Britain and Isis/Isil/Jihadi John - our involvement and all things related

[Bev]

Forget that 450. Khalid Mahmood says it could be 2000 or more.

A Birmingham MP has revealed he knows of three Birmingham men who have been arrested after travelling to fight in Syria and Iraq.

Khalid Mahmood, Labour member for Perry Barr, added that up to 2,000 British residents are thought to have travelled to the warzone.

Mr Mahmood said that in one case the young man was arrested on his return after fighting for nine months in the Middle East – after the student’s mother contacted police.

He was speaking after William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, told the Commons that the Government believed up to 400 British residents might be fighting in Syria.

Mr Hague warned that they could pose a risk to the UK once they returned.

Earlier this month, a video posted online by militant group the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant or Isil (also sometimes called Isis) appeared to show British and Australian nationals urging Muslims to join them in holy war in Iraq.

Mr Mahmood said he believed the number was “certainly 1,500 and possibly 2,000 or more.”

Speaking to the Birmingham Mail, he said: “If you look across the country, you look across Birmingham and you look at what’s gone on, it’s a high number.

“The first wave of people that went across included British Syrians and British Kurds. The original so-called freedom fighters who went were people who had families in Syria.

“And then they were followed by British Muslims – Asian Muslims predominantly and possibly Somalian Muslims too.”

The MP said he knew of three Birmingham men who had joined a group called Jabhat al-Nusra, which is connected to Al-Qaeda.

“Two of my constituents at the moment are held up in prison. They are two lads who went from Birmingham, who were at Birmingham City University, radicalised within six months and went to join al-Nusra and they came back – there was a third lad with them from Sheldon – and they have all been arrested.

“This was just before December when they came back after nine months having spent nine months there, because one of the lads left a note to his mum saying ‘I am going to join al-Nusra’, so she called the police and told them what was going on. They were able to pick him up when he came back.

“Once people have been radicalised, and are used to using weapons and resolving situations using live ammunition and weapons, I think it is difficult to say them alright, you can come back and it will be okay.”

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said they did not have figures for numbers of people arrested on return to the UK from the Middle East conflict.

ht tp://ww w.birminghammail.co.uk/news/khalid-mahmood-2000-british-fighters-7312675

[Bev]

A third jihadist featured in a recruitment video released by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has been identified as a prayer caller at a city mosque in Aberdeen.

Abdul Rakib Amin settled in the northeast of Scotland with his family after travelling from Bangladesh.

As a teenager he attended the Aberdeen Mosque and Islamic Centre, where he volunteered as a "mu'adhdhin", someone who calls worshippers to prayer.

Sources at the mosque have told Sky News that Amin "never, ever" showed radical tendencies.

They say that if he had he would have been immediately reported to the police, with whom the mosque has a close relationship.

As a youngster, Amin also attended St Machar Academy in Aberdeen and friends in the city describe him as a well-integrated member of society who was a keen footballer player.


Having grown up in the Froghall area of Aberdeen, he and his family moved to Leicester several years ago.

In the video posted on Youtube, Amin appears alongside two Cardiff students - Reyaad Khan and Nasser Muthana, both aged 20 - urging Westerners to join the fighting in Iraq and Syria.

ISIS has seized several cities and towns across northern and western Iraq in recent weeks in a lightning offensive which has put the Iraqi government on the back foot.

A member of Aberdeen's Muslim community who knew Amin told Sky News: "He was more of a lad than a regular attendee at the mosque.

"He was a happy guy, played football - he was a good player and he supported Aberdeen.

"I remember him as a hyper person, energetic and loud... not the type of person you'd expect to go and do this."

He said that the community wanted to distance themselves from Amin's actions in Syria.
ISI fighter stands guard at checkpoint near the city of Biji ISIS fighters have captured many towns and cities in Iraq

"We don't want our community tainted because some idiot's gone commando."

Police and Cardiff's Muslim community have been trying to establish how Khan and Muthana were lured into fighting in Iraq and Syria.

Video has emerged of notorious Saudi cleric Mohammed al Arifi preaching at Cardiff's Al Manar mosque, attended by Khan and Muthana, as well as his brother Aseel who is also with ISIS.

Mr Arifi is banned from Switzerland for his extremist views - but has visited the UK several times.

However, trustees at the mosque have suggested the young men may have been radicalised online, rather than by members of Cardiff's Muslim community.

The parents of both young men have said they did not know of their sons' intentions to join the jihad and have pleaded for them to come home.

Meanwhile, Khalid Mahmood MP told Sky News that many more British Muslims than previously thought could have been recruited by Islamist militants.

"I imagine 1,500 certainly would be the lower end. If you look across the whole of the country, there's been a number of people going across," he said.

h ttp://ne ws.sky.com/story/1288002/british-jihadist-was-prayer-caller-at-mosque

[Bev]

The Telegraph reporter seems impressed by the slickness.

Isis, the powerful jihadist group pushing toward Baghdad, is waging a parallel war online, flooding social media with updates and riding the football World Cup frenzy to spread its message with corporate-like sophistication.

As militants, led by jihadists from Isis, advanced on the ground in Iraq, they also invaded microblogging site Twitter, where users posted a near-constant stream of updates and photos.

Isis puts “not just other insurgent groups to shame, but even legitimate companies that are trying to sell products online,” said Aaron Zelin of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said.

“They are very, very good.”

When Iraqi security forces wilted in the face of the initial militant onslaught, users posted pictures of captured military vehicles and positions on Twitter, as well as short accounts of attacks.


After the Isis-led militants seized most of the northern province of Nineveh, photos of it bulldozing the berm dividing Iraq from Syria, symbolising the unification of the two countries, appeared online as well.

And when Isis said it executed Iraqi security forces members in Salaheddin province, images of militants firing on scores of men, who lay facedown in shallow ditches as blood pooled in the sand, were posted on Twitter and elsewhere online.

The group has also taken advantage of the massive international focus on the World Cup to spread its content on Twitter during the offensive, which has overrun major areas of five provinces and reached to within 60 miles of Baghdad.

Major events are often given hashtags such as #WorldCup2014 that allow Twitter users to easily search for related content.

The group has hijacked World Cup hashtags in English and Arabic to share pro-Isis content, in addition to using various Isis-specific hashtags as well.

