Israel was Thrown into the Bramble Bushes

 

We could go deeper into the rabbit hole and profile the first Bush, Prescott Bush, that worked against the Jews and made the family fortune financing and profiteering through providing the raw materials and aiding the production for the Nazi war machine which built their weapons, ships, trucks and Concentration Camps provided labor to Consolidated Silesian Steel Company in which Prescott Bush was one of the owners. Much of the family fortune was made on the backs of Jewish slave laborers making the tools leading to the murder of millions of Jews by Nazi occupied Europe. But, as we will see, the apple of the next two generations did not fall far from the tree.

 

Why not start with the easiest quote and the one so many of us know which came from the mouth of President George H W Bush’s closest friend, advisor with inestimable influence made during his time as Secretary of State. Of course, we refer to James Baker who stated, “F*** the Jews, they didn’t vote for us anyways.” Where this was the most outright condemnation of the Jews, it was not the worst thing which would emerge from efforts in the White House during the time it was occupied by George H W Bush. George H W Bush concealed his activities working mostly as the grand manipulator providing that which was required from a distance. He would also occasionally use more direct routes but often only when pressure to force Israeli cooperation was required or to directly thwart Israeli actions. When President George H W Bush entered into Iraq War I, Saddam Hussein made good on his threat that since he could not strike the United States with his ballistic missiles, he would strike Israel with his Scud missiles. Israel asked forcefully for the codes they would need to enter into their FF detectors (Friend or Foe which identify you as friendly aircraft preventing their being shot down by friendly fire) which President George H W Bush refused to allow the military to provide which prevented the Israelis from bombing the Scud launchers. He insisted that the United States was aware of the problem and it would be attended to in its order of importance. That is similar to the bombing of the train tracks and bridges leading to Auschwitz which never made it into even a single bombing raid even when all that was required was to bomb the tracks five miles from where they were bombed which would have closed the tracks to the targeted city and Auschwitz as well. During Iraq War I, the military never targeted the Scud launchers which were firing at Israel while destroying every launcher aimed at Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. That was a perfect example of selected targeting coordinating with not providing codes required by Israel to safely enter the airspace and do the job themselves. Apparently, President George H W Bush thought that the Jewish lives put at risk were required to provide live fire missile tests of the Patriot Systems provided Israel while giving assurances that the Scud launchers were a high concern for the United States. That was true of Scud launchers aimed southward but not of those targeting Tel Aviv to the west.

 

Prescott Bush, George H W Bush, George W Bush

 

Then there was the ultimate tragedy which was a result of the efforts of George H W Bush, the Oslo Accords. When Israel was inundated with hundreds of thousands of Jews from Russia and other communist nations with the fall of the Iron Curtain, the Israelis requested the United States provide loan guarantees so as to procure a lower interest rate. This is a routine act performed numerous times with little if any mention, it is that routine. President George H W Bush demanded that the Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir initiate a building freeze beyond the Green Line and in eastern Jerusalem as well as promise that Israel would participate in the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference. This was step one on the way to the Oslo Accords. George H W Bush worked to set up the entire Oslo through back channels to whom he provided precious information from the personal dossiers on several Israeli political figures and select individuals of influence that the Norwegians could contact and use to create the Oslo Accords. Bush was able to peruse these dossiers through friends he had within the CIA from his days as the director of that agency. Between providing the necessary information for forcing through the flawed Oslo Accords and pressuring by the United States through his office, George H W Bush could be claimed to have been the father of the Oslo Accords. Shamir balked at these demands refusing to attend the Madrid Conference, the precursor to the Oslo Accords. Until a new Prime Minister was elected, Bush held up the loan guarantees refusing to budge from the demands made. That Prime Minister was Yitzhak Rabin elected in 1992, who entered office and was immediately hit with the same demands for the loan guarantees to be provided, which happened almost automatically.

