Jihadi John and Khalid al-Fawwaz are the faces of evil terrorism by Islamic extremists

The masked Islamic State militant known as "Jihadi John", who has been pictured in the videos of the barbaric beheadings of Western hostages, has been named.

Wars are horrific slaughters with iconic leaders who become symbolic of the historic mayhem.  

Now, the war on terror has two faces to justifiably vilify.

They are Khalid al-Fawwaz, who was found guilty of the 1998 US embassy bombings, in Africa. 

Now, we add to this evil list the name of the masked militant who first appeared in numerous gruesome videos put out by the evil ISIS, Islamic State. He is Mohammed Emwazi, a Kuwaiti-born British man in his mid-20s from west London, who was previously known to British security services. British police declined to comment, citing ongoing investigations, reported BBCNews.

There's a name to associate with practically every known military campaign and declared war.  Obviously, in modern history, we can easily associate Generals Robert E. Lee and Ulyssus S. Grant with the American Civil War. In World War I, we can summon the name of General Perhsing. Obviously, the holocaust in World War II is identified with Adolf Hitler.

In the world war on terrorism, the leader Osama Bin Laden (1957-2011) was, until he was killed by US Navy Seals, identified as the face of the evil attacks on the United States. Bin Laden perpetrated the September 11, 2001 assaults on the World Trade Center in New York City, a potential terrorism attack by  an airplane that crashed in Pennsylvania and a suicide flight into the U.S. Pentagon in Washington DC.

Since the murder of Osama Bin Lden, there has been no single face for the War on Terrorism.

Although Fawwaz has been convicted of his heinous crimes, the executioner Mohammed Emwazi a.k.a evil Jahadi John, now replaces Osama Bin Laden, because he made his masked face the icon of Islamic extremism.  

It's difficult to determine or surmise how the world will eradicate evil ISIS and eliminate radical Islamic extremism. It's going to take even more carnage and unknown suicidal massacres before the roots of this evil carnage can be destroyed.

Regardless of how long it takes, the executioner Mohammed Emwazi, is now known. His body will eventually join Osama Bin Laden as fish food. Unfortunately, finding and executing the executioner will not deter the terrorists who are somehow inspired by this unwarranted jihad against the West. Our world cannot allow the work of Osama Bin Laden to continue, while his bullet riddled body is at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea.

God help our civilization to defeat radical Islamic extremism before the hatred, and the jihad consumes our allies and consumes Christianity.

Homeland Security at risk while evil ISIS continues to recruit in USA

Let me get this right. Republicans created the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) but now they will sacrifice the nation's response to terrorism because they prefer to block immigration? The Republicans have truly lost their ability function. Obviously, they're more interested in power than in American security.

While the Congress debates how to fund the Department of Homeland Security, they're expecting workers who protect Americans from attacks by the evil Islamic State and domestic terrorism, to work temporarily without pay. Meanwhile, Congress doesn't sacrifice even one hour of their own pay, for any reason, whatsoever.

It's evident how evil ISIS, the Islamic State, is recruiting misguided sympathizers. Three teenage girls were lured out of England through the seductive use of social media.  

Today, the FBI on Wednesday arrested three men from Brooklyn who they allege planned to launch terrorist attacks in the United States if they were not able to join ISIS in Syria. Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, 24, an Uzbekistan citizen; Akhror Saidakhmetov, 19, a Kazakhstan citizen; and Abror Habibov, 30, an Uzbekistan citizen, were all arrested and charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. According to law-enforcement officials, the men also planned to return to New York to commit an act of domestic terrorism if they failed in their effort to join ISIS.

All Republicans should be voted out of office. It's unbelievable to realize how Americans can vote for Republicans, who are unwilling to protect our nation.  

It's totally irresponsible and unethical for elected officials to expect the Department of Homeland Security workers to work without pay. This horrible treatment of people who are working hard to protect Americans from terrorism have every reason to form a union. They have a right to protect themselves from Congressional actions that will ask them to work for free.  Instead, let Congress work for free. If Congress worked for free, they'd eventually get the pay they deserve for taking more days off every year than the number worked.

Congress must pass funding for the Department of Homeland Security.  To do otherwise is unpatriotic and, frankly, dangerous.

Retrospective Democratic 2014 analysis misses something

You needn't be a political scientist to cruise the social networking e-world. In my opinion, the Democrats lost in 2014, because they refused to participate in the social networking world with a push back on the vitriolic messaging by right wing extremists.  

Although my opinion sounds simplistic, I challenge those who dispute my logic to spend time responding to social media right wingers. They fuel each other like relay torches and squelch those of us who try to participate in their rhetoric, using reasonable reality.

The Christian Science Monitor reports:

(Among the reasons) for Democrat losses (2014), of course – include lack of a “cohesive narrative,” according to the tack force, which in turn “impedes the party’s ability to develop and maintain a lifelong dialogue and partnership with voters.”

"So many people can rattle off easily and succinctly what it means to be a Republican,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Florida congresswoman who chairs the Democratic National Committee (DNC). “The perception of what it means to be a Democrat has really evolved to be a laundry list of policy statements and disparate ideas.”

Exactly! Right wing "tweeters" can put the GOP message into 140 characters. It's like writing the Declaration of Independence on a pea. Nevertheless, reasonable thinkers can also respond to the vengeance in 140 characters, too. Unfortunately, very few reasonable people are obsessed enough with pushing back against the spewing venom of right wing social media monsters.

Democrats need to forcefully speak up for the administration and the party’s values, Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy said.

"Whenever we let the other guys talk the way they talk about our president, about our leadership, about our values, we're going to lose,” he said, adding that too many Democrats try to be "Republicans lite." (Democrats cannot allow this!!)

But Republicans understand the Democratic psyche and they're laughing in 140 twitter characters or less. Frankly, I don't believe Democrats know anything about responding to right wing social media talk.  Democrats speak in prose while right wing thinkers use bumper sticker responses. "There you go again!", said President Ronald Reagan. A simple conceptual response, in about 20 characters and President Reagan left his opponents speechless. 

"...we have some catching up to do..." said Wasserman-Schultz.

Honestly, I've offered to help the Democrats with their social media messaging. Unfortunately, they're spending millions on high paid consultants who don't have a clue about how to push back on right wing social media nuts. In fact, I've spoken to Ms. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz personally when she was in Portland, Maine.

I'm available to help. 

My opinion about how the Democrats lost in 2014, is simplistic. Nevertheless, I'm in the heat of social media every day   and those intellectual campaign consultants aren't with me, because, if they were, I'd know them.  Indeed, the Democrats are missing the social media messaging and if this continues the 2016 campaign will mirror the mid term elections.  Call me.

Brian Williams and Bill O'Reilly - two high paid news enhancers

Oh paaaleeeze....O'Reilly says..."Buenos Aires riot rated as a “war zone” because junta soldiers shot into the crowd, killing civilians. He remains adamant that at one point a soldier pointed a rifle at him from a few feet away.  (Julie's note, given O'Reilly's interpretation of being in a "war zone" he might as well report from a weekend in South Side Chicago...)