“Isis appears to be fusing both quantity and quality increasingly effectively,” said Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Centre.

“The constant flow of material and its high quality provides followers with the image of a highly organised, well-equipped organisation seemingly (worthy) of joining,” he said.

“For this reason, countering this propaganda material should arguably be seen as being as important as stemming the intensity of conflict in the region.”

For militant groups, the fight over public perception can be even more important than actual combat, turning military losses into propaganda victories and battlefield successes into powerful tools to build support for the cause.

“They have a really smart plan. All jihadi groups are very good at what they do, but [Isis] really stands out,” said Zelin.

“They have been targeting their messages to people of different languages using popular hashtags [and] they have also created their own [application] for Twitter,” he said.

Zelin said the application, which has since been discontinued, would send out the same message on all linked Twitter accounts, “so it would flood things”.

“Therefore, they would be able to own a particular issue or message or topic they were trying to push out there,” he said.

The fate of the application, however, illustrates a problem faced by jihadists on Twitter and other social media sites that have rules under which users advocating violence or posting other objectionable content may be suspended or banned.

When the offensive began late on June 9, there were Isis-affiliated Twitter accounts dedicated to various “wilayas,” or states, into which the group divides Iraq.

But some accounts covering areas where the fighting took place were suspended by Twitter as the offensive progressed.

For Isis, “the question will be, how do they react and evolve or be able to continue to communicate to a broader audience,” Zelin said.

Nathaniel Rabkin, the managing editor of the Inside Iraqi Politics newsletter, said that Isis is also carrying out on-the-ground propaganda efforts in Iraq, such as “holding mass ‘repentance’ gatherings, where policemen, soldiers, and Sahwa [militia] men pledge to stop working with the government.”

“I suspect these street theatre type of events are more important avenues of propaganda for [Isis] inside Iraq than the videos posted online, which may be more directed at an international audience,” he said.

htt p://ww w.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/10923046/How-Isis-used-Twitter-and-the-World-Cup-to-spread-its-terror.html

[NewsFeed]

New pictures emerge showing the happy teenager who, only around a year later, would become a militant Islamic extremist.

Please wait while this video loads. If it doesn't load after a few seconds you may need to have Adobe Flash installed.

The images, uncovered by Channel 4 News, show an apparently happy Aseel Muthana, whose older brother appeared in a propaganda video released by Isis, on a day out paintballing with friends. It is thought he was with friends from a mainstream Islamic society, which is not thought to have any links to extremism.

They emerge as an imam, who knew Aseel as an adolescent, describes the changes he and his brother Nasser went through as they transformed from "normal" teenagers to Islamist extremists.

Sheikh Zane Abdo, imam of the South Wales Islamic Centre, said Nasser Muthana, now 20, and his 17-year-old brother Aseel were "very well-spoken, very sincere", but went through a strange period in their lives.

He said the brothers "liked watching movies, did a lot of school" like normal teenagers. There was "nothing that suggested that they were going to go down the route that they went down", he said.

"However, they went through a very strange period when they said they were becoming quite serious in their faith and then began to start to expressing certain views that were quite political, particularly the older brother," he added.

"Neither of them in the past year and a half to two years frequented this mosque or attended any of the sermons or any of my classes that I have been giving for the past three and a half years," said Sheikh Abdo.

'Brainwashed'

Nasser Muthana and Reyaad Khan, 20, have been identified as two of the three British men in the Isis recruitment video, while the identity of the other remains unknown. Aseel Muthana is also believed to have travelled to Syria without his parents' knowledge. A fourth man appeared in the video, reported to be an Australian who has since been killed.

But a local community leader and friend of Khan's family said the young men could still be reintegrated if they returned home. Mohammed Sarul Islam told the Guardian newspaper: "This is a close-knit community that will be able to work together and bring them back to the good side from the bad side. I believe that can happen."

Reyaad Khan, 20, was said to have once dreamed of becoming Britain's first Asian prime minister. Nasser Muthana once planned to go to medical school, it has been reported. They are believed to be fighting with Isis, which has been involved in the war in Syria and has recently taken large swathes of neighbouring Iraq.

Their families expressed their anguish after learning that their sons had travelled to join Isis. Khan's mother, who has not been identified, appealed to her only son to come home. She also said the young men had been "brainwashed".

"He is honest, always caring for his family, he always wanted to be there for them. He was one of the best boys a mother could ever want," she said.

"I think they are brainwashed into thinking they are going to help people. I don't know who it is but there is someone behind them, keeping these young, innocent boys, brainwashing them into thinking they are going to help people. There is someone behind them, I don't know who," she told Sky News.

It has emerged that Reyaad Khan grew up close to Abdul Miah, who was jailed along with eight other men in 2012 over a plot to bomb the London Stock Exchange.

Ahmed Muthana, father of Nasser and Aseel, also spoke of his devastation after seeing Nasser on the video.

'Betrayed'

The 57-year-old retired electrical engineer told the Guardian newspaper that he felt his son had betrayed his country. "This is my country. I came here aged 13 from Aden when I was orphaned. It is his country. He was born here in the hospital down the road. He has been educated here. He has betrayed Great Britain," said Ahmed Muthana.

He said that he felt as if a bomb had hit his Cardiff home when he saw the video featuring his son. "I was shocked, I was sad, I cried. My wife collapsed, it feels as if the ground under my feet has disappeared," he said.

They went through a very strange period when they said they were becoming quite serious in their faith and then began to start to expressing certain views.Sheikh Zane Abdo, imam

At the al-Manar centre, where the Muthana brothers and Khan were thought to have worshipped, trustee Barak Albayaty said: "Nasser Muthana was just like any other guy. I was shocked to see him in the video."

Speaking to the Guardian, he said: "But I am sure coming here is not the source of radicalism. We're against going to Syria for the armed struggle and have spelt this out on many occasions. The boys are affected by the internet. It's not just Cardiff, it's all over the UK."

Sheikh Abdul warned that the widespread publicity given to the Isis propaganda video in which the older Muthana brother was featured would encourage other "susceptible" young men to travel to Syria to fight.

He said a "platform" should not have been given to the recruitment video, which also features another Cardiff man Reyaad Khan, who went to school with Nasser Mathana.