 

That should be sufficient on the elder Bushes, so now to George W Bush and the damages to come on his watch. There were the perfunctory demands for building freezes and for Israel to take the necessary steps for the peace efforts. Seeing that his father designed Oslo Accords had failed to provide the additional Arab State, a terror state, in the heart of Israel, George W Bush pressed his Roadmap to Peace plans on Israel which included a prolonged time of building freeze upon areas beyond the Green Line and East Jerusalem. As time passed and the Roadmap was leading to simply nowhere, with the advice of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the new and greater plan was devised. This was the idea that should Israel provide the Palestinian Authority an opportunity to display that they could govern an area and make it productive, that such could be the beginning of a real peace. In order to accomplish this, it was required that Israel makes a huge concession which came with promises by the United States. Israel would need to withdraw everything from Gaza, the IDF, the communities, the factories and everything else including those Jews buried in Gaza and bring it all into Israel. Israel was assured that should things go awry, Israel could always simply retake Gaza and the United States would have their back. Gaza was taken by Hamas with Islamic Jihad and they threw numerous Palestinian Authority personnel off of ten story and higher rooftops. After Hamas and friends took control of Gaza, Israel has been attacked repeatedly in any of a varied litany of problems and attacks. Needless to point out, this ended the guarantees for the United States backing of Israeli actions should Israel retake Gaza as backing Israel in doing so would be tantamount to an open declaration of hostility against Iran. There have been four wars and counting resulting from the surrender of Gaza to the Palestinian cause.

 

Going back for three generations and in each we find the Jews or the Jewish State being placed in precarious positions which we have survived despite the careful planning to the contrary. Israel is still dealing with the results of the Oslo Accords and the failed Roadmap but still the worst blight Israel is still fighting has been the terror organizations in Gaza. Israeli leadership have leaked the news that the Palestinian Authority will gleefully return to the negotiation table providing that Israel surrender for perpetuity all claims to Gaza which will be taken to mean that should Israel strike targets within Gaza it would be an act of war, it is just vague as to war on whom? There we have another promise broken and Israel left holding the bill in the form of traumatized communities, numerous dead or injured, communities shredded and numerous other crippling difficulties. We do expect some to challenge that the Oslo Accords were the product of President Bill Clinton. That assumes that Bill Clinton was capable of procuring the agreeable intern and complete the plans which took more than five years of negotiating and one sided promises to bring such a meeting together yet Clinton managed all of this in under one year of taking office. Though Bill Clinton was at the signing of the Oslo Accords, the process leading up to that moment was a long trail, started and altered repeatedly, which makes George H W Bush the architect. The latest demand for the privilege of having Mahmoud Abbas insult you and then walk out because you did not send a thank-you note for the great and valuable insult you had received, was given. Treated as if this would be the one meeting would start normalization, everything around it became precious, well, at least to the Palestinian Arabs. What gave the entire situation its ethereal glow was their demand that Israel change the rules and allow unrestricted building in Area C and for Israel to make retroactively legal all structures which were previously built. Such a provision would result in an Arab building frenzy with Europe providing much of the supplies required. As one who observes such developments, we can attest to the assistance for Arab illegal building from the past (see images below). This demand is simply a demand for Arabs to lay claim to all of Area C. Were Israel to agree to such constructions, tens of thousands of these shanties with no running water, no natural gas, no electrical power, no sewage treatment absolutely no utilities and even no occupants which would be provided as required for any photo shoot. Sometimes, one simply wants to scream out, “Enough! Just leave us alone and then we can sort things out. As long as the rest of the world desires to make this their sole issue, then it will never be solved as the Arabs trust the world will destroy the Jews and the rest of the world are counting on the Arabs to destroy the Jews. We have an update for both parties; nobody is going to destroy the Jews. Nobody!