In my opinion (IMO), Brian Williams' journalism problem isn't so much about whether or not a helicopter he was flying in was hit by enemy fire while he was reporting the Iraq War.  Instead, the problem is that he continued to enhance the story over 12 years, as though the war incident was about him and the incident.  In fact, Williams should've known to report on the war, rather than make himself a victim of the action.

Williams is paid very well to report the news rather than "create the news". Now, Bill O'Reilly's commentary on Fox News is also  questioned.

A Christian Science Monitor article quotes "Mother Jones" asking if Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly has enhanced his war correspondent's experiences? 

Mother Jones accused Bill O'Reilly of exaggerating his experience reporting from combat zones in an article published Thursday. The Fox News host dismissed the claim, calling the author a 'liar' and a 'guttersnipe.'

By Peter Grier, Staff writer FEBRUARY 20, 2015

Does Bill O’Reilly have a Brian Williams problem? 

That’s what Mother Jones is alleging. In a piece posted on Thursday, D.C. bureau chief David Corn claims that the Fox News host has long exaggerated the extent and dangers of his past combat reporting.

Mr. O’Reilly has said he worked in “active war zones” in the Falkland Islands and El Salvador during his stint at CBS News in the early 1980s, according to citations in Mr. Corn’s piece.

Yet during the Argentine-United Kingdom Falklands War, O’Reilly never made it to the combat zone itself. No American reporters did, at least until after the fighting was over.

O’Reilly’s experience with violence in the Falklands was limited to coverage of an anti-regime riot in Buenos Aires, after the war was over, points out Mother Jones. In El Salvador, O'Reilly reported briefly from a village where several buildings had been burned by guerrilla fighters, who had fled.

That’s the extent of O’Reilly’s war zone experience, according to the Corn piece.

“Yet for years, O’Reilly has recounted dramatic stories about his own war reporting that don’t withstand scrutiny – even claiming he acted heroically in a war zone that he apparently never set foot in,” writes Corn.

O’Reilly remains unabashed. 

He’s reacted to these charges with fury, calling them “garbage” and Corn a “liar” and a “guttersnipe.”

As to substance, O’Reilly says he’s never claimed he made it to the Falkland Islands themselves, and that the Buenos Aires riot rated as a “war zone” because junta soldiers shot into the crowd, killing civilians. He remains adamant that at one point a soldier pointed a rifle at him from a few feet away.

“Everything I said about what I reported in South and Central America is true,” said O’Reilly in an interview with Politico. “Everything.”

Responding to this denial, David Corn says that contemporary news accounts of the Argentine riot paint a very different picture. CBS News’ own story that night said nothing about people being killed, and mentioned only that some North American news crews were “jostled.”

What’s the truth here? We await further details. Washington Post media reporter Erik Wemple has an interesting recap of the state of play here, including his own interview with O’Reilly. It includes the detail that the Fox host repeatedly cited a book of his titled “Those Who Trespass” as rebutting the Mother Jones allegations.

“Those Who Trespass” is a novel which O’Reilly published in 1998. One of its characters is a United States reporter who goes through a horrific riot inArgentina. He later murders the network news figures he blames for sabotaging his career.

That said, there are a number of differences between the cases of Brian Williams of NBC News, who is on a six-month leave pending investigation of his combat exaggerations, and O’Reilly.

First, there aren’t any aggrieved US soldiers. Much of the negative emotion from the Williams case was driven by angry American troops who took to social media to rebut the NBC anchor’s tales of derring-do. O’Reilly’s opposition is a left-leaning magazine, not Army pilots.

Second, he’s a political commentator, not a news anchor. He’s not supposed to be measured. Bloviation might be judged to be part of his job. He yells and declaims on every episode of the “O’Reilly Factor.” That’s part of its appeal.

Finally, Fox News is not NBC News. Perhaps they will milk this for ratings.

Fox produces some fine journalism. But its business model is built around the creation of narratives and the evoking of emotions. This story offers all that. Fox executives appear to be standing behind O’Reilly, for now. 

NBC executives never offered Williams that much support.

In my opinion, Bill O'Reilly lost credibility when he wrote a book about the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ as though he were there when it happened.  He should have been held accountable for over stating this story.  

I don't understand highly paid journalists who think they can get away with inflating the news. They're bound to find a reader or expert, with a "pin" dipped in real experience to burst their fanciful reporting.

Americans must retake Mosul from ISIS and erect a memorial for all who died there

In 2004, Americans fought ferociously to win the Battle of Mosul Iraq. Now, in an infuriating defeat for the Iraq army, the evil Islamic State (ISIS) has taken back Mosul and occupied this territory.

Although the American main stream media continues to report on the consequences of national winter ice and snow accumulations, the fact is, another ferocious battle is being planned to win back Mosul, in Iraq.  

Thankfully, BBCNews is reporting on this battle, while the American news media are obsessed about reporting on winter ice.

Of course, weather, ice and snow, especially in winter, will make dramatic visual news.  

But, this seasonal imagery can't trump the significance of the battle to win Mosul back from the evil ISIS. (The Battle for Mosul was fought by U.S. forces under the leadership of General David Petraeus, in 2004, during the Iraq War.)

BBCNews is reporting how Iraq and Kurdish troops will fight to regain Mosul from the ISIS radical terrorist fighters.  

Mosul, which was home to more than a million people, fell to ISIS last June.

A joint Iraqi-Kurdish military force of up to 25,000 fighters  are being prepared to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from Islamic State (evil ISIS), a US official says.

A senior military official said that the operation to recapture the northern Iraq city would probably take place in April or May.

Iraq's second largest city was currently being held by 1,000 to 2,000 ISIS militants, the official added.

Mosul, which was home to more than a million people, fell to ISIS last June.

The unnamed official told reporters that no decision had been made on whether a small group of US military advisers would be needed on the ground to direct air support.

The official said all of the fighters in the force would have gone through training by the US.

The official added that the operation would be needed by May, otherwise it would be compromised by the summer heat, although he added that it could be delayed if the Iraqi forces were not ready.

Julie's postscript - when Mosul is eventually recaptured from evil ISIS, a success that, no doubt, will cost many more lives.....the ultimate victory must include the plans to erect a mammoth tribute monument, including the names of every person who has been killed in this blood bath - including the known civilians.  

There was no reason, whatsoever, for the cowardly Iraq army to loose Mosul to evil ISIS.  Nevertheless, when it's finally reclaimed, the territory must erect a monument that should remind the world about the terrible carnage caused by the entire failed operation Iraqi Freedom. 

When Jeb Bush officially launches his campaign to become president of the United States, he must be asked how it was the Americans lost Operation Iraqi Freedom under his brother's leadership.  Moreover, Jeb Bush  must be asked how he intends to prevent Mosul from ever again being captured by Islamic extremists.

Russian President Putin is a Napoleonic despot

It's difficult to understand how Europeans and the world can put up with Russia's outrageous take over of the Ukraine.  Surely, Europeans are sensitive to how appeasement fueled the ambitions of the Nazi Third Reich.  Now, the Napoleonic ambitions of Russian President Vladimir Putin is creating deja vu history. Unfortunately, Putin's abuse of the Ukraine's cease fire negotiations are not illusions. 

In fact, Putin delights in international scheming an cheating.  