"I guarantee that many young people who are very susceptible to this type of message will have watched that video and maybe have been encouraged to now go and follow in the footsteps of Nasser and his brother, which is a real problem, the fact that a platform has been given to this video that really shouldn't have been given," Sheikh Abdo told BBC Breakfast.

Security services estimate that around 500 British Muslims have travelled abroad to fight - most to Syria. They say around 300 have already returned to Britain.

His fears were echoed by Sir Peter Fahy, Greater Manchester Chief Constable and lead on the Prevent counter-terrorism strategy for the Association of Chief Police Officers. He said that the police simply do not know for sure how many British jihadis have travelled abroad.

Please wait while this

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read full article at source: http://www.channel4.com/news/the-nor...became-jihadis

[Dawn Cannon]

Al CIAda merges with Is ISIS

Al Qaeda's offshoot on Wednesday made an oath of loyalty to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) at a key town on the Iraqi border, a monitor said.

The Syrian (shouldn't that be Coventry?) Observatory for Human Rights (expert bloke watching talmudvision in Coventry semi) said the merger is significant because it opens the way for ISIL to take control of both sides of the border at Albu Kamal in Syria and Al-Qaim in Iraq, where the fighters group has led a major offensive this month.



http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/al...own-ngo-547654

[Bev]

The scaremongering has begun. Isis is no threat to Britain
Liam Fox, MI6 and co are preparing the ground for more military intervention and greater powers for GCHQ – spuriously justified by the fear of returning jihadists


The security service trade union is now in full cry. It wants more money, more power, less oversight and will go to any lengths of scaremongering to get it.

Yesterday its cheerleader, the former defence secretary, Liam Fox, was unequivocal. There were people going about saying the state had too much power in Britain, he said, while "pretty much the rest of us say the state must protect itself". We had "better start to reconsider" whether liberty was more important than security. This is dangerous talk.

In the past week David Cameron, MI6 and the London police have all issued warnings of the "danger to Britain" from this month's Isis invasion of northern Iraq, and from a possible 400-500 "returning jihadists". This is the backdrop to a campaign for renewed military intervention in Iraq and, at home, for extending GCHQ's freedom to conduct what it now admits is the warrant-less surveillance of all electronic communications by British citizens.

The idea that the Isis action in Iraq poses a threat to the British state is ludicrous. That it came as a complete surprise to London (and apparently Baghdad) shows how trivial MI6 thought the threat before it happened. Otherwise, why did Cameron not do something about it a month ago? Surely heads should roll. In truth there is no threat, just a useful excuse for sabre-rattling and fear politics. If Isis can undermine Britain's safety, Britain must be a feeble place indeed.



As for the returning jihadists, they too are no threat to Britain. They may threaten to explode some bombs, a threat to life and limb. Why Cameron should want to elevate, indeed almost romanticise, that menace is a mystery. The only security against this violence is from policing and from targeted intelligence.

This certainly may involve intrusions that the Muslim community must accept as long as it harbours those willing to lead susceptible young people to violence.

The danger from these disparate individuals would appear to be far less serious than, for instance, that of the IRA during the Troubles. It is of criminal nuisance, not the undermining of the integrity of the state. That may not suit the dignity and budgetary ambition of the security apparatus. But it is not the nation's problem, and certainly not a reason for dismantling the ever shaky basis of personal freedom from state power. What is truly alarming is that Fox, Cameron, the police and the secret service should be so careless of that freedom.

ht tp://w ww.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/23/scaremongering-isis-no-threat-to-britain-liam-fox-mi6-iraq

[Bev]

More commentary on the slickness of their propaganda:

Who is behind Isis's terrifying online propaganda operation?


The extremist jihadist group leading the insurgency against the Iraqi government is using apps, social media and even a feature-length movie to intimidate enemies, recruit new followers and spread its message. And its rivals – including foreign governments – are struggling to keep up



The Clanging of the Swords IV sounds like the latest in a series of Hollywood action movies. It looks like one, too. A feature-length film released online a few weeks ago, Swords IV includes a slow-motion bomb sequence reminiscent of The Hurt Locker, aerial footage that nods to Zero Dark Thirty, and scenes filmed through the crosshairs of a sniper rifle that wouldn't look out of place in a first-person shoot-'em-up.

But Hollywood this is not. Perhaps surprisingly, The Clanging of the Swords IV is the work of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis), the extremist jihadist group that has led the insurgency against the authoritarian Iraqi government in recent weeks, and which runs parts of northern Syria.

Isis want the people living in the lands they now control to return to the ultraconservative traditions that – they claim – the earliest Muslims lived by. Yet this regressive goal is accompanied by a hypermodern propaganda machine that sees Isis's sadistic attacks promoted by a slick social media operation, a specially designed app – and well-made videos like The Clanging of the Swords IV.

When Isis stormed Iraq's second city of Mosul earlier this month, analysts say their propaganda made the fighting easier. In wars gone by, advancing armies smoothed their path with missiles. Isis did it with tweets and a movie.

Thousands of their Twitter followers installed an app – called the Dawn of Glad Tidings – that allows Isis to use their accounts to send out centrally written updates. Released simultaneously, the messages swamp social media, giving Isis a far larger online reach than their own accounts would otherwise allow. The Dawn app pumps out news of Isis advances, gory images, or frightening videos like Swords IV – creating the impression of a rampant and unstoppable force.

And it works, Iraqis say. When Isis stormed Mosul, Iraqi soldiers fled their posts, apparently aware that they would face a gruesome fate if they were captured while on duty.

"The video was a message to Isis's enemies," says Abu Bakr al-Janabi, an Iraqi Isis supporter who moved to the EU recently because of the ban on social media sites in Iraq. He claims to have knowledge of the group's media operations. "It's Isis saying to them: look what will happen to you if you cross our path. And it actually worked: a lot of soldiers deserted once they saw the black banners of Isis."

Zaid al-Ali, author of The Struggle for Iraq's Future, a book about contemporary Iraq published earlier this year, says it isn't clear how many people actually follow Isis on Twitter or Facebook. "But the general impression Isis tries to convey of itself, this very violent and determined force making huge advances in Syria and Iraq – that trickles through to the local population," says al-Ali. "The image that they convey of themselves has convinced people in many parts of the country, and that [was] clearly a factor in encouraging people to leave their posts as Isis was advancing."