 

Illegal European Union structures bearing obvious EU Identification signs

 

The Bush family legacy vis a vis the Jews must be measured as to how they treated the future of the Jewish People. The only true future of the Jewish People is Israel and no thanks to their efforts, the Jewish People have a future. The Europeans know and much of the rest of the world understand that the Jewish People came very close to eradication. The Shoah destroyed the continuity of Jewish life in Europe and the ensuing driving of the Jews from the Islamic World devastated the Jewish continuity and feeling of security which living in one city for hundreds of generations had provided. These acts devastated Jewish life around the Mediterranean basin and further afield. There are but two places with over two-million Jewish souls, they are Israel and the United States. Despite the best efforts of the Bush family and others from the United States and all their allies around the world who wish Israel could be erased, the United Nations has utterly failed to erase the Jewish State despite all but burying it under letters of condemnation. On the other hand, the remnants of Jews inside European are finding their Jewishness cannot simply be wished away and one born Jew will remain a Jew no matter to what extent they might go to alter that label. The soaring hate crimes against Jews throughout Europe have many worried and leaving to seek safety either in the United States or in Israel. The United States is in better shape than Europe, but better does not equal good. Jews are being attacked on the streets of New York City in broad daylight. Hate crimes against Jews have increased over fifty-percent each of the last two years and crimes against religious people show that Jews account for over half of the total; they are the victim more than every other religion combined. The figures in the United States paint a situation where a pandemic has broken out. This pandemic target only Jews and its targets include all Jews and not just those other Jews as so many wish to reject these unsettling facts. It is only a matter of time before the United States turns on its Jewish population completely either forcing them from the nation or placing them in camps for their safety, though such is something which seldom if ever ends safely for the targeted group.

 

One would think that as it has barely been two generations, three at the most generations since the Shoah in Europe which wiped-out six-million Jews. The signs are there in plain sight. As long as the majority of Jews remain uninformed about events outside of their own little circle, they will remain oblivious to the coming dangers. Then there are the Jews, the important, well, self-important Jews who are completely assimilated to the point of celebrating Christian as well as Jewish holidays. They have ornate Chanukah bushes which have an eerie similarity to Christmas trees. They join in the community Easter egg hunt and all other holidays. They are the good Jews who hold prestigious positions and many teach at the Universities, others hold respected positions in industry while some own high-tech companies, amongst other accomplishments. These are Jews who make an appearance at the Synagogue once or twice a year where they will make a pledge to donate ten-thousand dollars above the same amount every month in dues and building fees. Being a member of many synagogues can be an expensive endeavor as most families are only members for a period where they have children between ten and thirteen years of age and are getting Bar/Bat Mitzvahs. For most that is almost a decade as most Jewish families now have one or two children if they bother themselves with any children. When that charismatic megalomaniac does finalize the United States turning from the Constitution because, as all too many from the fringes have stated, the Constitution is like old Bibles, printed on animal hides and no longer applicable to the modern world. Both were written by overly self-indulged white males, two more strikes against them, who believed others had to live in the manner and ways that they lived and as such being no longer relevant, the Bible and the Constitution are being cast aside for the new way. There is something about a society when the freedoms are disregarded and the government has assumed ultimate power subsuming the rights of the people, they always decide to destroy first the Jews. Hatred and violence against the Jews in the public domain is an early sign that your society is beginning to suffer a form of dementia, a societal disease where a people are taught so little about the founding basics of their governance and what is expected of the government and the people respectively. Once they have no base understanding of these set in stone rules, then the government can flagrantly overstep their bounds and do as they please, as there is no outcry for them to stop violating those pretexts which you were never exposed. That also leads to anti-Semitism running slowly but inexorably out of control. From anti-Semitism it is an easy jump to hating other groups, perhaps this time it will be Evangelical Christians, specifically Christian Zionists. When the governance follows the religion of Secular Humanity, life itself loses all explicit value and the soul is rejected as just another religious aberration. Life is stripped of all higher meanings and is simply a biological progression from infancy to a decrepit old age. Because old age is a time of life where most people take more resources from the society than they contribute, every year or so everyone must make a cost assessment and from that decide if they are still a contributing member of their society or a simple drain on its resources. From that point, it is not far to the eradication of people when they reach a set age and the elimination of those with physical or mental disabilities, especially those which require intensive care. That is what we see coming in the future; life weighed by whether it contributes or is simple a waste of good oxygen. That will be a world devoid of meaning where even love will have lost its permanence and there will be no superlative works of literature as upon what would they expound if all is weighed in gold and nothing else has meaning. There will be those small areas where people matter and lives have meaning above dollars and Euros. They will also practice what will be viewed as the old religions and their areas will be considered to be the wild and untamed wastelands. They will also become popular places for the elites from the sparkling towers in the cities to come and marvel at the brutish and ignorant people residing in this wasteland and make jokes. But the real reason they will come is because as the most elite and amongst the intelligent, they will be perceptive and see that there is something in these wastelands which is worth more than all the wealth of their grand cities, here in the wastelands a human life has dignity.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Suicide Bus Bombing Returns

