Editor Note: Of all the world’s holidays commemorating wars, Memorial Day should be one of sober reflection on war’s horrible costs, surely not a moment to glorify warfare or lust for more wars. But many pols and pundits can’t resist the opportunity, as discussed below.

By Ray McGovern

How best to show respect for the U.S. troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and for their families on Memorial Day? Simple: Avoid euphemisms like “the fallen” and expose the lies about what a great idea it was to start those wars and then to “surge” tens of thousands of more troops into those fools’ errands.

On the U.S. Killing of Two Children in Syria

The U.S. military admitted on Thursday to killing two girls in Syria.

If a target of U.S. aggression can be alleged to have killed children, especially with the wrong kind of weapon, that is used as grounds for war. War is supposed to be the cure for that.

This was the case in 2013 with the White House's false claims to knowledge that the Syrian government had killed children with chemical weapons. President Obama told us to watch videos of dead children and either support a bombing campaign against Syria or support killing children.

But that's a Catch-22, because it's telling you to either support killing children or support killing children.

In recent days I've been watching videos of children killed in Yemen by Saudi Arabia with U.S. missiles and support. Missiles are in fact not any more precise in their actual use than chemical weapons, not any less deadly, not any less guilty of killing children, including the hundreds of children the U.S. has killed with missiles from drones in just a few countries it doesn't even admit to being at war with.

The Pentagon doesn't admit to any of this; it sometimes admits to isolated incidents that have been widely reported.

But imagine if missiles were considered the wrong kind of weapon, and imagine if the Syrian government and its friends were considered "the international community" -- one could imagine the international community demanding the humanitarian bombing of Washington, D.C., as revenge for the brutal murder of two little girls by U.S. missile in Syria.

We in the United States view the domestic bombing of 4 little black girls in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963 as barbaric, and we view racism as something we've overcome, but imagine if the little girls whom President Obama murdered in Syria in November had been white, Christian, English-speaking Americans. One cannot in that situation suppose the response would have been the same.

It is not possible to avoid civilian casualties in war. They are the majority of the casualties -- of the dead, of the injured, of those rendered homeless, and of the traumatized -- in virtually every war of the past half century. Often they are an enormous majority. The idea that war can be a tool to remedy something worse than war, or that genocide is truly distinct from war is not supported by facts.

The Pentagon admitting to killing civilians is rare but not unprecedented. In fact it is a small nod in the direction of a policy that President Obama created and then quickly abandoned under which he claimed that all such casualties would be reported.

Does it matter? Will people care?

For that, I think there has to be video, it has to be widely shown and the killings morally condemned, and people have to find their way to the media outlets willing to show it and condemn it.

That is, if we're talking about people in the United States.

Of course the people of Western Asia will protest the United States all the more fervently whether the general public in the United States knows what its government is doing or not.

Here We Go Again: The Debacle That Bites Back

By John Grant

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Syria News - May 5, 2015

Nusra-led militants pound Hezbollah, Syria army posts near Lebanon border - THE DAILY STAR

Hezbollah and Syrian army determined to cut off access of ISIS and Nusra Front to any towns near the border - THE DAILY STAR

Lebanese Army Mobilizing to Avert Threats by Jihadists in Syria's Qalamoun - Naharnet

Lebanon Speaker Berri backs Qalamoun fight to oust jihadists - THE DAILY STAR

Sources: al-Nusra evacuates its positions in Qalamoun hills that are difficult to defend to avoid paying a high price - Al-Monitor

Nusra to use anti-tank weapons in Qalamoun battle - Islam Times

PHOTO: Jabhat al-Nusra is giving training in the use of 9M133 Kornet anti-tank guided missiles in the Qalamoun - Charles Lister on Twitter

'We’ll Die Before They Make Us Leave': Lebanese Christians Are Ready to Face the Islamic State on Syria's Border - VICE News

Specter of assassinations by jihadist groups revived in Lebanon - THE DAILY STAR

Relatives visit Lebanese captive on Arsal outskirts, one of 25 Lebanese servicemen being held hostage by the Nusra Front and ISIS since August - THE DAILY STAR

Qatar about to seal deal with Nusra to release Lebanese security officers in exchange for prisoners in Roumieh - An-Nahar

ISIS returns bodies of Lebanon soldier, civilian - THE DAILY STAR

Lebanese General Security arrests Tripoli's ISIS emir - THE DAILY STAR

How Al Qaeda's Syrian Affiliate Jabhat al Nusra Is Trying To Take Northern Lebanon - ibtimes.com

Syria army launches offensive on rebel attacks in regime bastion Latakia - Middle East Online

Pro-Assad forces strive for control of Southern Syria - ARA News

Assad army tightens siege of rebel bastion Goutha near Damascus - ZAMAN ALWSL

Syria: Assad regime accused of chlorine gas attack in Idib - ibtimes.co.uk

Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate Al-Nusra Front claimes responsibility for a suicide attack in Damascus - Yahoo News

Inside Aleppo: Syrian activists reveal kidnap and torture at hands of al-Nusra extremists - The Independent

VIDEO: Activists Reveal Torture At The Hands of Al-Nusra - LiveLeak.com

Syria moves to stabilize its ailing currency - The Salt Lake Tribune

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De Mistura to kick off separate talks with rival Syria sides - THE DAILY STAR

Iran will take part in new Syria consultations, UN says - Fox News

US not opposed to Iranian participation in Syria talks, supports a political solution - middleeastmonitor.com

EU's Mogherini sees 'major role' for Iran in Syria talks - Yahoo News

Syrian Opposition Coalition: Participation in the Geneva Talks to Consider How To Get Rid of Assad - etilaf.org

Report: Iran Spends $35 Billion a Year to Prop Up Assad - Arutz Sheva

Syria's defense minister in Iran to step up fight against 'terrorists' - THE DAILY STAR

Iran to launch maritime shipping line with Syria - ARA News

CIA-Backed Rebels Fight Alongside al-Qaeda Wing in Northern Syria - Reuters

VIDEO: ICP Asks Syrian Coalition's Khoja of FSA Working With Nusra, He Says “Tactical Alliance" - YouTube

Army of Conquest backed by Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, Coalition comprises mostly Islamist groups, the most prominent being Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham - AFP

VIDEO: Syrian Rebels Hit Syrian Army Vehicle With TOW ATGM In Idlib - YouTube

The U.S. $500-million program to train anti-Islamic State fighters appears stalled - LA Times

VIDEO: Activists: 52 killed civilians in U.S.-led airstrike in Syria - YouTube

Pentagon: US Military Says Coalition Airstrikes Killed ISIS Fighters, Not Syrian Civilians - breitbart.com

Syrian Archbishop: Obama Must Stop ISIS' Slaughter of Christians (VIDEO) - Newsmax

Syria accuses Turkey of providing supporting fire and logistical help enabling "terrorist groups" to capture the Syrian city of Idlib - Reuters

Turkey May Have Found Syrian Horse To Back In Ahrar al Sham, But US Disagrees - ibtimes.com

Turkistan Islamic Party had significant role in recent Idlib offensive - The Long War Journal

Turkey Opposition Puts $16B Price Tag on Neighborhood Wars - VOA

Turkish military puts brakes on a Syrian intervention - Al-Monitor

Fertilizer, Also Suited for Bombs, Flows to ISIS Territory From Turkey - NYTimes.com

Syria crisis: Spooked by rebel gains, Jordan doubles down vs. Islamic State - CSMonitor.com

Palestinian Delegation to Meet With Syrian Government in Damascus - syrianobserver.com

The Defenders of Yarmouk, Pro-Assad Palestinian militias are fighting a grinding battle to the death against the Islamic State - Foreign Policy

To contact Bartolo email peaceloversingle[at]yahoo[dot]com (replacing [at] with @, [dot] with .)