Isis and their followers tried a similar approach with Baghdad. As fears rose of an Isis assault on the Iraqi capital, Isis supporters stoked tensions by releasing a slick Photoshopped image of an Isis militant in Baghdad, overlaid with the words: "Baghdad, we are coming." As JM Berger, an expert on extremism, wrote in The Atlantic: "The volume of these tweets was enough to make any search for 'Baghdad' on Twitter generate the image among its first results, which is certainly one means of intimidating the city's residents."

In fact, Isis's use of social media is so slick that it has made the group seem more powerful than it is. Coverage of its menacing online identity may have both obscured the role other Sunni groups have played in Iraq's insurgency – and made opponents wrongly assume that Isis has all of Iraq within its grasp.

"The fear about ISIS storming the capital is borne out of their social media campaign, not reality," says the Guardian's Middle East correspondent, Martin Chulov, who is currently stationed in Baghdad. "They don't have the manpower to do that."

Isis's media output is not all barbaric. Much of its propaganda is frightening: Swords IV showed Isis's captives literally digging their own graves, while on Twitter Isis has posted images of a cold-blooded massacre of Iraqi soldiers in Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown. But other Isis messaging focuses on its social activity – photos of supporters bringing in the harvest, or delivering food shipments. Members recently distributed an earnest English-language newsletter – a well-designed PDF since deleted from the internet – documenting the often dull details of their community work.

If Isis's work seems planned and professional, that's because it is, says Abu Bakr al-Janabi, the Isis supporter in Iraq. According to al-Janabi, Isis runs centralised Twitter accounts that (when not banned by Twitter's management) tweet official statements and news updates. Then there are provincial accounts "for each province in which Isis is present – which publish a live feed about [local] Isis operations."


The Dawn app was built by members of Isis's Palestinian affiliate, in consultation with leaders in Iraq and Syria, says al-Janabi. And the wider group also harbours trained designers. "There are a lot of people in Isis who are good at Adobe applications – InDesign, Photoshop, you name it. There are people who have had a professional career in graphic design, and [others] who are self-learnt."

Swords IV was made by professional film-makers, al-Janabi also claims – and independent observers think he might be right. "The official Isis operation released photos of them filming – and it's all on equipment that we use at Vice," says Vice journalist Aris Roussinos, who reports extensively on both jihadists and their online activity (warning: contains graphic images). "It's high-quality equipment that they're actually very technically skilled at using, in a way that the other rebels aren't. They're also really good at Photoshop."

But while parts of Isis's messaging are centralised and run by professionals, its online strength is also derived from the participation of a large swath of independent actors. First, there is Isis's online fanclub: thousands of Isis supporters with no official role within the group who boost its brand by retweeting its hashtags, and translating its Arabic members' messages for potential sympathisers in the west. Many of them make Photoshopped slogans to promote the group – in fact, many of Isis's slick viral adverts come about this way, claims al-Janabi. "The graphic design is mostly independent and done by individuals. For example, that picture that said 'Baghdad, we are coming' – nobody asked [its creators] to do it, but they did it anyway."

And then there are the Isis militants themselves. They tweet about their experiences in the field, and publish their own private pictures – sometimes gory images of severed heads, sometimes mundane snaps of food and cats – often to appreciative audiences.

"My first time!" writes one British jihadi underneath a Facebook photograph of his bloodied hand – apparently after killing an opponent. "First of many," responds one friend. "Mabrook," says another: congratulations.

Others use their Instagram accounts to post well-polished pro-jihad slogans that are aimed at, and seemingly appreciated by, a western viewership. "You only die once," reads one image that attracted 72 likes on Instagram. "Why not make it martyrdom?"

It is this kind of social media usage that points to the third goal of Isis's propaganda war. While Isis's Twitter presence first and foremost serves to frighten its enemies in Iraq and Syria, and to inform its members there, it may also help Isis expand its brand among jihadis outside of the Middle East. Nominally an offshoot of al-Qaida, Isis has been disowned by its parent organisation. As a result, it is now in active competition with al-Qaida's approved affiliate in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra, as well as al-Qaida franchises across the world.

Part of the purpose of Isis's social media activity "is definitely to scare people," says Aymenn Al-Tamimi, a fellow at the Middle East Forum, a US think-tank. "But also it's to give Isis greater prominence in wider media coverage. It becomes a kind of recruitment tool in the competition with al-Qaida in terms of leading the global jihad brand, and of winning the support of jihadis worldwide. In some ways they've won the battle: most of the foreign fighters who go to Syria join Isis. But around the world, it hasn't been definitively won one way or the other. Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia and Libya tend to be pro-Isis. But then you have the al-Qaida affiliates in Somalia which are clearly siding with al-Qaida."

Isis is by no means the only jihadist group that uses the internet to its advantage. Jabhat al-Nusra also has a network of provincial tweeters, apparently inspired by Isis. An al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen recently released a video of their actions that they edited to seem like a first-person shooting game. In Egypt, the dominant terrorist threat – the al-Qaida-linked Ansar Beit al-Maqdis (ABM) – regularly release videos explaining how they carried out certain attacks, and their output is occasionally tinged with a sense of humour. When Egypt's police claimed to have killed an ABM leader this year, the group quickly released a photograph of the allegedly dead man reading a report about his assassination.

But analysts reckon no other group has as sophisticated a grasp of social media as Isis. Members of one of Isis's main Sunni rivals in Iraq – the Ba'ath party-linked Naqshbandi – are more likely to upload their leaders' speeches to YouTube, "and I don't think anybody pays any attention to that stuff", says Zaid al-Ali, the author. Over the border in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra has a more nuanced approach, and may even have similar numbers of online supporters. But when JM Berger analysed their respective performances in February, he discovered that Isis-linked hashtags received up to four times as many mentions as those promoting Jabhat al-Nusra.