 

An Egged bus this Monday was viciously bombed in Jerusalem leaving at least sixteen wounded, with the inclusion of one very critically and two seriously wounded amongst those struck. The initial police investigating the scene reported they suspected the explosion was a terror attack but that report was quickly silenced replaced with a more cautious report simply claiming a bus had exploded with the source being unknown and a second nearby bus which held whatever it was that exploded (see pictures below with captions linked to their supporting articles). Doctors reporting on the injuries their patients had suffered removed all doubt in our eyes, and eventually law enforcement came around as well to the knowing this had been a terrorist bombing and likely an attempted or successful suicidal homicide bombing. Many of the patients had the telltale wounds caused by flying nuts, bolts, screws and nails which had apparently been packed within the explosives. Such wounds do not occur naturally even when the object of the explosion was a bus. The busses contain more rivets than nuts, bolts and screws; and they never contain nails as part of their construction. One of the physicians treating the patients from the attack was quoted stating, “Some of the wounds of the victims who arrived to us are from nails and bolts that penetrated their bodies. It gives the impression of wounds from a terror attack.” The two buses were destroyed in the ensuing fires and a civilian vehicle was also damaged. Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad organizations have praised this still potentially deadly bombing as the most grievously wounded are still not out from danger.

 

 

Two Egged Buses on Fire Resulting
From a Suicidal Homicide Bombing

 

 

The attack could have resulted in far more injuries had not the bus adjacent to the bus with the bomb on it being emptied before it caught fire and fire consumed it relatively slowly. This latest escalation of the assaults upon civilians comes amidst a terror wave starting back middle to late September and has claimed thirty-four innocent victims’ lives and wounded hundreds upon hundreds physically and one can only guess at the thousand who have suffered psychological trauma or emotional stresses with any number of which requiring treatment and rehabilitative services. Often the thoughts do not go beyond those whose blood spilled from wounds of varying nature and tend to ignore the other injuries which often strike just as deep as the nuts, bolts, nails and screws often dipped in strychnine or other poisons in order to maximize the injuries and traumas to the bodies of their victims. One has not received reports indicating such yet in this most recent attack but often the full effects of such poisoning do not fully show until a day or more later. Most of the injuries were suffered on the one bus which had passengers and the private vehicle whose injured are somewhat lost due to the greater magnitude of injuries in the bus. The second bus was empty of passengers but is still a doubling of the damages to the Egged Bus Company and their insurers. The advantage to the reports finally proving to have been a terror bombing is it enables the victims to avail themselves of government funds to pay for all care not otherwise covered and even permits insurers to file complaints of losses.

 

 

Remains of the First Bus Which Caught Fire in the Explosion

 

Minister of the Knesset (MK) Bezalel Smotrich called upon Netanyahu to cancel the planned withdrawal of IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) forces from Palestinian Authority Area A as we reported yesterday in our article Netanyahu’s Risky Response to World Threats cited Monday’s bus bombing as “a reminder” of what could happen. Furthermore, MK Bezalel Smotrich stated “Anyone who needed a reminder of what would happen if the IDF will stop operating in the major Arab cities in Judea and Samaria got {it} today. It was fourteen years ago that the Park Hotel was attacked during the Passover Seder; that terrible terror attack that came after a long period of {deadly terror assaults} in which one-thousand people were killed and it was that {bombing} that led to Operation Defensive Shield, and from then on the IDF took back responsibility for ensuring the safety of Israeli citizens.” It truly was the Park Hotel Seder which so outraged Israelis as the victims were mostly older Israelis and resultant deaths with some being Holocaust survivors and to have them die in such a horrific attack upon Jews simply because they were Jews was a doubling of the pain for an entire nations and to others far from the shores of the Mediterranean, the backdrop for such a horrific act of blatant hatreds. MK Smotrich closed stating, “We must never return to the mistakes of Oslo, which cost us so much blood. I call on the Prime Minister to reject the proposal and the concessions [plan] and end the terror [wave] by removing the motivations that have fueled it.”