Putin obviously has has no intention of honoring any cease fire and, in fact, the Ukraine is just a stepping stone to greater ambitions.  

Nevertheless, his ambition and despot goals notwithstanding, my question is how Putin can possible pay for his Napoleonic goals to take over Eastern Europe?  His Russian ruble is essentially junk currency.  Who funds Putin's army?  Surely, his Russian military isn't fighting for free. Okay, suppose they are fighting for free. It won't last. They won't fight long without food or military reinforcements.  But, victories are euphoric. Perhaps Putin keeps taking over Ukraine land just to keep his military motivated. Yet, there simply can't be a stable salary associated with these military campaigns. Frankly, Putin has rubles, but no money.

Evil people have a habit of  surviving, when all indications are they should implode. Putin is a survivor. He was a manager during the Cold War. Now he's President of Russia.

Nevertheless, even Napoleon was a mortal human being.  Napoleon died in 1821, and he's buried in Paris.

Likewise, Vladimir Putin is equally mortal. Eventually, when Russia runs out of money, Putin's supporters will find a way to overthrow his dictatorship. 

Meanwhile, Europe must keep pressuring Putin, so he cannot continue to fulfill his Napoleonic ambitions. There is no alternative.

Game changing article in The Atlantic by Graeme Wood - ISIS goal to bring an end of the world

There are a few articles in annals of history where the world as we know it is moved by the impact. "What ISIS Really Wants" is among the most persuasive aritlces I've read about the completely deranged and dangerous ISIS (Islamic State) terror movement. 

An article by Graeme Wood in the March 2015 edition of The Atlantic is a "game changer" because it's the first time I've read the secular media explaining how the evil ISIS mission is really a religious terrorist ideology, focused on a relentless quest to bring about the end of the world.  

This isn't a movie plot.  It's really happening and the world must urgently respond to eradicate the ISIS followers and believers, regardless of who are in harms way, as a result.

ISIS followers are evil and they must be eradicated because:

1.  The ISIS Islamic men terrorize women and rape them.
2.  ISIS combatants recruit children to fight with them.
3.  ISIS believers are infected with doom and they're determined to inflict their nihilistic beliefs on the world.
4.  ISIS will return civilization to living like they're back in the 7th century....that's before Medieval and Middle Ages.
5.  ISIS demands total obedience to Ammans who they deem are worthy of adulation;
6.  No "free will" allowed, or risk public execution.
7.  ISIS will inflict ethnic cleansing on Christians the likes of which the Roman Emperor Nero couldn't duplicate.
8.  ISIS believes in stoning people to death as a punishment.
9.  Islamic State is very Islamic. It attracts psychopaths and adventure seekers.
10.  ISIS believes the mission of their zeal is to bring an end to the world.

In September, Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, the Islamic State’s chief spokesman, called on Muslims in Western countries, such as France and Canada, to find an infidel and “smash his head with a rock,” poison him, run him over with a car, or “destroy his crops.” 

To Western ears, the biblical-sounding punishments—the stoning and crop destruction—juxtaposed strangely with his more modern-sounding call to vehicular homicide. (As if to show that he could terrorize by imagery alone, Adnani also referred to Secretary of State John Kerry as an “uncircumcised geezer.”)

Finally, the secular media writer Wood explains to the world the evil ISIS vision. 

Moreover, he explains why ISIS's heinous ambitions can destroy civilization as we know it.

There's no alternative for human beings to do except to destroy ISIS, regardless of the collateral damage.   

Presidential election 2016 - beware of personal destruction politics

Republican strategists will likely use what's worked in past elections when planning how to win the 2016 national election. Beware of the relentless use of personal destruction politics, because, frankly, Repubicans have no new ideas to promote. All they have are, only, old tried and true personal destruction tactics.

America doesn’t deserve another Bush campaign. Not now. Not while the wars that George W. Bush started are still festering.

The 2016 election is the most important in our lifetime because the 45th president could appoint as many as four Supreme Court Justices, when only one appointment is necessary to reverse not onlyRoe v. Wade but many of the principles that have girded Medicare and Social Security for decades.

National Memo reports about "compassionate sounding lies":

There’s a reason that a Bush has been on the Republican ticket in six out of the last nine presidential elections. They’re better at this than you are.

The guys who helped bring us Willie Horton and John McCain’s “black child” don’t just know how to remain mainstream darlings while dipping into the racially tinged politics of personal destruction. They are also better at cloaking their support of the conservative policies that are choking the middle class (and the planet) in “compassionate”-sounding lies.

Jeb Bush’s first big campaign speech in Detroit sent the media a message: I won’t get tarred with embracing Mitt Romney’s dismissal of the 47 percent, even as I espouse the exact same policies and ideology that feed the philosophy, that dismisses the 47 percent.

Despite the fact that every GOP candidate trails likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Republicans — including those who were sure that Mitt Romney would win – believe they have an advantage heading into 2016. And some non-partisan experts agree.

Americans rarely send the same party to the White House three times in a row. Even when they do, the Supreme Court — with the help of a sitting governor operating on behalf of his brother — has been known to stop it from happening, anyway. 

You’ve got all the advantages, GOP. So let’s do this. Let’s have a real debate.

Skidmore says "I want Scott Walker" — and not just because his deficit-inflating tactics have stagnated wages and left Wisconsin’s economy in the dust behind its fiscally responsible neighbor, Minnesota.

If the GOP really wants a 2016 winning strategy, the writer Gage Skidmore suggests five strategies, other than using personal destruction politics. Unfortunately, some of Skidmore's recommendations seem too complicated for the bumper sticker minded electorate. Nevertheless, some of his thoughts are worth consideration:

1. Stick with Scott Walker! (Said Skidmore)
Rand Paul has inherited his dad’s ground game. But, here’s a guy who has an economic plan written on tinfoil, empathizes with Obama on foreign policy, continually says things that he has to pretend he never said, and will self-destruct under the slightest pressure. Ted Cruz sounds the most like an Internet commenter (Ha! Julie says he sounds like a new age Elmer Gantry!), but that’d be like nominating a rodeo clown to ride a bull. Dr. Ben Carson occasionally comes off as a human being, and Chris Christie is almost unpopular enough to be taken seriously by Republicans. Maybe Huckabee (wanna-bee Huckabee?) or Jindal (Republicans must stop being the stupid party!)? Snap out of it! Stick with Walker, wrote Skidmore.

2. Forget about immigration  (Julie says, I truly believe this concept is a winning GOP strategy - just let go of this.....)
You’re going to find out that Scott Walker — like any politician who wants to win in a blue state — supports or supported immigration reform. He’ll parrot the requisite “secure the border first” nonsense — even though the border is more secure than it’s probably ever been — and reform isn’t happening until there’s a Speaker of the House who can bring it to the floor without losing his job. Reform didn’t happen under George W. Bush and it won’t happen under Walker. 

3. Keep Marco Rubio in the race (Julie says, but keep his "blinky-bottle" poster image, post the SOTUS, in the public domain!)
This is the key. Bush currently only leads in one out of the three first primary states — New Hampshire. If Walker stays close, Bush could blow him out of the water in Florida, which could be even more important this year thanks to changes that Mitt Romney’s team made to the nominating process in 2012. Rubio will, at least, deny Bush a dominating win in their home state. And, if that happens, much of the rationale for Jeb — disappears.