"Jabhat al-Nusra have been outclassed and outcompeted by Isis on every level – on the battlefield, and in the battle of media operations," concludes Vice's Aris Roussinos. "Either they've got fewer resources – or they're less in tune with the modern world in a way that Isis doesn't seem to be."

htt p://w ww.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/23/who-behind-isis-propaganda-operation-iraq

[Dawn Cannon]

Astonishing, isn't it? Bring millions of greedy aliens into places they have no right to be, breed them in uncountable numbers until they are a plague upon the very earth itself, and then turn them into lucrative "industries" of "research" and security.

Here major opinion former The New Scientist, describes some of the careers that have been forged as a result.



Research has shed enough light on jihadist fighters and radicalisation to help us mitigate the ISIS threat, argues security expert Peter Neumann

A week after taking Iraq's second city, Mosul, insurgent group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) published a slick 12 minute video. Its protagonists were a group of British and Australian Muslims sitting in front of a black flag while talking about the virtues of jihad and martyrdom, and urging their "brothers back home" to join them.

According to UK prime minister David Cameron, these young men are the next generation of terrorists who might attack shopping centres and blow up London buses after returning. They are, in his words, "the most serious threat to Britain's security that there is today". But how significant is the risk? And what should be done about it?

The idea of volunteers fighting in foreign conflicts isn't new. Based on numbers alone, Cameron is right about the scale of the threat. The Syrian conflict has mobilised more foreign fighters than any since Afghanistan in the 1980s – possibly even longer. Up to 20,000 young Muslims – including a young Saudi named Osama bin Laden – went to Afghanistan over the course of a decade, compared to an estimated 12,000 that have gone to Syria in the past three years. A quarter of the foreign fighters in Syria are Western, and although Britain is not the biggest contributor (Belgium and Scandinavian countries are), it accounts for around 500 over those over the three years.

Twitter interviews

These numbers are the result of research by me and colleagues at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation over the past 18 months. In addition to fieldwork in Turkish border towns, from where the vast majority of foreign fighters enter Syria, we have compiled the social media profiles of nearly 400 Western fighters in Syria and Iraq using the software platform Palantir. Despite being involved in a war, they are still updating Facebook and Twitter, and this has enabled us to interview – and stay in touch with – dozens of them.

From these conversations, we know that the vast majority of British foreign fighters – maybe 80 per cent – have joined ISIS, the most fanatical of the Syrian rebel groups, which has declared an Islamic state and taken over large parts of north-western Iraq. But we also know that they are too busy fighting hostile rebel groups as well as the troops of Syrian president Bashar Assad and those of the Iraqi government to be seriously thinking about blowing up buses in London.

But what about when they come home? The most rigorous piece of social science research on what happens to such veterans when they return looked at people from conflicts in Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Chechnya and other jihadist battlefronts. It found that only one in nine of the 945 Western foreign fighters in the sample "returned [to their home countries] to perpetrate attacks in the West" and concluded that "far from all foreign fighters are domestic fighters in the making".

Greater influence

It also points out, however, that the one in nine who become terrorists are likely to be more effective, competent and influential than "home-grown" extremists who haven't had the same opportunities to acquire military training, bomb-making skills and fighting experience. According to the study's author, Norwegian political scientist Thomas Hegghammer, terrorist plots with foreign fighter involvement are nearly twice as deadly as those without.

There can be no doubt, therefore, that jihadist foreign fighters – in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere – pose a risk that the government and its security agencies are right to focus on. Yet it is one that I believe can be managed and mitigated.


It makes no sense, in my view, to hand out long prison sentences to every returnee when the evidence suggests that a majority will pose no risk – yet that's what the government is proposing.

If just one in nine will become terrorists at home, the government's priority should be to develop assessment tools, rooted in the psychology of terrorism and suicide attacks, that help to distinguish between people who are "dangerous", "disturbed", "disillusioned" and "harmless" and develop appropriate interventions for each.

Channel the knowledge

Conveniently, these tools already exist. They are part of the government's so-called Channel programme, which directs when interventions are necessary for individuals deemed to be on the brink of violence. Recalibrating this programme to deal with foreign fighters is likely to be more effective – and certainly less expensive – than locking up hundreds of returnees for 20 years or more. Remember that detention without attempts to combat extremist ideology can result in hardened attitudes and a return to jihadist conflicts – for example in the US after the Afghan conflict.

Much more effort also needs to go into messaging. We could deter participation in Jihadist conflict by telling would-be foreign fighters that Syrians don't want them there, and that ISIS will use them as cannon fodder; only one British foreign fighter in Syria has been killed fighting Assad, while 15 or so have lost their lives fighting other rebels.

If foreign fighters really are "the most serious threat that there is today", the government needs to bring together community leaders and make sure that those messages are heard by every young Muslim across the country.

Punitive measures have their place, of course. But they should be reserved for those who have become hardened jihadists determined to take the fight home. Success in recognising who poses a threat and who doesn't will determine how much of a threat the foreign fighters actually are.

PROFILE
Peter R. Neumann is professor of security studies at King's College London, and directs the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR)

http://www.newscientist.com/article/...l#.U6wg0PldWa_

[Bev]

Jihadis sporting terror group Isis’ shirts met in Wales weeks before Nasser Muthana and Reyaad Khan left for Syria, it has emerged.

Need4Khilafah bragged on their Twitter and Facebook pages about the “Muslim summertime cookout 2014” before posting pictures of the event.

The group – suspected of being a front for extremist group Al-Muhajiroun, and which seeks to create an Islamic state in Britain – was banned by the Home Office earlier this week.

Nasser Muthana’s father, Ahmed Muthana, did not know about the barbecue, held in an unnamed Cardiff park.

“My kid has gone and that’s it,” he said yesterday.




“I have no hope, only 10% of seeing him again. What they are planning in these groups gathering together I do not know.”

His 17-year-old son Aseel travelled to the country in February.

“These groups, are they going to continue calling on people and making them fight by force or not?” the dad of four said.

“I don’t know what they are planning or who is behind it.

“They should not go of course.”




He said his 10-year-old boy Abdullah has faced taunts at school since his brothers appeared in an Isis recruitment film.

“He has been getting a hard time from kids in school already,” Ahmed said.

“I tell him not to worry but he is 10. The school teachers and the head have been supportive.

“They have talked to us and spoken to the children and he is OK.

“I hope it does not go any further than that with bullying and arguing.”

He urged his children to “please come back.”