 

 

Burned Out Hulls of Two Busses Completely Gutted
by the Ensuing Fire from the Bomb Blast

 

 

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in heartfelt prayers conveyed his sympathies to the victims and their families, relatives, neighbors and friends as well as the nation as a whole, as these acts of violence strike at each of us in their own way, stated, “Our prayers for a speedy recovery go out to those injured in the terror attack, being treated as we speak in hospitals across Jerusalem. On such a day – when thanks to the dedicated work of the security services, this morning the discovery was revealed of a terror tunnel in the south, and in the evening frightened citizens returning from their daily routine are being rushed to hospital {paused, continuing emphatically} it is clear to us all, that the struggle against terrorism is ceaseless. We will pursue and we will reach all those who wish us harm, until quiet is assured.”

 

 

Closer Image Showing Burned Bus and
Two Private Vehicles Also Caught and
Destroyed in the Flames of Terrorist Attack

 

 

Revealing their truly hate filled hearts, as empty and blackened as the remains of the buses, the Hamas terror organization approvingly applauded the horrific carnage and bombing of buses and their civilian passengers, riding a known Jerusalem bus route which does not serve any contested areas, stated definitive with awe and praise the bus bombing that it was “the natural response to Israeli crimes, particularly the field executions it conducts, and the assaults on the Al-Aqsa Mosque.” Further and in support of such senseless carnage and taking of even more innocent lives whether through injury eating their spirits the rest of their lives or worse, death as all are not out of the woods yet, Islamic Jihad also justified the attack, presenting their praise claiming that it “delivered the message that the Intifada would continue.”

 

 

Montage of Fire from a Distance with Inspecting First Bus and Wires and
Destruction of Driver Side of Bus and Final Frontal View of Burned Out Bus

 

Police reported at the close of their inspections of their efforts yesterday, Monday, stating that an explosive was placed on a number twelve bus line which detonated under or within a bus that was empty of passengers but which led to the wounding of the passengers in an adjacent bus and a private car. They also believed that the person most critically injured was likely the terrorist who set off the explosives as their body was found ripped open nearest the actual bombsite. Daniel Katzenstein, a member of the Psychological-Trauma-Unit for United Hatzalah of Israel speaking to Arutz Sheva informed them of some background tying it to this bus attack referencing that this attack reminded him of the bus attacks of the Second Intifada from between 2000 through 2005 where there were many serious and traumatic bus bombings, many even more damaging and lethal than this particular bombing. He relayed that, “Unfortunately that’s were United Hatzalah gained a great deal of its experience, in responding to bus bombings.” He further expounded explaining that the medical teams began evacuating the wounded, saying, “there were many people who were far too dangerously close to the bus when it was burning. The first task was actually to get them to a safe place and then to begin to treat them.”

 