4. Don’t question Jeb’s conservative credentials
There are two names that guarantee the failure of any attempt to turn Jeb into a RINO (Republican in name only): George W. Bush and Terri Schiavo. You’re not going to convince people that a guy who put a husband “through hell” to keep a woman in a vegetative state alive is insufficiently pro-life. If the right does pursue this angle, George W. Bush will rise up with great vengeance to defend his brother, the way his brother defends him (Julie's opinion - this is the real reason why Jeb wants to run for President!). And that will be most persuasive, emotional endorsement any conservative could get this cycle. Secondly, arguing that Bush is a moderate — when all the evidence shows otherwise — will just make the argument that Jeb is electable to the blue-state Republicans who actually pick your nominee.

5. Attack Jeb’s failed policies and crony capitalism
You hate Common Core, but a huge chunk of your party probably has no strong opinion on it, except being against it because Obama is for it. This isn’t going to be good enough. You nominated the friggin’ creator of Obamacare last time around. You need to broaden the attack on Jeb to point out how his cronies benefit from his policies while taxpayers suffer. More than anyone alive, Jeb Bush has benefited from a political system that comforts the comfortable and afflicts the afflicted. This case was effective against Mitt, but you couldn’t stick to an alternative. So, again, stick to Scott Walker.

Surely you’re suspicious of anyone on the left who would want so badly for Walker to win the nomination. Aren’t you afraid of a guy who was able to organize more door knockers in an off-year election than Team Romney could pull off in a presidential year? He could sway the region that has given Democrats the White House in four out of the six last elections!

Skidmore said it reminded him of a favorite political story.

“What are you giving that S.O.B. all that publicity for?” aide and advisor Kenny O’Donnell asked President Kennedy, after a White House photo op, with GOP Barry Goldwater.

“Leave him alone,” answered Kennedy. “He’s mine.”

Evil ISIS intends to destroy Western Civilization and Christianity

Obviously, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how the evil Islamic terrorist group ISIS (Islamic State) wants to destroy Christianity.

Even if some Christians somehow succumbed to the ISIS evil practices and became Muslims, the coverts wouldn't be considered "Islamic enough" to be included in the group's extremist zeal.

Every day, the evil ISIS generates an increasing amount of horror. In addition to the execution of innocent hostages, the group is now publicly murdering Christians. There's absolutely no way this carnage can continue. ISIS must be eliminated, regardless of how many civilians are in harms way. ISIS must be eradicated,  in spite of the inability of the disorganized cowards in the Iraqi army's ability to launch an offensive against them.  (In my opinion, without any formal military training, the Iraqi army must participate in eradicating ISIS or risk being among the victims of the terrorist group's barbaric tactics.)

Nevertheless, ISIS can never destroy all Christians. In fact, the evil group will implode under it's evil actions, but not before murdering thousands of innocent people. Since ISIS doesn't have any  regard for the human condition, it makes no sense for defenders of Western culture to hesitate when defending against these terrorists.

Although I haven't seen the "American Sniper" movie or read the book about Navy Seal Chris Kyle, there are several movie clips shown whereby the sniper is faced with killing civilians.  Given how ISIS kills civilians to perpetrate its evil intentions, it seems Kyle's flashes of ambiguity about assassinating non combatants might be a moot issue. Incredulously, in the future, killing civilians might be a cruel necessity if the world will truly eradicate Islamic extremism.  How can I come to this cruel conclusion? Because, Islamic extremist non-combatants who support ISIS are as much a part of the evil as are the military combatants. If Islamic non-combatants, like women and children, are infected by evil, they tragically become analogous to a gangrenous limb that must be removed to save the patient from death.  

ISIS is an evil organization because they murder innocents, execute Christians, violently suppress women and recruit children to serve their nefarious intentions. 

ISIS must be eradicated as soon as possible.

Barbarbic videos like the following must be eliminated from the human condition.

(CNN) In a new propaganda video released Sunday by ISIS, the group claims to have beheaded over a dozen members of Egypt's Coptic Christian minority on a Libyan beach.

The video shows an apparent mass execution with jihadists in black standing behind each of the victims, who are all are dressed in orange jumpsuits with their hands cuffed behind them.

The five-minute video, released by the terror group's propaganda wing al-Hayat Media, includes a masked English-speaking jihadi who says, "The sea you have hidden Sheikh Osama bin Laden's body in, we swear to Allah, we will mix it with your blood."

Then on cue, all the victims are pushed to the ground and beheaded.
Egyptian government officials haven't confirmed the executions.

Is there a way to use a huge Zombonie, to scrape up all the evil ISIS executioners and shave them into the Arabic Sea?  Fish food.

Another notch in the world at war - Copenhagan free speech terror attack

We're living in a world that's at war. Let's call it what it is. Now, Copenhagan in Denmark is the target of another free speech (je suis Charlie in Paris) terrorist attack. This is yet another notch in the map of places where terrorists have launched murderous attacks. We're definitely living in a world war, where western culture is under attack by against Islamic extremism.


For some reason, probably trying to keep peace with reasonable Muslims, President Barack Obama refuses to identify the world war enemy as Islamic extremism. Instead, he calls the terrorists
"religious extremists".


Whatever President Obama wants to call them, these extremist evil doers go about the world screaming the name of the prophet Mohammed, while killing people who they claim are desecrating his image. 


Religious extremists, regardless of whether they're Islamic or any other religion, are often driven to violence to get their zealous intentions recognized. 


Islamic extremists are now resorting to suppression of speech, of any kind, anarchy, murder and the violent suppression of women, to force their evil to replace individual freedoms. This evil promulgation will never succeed. Nevertheless, tragically, the Islamic extremists will murder and terrorize millions of people, before they  finally fail. 


With Copenhagen now another notch in the world terrorism attack map, the world war is growing by the month.  Attacks by Al Qaeda in Africa predated the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York City, Pennsylvania and Washington DC. Since those attacks, terrorism has spread through Islamic extremist splinter groups with the most evil serpent being the Islamic State- a self proclaimed terrorist nation. 


Meanwhile, as the world struggles to identify terrorist cells and eradicate the ISIS advances in the Middle East, the Russian "Czar" Vladimir Putin is taking advantage of the fearful distractions. One thing we can say about Putin he that he puts terrorists away so we never hear from them again. Meanwhile, his own world leadership ambitions are going to take back former Soviet property like a thief in the night. Frankly, with the world at war against Islamic extremists, not many Western nations have the wherewithal to starve Putin's power hunger.


So, we're a world at war. 


Although Americans are reluctant to be the aggressors in the fight against Islamic extremism, the brutal alternatives are to "fight them over there or risk fighting them here". 


Copenhagen's "free speech" attack on Valentine's Day, has just put another notch in the world map, to validate this reality.


(CNN) Two gunmen stormed a Copenhagen, Denmark, building where controversial cartoonist Lars Vilks and his supporters had gathered Saturday, killing a man and wounding three police officers, before fleeing the scene, police said.