The family of Reyaad Khan, also from Cardiff, could not be reached for comment.

ht tp://ww w.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/banned-terror-group-met-wales-7341334

[Bev]

London: To check radicalisation, mosques across Britain have joined hands to call on young Muslims citizens to stay away from the civil war in Syria.

Imams involved in the nationwide anti-terror campaign are instead encouraging donations to Syrian cause through legitimate charities.

Their message coincides with the holy month of Ramadan, which began this weekend.

It comes after a video emerged showing two young Cardiff men urging others to join the jihadist fight in Syria ? where tens of thousands have died in three years of war ? and in Iraq.

These men are believed to be among the 500 Britons fighting in Syria for the militant group ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant).

The video, thought to have been filmed in Syria, features Nasser Muthana and Reyaad Khan, both 20 and from Cardiff, along with Abdul Rakib Amin (25) from Aberdeen.

Muthana's younger brother Aseel Muthana (17) has also reportedly joined them.

Earlier this week, their father had criticised the British government's anti-radicalisation strategy in Cardiff, saying it failed as it was made up of mainly white officers.

Sheikh Zane Abdo from the South Wales Islamic Centre, the local imam in Wales, has said he believed the men had been "groomed" by people they had met outside of their mosque.

"These are young men who are very sincere, they want to do something good. But you can be sincere and you can be sincerely deluded in what you want to do, and they have been groomed to think a particular way," he said.

UK foreign secretary William Hague believes as many as 400 Britons may be fighting in Syria, recently confirming that security measures are in place such as the option of withdrawing leave to remain, cancelling passports and arresting those fighting in Syria or for the ISIS

ht tp://ze enews.india.com/news/world/uk-mosques-launch-anti-terror-campaign_943763.html

[Bev]

Osama Bin Laden's dream is declared a reality, as the Islamic Caliphate is announced by the militants of Isis today, who also demand all other jihadi groups pledge allegiance.

Islamist militants in Iraq have declared the completion of their Islamic State, with a new Caliphate under their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Discarding their previous title of ISIS for the simpler IS, they claim that the new State stretches "from Aleppo to Diyala" on the outskirts of Baghdad.

They have not quite achieved that but their footprint certainly stretches across the Syria-Iraq border - with Tikrit now a key battleground with the Iraqi army.

But, as Paraic O'Brien reports tonight, the battle for hearts and minds is going on well beyond the borders of Iraq.

Russian jets arrive in Iraq as government pushes back

Russian fighter jets are delivered to Iraq but William Hague reiterates it would be unwise for Britain to become involved in the country's internal conflict.

Iraq has received the first batch of fighter jets ordered from Russia and expects them to be operational within four days.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said the second-hand fighters were bought from Russia and Belarus in a deal worth up to $500 million, and will use them to push back against recent gains made by Isis militants.

I do not think it would be wise to have a British military intervention in this situation Foreign Secretary William Hague

Foreign Secretary William Hague said the fighter delivery was "not an intervention by Russia", adding that "all countries in the world have an interest in overcoming the threat" from Isis.

Cold war-era aircraft

Iraq is desperate for more airpower to fight the Isis insurgency but has become frustrated with its long wait for US F-16 fighter jets which are due to arrive in the autumn, according to the Washington Post.

The Iraqi government has resorted to buying less sophisticated second-hand aircraft such as the recently received batch of Sukhoi Su-25s from Russia and Belarus, and is even negotiating the return of decades-old planes from Iran which were flown out of Iraq by fleeing Iraqi pilots during the 1991 Gulf War.

Over 100 Iraqi fighters, including Soviet-made Sukhoi bombers and MiGs, were flown out of Iraq. Iran is reportedly receptive to the demands and is working on refurbishing an undisclosed number of jets, said the paper.

But he said Britain should not become militarily involved in the conflict, emphasising that the UK would not dictate Iraq's leaders and that the country needed to form a strong government to deal with the crisis.
Iraq's decision

"I do not think it would be wise to have a British military intervention in this situation, and if there is any military intervention then the United States has the best assets and capabilities to do that," Mr Hague told the BBC's Andrew Marr programme.


"Clearly, they need a new, more inclusive government, where people have a sense of genuine partnership in government," he added.

"It isn't for us, and it wouldn't help anyone in Iraq, for us to pronounce on who should be the prime minister of Iraq but there has been a failure in recent years to bring together Iraqi leaders and people out of their sectarian divisions - nobody has succeeded in doing that in Iraq over the last eight years or so."

Mr Hague recently returned from a visit to Iraq, where he met with Nouri al-Maliki and Kurdish leaders.

"They are facing a lethal threat, a mortal threat, in the Iraqi state so I really impressed on them the need for everybody to work together and then the extent to which the rest of the world can help them will, largely, be determined by their determination to do that," he added.
Fight-back

In recent days government forces have been fighting back against the Isis rebels, relying on commandos flown in by helicopter to defend the country's biggest oil refinery at Baiji.

A successful operation to recapture territory inside Tikrit would deliver a major blow against the insurgency which has struck into the Sunni heartland north and west of Baghdad.

Iran has said it is ready to help Iraq fight the armed revolt using the same methods it deployed against opposition forces in Syria.

An Iranian general suggested Tehran is offering to take a larger role in battling Sunni militias threatening Baghdad, although Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei said on 22 june that he rejected any intervention by Washington or any other outside power against Isis.

Iran has spent billions of dollars propping up its ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in what has turned into a sectarian proxy war with Sunni Arab states.

ht tp://ww w.channel4.com/news/russian-fighter-jets-iraq-rebels-fighting-hague-military

[NewsFeed]

You Tube

You Tube

Contributing Author

Screenshot from video published on syriantube.net

A group of jihadists claiming to be part of ISIS has vowed to invade Spain along with all other “occupied lands” in a video posted on the web.

The men say Spain is the land of their forefathers and that they are prepared to die for their nascent Islamic State.

The video of two men claiming to be militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has taken the Spanish media by storm. The minute-long footage shows them speaking in Spanish, and saying that ISIS will take over Spain.

“I tell you, Spain is the land of our forefathers, and, Allah willing, we are going to liberate it, with the might of Allah,”says one of the men. He adds that the group won’t stop at Spain and intends to spread its Islamic Caliphate across the world.