Our prayer go out to all affected by this horrific crime against humanity though we advise not holding one’s breath waiting for United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon or President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry to denounce this as a cavernous act of cowardice and as a striking of every person residing in a free and diverse state which are all threatened by such terrorist violence. Additionally, with the discovery of a Hamas tunnel which reached over a mile into Israel and the obvious use of construction material allowed into Gaza for rebuilding of infrastructure and residence for the people being diverted almost completely to the building of terror infiltration tunnels, many of which have collapsed being besides the fact, the misuse should cut off all building supplies into Gaza. The residents of Gaza who are still without places to live and without work as their place of employment has yet to be rebuilt and finding the only work available is to advance the terror goals of Hamas will unfortunately continue to suffer. Such a move will not affect their woes but will prevent further expansion of the Hamas tunnel terrorist infrastructure, the seemingly sole use of every last inch of concrete, rebar and other building materials. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the rest of the terror structure do not care about the people of Gaza which was made obvious through their not permitting them to seek safety in their tunnel system during the conflict, have not permitted the homeless shelter and food in their tunnels reserving such for their youth and supporters and finally did not use their upper-class homes as places from which to fire the rockets into Israel thus tempting return fire destroying their nice mansions while placing the people’s homes and apartment houses, schools, clinics and other needful places and things as legitimate targets once used for launching rockets. One can also almost hear echoing around the globe the howling which would have arisen had Israel targeted only the multi-million dollar and Euro homes of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders and main beneficiaries as that would have been called extrajudicial war crimes which were disproportional as Prime Minister Netanyahu’s house was not struck so why were the leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad mansions destroyed. They would have claimed they had no military purpose completely missing the fairness of including their homes as they risked the targeting of the peoples, those they consider lesser people who must sacrifice so they can live luxuriously. This was another war crime committed by Hamas and Islamic Jihad as they only risked the regular people’s homes, their peasants and lessors of their societal importance and structures. This should be the lesson for every Gazan, that ultimately every home and shopping center, school and clinic, workplace and shopping market of the normal working Gazan that will be sacrificed and never rebuilt for as long as they allow Hamas to run their lives and distribute the goodies to their friends and fighters making terrorism the only occupation in Gaza. That is how a nation becomes a true terror state. One need look no further than Gaza to know what a Palestinian State in Judea and Samaria would become and thus making it obvious why Israel must always maintain security rights even if that limits the Palestinians to a semi-autonomous statehood and not complete separation and independence as that would result in another failed terrorist state where terror would be the sole industry.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Revulsion or Revolution, The ISIS Conundrum

First perhaps we need clarify that we here at BTC refuse to recognize the terrorist bands which makeup ISIS and have declared themselves a new name of IS claiming that they are now an actual nation state and the home to the new Caliphate. Due to this decision not to honor the declarations of an overgrown terrorist group on the order of Hezballah, al-Qaeda, the Taliban and Muslim Brotherhood and their delusions of statehood, we will continue to use their initial name ISIS, the name of a terrorist group which terrorizes through such horrific actions as beheadings leaving the heads on poles as a display of their hold and threat on an area, crucifixions, mass graves, rapes and slavery including sexual slavery among other depraved actions in order to terrify, cower and intimidate those it holds the power of the sword and a legitimacy spelled in the spilling of blood. Should our doing so be perceived as an insult then all the better as we could not be more proud than to be detested by such as ISIS.

 

The beheading of American photojournalist James Wright Foley provided the Western world the unavoidable definition of the barbarity which is ISIS, or as they now refer to themselves, merely IS. This is not to minimize the horrors which included the mass murders of Christians, some by a torturous crucifixion, the attempted genocide of the Yazidi Peoples, rapes and enslavement of numbers of women and children, forced conversions, mass killings, burial of victims alive and other horrors, all of which had been reported in many newscasts since ISIS initially broke out of Syria sweeping across western and central Iraq. The sickening and repugnant video which was released this past week which included the threat to further behead other American and Western hostages being held by ISIS such as Steven Joel Sotloff, also an American journalist captured in Syria covering that civil war, should the United States continue their campaign assisting those resisting further ISIS advances. The United States limited bombing efforts have been described as being an assist enabling the Kurdish forces to turn back the advances of ISIS and even gaining back some ground which provided the Kurds with access to a route to rescue a number of Yazidi families and individuals as well as retake the Mosul dam which had ISIS carried out their threat to destroy the dam would have caused massive casualties and damage on the cities and villages downstream potentially past Baghdad all the way to the Persian Gulf.