Helle Merete Brix -- the founder of the Lars Vilks Committee, created two years ago in support of the Swedish cartoonist whose portrayals of the Prophet Mohammed angered many in the Muslim world -- told CNN, that security personnel on site moved her and others to safe areas, after shots rang out. She and Vilks ended up in a storage room together, holding hands, until police told them it was OK to come out.


Je suis Charlie.
 

Vladimir Putin is simply biding time in the Ukraine.He's an evil man consumed with ambition.

In my opinion, Vladimir Putin is on a quest to fulfill Russia's ambitions to control the world. He will continue to pursue this ambitiion, regardless of how it harms other nations or, even, if doing so imposes economic stress on his own nation.

“We have no illusions,” she said, “A great, great deal of work still needs to be done. But there is a real chance to turn things around toward the better.” (Chancellor Angela Merkel)

Dear Chancellor Merkel, don't trust Vladimir Putin!

The New York times reports:

Ukrainian leaders caved to achieve a cease fire because Vladimir Putin showed up to a marathon meeting, essentially holding his diplomatic breath until he got a cease fire of his own design.  

Putin's designed cease fire won't last. Nevertheless, while some peace exists between Russia and the Ukraine, Putin will allow his own troops to rest up for the next volley.



MINSK, Belarus — A renewed cease-fire and an overall agreement to end the war in Ukraine were announced here on Thursday by the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France after marathon overnight bargaining that nearly collapsed at the very end.

The cease-fire is scheduled to begin at midnight on Saturday, but the 13-point compact appeared fragile, with crucial issues like the location of the truce line and control of the border with Russia left unresolved. Over all, there seemed to be no guarantee that the problems that marred the cease-fire agreement reached here in September had been ironed out.

The very fact that it took more than 16 hours of intensive negotiations to reach an agreement, and that the leaders announced the accord in three separate news conferences, seemed to highlight the differences that remained.

But after so many hours spent in the grandiose Independence Palace in Minsk, the Belarussian capital, all four leaders emphasized that the agreement should be given the chance to quiet the nearly year long conflict in eastern Ukraine.

“It consisted of a long night and a long morning, but we arrived at an accord on the cease-fire and the global end to the conflict,” François Hollande, the French president, said at a news conference in a joint appearance with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel.

“What we have on the table today gives us great hope,” said Ms. Merkel, who unexpectedly began a mediation effort with her French counterpart last week. 

However, she added, that there was much work ahead.

“We have no illusions,” she said, “A great, great deal of work still needs to be done. But there is a real chance to turn things around toward the better.”

President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine, in their separate briefings, highlighted those parts of the agreement that matched their demands, while noting crucial outstanding questions.

“Despite all the difficulties of the negotiating process, we managed to agree on the main things,” Mr. Putin said. Those issues included the withdrawal of heavy weaponry, a promise for constitutional change and “special status” for the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, he said.

Mr. Poroshenko, for his part, emphasized humanitarian issues, like the release of all prisoners, including Nadiya V. Savchenko, a female helicopter navigator who was elected to the Ukrainian Parliament while facing trial in Moscow. All foreign troops, military equipment and mercenaries should be withdrawn from Ukrainian territory, he said.

But the plan also included some tripwires, not least the questions about the truce line and the fate of the village of Debaltseve, an important railroad hub that has been the site of fierce fighting in recent weeks.

The deal calls for heavy artillery to be withdrawn at least about 15 miles from each side, and the biggest missiles even farther. The withdrawal is scheduled to start two days after the cease-fire and to be completed within two weeks.
Continue reading the main story

Mr. Putin said that Mr. Poroshenko refused to acknowledge that the separatist forces had surrounded up to 8,000 Ukrainian soldiers in Debaltseve, but the Russian leader said he hoped that consultations between military commanders would settle that matter.Continue reading the main story

Urgent for Islamic State to be annhiliated- especially the executioners

All parents are grieving the death of the idealistic humanitarian Kayla Mueller (1988-2015) of Prescott Arizona, who was murdered by the evil ISIS barbarians in the Middle East.  

Along with eradicating ISIS, the world must make the group's executioners accountable with a public trial.  As a matter of fact, if governments know the names of the ISIS executioners, we should begin war crimes trials now...immediately.

As a result of the serial barbaric murders of innocent people executed by ISIS, the US Congress is highly likely to approve of an increase in military action to annihilate the terrorist Islamic group.

ISIS is a heinously evil group of Islamic extremists who have used the human lives of innocent non-combatants to create terror among peaceful people.  These monsters must be destroyed. 

Although many civilians will tragically be in harms way as a result of the group's annihilation, the ISIS demons have demonstrated no consideration for the human condition.  An "eye for an eye" seems an appropriate response. Destroy them.

The family of Kayla Mueller, the 26-year-old aid worker held hostage by Isis since August 2013, has confirmed in a statement that she has been killed.

“We are heartbroken to share that we’ve received confirmation that Kayla Jean Mueller, has lost her life,” her parents and brother said on Tuesday.

Supporters of Islamic State had claimed on Friday that she was killed in a Jordanian air strike intended to avenge the burning to death of a captured Jordanian pilot. US officials could not determine her cause of death.

The National Security Council spokeswoman, Bernadette Meehan, said that over the weekend, the family received a private message from Mueller’s captors containing “additional information”.

“Once this information was authenticated by the intelligence community, they concluded that Kayla was deceased,” Meehan said.

My sincere sympathy to the family if Kayla Jean Mueller. She's among the martyrs who tried to improve the human condition of millions of displaced Syrians. These desperate refugees were driven out of their homeland by the evil dictator Bashar al-Assad. He should also be eradicated, along with ISIS. 

Meanwhile, in memorial I will also remember James Foley (1973-2014) of Rochester NH, and the names of others who are too numerous to list. 

America must never negotiated with terrorists.  Meanwhile, we must eradicate the ISIS terrorists and their executioners.

Great Britain's Prince Charles is opening up a discussion about the radicalization of youth

This is a socialogical discussion raised by Prince Charles, about what he calls "radicalization" of youths.  

In fact, it's an alarming question.

Prince Charles suggested "....when he becomes king, he may still be sworn in as Defender of the (Christian) Faith. There had been speculation that the title could be changed to encompass all faiths."

Why is it we're reading and seeing startling imagery of our world's youths being rallied to fundamentalism and Islamic extremism? 

Moreover, others among our world's youths who are trying to expose the evils caused by extremists. Both sides are exposing themselves to extraordinary dangers and death.

Honestly, I doubt the world's youth would respond to nations where leaders were commanding them to take up banners in support of seditious extremists groups.  Obviously, there'll always be fringe elements that seem to find their voice in extremism. Yet, radical terrorism movements have found their stride in recruiting young people, while reasonable voices have had little, if any, impact on curbing the flow of sympathizers who take up sedition, especially those who kill while screaming the name of the Prophet Mohammed.

Sadly, there's something innate in the psyche of the young that drives them towards seeking out risk taking behaviors. 

Prince Charles calls for an awareness about "radicalization" of Great Britain's youth.  Yet, his Royal awareness should also put the world on notice.  Obviously, the "radicalization" Prince Charles speaks about isn't exclusive to Great Britain.

8 February 2015 Last updated at 09:11 ET

Prince Charles says radicalisation of young people 'alarming'

The Prince of Wales has described the extent to which young people are becoming radicalised as "alarming" and one of the "greatest worries".