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The Neocons and the Kremlin

Neocon 'Chaos Promotion' in the Mideast

Editor Notoe: After the Persian Gulf War in 1991, America’s neocons thought no country could stand up to the high-tech U.S. military, and they realized the Soviet Union was no longer around to limit U.S. actions. So, the “regime change” strategy was born – and many have died, writes ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern.

By Ray McGovern

Former Washington insider and four-star General Wesley Clark spilled the beans several years ago on how Paul Wolfowitz and his neoconservative co-conspirators implemented their sweeping plan to destabilize key Middle Eastern countries once it became clear that post-Soviet Russia “won’t stop us.”

Credit where credit's due...but only where it's due: How Can Obama Claim the Alternative to a Nuclear Deal with Iran is War?

By Dave Lindorff

A kudo to President Obama. But just one.

If he manages to pull off an agreement with Iran on limiting that country's nuclear fuel enrichment program in the fact of determined resistance from Republicans, Neocons, the Israel Lobby and the warmongers in both the GOP and his own Democratic Party, he will have finally earned at least some small portion of the gold in his Nobel Peace medallion.

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How Did Syria Get Here?

Wars may be how Americans learn geography, but do they always learn the history of how the geography was shaped by wars? I've just read Syria: A History of the Last Hundred Years by John McHugo. It's very heavy on the wars, which is always a problem with how we tell history, since it convinces people that war is normal. But it also makes clear that war wasn't always normal in Syria.

Syria was shaped by and remains to this day outraged by the 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement (in which Britain and France divided up things that didn't belong to either of them), the 1917 Balfour Declaration (in which Britain promised Zionists land it didn't own known as Palestine or Southern Syria), and the 1920 San Remo Conference at which Britain, France, Italy, and Japan used rather arbitrary lines to create the French Mandate of Syria and Lebanon, the British Mandate of Palestine (including Jordan), and the British Mandate of Iraq.

Between 1918 and 1920, Syria attempted to set up a constitutional monarchy; and McHugo considers that effort to be the closest Syria has come to self-determination. Of course, that was ended by the San Remo Conference at which a bunch of foreigners sat in a villa in Italy and decided that France must save Syria from the Syrians.

So 1920 to 1946 was a period of French misrule and oppression and brutal violence. The French strategy of divide and rule resulted in the separation of Lebanon. The French interests, as McHugo tells it, seem to have been profits and special benefits for Christians. The French legal obligation for the "mandate" was to help Syria reach the point of being able to rule itself. But, of course, the French had very little interest in letting the Syrians rule themselves, the Syrians could hardly have ruled themselves worse than the French did, and the entire pretense was without any legal controls on or supervision of the French. So, the Syrian protests appealed to the Rights of Man but were met with violence. The protests included Muslims and Christians and Jews, but the French remained to protect minorities or at least to pretend to protect them while encouraging sectarian division.

On April 8, 1925, Lord Balfour visited Damascus where 10,000 protesters greeted him shouting "Down with the Balfour agreement!" The French had to escort him out of town. In the mid 1920s the French killed 6,000 rebel fighters and destroyed the homes of 100,000 people. In the 1930s the Syrians created protests, strikes, and boycotts of French-owned businesses. In 1936 four protesters were killed, and 20,000 people attended their funeral before launching a general strike. And still the French, like the British in India and the rest of their empire, remained.

Toward the end of World War II, France proposed to "end" their occupation of Syria without ending it, something like the current U.S. occupation of Afghanistan that has "ended" while it continues. In Lebanon, the French arrested the president and prime minister but were forced to free them after strikes and demonstrations in both Lebanon and Syria. The protests in Syria grew. France shelled Damascus killing possibly 400. The British came in. But in 1946 the French and the British left Syria, a nation where the people refused to cooperate with foreign rule.

Bad times, rather than good, lay ahead. The British and the future-Israelis stole Palestine, and a flood of refugees headed for Syria and Lebanon in 1947-1949, from which they have yet to return. And the (first?) Cold War began. In 1949, with Syria the only nation not to have signed an armistice with Israel and refusing to allow a Saudi oil pipeline to cross its land, a military coup was executed in Syria with CIA involvement -- predating 1953 Iran and 1954 Guatemala.

But the United States and Syria could not form an alliance because the United States was allied with Israel and opposed to rights for Palestinians. Syria got its first Soviet weapons in 1955. And the U.S. and Britain began a long-term and ongoing project of drawing up and revising plans to attack Syria. In 1967 Israel attacked and stole the Golan Heights which it has occupied illegally ever since. In 1973 Syria and Egypt attacked Israel but failed to take back the Golan Heights. Syria's interests in negotiations for many years to come would focus on the return of Palestinians to their land and the return of the Golan Heights to Syria. U.S. interests in peace negotiations during the Cold War were not in peace and stability but in winning nations to its side against the Soviet Union. The mid-1970s civil war in Lebanon added to Syria's problems. Peace talks for Syria effectively ended with the 1996 election of Netanyahu as prime minister of Israel.

From 1970 to 2000 Syria was ruled by Hafez al-Assad, from 2000 to the present by his son Bashar al-Assad. Syria supported the U.S. in Gulf War I. But in 2003 the U.S. proposed to attack Iraq and declared that all nations must be "with us or against us?" Syria could not declare itself "with the United States" while the suffering of Palestinians was on TV every night in Syria and the United States was not with Syria. In fact, the Pentagon in 2001 had Syria on a list of seven countries it planned to "take out."

The chaos, violence, destitution, sectarian division, rage, and weaponry that flooded the region with the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 impacted Syria and of course led to the creation of groups like ISIS. The Arab Spring in Syria turned violent. Sectarian rivalries, the growing demand for water and resources, the arms and fighters supplied by regional and global rivalries brought Syria into a living hell. Over 200,000 have died, over 3 million have left the country, six and a half million are internally displaced, 4.6 million are living where fighting is ongoing. If this were a natural disaster, a focus on humanitarian aid would gain some interest, and at the very least the U.S. government would not be focused on adding more wind or waves. But this is not a natural disaster. It is, among other things, a proxy war in a region heavily armed by the United States, with Russia on the side of the Syrian government.

In 2013 public pressure helped prevent a massive U.S. bombing campaign on Syria, but the weapons and trainers kept flowing and no real alternative was pursued. In 2013 Israel gave a company a license to explore for gas and oil on the Golan Heights. By 2014 Western "experts" were talking about the war needing to "run its course," while the U.S. attacked certain Syrian rebels while arming others who sometimes surrendered the weapons to those the U.S. was attacking and who were also being funded by wealthy Gulf U.S. allies and fueled by fighters created out of the infernos the United States had brought to Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Yemen, Afghanistan, etc., and who were also being attacked by Iran which the United States also opposes. By 2015, "experts" were talking about "partitioning" Syria, which brings us full circle.