“I say to the entire world as a warning: We are living under the Islamic banner, the Islamic Caliphate. We are going to die for it until we liberate all the occupied lands, from Jakarta to Andalusia,” he said.

The footage has not yet been independently verified, but it would not be the first video released by the group. Last month, ISIS released a propaganda video entitled: “There Is No Life Without Jihad” in which Australian and British members of the group appealed in English for Muslims across the world to join their cause.

“We have brothers from Bangladesh, from Iraq, from Cambodia, Australia and the UK,” says a militant called Abu Muthanna al-Yemeni, who himself comes from Britain, according to a video caption.

The extremist Sunni Muslim group began to seize control of towns and cities in Iraq at the beginning of June. Since then it has captured large swathes of the region, straddling the Iraqi-Syrian border and continues to advance on the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

The leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, announced the creation of an Islamic State, or caliphate, encompassing the lands that the group has taken under its control. He also called on Muslims throughout the world to join the cause and fight for ISIS.

“Muslims everywhere, whoever is capable of performing Hijrah (emigration) to the Islamic State, then let him do so, because Hijrah to the land of Islam is obligatory,” he added.

So far Iraqi security forces have done little to slow the advance of the Islamist group, with the government appealing for aid from abroad to repel the onslaught.

The US has sent 300 military advisors to Iraq to combat the threat and is deploying another 300 troops, helicopters and drones in the area. Saudi Arabia has also deployed 30,000 troops along its border with Iraq, while Russia has sent fighter jets and pilots to support the Baghdad government against ISIS.

Contributed by Contributing Author of RT.

Please share: Spread the word to sheeple far and wide

read full article at source: http://www.thedailysheeple.com/isis-...-europe_072014

[Bev]

Civil liberties groups fear the government may use a report next week from the Intelligence and Security Committee into the Woolwich murder of Lee Rigby to press for emergency anti-terror legislation.

The ISC report, which may be issued as soon as Tuesday after it has been sent to David Cameron, is likely to expose failures by the security services in keeping in contact with the soldier's two killers, partly owing to a lack of surveillance powers.

The report is to appear after ministers have been saying for weeks that it could take emergency legislation to prevent potential extremists being radicalised by travelling to Syria.

The pressure for extra legislation has been given additional impetus by a European court of justice ruling in April that struck down data protection laws in the EU requiring internet and phone companies to store people's billing and other communications data for between six months and two years. Britain's implementation of that directive had required companies to retain the personal data for 18 months.

The intelligence committee has been conducting an inquiry behind closed doors into what M15 knew about Woolwich killers Michael Adebowale and Michael Adebolajo.

In the wake of the savage killing of Rigby in broad daylight it emerged that Adebolajo and Adebowale were both known to MI5 – and Adebolajo had been approached on his return from Kenya to the UK to act as an informer and help the security services break up extremist Islamist cells.

But Adebolajo refused to cooperate and in public continued to express radical views.

The gamble spectacularly backfired two and half years later when an even more radicalised Adebolajo, along with Adebowale, butchered Rigby outside his barracks in Woolwich, south-east London.

A crucial issue for the committee will be whether MI5 felt they lacked surveillance powers, or instead simply misjudged the level of security threat posed by Adebolajo.

The home secretary, Theresa May, has previously pressed for the draft communications data bill to be revived, saying it is essential if the intelligence agencies are to combat the threat of terrorism.

Civil liberties groups voiced concern that emergency legislation might follow the publication of next week's report.

Mike Harris, campaign director for Don't Spy on Us, said: "It is vital that parliament is not forced into passing emergency legislation, but instead parliament is given time to make a considered judgment. We have not yet had the further report from the ISC due later in the year into the impact of the Snowden revelations, including the reforms needed to keep the security services better accountable to the law and to parliament."

In April, the EU's highest court, the European court of justice, declared the EU directive on data retention invalid.

It said: "By requiring the retention of those data and by allowing the competent national authorities to access those data, the directive interferes in a particularly serious manner with the fundamental rights to respect for private life and to the protection of personal data.

"Furthermore, the fact that data are retained and subsequently used without the subscriber or registered user being informed is likely to generate in the persons concerned a feeling that their private lives are the subject of constant surveillance."

Since the ruling, EU countries, including the UK, have been considering whether or how to remove the directive from local legislation.

But the Home Office minister James Brokenshire has instructed telecoms providers that they "should continue to observe their obligations as outlined in any notice", regardless of the European court's ruling.

A Home Office spokesperson said : "The retention of communications data is absolutely fundamental to ensure law enforcement have the powers they need to investigate crime, protect the public and ensure national security.

"We are carefully considering the European court of justice's judgment on data retention and are currently examining potential next steps."

Any call for legislation may represent a dilemma for Labour, which has taken an increasingly strong stand on the need for greater oversight of the security services in the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations.

htt p://ww w.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jul/04/surveillance-lee-rigby-murder-uk-muslims-syria

crossposting to Lee Rigby/Woolwich thread to save people opening both.

[NewsFeed]

DailyStormer.com

Twin British schoolgirls who ran away to Syria were star pupils, with 28 GCSEs between them.

Salma and Zahra Halane were among the top 20 students at their girls’ school in Manchester but slipped out of their bedrooms and have fled abroad to become ‘jihadi brides’.

The 16-year-olds, who disappeared two weeks ago, have telephoned their parents to tell them they have reached the war-torn country and warned them ‘we’re not coming back’.

Their mother told the Daily Mail last night: ‘I’m just so shocked.’ The 44-year-old, who wears a hijab, then broke down in tears at her semi-detached home in a leafy suburb of Chorlton, Manchester.

Police said today that the twins ‘potentially pose a threat to themselves and the community’.

The sisters may have followed their brother, who is thought to have flown out to fight with terror group ISIS last year.

Salma achieved 13 GCSEs, 11 of which were A*-C, while Zahra achieved 15 passes, 12 of which were A*-C grades – placing the girls within the top 10 per cent of their year group of 200 students.

The girls’ parents raised the alarm two weeks ago, after entering the twins’ room one morning to find their beds empty and passports and clothes missing.

The girls boarded a flight to Turkey from Manchester airport, and police alerted counter-terrorism colleagues in an attempt to trace the pair.

