian rebel bastion. A city of 200,000 just northeast of Damascus, it has been under siege for more than a year by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. We are hit practically every day by artillery fire and air and ground raids. It is also located in the Gouta area, which is held by the Free Syrian Army and which was attacked with chemical weapons by the regime in August 2013.
An injured girl is treated at a makeshift hospital in the besieged rebel bastion of Douma, northeast of the Syrian capital Damascus, on September 24, 2014, following reported airstrikes by government forces (AFP Photo / Abd Doumany)

September 24, 2014 (AFP Photo / Abd Doumany)

The “hospital” where I took these pictures is a makeshift clinic set up in the basement of a building, managed by the Unified Medical Office of Douma, which was created in 2013 to coordinate private medical care in the area. The hospital treats the war wounded from throughout Gouta and serves as something of a triage unit, with mild to serious cases handled on site and the worst injuries, including those requiring surgery, sent elsewhere.
An injured man waits to be treated at a makeshift hospital in the besieged rebel bastion of Douma on September 24, 2014 (AFP Photo / Abd Doumany)

September 24, 2014 (AFP Photo / Abd Doumany)

I head to the hospital each time an intense bombing or air raid hits Douma to document the attacks. At times when I arrive, it is as if I’ve entered a nightmare, with 50 or more injured crammed into the small clinic in an atmosphere of anger and fear. It is very difficult to take pictures at those times. Sometimes I stop. The scene before me is simply too awful.
A wounded Syrian reacts to the pain at a makeshift hospital in the besieged rebel bastion of Douma, northeast of the Syrian capital Damascus, on October 3, 2014 (AFP Photo / Abd Doumany)

October 3, 2014 (AFP Photo / Abd Doumany)

The hospital badly lacks medicine and equipment. Doctors and nurses push on against the odds, struggling to maintain a minimum standard of hygiene. They are constantly exhausted since the wounded never seem to stop arriving. During the bloodiest attacks, they can work 48 hours straight without sleeping.
A wounded Syrian boy sits at a makeshift clinic in the besieged rebel town of Douma on November 11, 2014 (AFP Photo Abd Doumany)

November 11, 2014 (AFP Photo / Abd Doumany)

Among all the victims I’ve photographed in recent months, the one who most stands out to me is Ahmad. He was 17 years old and arrived with a badly wounded hand. Doctors thought there was no option but to amputate his fingers, but he refused. He said he still had hope that his hand would heal and he would be able to use it again — that he would again be able to write. His hand has since been hit by gangrene, and amputation may indeed be inevitable.
A Syrian girl is treated at a make-shift hospital following a reported regime air raid on November 7, 2014, in Eastern al-Ghouta, Syria (AFP Photo / Abd Doumany)

November 7, 2014 (AFP Photo / Abd Doumany)

Each time I return to the hospital, I come away with different feelings. Sometimes fear predominates; sometimes it’s sadness. It is impossible to get used to seeing such scenes. The injured are brought in and they are often similar, but the shock of seeing them is always disturbing. There are times when I spend hours in silence after returning home, unable to speak to anyone. It depresses me, and the horrible images remain stuck in my head for hours.
A young Syrian volunteer treats a wounded man at a makeshift hospital in the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Douma following a reported air strike by government forces on November 11, 2014 (AFP Photo / Abd Doumany)

November 11, 2014 (AFP Photo / Abd Doumany)

What hits me hardest is seeing the pain of those who have lost loved ones. Usually I avoid photographing those scenes out of respect for them. I know exactly how they feel: I’ve lost one of my brothers in this war.

Abd Doumany is a freelance photographer and an occasional AFP contributor based in Douma, Syria.
A Syrian boy cries as he looks at his wounded father at a makeshift hospital in the rebel-held town of Douma near Damascus on September 9, 2014 (AFP Photo / Abd Doumany)

A Syrian boy cries as he looks at his wounded father on September 9, 2014 (AFP Photo / Abd Doumany)

Meanwhile,

The Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra: A Looming Grand Jihadi Alliance?

Posted by Aymenn Al-Tamimi on Friday, November 14th, 2014

By Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi

The international coalition- led by the U.S.- against the Islamic State [IS], with additional American airstrikes targeting the ‘Khorasan’ al-Qa’ida group in Syria (in reality just al-Qa’ida veterans from the Afghanistan-Pakistan embedded with Syria’s al-Qa’ida affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra [JN])- has prompted media speculation of a wider truce, alliance or even merger between IS and JN. For example, on 28 September, Martin Chulov of The Guardian cited a “senior source” claiming “war planning meetings” held between JN and IS leaders.

Refugee Status, Free of Charge

Posted on November 14, 2014November 14, 2014 by Denise Simon

From the White House website:

Creating an Immigration System for the 21st Century

Our nation’s immigration system is broken. Fixing it is an economic and national security imperative. That’s why President Obama is working to pass a common sense, comprehensive set of reforms that ensures everyone plays by the same rules.