Drawing lines on a map can teach you geography. It cannot cause people to lose attachments to people and places they love and live with. Arming and attacking regions of the globe can sell weapons and candidates. It cannot bring peace or stability. Blaming ancient hatreds and religions can win applause and provide a sense of superiority. It cannot explain the mass slaughter, the division, and the devastation that are in large part imported to a region cursed with natural resources desired by and vicinity to crusaders whose new holy grail is the so-called responsibility to protect but who'd rather not mention who they actually feel responsible to and what they're actually protecting.

Civilization and barbarism: It Takes a Life Cult to Beat a Death Cult

By John Grant

We have to address the political grievances terrorists exploit.
-- Barack Obama

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No more AUMFs! No more ‘unitary executives’!: We’re Already Losing Our Democracy and All Our Freedoms to the 2001 AUMF

By Dave Lindorff

Critics of President Obama’s proposed Authorization for Use of Military Force AUMF) against ISIS have been focused upon its deliberately obfuscatory and ambiguous language, which they rightly note would make it essentially a carte blanche from Congress allowing the president to go to war almost anywhere some would-be terrorist or terrorist copycat could be found who claims affinity with ISIS.

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Syria/Iraq News - Feb 4, 2015

Jordanian Pilot Al-Kaseasbeh Purportedly Burned Alive In New Islamic State Video - ibtimes.com

PHOTOS: Jordanian pilot al-Kaseasbeh burning live in a cage - LiveLeak.com

VIDEO: Full 22 Minute Islamic State Video of Jordanian Pilot Al-Kaseasbeh Burned Alive - vidme

A rush summary of the 22-minute IS video titled "Healing the Believers’ Chests” - insidethejihad.com

New issue of IS magazine Dabiq includes interview with Jordanian pilot at page 34, (link to the full magazine) - Harald Doornbos on Twitter

Jordan confirms grisly death of pilot held by Islamic State - Toronto Star

Jordan to execute Iraqi after Islamic State claims to have killed pilot - The Globe and Mail

VIDEO: Obama comment on the death of the Jordanian pilot held by Islamic State - YouTube

US special forces 'deployed from helicopters' into IS capital in vain attempt to rescue Jordanian pilot: Report - 9news.com.au

After death of Mouath al-Kasaesbeh, U.S. announces $1B plan for aid increase to Jordan - Washington Times

Muath al-Kaseasbeh: Live updates after Jordanian pilot 'burned alive by Islamic State' - Mirror Online

VIDEO: Islamic State Beheads Japanese Journalist Kenji Goto - LeakSource

ISIS throws man off tower block for 'being gay' then stone him when he SURVIVED the fall - Daily Mail Online

VIDEO: ISIS throw man off building for being gay, crowd stones him to death - YouTube

Syria 'adultress' survives jihadist stoning: monitor - Yahoo News

Islamic State distributing video game that allows players to play role of an Islamist and kill Westerners - Daily Mail Online

Islamic State fighters ransack Mosul’s historic libraries, burn books - THE DAILY STAR

UNESCO deplores ‘cultural cleansing’ of Iraq as armed extremists ransack Mosul libraries - United Nations News Centre

WFP alarmed by pictures of Islamic State logos on its Syria food parcels - Reuters

PHOTOS: IS Rebranding Stolen UN Food Rations with Its Own Logo - MUNCHIES

IS Opens Market for Spoils Stolen from Christians in Mosul - Breitbart

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Islamic State in disarray, retreating from Kobane villages without resistance - Rudaw

VIDEO: Kurdish fighters celebrate victory over Isis in Kobani with traditional dance through streets - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

Obama team: Success against Islamic State in Kobani, The battle seen as a test of whether the airstrikes could halt the terrorists - usatoday.com

Allied airstrikes continue to target Islamic State near Kobani: statement - Reuters

Islamic State admits defeat in Kobani; blames airstrikes - usatoday.com

VIDEO: Islamic State fighters: Airstrikes behind Kobani withdrawal - CNN Video

VIDEO: Kobane: Islamic State 'apocalypse' - BBC

ISIS Raqqa 'Governor' Allegedly Executed, Prompting Wave Of Arrests For Defection - ibtimes.com

ISIS al-Hisba Head Flees Raqqa After Failed Coup; Islamic State Executes Co-Conspirators - ibtimes.co.in

Islamic State Egyptian treasurer 'steals Zakat funds' and flees to Turkey - ibtimes.co.uk

ISIS getting 'desperate,' struggling to replenish fighters - CBC News

Disillusioned Islamic State recruits discover that it is a lot harder to leave than to join, The Syrian Observatory says the group has killed 120 of its own members in the past six months - Yahoo News

Hackers posing as beautiful women sent 'selfies' to Syrian rebels on Skype... and stole battle plans with hidden viruses - Daily Mail Online

Kurdish fighters in Iraq struggle to hold gains against IS - Yahoo News

Peshmerga forces report more gains against ISIS in Kirkuk and Mosul - ARA News

Islamic State chemical weapons expert trained under Saddam killed in airstrike near Mosul - Daily Mail Online

VIDEO: Kurdish peshmerga take on Islamic State near Kirkuk - usatoday.com

Kurdish forces free oil workers at Kirkuk crude station: officials - Reuters

Another Yazidi mass grave allegedly found near Sinjar, The bodies of 20 Kurdish Yazidi children, youths and seniors discovered - BasNews

The Hague to investigate Kurdish Yazidi genocide, International Criminal Court (ICC) expected to announce a decision soon - BasNews

To contact Bartolo email peaceloversingle[at]yahoo[dot]com (replacing [at] with @, [dot] with .)

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Local Syria ceasefires: The way out of a US policy

Local ceasefires can be successful, but first the United States must free itself from entangling regional alliances

By Gareth Porter, Middle East Eye

US contradictions between the Obama administration’s policy in Syria and realities on the ground have become so acute that US officials began last November discussing a proposal calling for support of local ceasefires between opposition forces and the Assad regime in dozens of locations across Syria.

The proposal surfaced in two articles in Foreign Policy magazine and in a column by the Washington Post’s David Ignatius. Those indicated that it was under serious consideration by administration officials. In fact, the proposal may even have played a role in a series of four White House meetings during the week of 6-13 November, to discuss Syria policy, one of which Obama himself presided over.

Ignatius, who usually reflects the views of senior national security officials, suggested that the administration have nothing better to offer than the proposal. And Robert Ford, who served as US ambassador to Syria until last May and is now a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, told David Kenner of Foreign Policy that he believes the White House “is likely to latch onto” the idea of local cease-fires “in the absence of any other plan they’ve been able to develop”.

The proposal also appears to parallel the thinking behind the efforts of new United Nations peace envoy, Steffan de Mistura, who has called for the creation of what he calls “freeze zones” - meaning local ceasefires that would allow humanitarian aid to reach civilian populations.

The fact that the proposal is being taken seriously is especially notable, because it does not promise to achieve the aims of existing policy. Instead, it offers a way out of a policy that could not possibly deliver on the results it promised.