In an interview with Radio 2's The Sunday Hour, Prince Charles spoke of his hopes to "build bridges" between different faiths.

He also spoke of his "deep concern" for the suffering of Christian churches in the Middle East.

He is currently in Jordan on a six-day tour of the region.

The prince arrived in the capital Amman on Saturday night and held talks with King Abdullah II on Sunday.

After a visit to a refugee camp, the prince congratulated the Jordanians on being "wonderfully kind and hospitable" for putting so many Syrian refugees up in their country.

He visited the Za'atri camp, near the Jordanian border with war-torn Syria, and toured a supermarket and a children's centre.

The camp is home to 85,000 people and the prince spoke to families and students. He also spoke to former British police officers who have been training Jordanian officers in community policing.'Constructive paths'

On the radicalisation of young people, Prince Charles says: "Well, of course, this is one of the greatest worries, I think, and the extent to which this is happening is the alarming part.

"And particularly in a country, like ours, where you know the values we hold dear."

"You think that the people who have come here, [are] born here, go to school here, would imbibe those values and outlooks."

"The frightening part is that people can be so radicalised either through contact with somebody else or through the internet, and the extraordinary amount of crazy stuff which is on the internet."

He told the BBC programme he believed part of the reason some young people are radicalised is a "search for adventure and excitement at a particular age".

The prince also discussed the work of his charity The Prince's Trust in combating radicalisation.

He said: "What I have been trying to do all these years with the Prince's Trust, is to find alternatives for adolescents and people at a young age, for constructive paths for them to channel their enthusiasm, their energy, that sense of wanting to take risks and adventure and aggression and all these things.

"But you have to channel them into constructive paths."

The Radio 2 programme covers visits by the prince to Armenian, Roman Catholic Chaldean and Syrian Orthodox churches in the UK, and contains accounts from members of these denominations who have had to flee persecution in Syria and Iraq.

He said: "I particularly wanted to show solidarity really, deep concern for what so many of the Eastern Christian churches are going through in the Middle East.'Protector of faiths'

"Christianity was founded in the Middle East which we often forget. From a morale point I hope it showed they were not forgotten. I wish I could do more. Many of us do wish we could do more.

"I think what doesn't bear thinking about is people of one faith, a believer, could kill another believer. That's the totally bewildering aspect in our day and age."

He suggested that when he becomes king, he may still be sworn in as Defender of the (Christian) Faith. There had been speculation that the title could be changed to encompass all faiths.

However, he said he believed an important part of the role was to be a "protector of faiths", defending every religion in multicultural Britain.

During the interview, the prince also considered how different communities could live alongside each other.

He told the programme: "I think the secret is that we have to work harder to build bridges and we have to remember that our Lord taught us to love our neighbour, to do to others as you would do to you and just to go on despite the setbacks and despite the discouragement to try and build bridges and to show justice and kindness to people."'Activist prince'

The broadcast comes after a new book claiming the prince wants to redefine the monarchy was published.

The book's author, Catherine Mayer, said he has an "extraordinary relationship in the Gulf."

She added: "It's partly just because he's a prince. Also he gave a speech on Islam in 1993 in which he talked about Islam not having a monopoly on extremism and he talked about the Christian crusades, and he talked about the good things in Islam."

But anti-monarchy group Republic said the prince's views must be subject to scrutiny.

Graham Smith, Republic's CEO, said: "MPs in particular need to face up to the new reality of an activist prince and must be free to openly challenge what Charles says."

• The Sunday Hour was broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on 8 February.

Jordanian response to ISIS - Middle East must destroy this evil group

Iraq, Syria and Jordanian military must unite to destroy the evil Islamic State, acronym ISIS.  (Turkey could help, too.)

At this point, with Jordan's King Abdullah in the lead, the United States must support the efforts to mobilize the Islamic nations. 

This is an opportunity for the Islamic nations to become the troops needed on the ground, to augment the relentless anti ISIS air strikes.  

America has a rare opportunity to be heroes against evil, rather than an occupying nation.

Nevertheless, in my opinion, Americans in the Middle East should not be put at risk of capture by ISIS. It's not about being brave. Obviously, America's military have already demonstrated extraordinary bravery in fighting Islamic extremists. It's about keeping the US military out of orange covers with a cowardly black robed executioner standing over them.  

It's only a matter of time before an American military person is captured by ISIS. Rather than allow our American military to be subject to an international media circus that will undoubtedly result in an execution, the efforts should, instead, be in support of Middle East Muslims to defend their own nations. Unless the Middle East unites against ISIS, the evil group risks taking over the region. Subsequently, in the event the Muslims don't respond, the ISIS revenge will become an indescribable regional blood bath.

Jordanian fighter jets dropping bombs on ISIS makes excellent video imagery, but the bombing must be augmented by troops on the ground. Those offensive troops must be from a united Muslim coalition. 

So far, however, the Muslims have retreated into their Medieval tribal community rivalries, rather than unite against their common ISIS enemy. 

Perhaps the US military can educated team building and conflict resolution.....although overcoming centuries of tribal loyalties will likely be challenging, to say the least.  

Nevertheless, military training alone may not be enough. Coalition building is also essential.

Muslims must unit to defend their own cultures against an evil ISIS take over.

Brian Williams is creating the news rather than reporting as a professional journalist

We all make mistakes. 

 My previous cricitsm of NBC news anchor Brian Williams reported how he made up a war story from Afghanastan. I was wrong. Instead, Williams made up his helicopter story in Iraq....in 2003. He's a dozen years late in his apology. I'm apologzing for my mistike, immediately. Nevertheless, Williams made up his story and that's the truth.

IMO, Brian Williams should resign. Moreover, he should refund the speaking fees collected whenever his made up story about being involved in a helicopter attack in Iraq was part of his speech.

Stars and Stripes reports

NBC’s Brian Williams recants Iraq story after soldiers protest
'I spent much of the weekend thinking I'd gone crazy. I feel terrible about making this mistake'

WASHINGTON — NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams admitted Wednesday he was not aboard a helicopter hit and forced down by RPG fire during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, a false claim that has been repeated by the network for years.

Williams repeated the claim Friday during NBC’s coverage of a public tribute at a New York Rangers hockey game for a retired soldier that had provided ground security for the grounded helicopters, a game to which Williams accompanied him. 

In an interview with Stars and Stripes, he said he had misremembered the events and was sorry.

The admission came after crew members on the 159th Aviation Regiment’s Chinook that was hit by two rockets and small arms fire told Stars and Stripes that the NBC anchor was nowhere near that aircraft or two other Chinooks flying in the formation that took fire. Williams arrived in the area about an hour later on another helicopter after the other three had made an emergency landing, the crew members said.

“I would not have chosen to make this mistake,” Williams said. “I don’t know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft with another.”

Williams told his Nightly News audience that the erroneous claim was part of a "bungled attempt" to thank soldiers who helped protect him in Iraq in 2003. “I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago,” Williams said. “I want to apologize.”

Williams made the claim about the incident while presenting NBC coverage of the tribute to the retired command sergeant major at the Rangers game Friday. Fans gave the soldier a standing ovation.