 

The brutalities and threats to life, civility and modernity posed by ISIS through its ideals and definitions of Islam as practiced and brutally applied by their leadership is now unavoidable by the leadership of the Western nations. This new clarity of threat that is ISIS screams out for unified action to prevent the further spread and genocidal purification of the population threatened by the advance of ISIS. Somehow, such an effort appears to be quite slow in developing and consists mostly of sporadic bombing by the United States and the early return to Washington by President Obama and similarly British Prime Minister David Cameron will also curtail his vacation plans and return to London. Any announcement of a change in tactics and applying force on the ground with the application of troops has been noticeably silent thus far making any such reaction at best slow in materializing. The purported American war weariness appears to have not been broken by the acts from ISIS including the beheading of James Wright Foley and threats to behead Steven Joel Sotloff along with other American and Western hostages. Whether these emotions will show signs of weakening is verily a contestable premise with many claiming that there appears to be no limit to the ability of the people, or at least the media portrayal of the people, to ignore current events and remain cocooned in their isolationist tranquility. This political inertia also readily ignores the presence of American military advisors who are stationed in the Kurdish capital of Irbil in support to the Peshmerga Militias who are currently confronting the Islamic State forces.

 

The future horizon holds its hopes on the new leadership in Baghdad as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is set to step down offering a glimmer of hope for a more stable Iraq in the face of the challenges ahead due to ISIS threats and a situation which President Obama on Monday called “a promising step forward.” Still, this remains something which, if it will actually signal any improvement, is a distant solution in a situation demanding immediate responses. The main available and viable presence which can and has already made advances in not only stopping the advances by ISIS but has actually tuned the tides and retaken lands formerly consumed by ISIS as they swarmed out of Syria and across Iraq, has been the Kurds from their semiautonomous lands in northern Iraq. It has been those Kurdish Peshmerga Militias who relieved much of the siege of the Yazidis and retook the critical infrastructure of the Mosul Dam both with limited but sufficient assists from United States airstrikes. This would be the perfect time to fully assist the Kurdish forces while simultaneously recognizing their independence and rewarding them with the statehood they had been promised at the resolution of World War I but were later denied this promise when oil was discovered in their promised areas and the British already had an advantageous contract with the leadership they had approved for Iraq. Kurdistan could become the first best weapon which could possibly circumvent the necessity for Western troops to place boots on the ground limiting the Western support to mostly a bombing campaign with some need for close air support in those cases where such would prove critically necessary, something not all that different than what President Obama has already committed to perform and perhaps a doubling of efforts.

 

The real challenge the ISIS threat might pose would be an attempted invasion beyond Iraq. The probability of ISIS turning their forces towards Turkey is almost completely out of the question as Turkey is either a current ally or a future ally of ISIS and stands for much the same application of extreme Islamist Sharia. Their turning to the east and into Iran would also be unlikely as ISIS lacks the manpower and military abilities to take on Iran as they are equipped with elite forces, airpower, heavy battle tanks and huge numbers of troops. Turning west into Jordan poses a similar problem even if on a lesser scale as far as numbers of troops capable of being fielded. Jordan does possess an air force but might turn to their western neighbor, unofficially of course, and request that Israel aid the Jordanian efforts through timely air support as necessitated. That pretty much leaves southward as ISIS’s most likely and viable choice. This would narrow their choices to Saudi Arabia or Kuwait. This choice is also dictated by geography and the self-imposed imperative whereby ISIS desires to avoid any direct confrontation with Iran. This forces ISIS into taking a western approach around Baghdad and also leaving room between themselves and Jordan which brings them to the northern border of central Saudi Arabia. This would place the ISIS penetration points somewhere west of the main Saudi Arabian oil fields and east of the main Saudi Arabian main military airfield which houses their squadrons providing the initial line of attack or defense from Israel. This airfield is home to a large contingency of United States provided F-15s and F-16s, some of which are very probably the latest and most modern variety available for export.