But the implication of such a policy shift would be a tacit acknowledgement that the United States cannot achieve its previous stated goal of unseating the Assad regime in Syria. The Obama administration would certainly deny any such implication, at least initially, for domestic political as well as foreign policy reasons, but the policy would refocus on the immediate need of saving lives and promoting peace, rather than on unrealistic political or military ambitions.

US Syrian policy lurched from Obama’s abortive plan to launch an air war against the Assad regime in September 2013 to the idea that the US would help train thousands of “moderate” Syrian opposition fighters to resist the threat from Islamic State (IS) in September 2014. But the “moderate” forces have no interest in fighting IS. And in any case, they have long-ceased to be a serious rival of IS and other jihadi forces in Syria.

It was no accident that the alternative policy surfaced in November, just as the Free Syrian Army (FSA) had been completely routed from its bases in the north by IS forces. Post columnist Ignatius, whose writing is almost always informed by access to senior national security officials, not only mentioned that route as the context in which a proposal was presented in Washington, but quoted from three messages the desperate FSA commander under attack sent to the US military, requesting air support.

The author of the paper that appears to have struck a chord in Washington, Nir Rosen, is a journalist whose depth of knowledge of human realities on the ground in conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon, is unmatched. His personal encounters with the people and organisations that fought in those conflicts, recounted in his 2010 book, Aftermath, reveal nuances of motives and calculations that can be found nowhere else in the literature.

Rosen now works for the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue in Geneva, which was active in bringing about the local ceasefire in Homs, considered the most significant such achievement so far. Rosen gave Robert Malley, the senior National Security Council official responsible for Syria, a 55-page, single-spaced report, making the case for a policy of supporting the negotiation of local ceasefires, which also calls for “freezing the war as it is”. The report is based on the twin premises that neither side can defeat the other militarily, and that the resulting stalemate strengthens the Islamic State and its jihadi allies in Syria, according to James Traub’s story in Foreign Policy.

Negotiating local deals under the conditions of the Syrian war is devilishly difficult, as anexamination of 35 different local deals by researchers at the London School of Economics and the Syrian NGO Madani shows. Most of the deals were prompted by the Syrian regime’s strategy of besieging opposition enclaves, which meant the regime’s forces were hoping to impose terms that were nothing less than surrender. Sometimes local pro-government militias frustrated potential deals, because of a combination sectarian score-settling and because they were gaining corrupt economic advantages from the sieges they were imposing. (In other cases, however, the pro-government NDF militias lent their supportive to local deals.)

The Syrian regime ultimately recognised that its interests lay in a successful deal in Homs, but the researchers found that the farther military commanders were from the location of fighting, the more they clung to the idea that military victory was still possible. The primary source of pressure for ceasefire, not surprisingly, was from the civilians, who suffered its consequence most heavily. The study observes that the larger the ratio of civilians to fighters in the opposition enclave the stronger the commitment to a ceasefire.

Both the LSE-Madani study and the Integrity Research paper say that international support in the form of both mediators and truce monitors would help establish both clearer arrangements and legal commitments for ceasefire, safe passage and opening routes of humanitarian assistance. Homs is an example of a deal where the UN actually plays a positive role in influencing the implementation of the truce, according to Integrity.

The small steps toward peace and reconciliation that the local truces represent are highly vulnerable unless they lead to a comprehensive process. Even though the challenge from IS is a shadow over the entire process, it is an approach that is likely to be more effective than escalating foreign military involvement. And surprising as it may seem, the LSE-Madani study reveals that even IS concluded a ceasefire deal with a civil society organisation in Aleppo.

But even if the Obama administration recognises the advantages of the proposal of the local ceasefire approach for Syria, it cannot be assumed that it will actually carry out the policy. The reason is the heavy influence of its relations with its main regional allies on Washington. Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar would all reject a policy that would allow a regime they regard as an Iranian ally to persist in Syria. Unless and until the United States can figure out a way to free its Middle East policy from its entangling regional alliances, its policy in Syria will be confused, contradictory and feckless.

- Gareth Porter is an independent investigative journalist and historian writing on US national security policy. His latest book, “Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare,” was published in February 2014.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

The Challenge of the Islamic State and U.S. Policy

By Karl Meyer and Kathy Kelly

What to do about the political mess in the Middle East and the rise of the Islamic State and related political movements?

Shortly after the end of World War II, the Western powers and the whole world began to recognize that the age of explicit colonial domination was over, and dozens of colonies were let go of and took political independence.

It is now past time for the United States and other world powers to recognize that the age of neo-colonial military, political and economic domination, especially in the Islamic Middle East, is decisively coming to a close.

Attempts to maintain it by military force have been disastrous for ordinary people trying to survive in the affected countries. There are powerful cultural currents and political forces in motion in the Middle East that simply will not tolerate military and political domination. There are thousands of people prepared to die rather than accept it.

U.S. policy will find no military fix for this reality.

Stopping Communism by military imposition of subservient government did not work in Vietnam, even with the presence of a half million U.S. troops at one period, the sacrifice of millions of Vietnamese lives, the direct death of about 58,000 U.S. soldiers, and hundreds of thousands of U.S. physical and mental casualties, still ongoing today.

Creating a stable, democratic, friendly government in Iraq has not worked even with the presence of at least a hundred thousand U.S. paid personnel at one period, the cost of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi casualties and deaths, the loss of about 4,400 U.S. troops to direct death, and many more thousands to physical and mental casualties, ongoing today and for many more years to come. The U.S. military attack and occupation has led to fratricidal civil war, economic disaster and misery for millions of ordinary Iraqis trying to survive.

The results in Afghanistan are proving very similar: dysfunctional government, massive corruption, civil war, economic disruption, and misery for millions of ordinary people, at a cost of thousands of deaths, and uncounted thousands of Afghan, U.S., European, and allied casualties, that will continue to manifest symptoms for decades to come.

The U.S./European military intervention in the Libyan revolt left Libya in an unresolved condition of dysfunctional government and civil war.

The Western response to the rebellion in Syria, encouraging and fostering civil war, at the cost of death or misery for millions of Syrian refugees, has only made the situation worse for most Syrians.

We need to think, above all else, about the terrible costs of each of these military interventions for ordinary people trying to live, raise families and survive in each of these countries.

These awful failures of U.S. and European military intervention have led to immense cultural resentment among millions of serious and thoughtful people in Islamic countries of the Middle East. The evolution and emergence of the Islamic State and other militant movements is one challenging response to these realities of economic and political chaos.

Now the United States is engaging in another military intervention, bombing targets in areas of Islamic State control, and trying to persuade surrounding Arab states and Turkey to enter the fray by putting their troops at risk on the ground. The expectation that this will work out better than the interventions cited above seems to us another huge mistake, one that will be equally disastrous for ordinary people caught in the middle.

It is time for the U.S. and Europe to recognize that civil wars in the Middle East will be resolved by the emergence of the most powerful and best organized local movements, in spite of what the U.S. Government agencies, on the one hand, or worldwide humanitarian communities, on the other hand, might prefer.

They may also lead to the rearrangement of national boundaries in the Middle East that were arbitrarily set by European colonial powers a hundred years ago at the end of World War I. This has already occurred with Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and other eastern European countries.