Yeah sure thing White House. And then there is an associated video promoted by the White House:

Barack Obama has touted in recent weeks his assertion that he will proceed within all his presidential power executive action in spite of Congress. Sure there is a Senate bill that the House never took up and there were many reasons most of which it did not secure the border in advance to stop the illegal insurgency.

So the Obama 10 point plan that he threatens to sign before the end of the year includes:

The plan reportedly contains 10 initiatives that include everything from boosting border security to improving pay for immigration officers. The most controversial pertain to the millions who could get a deportation reprieve under what is known as “deferred action.”

Deferred action will include illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, as well as parents of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents. The latter could allow upwards of 4.5 million illegal immigrant adults with U.S.-born children to lawfully remain.

Senators who oppose deferred action say those who benefit from it will receive work authorization in the United States, Social Security numbers and government-issued IDs.

Sure to cause consternation among anti-“amnesty” lawmakers is a plan to expand deferred action for young people. Obama created such a program for illegal immigrants in June of 2012. For those who came to the U.S. as children, entered before June 2007 and were under 31 as of June 2012. The change would expand that to cover anyone who entered before they were 16, and change the cut-off from June 2007 to January 1, 2010, making nearly 300,000 illegal immigrants eligible.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers also would see a pay raise in order to “increase morale” within the ICE workforce.

DHS also is planning to “promote” the new naturalization process by giving a 50 percent discount on the first 10,000 applicants who come forward, with the exception of those who have income levels above 200 percent of the poverty level.

Tech jobs though a State Department immigrant visa program would offer another half-million immigrants a path to citizenship, including their spouses as well.

Obama has vowed to act in the absence of congressional action and has claimed that congressional action could still supersede his executive steps.

Just in case you need to understand what is in process already, this is a need to know and it is chilling as it is going on presently in the background.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government will launch a program in December to grant refugee status to some people under the age of 21 who live in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador and whose parents legally reside in the United States.

U.S. officials say parents can ask authorities free of charge for refugee status for their children in the Central American countries, which are plagued by poverty and vicious gang violence. The program does not apply to minors who have arrived in the U.S. illegally.

Vice President Joe Biden announced the program Friday at the Inter-American Development Bank, where the presidents of the three Central American countries will present a plan to stem child migration from their countries.

U.S. officials said that children deemed refugees will be able to work immediately upon arrival in the U.S., opt for permanent residency the following year and for naturalization five years later. They did not say how long the process of receiving refugee status will take.

Central American children who meet the requirements will be part of a quota of 4,000 people from Latin America receiving refugee status each fiscal year, officials said. The U.S. quota of Latin America refugees currently consists of Cubans and Colombians.

Applicants who don’t meet the requirements will be evaluated to see if they can be admitted conditionally under a non-permanent migratory status that allows them to work temporarily in the U.S.

Biden’s announcement comes as President Barack Obama is poised to unveil a series of executive actions on immigration that will shield possibly around 5 million immigrants living in the country illegally from deportation, according to advocates in touch with the White House.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., criticized the plan, which he described as “government-sanctioned border surge” if Obama acts as expected.

“The policy announced today could open Pandora’s box, allowing potentially even more people to come to the United States. This is bad policy and undermines the integrity of our immigration system,” Goodlatte said in a news release.

The program aims to be a legal and safe alternative to the long and dangerous journey some Central American children take north to reach the U.S. and to reunite with their parents in the U.S. Tens of thousands of unaccompanied child and teenage migrants showed up at the U.S. border earlier this year.

On Wednesday, Salvadoran Foreign Minister Hugo Martinez said the plan includes measures to stimulate economic growth, improve public safety, improve government agencies and provide better education and training opportunities.

Heritage Foundation has their own 10 point measure and it does make huge sense.

Consider this, how much money does it really cost taxpayers, the economic landscape, the government, the education system, the healthcare and the culture to accommodate and financially support illegals? No study has been ordered for such a financial review, but whatever it may be, it is far larger than going in fact to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador and building a infrastructure in those countries to keep people there with great success. This is yet another platform where USAID and the State Department foreign affairs has failed.

In closing, President Reagan worked with Congress and Congress authorized amnesty, yet Barack Obama is NOT using Congress.

Tanto Explains 13 Hours of Benghazi

Posted on November 14, 2014November 14, 2014 by Denise Simon

There are quiet heroes all around us, those that run to the sound of the guns. We have read and heard much about Benghazi however, much of what has been telegraphed has been filtered and selected information.

Personally I have been a student of Benghazi since the very second it occurred. Having put my pen to paper, I have researched Benghazi for all the smaller details that could be determined to analyze the ‘why’ of the failures to protect those two compounds from any attack.

There are laws in place as a result of the attack on the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Those laws and procedures are often not followed, they are in fact waived for the sake of obscure diplomatic objectives and such was the case in Benghazi.

So this brings us to the attack on territory that is deemed sovereign even in a foreign country where an Ambassador was murdered. It should be noted here as well, that any Ambassador in country maintains the rank of a 4 star general. Sadly 3 others that terrible night in Benghazi perished as well. Because of waiver to protocol by many powerbrokers in DC that include those at the National Security Council, the White House and the State Department, any response to aid those Americans in Benghazi were left to perish.