 

Such an attack would be in line with the ISIS announced agenda of facing and defeating the Islamic leadership which they view as impure. They have previously listed the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia as the pin-up leaders representing impure and non-Islamist governance which is in need of being destroyed and replaced with the pure Islamic governance which only ISIS is capable of providing. Additionally, should ISIS gain a sufficient foothold in the Saudi Peninsula, they could conceivably gain control over major parts of the Saudi Arabian oilfields, and an area heavily populated with Saudi Arabia’s minority Shiites. This would add additional impetus for ISIS fighters as they would not only be working to place their extremist purified Islamism over what they view as an unholy governance, they would also be able to force these Shiite, more accurately non Sunni, apostates in the eyes of ISIS to convert before the cleansing sword of the ISIS elite leadership. This could serve ISIS as a further recruitment piece of propaganda similar in scope but potentially far more significant in the numbers of new recruits under their control. This is what ISIS defines themselves by, areas and numbers under their control, a measure which they will only accept as sufficient by their control and rule over the entire world. As absurd as such a claim may sound, to the fighters and leadership of ISIS this is exactly what their entire purpose by which success is defined. Many also believe that they cannot be defeated and that their quest to rule over all of mankind is a blessed undertaking in Jihad and their success is guaranteed for as long as their actions receive the approval and support of Allah. Perhaps this would be a good place to define the difference between the Judeo-Christian G0d and Allah; the two are not simply separate manners for naming the same entity. The most readily and easiest way of showing this is actually cut and dry. Where G0d of the Jews and Christians is defined as the G0d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Allah is the god of Abraham, Ishmael, and Mohammad. They are as different as composed tranquility and chaotic ferocity. The reported actions, proclivities and self-definitions all prove the violence and explosive animosities which lie at the root of ISIS and from where its adherents derive their power and strength.

 

The hope is that the burning vehemence with which their new recruits are empowered with will consume them so completely that soon only the smoldering husk of ISIS will remain; a fragile structure that the slightest breeze is capable of destroying. The fear is that the only two results which will result from the efforts of ISIS, either their dream of an Islamist Sharia governed world will remain and will resemble a charred husk of uniformity enforced by the swords what molded it or the destruction of ISIS and the breaking of their swords before they carve up any more of the globe. The former will be the inevitable should the Western world refuse to engage and defeat ISIS militarily while at this juncture the later would be readily achieved with the timely application of overwhelming force of a full deployment of the entirety of the ready response forces which are available to NATO in case of any emergency, and if this does not so qualify then those forces are as useless as a chaperone on ones’ wedding night.

 

We are facing a challenge to civilization similar to the buildup to World War II when Germany could have been defeated as a response to their aggressive claims on northern Czechoslovakia or their poisonous interference in the Austrian elections and subsequent near bloodless invasion. Should ISIS remain uncontested and thus gain a foothold in the Saudi Arabian oilfields, then they will have gained a source of power, influence and financial riches beyond anything any previous Islamists have been capable of attaining. Sure the Taliban and al-Qaeda had control of Afghanistan and parts of the tribal regions of Pakistan and the financial largess of Osama bin Laden’s fortune and Hezballah influences the every move by the Lebanese government and the benefit of Iran providing them with weapons and their other necessities, ISIS would be gaining size and an endless cash flowing in that they could take their time and build a modern, well equipped and sizeable military force which would provide them with sufficient force that they could likely intimidate major Sunni Arab nations and potentially beyond to bend before their threat and surrender to ISIS approved governance. Add their increased ability would make Iran vulnerable to an ISIS attack which is currently out of the question today and such an accomplishment by ISIS would provide them with the arms to threaten Europe, North America and the remainder of the globe with their gained possession of Iranian nuclear and missile capabilities and power. The best thing would be for ISIS to be confronted now and not be left to Saudi Arabia, the GCC member nations and Israel to ally solely for the end of ISIS. Threats to the balance of power and the injection of a radical and extremist group be they anarchists, religious or Islamist like ISIS can produce alliances between some of the most divergent and even antagonist powers. Right now the plans and thoughts should be centered on how to and with what forces ISIS can be utterly and completely defeated in such a manner that no other groups will dare push that challenge point again. Let us hope that the leadership of the world awakens and deals with this challenge which thus far they have ignored pretending it is not there. Unfortunately, pretending that ISIS does not exist will do little to actually realize ISIS not existing but will more likely set up the scenario where many lives will be senseless sacrificed and far too much property and infrastructure will be destroyed making the worldwide repairs and recuperations unnecessarily long and arduous. Will the world awaken or are we doomed to once again repeat history by not answering the threat of the screaming barbarians at our gates.

 

Beyond the Cusp