“The story actually started with a terrible moment a dozen years back during the invasion of Iraq when the helicopter we were traveling in was forced down after being hit by an RPG,” Williams said on the broadcast. “Our traveling NBC News team was rescued, surrounded and kept alive by an armor mechanized platoon from the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry.”

Williams and his camera crew were actually aboard a Chinook in a formation that was about an hour behind the three helicopters that came under fire, according to crew member interviews.

That Chinook took no fire and landed later beside the damaged helicopter due to an impending sandstorm from the Iraqi desert, according to Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Miller, who was the flight engineer on the aircraft that carried the journalists.

“No, we never came under direct enemy fire to the aircraft,” he said Wednesday.

The helicopters, along with the NBC crew, remained on the ground at a forward operating base west of Baghdad for two or three days, where they were surrounded by an Army unit with Bradley fighting vehicles and Abrams M-1 tanks.

Miller said he never saw any direct fire on the position from Iraqi forces.

The claim rankled Miller as well as soldiers aboard the formation of 159th Aviation Regiment Chinooks that were flying far ahead and did come under attack during the March 24, 2003, mission.

One of the helicopters was hit by two rocket-propelled grenades — one did not detonate but passed through the airframe and rotor blades — as well as small arms fire.

“It was something personal for us that was kind of life-changing for me. I know how lucky I was to survive it,” said Lance Reynolds, who was the flight engineer. “It felt like a personal experience that someone else wanted to participate in and didn’t deserve to participate in.”

Reynolds said Williams and the NBC cameramen arrived in a helicopter 30 to 60 minutes after his damaged Chinook made a rolling landing at an Iraqi airfield and skidded off the runway into the desert.

He said Williams approached and took photos of the damage, but Reynolds brushed them off because the crew was assessing damage and he was worried that his wife, who was alone in Germany, might see the news report.

“I wanted to tell her myself everything was all right before she got news of this happening,” Reynolds said.

The NBC crew stayed only for about 10 minutes and then went to see the Army armored units that had been guarding the nearby Forward Operating Base Rams and came out to provide a security perimeter around the aircraft. Tim Terpak, the command sergeant major who accompanied Williams to the Rangers game, was among those soldiers, and the two struck up a friendship.

Miller, Reynolds and Mike O’Keeffe, who was a door gunner on the damaged Chinook, said they all recall NBC reporting that Williams was aboard the aircraft that was attacked, despite it being false. The NBC online archive shows the network broadcast a news story on March 26, 2003, with the headline, “Target Iraq: Helicopter NBC’s Brian Williams Was Riding In Comes Under Fire.”

Williams disputed Wednesday claims the initial reports were inaccurate, saying he originally reported he was in another helicopter but later confused the events. In a 2008 NBC blog post with his byline, he wrote that the “Chinook helicopter flying in front of ours (from the 101st Airborne) took an RPG to the rear rotor.”

O’Keeffe said the incident has bothered him since he and others first saw the original report after returning to Kuwait.

“Over the years it faded,” he said, “and then to see it last week it was — I can’t believe he is still telling this false narrative.”

tritten.travis@stripes.com
Twitter: @Travis_Tritten

Brian Williams is a wanna be Iraq war victim without serving

Let's have Richard Engel and Rachel Maddow co-host NBC News.

Many journalists, since the Greek writer Homer described the Trojan Wars, have become famous by reporting about wars.  

NBC television journalist Brian Williams apparently wants to become a famous war reporter, but he must begin by telling the truth, first.  Unfortunately, Williams created a myth  about his war experience while he was reporting from Iraq.  

Now that Williams is being held accountable for reporting about being involved in a helicopter attack that didn't happen, at least not like he described it, he's retracting his story. He says, somehow, he became confused about the information.  

This is just another example of how I've blogged, for months about how Brian Williams is reporting entertainment news rather than behaving like a journalist.  

Two recent examples of his inability to get the news right was when he reported on the live NBC broadcast musical "Peter Pan" as though the television program, starring his own daughter, was a regal coronation. Under the title of ludicrous news was a recent report about how automatic dish washers are more effective if the water spray hits dishes sideways, or something bizarre like that...as though we're going to climb into a cycle to find out for ourselves.  

Now, Williams is finally admitting to creating war news. He's being held accountable, by those who were there, for his myth about involvement in a helicopter attack in Afghanistan, but he made up most of the story.  

Obviously, Williams is a "wanna be" war correspondent, who wants to be  famous, just because he can make up a good story.  

I'm the wife of a real war hero who served twice in Vietnam. My husband was with the US Seabees MCB71 and on the USS Intrepid. Frankly, I'm offended by the wanna-be war myths created from those who yearn to be among the brave, by creating myths.

Brian Williams had a chance to serve his country in the US Military.  I don't know him personally, but every American who is qualified to serve in the military has a chance to do so, if they choose.  Williams probably passed on his chance but now wants to be a hero, nonetheless.  Well, he can't. 

It's truly time for NBC to find a real journalist to lead the news team. The network needs somebody who cares more about the people they're reporting about than their own ego.

I don't know  who created the quote but it's a mantra among journalists:  "Don't create the news, just report the news".

I vote for foreign NBC news journalists Richard Engel and MSNBC pundit Rachel Maddow to co-host NBC nightly news.

Here's the mythology story, created by Brian Williams, reported from The Daily Beast.

Brian Williams’ War Story Is FUBAR

The claim that his helicopter was hit by an RPG in Iraq blew up in his face. Now the NBC anchor is busily apologizing to salvage his reputation—and career.

The Brian Williams Apology Tour has begun—and who knows where it will end?

The NBC Nightly News anchor publicly apologized three times Wednesday—during his regular broadcast, in a Facebook post, and in Stars and Stripes—after the military-focused newspaper published a damning story that Williams and NBC have been claiming falsely “for years” that, during the 2003 Iraq invasion, he was aboard a U.S. Army helicopter that was hit and forced down by rocket-propelled grenades.

“The story actually started with a terrible moment a dozen years back during the invasion of Iraq,” Williams told viewers during last Friday’s broadcast of the top-rated NBC Nightly News, “when the helicopter we were traveling in was forced down after being hit by an RPG.” Video accompanying the story showed a severely damaged helicopter, its skin pierced by an RPG, and strongly suggested that Williams had been a passenger on the combat-hobbled aircraft.

Williams has told the story of being hit by enemy fire at least twice on national television, most recently during Friday’s Nightly News segment about a retired Army sergeant who protected him and his NBC colleagues in the war zone. ButStars and Stripes reported that contrary to Williams’ tall tale, his Chinook helicopter was miles away when an entirely different chopper took enemy fire.

The Nightly News story focused on honoring retired Sgt. Tim Terpack, who, as Williams’ guest at a New York Rangers hockey game last Thursday, was introduced by the Madison Square Garden announcer with the erroneous anecdote and received a standing ovation from the crowd as the two men hugged.

Williams quickly retracted the story after Stars and Stripes confronted him with testimony from the crew of the 159th Aviation Regiment’s Chinook that actually was downed by rockets and small-arms fire; service members who were on the scene at the time also took to Facebook after Friday’s broadcast to contradict the Williams account.