What U.S. Policies Might Foster Political Stability and Economic Recovery in Areas of Conflict?

1) The U.S. should end its current provocative drive toward military alliances and missile deployments encircling the boundaries of Russia and China. The U.S. should accept pluralism of economic and political power in the contemporary world. Present policies are provoking a return to Cold War with Russia, and a tendency to begin a Cold War with China This is a lose/lose proposition for all countries involved.

2) By turning toward a reset of policy toward cooperating with Russia, China and other influential countries within the framework of the United Nations, the United States could foster international mediation and political pressure from a broad consensus of countries to resolve the civil wars in Syria and other countries by negotiation, devolution of power, and other political solutions. It might also reset its relationship toward friendly cooperation with Iran in the Middle East and resolve the threat of nuclear weapons proliferation in Iran, North Korea and any other potential nuclear weapons states. There is no essentially inherent reason why the U.S. needs to continue a hostile relationship with Iran.

3) The U.S. should offer reparations to ordinary people harmed by U.S. military interventions, and generous medical and economic aid and technical expertise wherever it may be helpful in other countries, and thus build a reservoir of international goodwill and positive influence.

4) It’s time to embrace a post-neo-colonial period of international cooperation through diplomatic institutions, international organizations, and non-governmental initiatives.

Syria News - Dec 1, 2014

ISIS Launches Attack On Syria's Kobani From Turkey: Activists - AP

VIDEO: An Islamic State sniper is seen shooting from a grain depot on the Turkish side of the border with Syria - Daily Mail Online

Witnesses: ISIS vehicle and members came from Turkish side - ANF

Kurdish forces call for Turkish investigation into ISIS Kobani attack - ASHARQ AL-AWSAT

YPG statement on attack staged from Turkey by ISIS, and cross-border defensive actions taken - twitter.com

Geolocation of IS Attack on Kobane from Turkey: Open Source Analysis - Turkey Wonk

VIDEO (Arabic): FSA fighters fighting in Kobane border blame Turkey - LiveLeak.com

Rally in Turkish town of Suruc denounces ISIL attack on Kobani from Turkey (VIDEO) - PressTV

“Under the pretense of stopping an ISIS attack on Turkey the Turkish army bombarded the center of Kobane with tanks and artillery”: co-chair of the Kobane canton - Rudaw

Female Canadian-Israeli fighter said abducted by Islamic State near Kobane - The Times of Israel

VIDEO: Female Canadian-Israeli Fighter Allegedly Captured in Syria by ISIS - LiveLeak.com

VIDEO: Footage of clashes in Mürşitpınar area of Kobane - ANF

Belgian fighter admits that Islamic State is lacking manpower - emmejihad

Peshmerga Commander: ‘ISIS severely debilitated in Kobane’ - Kurdish Question

Iraqi Kurds to send Peshmerga replacement troops to Kobani - Worldbulletin News

Turkey's Erdogan calls for ground operation against Islamic State - Vestnik Kavkaza

Pope Francis fails to find common ground with Erdogan (VIDEO) - CSMonitor.com

Pope Francis in Istanbul condemns ‘barbaric violence’ of Islamic State, says fighting hunger and poverty, rather than military intervention alone, are key to stopping it - Reuters

Pope calls on Muslim leaders worldwide to condemn terrorism - Yahoo News UK

30 coalition airstrikes pound IS stronghold Raqqa in Syria - The Seattle Times

Inside Raqqa, the Islamic State’s capital: Red Bull-drinking jihadists, hungry civilians, crucifixions and air strikes - The Guardian

US flies roughly 85 percent of airstrikes against Islamic State, in complex mix of tactics, politics - Fox News

Islamic State has a 'dirty bomb' says British jihadi - Daily Mail Online

Islamists come out on top in new effort to unify Syrian rebel groups - McClatchy DC

Al Qaeda group Jabhat Al Nusra losing influence in southern Syria - The National

Al- Nusra Front kills 13 fighters from al- Ansar brigades in Idlib - Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

VIDEO: Jabhat al-Nusra Move Into Southern Idlib Village After Reported Clash with Free Syrian Army Unit - YouTube

Flesh-eating maggot disease surfaces in Syria - Al Arabiya News

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Syria/Iraq News - Nov 18, 2014

Islamic State Executed 1,432 Syrians Outside Battle Since June, 882 were civilians and 483 members of pro-government forces: Report - Reuters

New Islamic State Video Shows Beheading Of American Hostage Peter Kassig and More than a Dozen Captured Syrian Soldiers - Fox Nation

VIDEOS: The Islamic State video split in two short versions showing beheading of Peter Kassig and Syrian soldiers - LeakSource

VIDEO: Full Islamic State video titled “Although the disbelievers dislike it” showing beheading of Kassig and Syrian soldiers - Clarion Project

MAP: Alleged location of the Islamic State execution of Kassig in the Syrian town of Dabiq, north of Aleppo - twitter.com/Raqqa_Sl

8 Reasons Why The Peter Kassig Islamic State Video Is A Game-Changer - huffingtonpost.com

ISIS' Final American Hostage in Caliphate is 26-Year-Old Female Aid Worker - ibtimes.co.uk

Exclusive: Obama Orders Hostage Policy Review - The Daily Beast

Islamic State executions: European jihadis take lead roles in killing video - CBS News

Peter Kassig killing comes as Islamic State suffers first battlefield defeats - Telegraph

Latest Islamic State horror masks a week of defeats - The Guardian

Islamic State apparent beheading video 'sign of desperation' - CNN.com

Peter Kassig Beheading: Study Shows Executions Do Not Help Terror Groups Achieve Aims - ibtimes.co.uk

REPORT: Does Terrorism Pay? An Empirical Analysis - Academia.edu

VIDEO, PHOTOS: Blood bath: ISIS executed 18 persons in Raqqa - Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently

PHOTOS: Blood bath: More photos of ISIS execution of civilians in Raqqa - LiveLeak.com

Horror in Raqqa: ‘Islamic Court’ decided not to execute a sentence by shooting or decapitation, but instead invited the crowd to trample three Syrian officers - voltairenet.org

ISIS Boot Camp Syria: Children as Young as 10 Forced to Behead Syrian Soldiers - ibtimes.co.in

PHOTO: Sickening photo shows warped ISIS fanatics making baby kick severed head - yournewswire.com

ISIS kills six doctors in Mosul for refusing to treat wounded fighters - Rudaw

Yazidi Girls Seized by ISIS Speak Out After Escape - NYTimes.com

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Kurds say Islamic State militants near defeat in Kobani - LA Times

Islamic State Casualties Mount in Kobani Amid War of Attrition - Bloomberg

5 Kurdish villages and hamlets liberated from ISIS in Serêkaniyê - ANF

Child soldiers enlisted by Kurds to fight against Islamic State in Syria - The Washington Post

Obama says no change in Syria policy, Assad still not priority - todayszaman.com

Spokesman: Nusra is looking for a ceasefire, not a larger merger with IS, because it wants to focus on fighting “just the Alawites” - Syria Direct

Syrian rebels abandon Aleppo, leader flees to Turkey - hurriyetdailynews.com

Syria agrees ‘in principle’ to De Mistura freeze - THE DAILY STAR

Qatari Minister Warns on U.S.-Led Airstrikes in Syria - WSJ

Terror financiers are living freely in Qatar, US discloses - Telegraph

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Islamic State fighters are retreating from Baiji oil refinery, Iraq officials say - The Washington Post

Peshmerga repel ISIS attack near Mosul, several militants killed - Rudaw

Centcom Officials Provide Inherent Resolve Airstrike Details in Syria and Iraq - Defense.gov

Iraqi PM's Office denies Abadi and Dempsey discussed deployment of foreign troops, says 'Iraq doesn’t need any' - Iraqi News

Obama ‘Would Order’ US Troops into Combat If ISIS Got Nuclear Weapon - KTIC Radio

Seize All Tanker Trucks to and From Islamic State Areas, UN Says - Businessweek

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Minimizing ISIL numbers -- just like the Viet Cong

How Many Islamic State Fighters Are There?