Quiet heroes from the CIA annex stepped up against orders to save all they could and did succeed as almost 30 people were evacuated to safety after an intense night of hostilities.

One quiet hero was Kris Paranto. He was joined by several others including Tig and Oz that we have come to know from the Fox’s Bret Baier interview. There were other quiet heroes that night that deserve our praise and honor. Blessings to all of them for doing what they are trained and paid to do, go to the fight and win.

My distinct please was to interview Kris on radio who was generous giving us an hour of his time to offer details and conditions of the 9/11 attack on Benghazi.

Here is the interview with Kris.

The truth has no agenda if those with the truth can tell it.

There is valor in those who have the gravitas and Kris demonstrates those characteristics along with the countless others whose stories we may never know. The other quiet souls are the generous family members who graciously allow sons and daughters to serve across the world in hostile regions. Libya is hostile and has spiraled out of control and many militias there have pledged solidarity is Islamic State (Daesh/ISIS). Libya is a diplomatic failure that began under Hillary Clinton and since has been ignored by John Kerry, the White House and the National Security Council.

The Benghazi boys stood tall to win the fight and save who they could. Well done gentlemen, well done.

Iran’s 9 Points to Destroy Israel

Posted on November 10, 2014November 10, 2014 by Denise Simon

Iran general: ‘Our hands are on the trigger’ to destroy Israel

Revolutionary Guard air force chief quoted as saying his forces are ready to act as soon as they receive the order

The air force commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps was quoted by Iran’s Fars news agency as saying Tuesday that Iran’s military has its finger on the trigger to destroy Israel as soon as it receives the order to do so. Iranian leaders regularly issue threats against Israel and the United States, but the wording ascribed to Salami on Tuesday was particularly aggressive.

—–
But is the White House and SecState listening? Of course they are and they are dismissive. John Kerry should be recalled as SecState and needs to be tried for high crimes and misdemeanors as Israel is the sole democratic ally in the Middle East. Israel and the United States have a historical deep partnered relationship as mentioned hundreds of time even by the Obama administration.

So Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei repeats his threat and then just lays it out specifically. Ayatollah Khamenei says West Bank should be armed like Gaza, and Jewish population should return to countries it came from

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called over the weekend for the destruction of Israel, stating that the “barbaric” Jewish state “has no cure but to be annihilated.”

A plan titled “9 key questions about the elimination of Israel” was posted on his Twitter account Saturday night, using the hashtag #handsoffalaqsa, in reference to the recent tensions on the Temple Mount.

The sometimes grammatically awkward list explained the how and why of Khomeini’s vision for replacing Israel with a Palestinian state.

The first point stated that “the fake Zionist regime has tried to realize its goals by means of infanticide, homicide, violence & iron fist while boasts about it blatantly.”

Due to the above, Khomeini argued, “the only means of bringing Israeli crimes to an end is the elimination of this regime.”

Embedded image permalink

However, he noted that destroying Israel would not mean the “massacre of the Jewish people in this region” but rather “the Islamic Republic has proposed a practical & logical mechanism for this to the international communities.”

The “proper way of eliminating Israel,” he suggested, is through a “public and organized referendum” for all of the “original people of Palestine including Muslims, Christians, and Jews wherever they are…” However, “the Jewish immigrants who have been persuaded into emigration to Palestine do not have the right to take part.”

The resulting government would then decide if the “non-Palestinian emigrants” can remain in the country or should “return to their home countries.”

Khomeini charged the international community with overcoming the “usurper Zionist” objections to his “fair and logical plan.” Until the referendum, Israel should be confronted with “resolute and armed resistance.”

The Iranian leader also called for arming the people of the West Bank and Gaza to fight against Israel, and rejected “arbitration by UN or other international organizations” because “the fact that Yasser Arafat was poisoned and killed by Israel…proves that in the viewpoint of Israel ‘peace’ is simply a trick for more crimes and occupation.”

“This barbaric, wolflike & infanticidal regime of #Israel which spares no crime has no cure but to be annihilated,” Khamenei wrote in an earlier tweet on Friday.

“West Bank should be armed just like #Gaza. Friends of Palestine should do their best to arm People in West Bank,” he declared in another.

The Iranian supreme leader first called for the arming of Palestinians in the West Bank in July, during the summer’s 50-day conflict.

In late August, Iran said it was stepping up efforts to arm West Bank Palestinians for battle against Israel, with Basij militia chief Mohammad Reza Naqdi saying the move would lead to Israel’s annihilation, Iran’s Fars news agency reported.

“Arming the West Bank has started and weapons will be supplied to the people of this region,” Naqdi, who heads the nationwide paramilitary network, said.

“The Zionists should know that the next war won’t be confined to the present borders and the Mujahedeen will push them back,” he added. Naqdi claimed that much of Hamas’s arsenal, training and technical knowhow in the recent conflict with Israel was supplied by Iran.

Stuart Winer

Marissa Newman Marissa Newman is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.

AP, AFP contributed to this report.