However, the twins – who have nine siblings, one of whom is a medical student – later contacted their parents to inform them they had crossed the border and reached war-torn Syria.

Officers are investigating how the girls funded their trip, over fears they may have been bankrolled by jihadi fighters who want them as their wives.

The North West Counter Terrorism Unit head Detective Chief Superintendent Tony Mole, said: ‘First, I want to stress that the welfare of these two teenagers is our overarching priority.

‘Two 16-year-old girls left the UK on June 26 and we believe that they have since entered Syria.

‘At this stage we don’t know for sure why they are there, or exactly who they are with.

‘They are clearly posing a threat to themselves and potentially the community and their family and friends are concerned for their well-being.

‘It is also important that we thank the community for their assistance in this matter while reminding them and the wider media that the family remain very concerned for the safety of their daughters’.

The twins’ elder brother is already known to police in Greater Manchester, and is known to be abroad. Counter-terrorism officers plan to question him if he attempts to return to Britain.

The Halane family, originally from Somalia, have told friends and community leaders they are ‘absolutely devastated.’

Mohammed Shafiq, of the Ramadan Foundation, said: ‘The family is shocked and absolutely devastated, especially their mother.

‘Their son went to fight for ISIS about a year ago and has been over there since then. They believe he was radicalised over the internet.

read full article at source: http://www.dailystormer.com/uk-schoo...e-star-pupils/

[john-connor]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...aqqa-city.html Heads on sticks: Sick ISIS video emerges showing 50 beheaded Syrian soldiers being impaled on poles and held aloft in Raqqa city

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT
Islamic State fighters, formerly called ISIS, have attacked base for two days
Ambush in Raqqa, northern Syria, ended in more than 50 executions
Amateur video footage circulating online shows dozens of headless bodies
Syrian conflict has reportedly killed 170,000 and 3 million have fled country

By Dan Bloom and Afp Reporter

[Donnie in Ohio]

Savages, the lot.

[NewsFeed]

A group of activists have been captured on camera waving Palestinian and ISIS flags while blocking one of the largest tunnels in the UK. The protesters chanted "Free Palestine" and honked their car horns as they blocked the Blackwall Tunnel.

The move will seem like an odd gesture coming at a time when the Israeli Defence Force says it will not reduce pressure on Hamas until they agree to close the network of terror tunnels they have built.

The Blackwall Tunnel connects the Muslim-dominated borough of Tower Hamlets in East London, with Greenwich south of the River Thames. It was closed by a number of cars when activists got out of their vehicles and began chanting "free, free, Palestine". Some of them also appeared to have spray painted their cars, while others waved the jihadist ISIS flag.

The protest is one of a series of dubious events staged to support Gaza, that seem to do nothing other than bolster the egos of those involved. It comes after Breitbart Londonreported on the 'crass' super-car protest, in which members of the super-rich drove their Lamborghinis past Harrods to show their "support" for Palestine.

That protest led to questions about why the vehicle owners were not doing anything to help the humanitarian effort by selling their cars and donating money for schools or hospitals in Gaza.

The video of the tunnel protest originally appeared on the internet a few days ago with the following comment: "Loads of people got out there car [sic] and started shouting free Palestine holding up traffic.

"These people have no regard for anyone wanting to get to work or even emergency services trying to treat someone or arrest someone." It was later posted on YouTube.

Whilst the protest itself might seem laughable, it does show a worrying trend. Pro-Palestinian groups have displayed a remarkable ability to outnumber and out campaign those supportive of Israel.

The protests in London against Operation Protective Edge have numbered tens of thousands, whereas the pro-Israelis only numbered around 1,500 at their protest. To make matters worse, the pro-Palestinians are willing to get violent to make their point, with one man injured at the last Zionist rally.

Pro-Palestinian groups claim they are not anti-Semitic and do not support Hamas itself. But at their most recent protest, our correspondents were able to record protesters openly chanting for Hamas.

read full article at source: http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-L...pport-Of-Hamas

[NewsFeed]

Daily Stormer

August 14, 2014

The Islamic conquest of Britain continues apace, not content with just planting their Jihad flags everywhere, the Muslims are now openly recruiting people off the street to join their band of cut-throat murderers out in Iraq.

Although they don’t mention the Islamic State directly, the leaflets call people to get behind the ‘khaleef’ – the self-appointed leader of the group Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

A group of students is being investigated by police after they handed out leaflets apparently encouraging British Muslims to join the Islamic State.

The leaflets were handed out on Oxford Street in London’s West End by former students of Omar Bakri, a banned cleric, an hate preacher Anjem Choudary.

Metropolitan Police today confirmed that they were reviewing the leaflets, which called Muslims to pledge allegiance to the ‘khaleef’, to see if any anti-terror laws had been broken.

The khaleef is a reference to the Islamic State’s – formerly known as ISIS – self-appointed leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The group is currently behind a brutal campaign that has led to fears of a genocide of Christians in northern Iraq.

Shoppers reacted angrily to the group with one British Muslim claiming she had been racially abused when she challenged the group, according to the Evening Standard.

Isis is not directly referenced in the leaflet, nor is al-Baghdadi, but it is believed to be a thinly veiled reference to both.

The leaflet, which was posted on Twitter, says: “After many attempts and great sacrifices from the Ummah of Islam throughout the world, the Muslims with the help of Allah have announced the re-establishment of the Khaliafah and appointed an Imam as a Khaleef (Muslim leader).”

Ghaffar Hussain, managing director at the Quilliam Foundation said the people handing out the leaflets were associated with the al-Muhajiroun extremist network and they were from Luton.

Hopefully, they will all go and never return. More likely, however, they will go and then return to murder people in Britain with their acquired skills.

But such is the cost of being enriched: being murdered.

read full article at source: http://www.dailystormer.com/students...ets-in-london/

[confederate]

"........they will go and then return to murder people in Britain with their acquired skills.

But such is the cost of being enriched: being murdered."

they should start with everybody's favorite in-breds the "royal" family.

[Zander]

The followers of the kiddie fiddler, morehamhead, are a volatile bunch. How hard would it be to get them fighting amongst themselves in Britain? A couple of false flag nigger beheadings and the odd atrocity at a mosque...BOOM...Birmingham is a war zone. Just a thought