November 16, 2014

Editor Note: As the United States slides back into war in the Middle East, the specter of Vietnam hovers over the endeavor with some observers wondering if wishful thinking will again replace hardheaded analysis about the risks and the costs.

By Ray McGovern

Why was I reminded of Vietnam on Saturday when Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited Iraq to “get a firsthand look at the situation in Iraq, receive briefings, and get better sense of how the campaign is progressing” against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL?

Iraq/Syria News - Nov 15, 2014

Islamic State advances halted in some areas of Iraq, U.S. defense officials say - The Washington Post

Iraq retakes strategic oil town of Baiji from jihadists - Daily Mail Online

VIDEO: Islamic State fighters driven out of Iraq's Baiji - YouTube

Has ISIS peaked? Terror group suffers setbacks in Iraq - CNN.com

IS adopting a defensive strategy in Iraq to avoid airstrikes, military says that Iraqi ground troops can "move to offense" - rferl.org

Iraq: ISIS has Trenches,Tunnels and Bomb Shelters to Counter U.S. Air Attacks [VIDEO] - ibtimes.co.in

Hagel says air war against Islamic State will intensify - Al Arabiya News

U.S. Central Command News Release: Military Airstrikes Continue Against ISIL in Syria, Iraq - Defense.gov

Obama calls for more funds in the fight against ISIS, Key figures highlighted in the 34-page letter (Full text) - whitehouse.gov

Obama seeks human-rights waiver on Islamic State war funds - AP

POLL: Obama’s ISIS war is surprisingly popular in the Arab world - Vox

VIDEO: House considers how to cut off funding from the Islamic State - WashingtonExaminer.com

Qatar, Kuwait could improve anti-terror financing efforts: US Treasury - turkishweekly.net

Iraq's Premier Shakes up His Military - ABC News

Iraq seeks advanced precision-kill weapon systems from US - Army Technology

Baghdad and Kurds Reach Deal on Oil - WSJ

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Hagel discounts targeting Assad in Islamic State fight, “Our military aims in Syria are limited to destroying ISIL’s safe havens” - Chicago Tribune

Full Hagel Statement on the Strategy and Military Campaign Against ISIL Before the House Armed Services Committee - groundreport.com

Canada is at war with ISIS, not Syria, Stephen Harper says - CBC News

Activists say US-led Syria airstrikes kill at least 860: 746 Islamic State militants, 68 members of Nusra Front and 50 civilians - Military.com

US Hits Al-Qaida Militants in Syria for Third Time - ABC News

YPG forces retake control of strategic mountain in Kobani - Kurdpress News Aganecy

Kurds block an Islamic State supply route to Syria's Kobani - Reuters

PYD says ready to cooperate with US against IS to keep control of region - Kurdpress News Aganecy

Opposition Figures Claim ISIS, Nusra Front Agree To Cooperate In Syria - AP

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

Jabhat al-Nusra eyes Idlib for Islamic emirate - Al-Monitor

Video Shows Al Nusra Tanks Pushing North Towards 'Another Kobane’ (VIDEO) - VICE News

UN envoy to Syria De Mistura's focus is on 'Aleppo First' - Al-Monitor

FSA reject UN's Aleppo truce plan - Al Jazeera English

Syrian National Coalition Leader Bahra: De Mistura’s Plan is Unclear - etilaf.org

Red Cross offers to help reconcile warring Syria sides - THE DAILY STAR

Syrian 'hero boy' video faked by Norwegian director - BBC News

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New UN report depicts ‘relentless assault’ on civilians in ISIL-controlled Syria including public beheading, shooting and stoning - United Nations

REPORT: Rule of Terror: Living under ISIS in Syria - United Nations

ISIS denying food, medicine to hundreds of thousands in Syria, UN report says - Fox News

Airstrikes Fail to Slow ISIS' Iraq Killing Spree, Database Suggests - NBC News.com

Iraq: Bomb Blast Kills 15 in Northern Baghdad - ABC News

Islamic State leader claims 'caliphate' has expanded to more countries in new audio message - The Long War Journal

The Islamic State's Archipelago of Provinces - The Washington Institute for Near East Policy

AUDIO (Arabic): Islamic State leader Baghdadi's new audio message - gulfup.com

TRANSCRIPT (English): Islamic State leader Baghdadi's new audio message - gulfup.com

A video allegedly showing the leader of the Islamic State getting injured in an airstrike, wearing the same Rolex watch which he wore during his sermon at Mosul (VIDEO) - ibtimes.co.in

Islamic State to mint own Islamic dinar coins in gold, silver and copper - The Guardian

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A Veterans Day Story: Iraq Veterans' Emily Yates vs. the Federal Military Machine

By John Grant

When you tuck your children in at night
Don’t tell ‘em it’s for freedom that we fight
- Emily Yates

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Syria News - Nov 6, 2014

Obama to seek authorization from Congress for Islamic State fight - Reuters

Airstrikes Continue Against ISIL in Kobane - Defense.gov

VIDEO: Two Huge Explosions in Kobane Target ISIL Positions - NBC News.com

Peshmerga fighters 'heavily shelling’ Islamic State in Kobane: commander - Kurdish Institute of Paris

VIDEO: First footage of peshmerga in action inside Kobane! Here they are firing Katyusha at ISIS - Jenan Moussa on Twitter

Interview with commander on the Kobane battle: ‘YPG acting with the Peshmerga like a single army’ - ANF

Peshmerga: more military reinforcements left Erbil on Monday heading to Kobane - ARA News

Turkey says it received no demand for more peshmerga fighters in Kobani - todayszaman.com

Turkish military angered by Ankara’s peshmerga move - Al-Monitor

POLL: Like Turkey’s Erdogan, most Turks disapprove of helping Kobane - Rudaw

KRG to Open Offices in Rojava Cantons - BAS NEWS

YPG commander: Islamic State Stops Attacks in Kobani - BAS NEWS

YPG and Islamic State Group Maneuver beyond Kobani - teleSUR

5 villages and 23 hamlets liberated by YPG in Serêkaniyê - ANF

Islamic State releases 93 Syrian Kurds: monitor - Yahoo News UK

Some Kurds help Islamic State with terrain, language in battle for Kobani - Fox News

Kobane official calls for more outside help to defeat Islamic State, thanks the United States and the Iraqi Peshmerga - Rudaw

Syrian Kurdish leader notes change in West’s attitudes, says PYD ''is no longer seen as a terrorist organization’’ - turkishweekly.net

Syria: Islamic State Tortured Kobani Child Hostages - Human Rights Watch

Islamic State warns Kurdish female fighters face forced marriage - Al Arabiya News

Islamic State Looks To Mediterranean To Continue Oil Operations - oilprice.com

Syria army retakes gas fields from Islamic State jihadists: activists - THE DAILY STAR

Exclusive: Washington cuts funds for investigating Bashar al-Assad's war crimes, while is stepping up funding to collect evidence of war crimes in Iraq by the Islamic State - foreignpolicy

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Pentagon Confirms Militant Group Al-Nusra Has Gained Ground In Syria, Doesn't View Events As 'Major Setback' - KMBZ

US considers expanded airstrikes in Syria against al-Nusra - TheHill

US-Trained Syrian Rebels Defect to Al-Qaeda, Surrender Weapons - breitbart.com

VIDEO: Nusra Front captures US made weapons in Idlib - YouTube

Al Qaeda militants mass near key Bab al-Hawa border crossing, important supply route for fighters in Syria - Toronto Star

Al-Qaeda’s Bid for Power in Northwest Syria - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Leader of Syria Al-Qaeda wing threatens strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon - ASHARQ AL-AWSAT

AUDIO (Arabic): First al-Nusra leader Joulani interview for months. Explains why Nusra attacked SRF leader Maarouf & who helped - Joshua Landis on Twitter

In audio message Joulani says the 'international coalition/alliance' is intending to destroy Jabhat al-Nusra & 'Jamaat ad-Dawla' [Islamic State] - Aymenn J Al-Tamimi on Twitter

DOD, Coalition Working Out Details for Syrian Opposition Training Program - Defense.gov

VIDEO: Plan to Train and Equip Syrian Opposition Forces Progresses - DoD Videos

TRANSCRIPT: Department of Defense Press Briefing by Rear Adm. Kirby - Defense.gov

VIDEO: John Kirby Briefs Pentagon Press Corps - DoDNEWS Videos

France urges anti-IS coalition to help Aleppo rebels holdout against Assad - Yahoo News

Turkey warns of threat to Aleppo from Assad, fears new refugee influx - turkishweekly.net

Turkish border attacks work of Assad spies in FSA, Syrian opposition commander claims - todayszaman.com

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Syria/Iraq News - Nov 2, 2014

Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga reinforcements arrive in Kobane - Al Jazeera America

VIDEO: Iraqi Kurdish reinforcements arrive in Kobane - YouTube

VIDEO: Peshmerga Handshake with YPG in Kobane - YouTube

Peshmerga in Kobane fire rockets at Islamic State - Al Jazeera English

VIDEO: Breaking: Peshmerga Forces have launched attacks on ISIS in Kobane - Al Jazeera

Iraqi fighters lift spirits in Syria siege town Kobane - Yahoo News

U.S. Launches 10 Air Strikes In Syria, Iraq - huffingtonpost.com

Source inside Kobane: "ISIS couldn't even attack the peshmerga convoy. Coalition planes bombed ISIS heavily as convoy moved in - Jenan Moussa on Twitter

President Barzani: Kobane will not fall to terrorists - Rudaw

Joint message from YPG and Peshmerga for “national army” - ANF

Kobani clashes kill 100 ISIS jihadists in 3 days: monitor - THE DAILY STAR

Al Qaeda group Nusra seizes bastion of Western-backed SRF rebels in Syria's Idlib region - Reuters

Islamic State and Nusra Front, former rivals, team up against SRF rebels in Idlib - UPI.com

Syria rebels deploy peacekeepers in Idlib - THE DAILY STAR

Al- Nusra Front's proposals to stop fighting with the SRF - Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

VIDEO: SRF’s Jamal Marouf explains why he withdrew from Jabal al-Zawiya, Idlib after Nusra takeover yesterday - Twitter

Aleppo ‘at risk’ after FSA fighters were sent to Kobane: Commander - hurriyetdailynews

U.S. Spying on Syria Yields Bonus: Intelligence on Islamic State - WSJ

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Global day for Kobani: Thousands march to support Kurds’ fight against Islamic State (VIDEOS, PHOTOS) - RT News

VIDEO: Kurds worldwide march in solidarity with Kobani - YouTube

Thousands protest in Turkey to show solidarity with Kobane Kurds - Yahoo!7

PHOTO: Kurds rally in Amed, Turkey - Twitter

Erdogan decries coalition's focus on Kobane, says nations fighting IS should turn attention to areas other than the Kurdish town - Al Jazeera

Kurds protest at Erdogan visit to Paris - ekurd

PHOTO: Kurds rally in Paris - Twitter

Putin: Turkey is governed by a demagogue dictator who supports terrorists - AWDNews

Erdogan’s new $350 mln palace draws controversy - Al Arabiya News

VIDEO: Kurdish demonstration for Kobane in Frankfurt - YouTube

VIDEO: Solidarity with Kobane Demonstration - Manchester - YouTube

VIDEO: Kurdish demonstration for Kobane in Toronto - YouTube

European Parliament to host Kobanê conference - ANF

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ISIS militants line up, kill 50 tribesmen and women in Iraq town - Fox News

PHOTO: Islamic State kills 50 tribesmen and women in Iraq town - LiveLeak.com

Iraq: ISIS Executed Hundreds of Prison Inmates, Mostly Shiites - Human Rights Watch

VIDEO: Survivors of ISIS massacre tell their stories for the first time - LiveLeak.com

US condemns ISIS “depravity” in alleged executions, amid reports of discoveries of mass graves and the slaying of Sunni Muslim tribesmen - Rudaw

Grim Fate Awaits Women, Girls Captured by Islamic State Group - VOA

VIDEO: “Whoever wants to sell, I’ll buy” - ISIS fighters excitedly discuss buying Yazidi women - Charles Lister on Twitter

Foreign Fighters Are Flooding Into Iraq and Syria to Join the Islamic State: UN - VICE News

ISIS advertising for skilled professionals to man its failing oil fields - Daily Mail Online

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Iraq/Syria News - Oct 29, 2014

Pentagon: Iraqi Forces Make Gains Against Islamic State - Defense.gov

Pentagon: Destruction of Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq limits its ability to project power and conduct operations - Defense.gov

VIDEO: Pentagon: Despite the damage of recent airstrikes Islamic State is still able to recruit new fighters - DoDNEWS

VIDEO: John Kirby's Pentagon Press Briefing - DoDNEWS

Iraqi army take down Islamic State flag in Jurf al-Sakhr (PHOTOS, VIDEO) - Daily Mail Online

VIDEO: Iraqi army retakes strategic town of Jurf al-Sakhr - YouTube

Kurdish Peshmerga Takes Control of Three Strategic Roads Near Mosul - BAS NEWS

French warplanes bomb Islamic State camp in Iraq - The Long War Journal

Advanced surface-to-air missile thought to have been supplied to Syrian rebels by Qatar against American wishes has been filmed in the hands of IS jihadists in Iraq - Telegraph

Islamic State has a guide to shoot down Apache helicopters with MANPADS - The Washington Post

VIDEO: Does Islamic Statge Have Anti Aircraft Missiles? - YouTube

Suicide bomb kills 27 Shiite fighters near Baghdad (VIDEO) - CSMonitor.com

Iraq special ops dismantle Islamic State linked cell in Baghdad - Al-Shorfa

Iraq: Abadi agrees to the creation of a 30,000-strong force of volunteers against Islamic State in Anbar - ASHARQ AL-AWSAT

US airdrops aid for Sunnis under Islamic State's aggression in western Iraq: Pentagon - breitbart.com

U.S. official urges allies to combat Islamic State ideology indoctrinating disaffected young Muslims- AP

Anbar tribal campaign aims to destroy Islamic State books - Al-Shorfa

Joint US-UAE task force to choke off Islamic State funding - The National

US war on Islamic State costing $US8.3 million a day - skynews.com

Analysis: A month ago, Islamic State’s advance looked unstoppable. Now it’s been stopped. - Vox

Obama White House did little to stop 'The Rise of ISIS,' says 'Frontline' documentary - Yahoo News

Soufan report offers new detail on scope and scale of Islamic State - Marshable

REPORT: Ordered Chaos: The Structure of The Islamic State - The Soufan Group

Islamic State’s Political-Military Power in Iraq - Combating Terrorism Center at West Point

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Kurdish Peshmerga troops arrive in Turkey en route to fight Islamic State militants in Kobani - AP

VIDEO: Peshmerga head for Syria's Kobane to fight Islamic State - YouTube

Hostage John Cantlie 'news report' video says Islamic State close to taking Kobani - LA Times

VIDEO: Hostage John Cantlie 'news report' video says Islamic State close to taking Kobani - YouTube

Iran accuses Turkey of prolonging civil war in Syria and supporting "terrorist groups"- Yahoo News

Turkey disagrees with US, Russia, Iran on Syria: Erdoğan - hurriyetdailynews

Turkey wants anti-Assad FSA rebels to control Kobane: PM - Yahoo News

Syrian Kurds Reject FSA Involvement in Kobani Battle - SYRIA 360°

Video shows Islamic State fighters talking with Turkish border guards (VIDEO, PHOTOS) - Daily Mail Online

Interview: SPIEGEL ONLINE met up with an Islamic State recruiter in Turkey - SPIEGEL ONLINE

The Secret Life of the Islamic State Chechen Warlord - The Daily Beast

Nusra Front, maybe with Islamic State help, seizes territory from another Syrian rebel group - THE DAILY STAR

U.S. wants Syria rebels to fight IS not Assad, sees them in political not military solution: Asharq al-Awsat newspaper - THE DAILY STAR

Lebanese military foil part of Islamic State-Nusra scheme to establish Islamic emirate - THE DAILY STAR

Lebanon’s pot farmers gear up for a fight with Islamic State - The Washington Post

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U.S. Sends Planes Armed with Depleted Uranium to Middle East

There's a version of this story at Al Jazeera.

The U.S. Air Force says it is not halting its use of Depleted Uranium weapons, has recently sent them to the Middle East, and is prepared to use them.

A type of airplane, the A-10, deployed this month to the Middle East by the U.S. Air National Guard's 122nd Fighter Wing, is responsible for more Depleted Uranium (DU) contamination than any other platform, according to the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons (ICBUW). "Weight for weight and by number of rounds more 30mm PGU-14B ammo has been used than any other round," said ICBUW coordinator Doug Weir, referring to ammunition used by A-10s, as compared to DU ammunition used by tanks.

Public affairs superintendent Master Sgt. Darin L. Hubble of the 122nd Fighter Wing told me that the A-10s now in the Middle East along with "300 of our finest airmen" have been sent there on a deployment planned for the past two years and have not been assigned to take part in the current fighting in Iraq or Syria, but "that could change at any moment."

The crews will load PGU-14 depleted uranium rounds into their 30mm Gatling cannons and use them as needed, said Hubble. "If the need is to explode something -- for example a tank -- they will be used."

Pentagon spokesman Mark Wright told me, "There is no prohibition against the use of Depleted Uranium rounds, and the [U.S. military] does make use of them. The use of DU in armor-piercing munitions allows enemy tanks to be more easily destroyed."

On Thursday, several nations, including Iraq, spoke to the United Nations First Committee, against the use of Depleted Uranium and in support of studying and mitigating the damage in already contaminated areas. A non-binding resolution is expected to be voted on by the Committee this week, urging nations that have used DU to provide information on locations targeted. A number of organizations are delivering a petition to U.S. officials this week urging them not to oppose the resolution.

In 2012 a resolution on DU was supported by 155 nations and opposed by just the UK, U.S., France, and Israel. Several nations have banned DU, and in June Iraq proposed a global treaty banning it -- a step also supported by the European and Latin American Parliaments.

Wright said that the U.S. military is "addressing concerns on the use of DU by investigating other types of materials for possible use in munitions, but with some mixed results. Tungsten has some limitations in its functionality in armor-piercing munitions, as well as some health concerns based on the results of animal research on some tungsten-containing alloys. Research is continuing in this area to find an alternative to DU that is more readily accepted by the public, and also performs satisfactorily in munitions."

"I fear DU is this generation's Agent Orange," U.S. Congressman Jim McDermott told me. "There has been a sizable increase in childhood leukemia and birth defects in Iraq since the Gulf War and our subsequent invasion in 2003. DU munitions were used in both those conflicts. There are also grave suggestions that DU weapons have caused serious health issues for our Iraq War veterans. I seriously question the use of these weapons until the U.S. military conducts a full investigation into the effect of DU weapon residue on human beings."

Doug Weir of ICBUW said renewed use of DU in Iraq would be "a propaganda coup for ISIS." His and other organizations opposed to DU are guardedly watching a possible U.S. shift away from DU, which the U.S. military said it did not use in Libya in 2011. Master Sgt. Hubble of the 122nd Fighter Wing believes that was simply a tactical decision. But public pressure had been brought to bear by activists and allied nations' parliaments, and by a UK commitment not to use DU.

DU is classed as a Group 1 Carcinogen by the World Health Organization, and evidence of health damage produced by its use is extensive. The damage is compounded, Jeena Shah at the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) told me, when the nation that uses DU refuses to identify locations targeted. Contamination enters soil and water. Contaminated scrap metal is used in factories or made into cooking pots or played with by children.

CCR and Iraq Veterans Against the War have filed a Freedom of Information Act Request in an attempt to learn the locations targeted in Iraq during and after the 1991 and 2003 assaults. The UK and the Netherlands have revealed targeted locations, Shah pointed out, as did NATO following DU use in the Balkans. And the United States has revealed locations it targeted with cluster munitions. So why not now?

"For years," Shah said, "the U.S. has denied a relationship between DU and health problems in civilians and veterans. Studies of UK veterans are highly suggestive of a connection. The U.S. doesn't want studies done." In addition, the United States has used DU in civilian areas and identifying those locations could suggest violations of Geneva Conventions.

Iraqi doctors will be testifying on the damage done by DU before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commissionin Washington, D.C., in December.

Meanwhile, the Obama Administration said on Thursday that it will be spending $1.6 million to try to identify atrocities committed in Iraq . . . by ISIS.