“I would not have chosen to make this mistake,” Williams told the newspaper, adding that he was sorry. 

“I don’t know what screwed up in my mind that caused me to conflate one aircraft with another.... No, we never came under direct enemy fire to the aircraft.”

In a remorseful Facebook post, Williams wrote: “I spent much of the weekend thinking I’d gone crazy. I feel terrible about making this mistake....”

And in his apology on Wednesday’s Nightly News broadcast, Williams pleaded with viewers to trust his good intentions, cut him slack for his love of the U.S. military, and forgive his faulty memory: “[I]n an effort to honor and thank a veteran who protected me and so many others following a ground-fire incident in the desert during the Iraq War, I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago. It didn’t take long to hear from some brave men and women in the air crews who were also in the desert.... This was a bungled attempt by me to thank one special veteran, and by extension, our brave military men and women—veterans everywhere—those who have served while I did not. I hope they know they have my greatest respect… and also now my apology.”

Unfortunately for Williams, this is not the first time he has made “this mistake” on network television. On the March 26, 2013 episode of CBS’s Late Show With David Letterman, he told the host (at the 3 minute, 50-second mark): “Two of our four helicopters were hit by ground fire, including the one I was in.”

“No kidding!” Letterman exclaimed.

“RPG and AK-47,” Williams elaborated.

“What altitude were you hit at?” Letterman asked.

“We were only at 100 feet doing 100 forward knots...”

“What happens the minute everybody realizes you’ve been hit?” Letterman asked.

“We figure out how to land safely—and we did,” Williams answered. “We landed very quickly and hard...”

Stars and Stripes left open the possibility that Williams also misreported the incident initially on March 26, 2003, but it turns out that back then, at least, he never claimed to have been aboard the attacked chopper—during two different broadcasts on that date. Television news analyst Andrew Tyndall dipped into his videotape library and screened the Nightly News segment in which Williams said “he was in a convoy of helicopters, one of which got hit,” Tyndall told The Daily Beast.

NBC News, meanwhile, unearthed a March 26, 2003, Dateline segment in which Williams reported: “On the ground, we learn that the Chinook ahead of us was almost blown of the sky.”

Whether Williams’ Chinook was flying in close formation with the chopper that was hit—as his NBC reports imply—or was traveling as much as an hour behind it—as Stars and Stripes’ witnesses contend—remains a matter in dispute. “Williams arrived in the area about an hour later on another helicopter after the other three had made an emergency landing, the crew members said,” Stars and Stripes reported.

The Williams claim to have been under fire recalls 2008 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s false assertion that, as first lady in March 1996, she came under sniper fire during a trip to Tuzla, Bosnia. “I remember landing under sniper fire,” Clinton said during a speech. “There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base." 

CBS News video of Clinton’s arrival showed no such thing; instead she alighted on the tarmac and greeted a welcoming child who offered her a poem.

Needless to say, the standards of veracity and accuracy demanded of a network news anchorman are much higher than those expected of a politician. Clinton ended up in a world of hurt for her Bosnia fabrication, and Williams, at least for the near future, might suffer a similar hard landing.

“The actual lie is a trivial one,” Tyndall said, noting that it has zero public policy or political implications. “But the motive for the lie is really damning. Telling fibs to make yourself seem braver than you are? Why would you do that? The actual consequences of the lie are minimal, but the moral problems the lie raises are massive.”

Tyndall, however, said Williams can recover. 

“But it all depends on how much is mobilized against him and how contrite and forthcoming he is in response to it. This is not fatal, but it’s really bad.”

Evil ISIS cannot bring Lt. Moaz al-Kasasbeh back to life will endure the consequences

It's one thing for the middle east's Muslims to see Westerners and others executed without cause by the evil ISIS (Islamic State); but when the terrorist group murdered one of their own, who was a respectable Jordanian officer and a prisoner of war, then the outrage finally overrode their protective religious veneer.  

Although the outrage about the evil ISIS, and its barbaric executions and terrorist tactics has been universally condemned, the Muslim themselves have shown some reticence (the Iraqi Kurds being the exception) in degrading, destroying and eradicating this black clad terrorist group.

Now, Fox News is reporting on how Jordan's King Abdullah has said he will lead his nation to fight ISIS until they "run out of fuel and bullets".  This is in response to the barbaric video murder of the Jordanian pilot Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh.

Till we run "out of fuel and bullets': 

Jordan's king vows to crush ISIS

Jordan's King Abdullah, himself a former general, angrily vowed to pursue Islamic State until his military runs "out of fuel and bullets," in a closed door meeting with U.S. lawmakers that followed release of a grisly video showing a captured Jordanian airman being burned alive in a cage by the terrorist army.

The pledge preceded the hanging of two Al Qaeda terrorists early Wednesday in Jordan, a swift response to the video that could be a mere harbinger of coming retribution from the Arab kingdom in the wake of the sadistic slaughter. 

King Abdullah's words were echoed by military leaders, who vowed an “earth-shaking” response, proportionate to the magnitude of the tragedy of all Jordanians.” But it was the words of their visibly shaken king, who commanded his nation's special forces before assuming the throne in 1999, that could foreshadow what is in store for the black-clad terrorist army whose atrocities have shocked the civilized world.

"He said there is going to be retribution like ISIS hasn’t seen,” said Rep. Duncan Hunter Jr., R-Calif., a Marine Corps veteran of two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, who was in the meeting with the king. “He mentioned ‘Unforgiven’ and he mentioned Clint Eastwood, and he actually quoted a part of the movie.”

King Abdullah, who was in Washington for a diplomatic mission when the video depicting the horrific death of Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh hit the Internet, returned to Amman early Wednesday, after the dawn hanging of Sajida al-Rishawi, who was convicted for taking part in a 2005 triple hotel bombing that killed 60 in Amman, and Ziad al-Karbouly, an Iraqi who served as an aide to Al Qaeda in Iraq founder Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The executions had been announced hours after the video of the death of Al-Kaseasbeh, who officiials now believe was killed as early as Jan. 3.

Ever since the pilot's capture on Dec. 24, King Abdullah had shown a personal attachment to his fate. Al-Kaseasbeh, who was from a prominent tribe in the Karak governorate and had graduated from King Hussein Air College, the academy named for Abdullah's father. The pilot's father, Safi al-Kaseasbeh, who met with King Abdullah at least twice following his son's capture, said the king told him he valued Kaseasbeh like his own son.

“The King told me that he was following up personally on Muath’s case," the grieving father told the Jordan Times. "He said Crown Prince Hussein, may God protect him, is no dearer to me than Muath.”

Jordan, a member of the U.S.-led coalition that has been striking ISIS in Syria since this past September, had previously indicated it was considering an offer from Islamic State to trade Al-Rishawi for the pilot, but reports yesterday said the pilot had been dead for a month. The ghastly video sparked outrage on the streets of Jordan, a small nation of 6 million that shares borders with Syria and Iraq, where Islamic State has carved out its so-called caliphate. King Abdullah vowed to focus his people's anger on the terrorist army.

Government spokesman Mohammad Momani said that Jordan’s response to the assassination “will be swift. Jordanians’ wrath will devastate Daesh’s ranks.”

In Jordan, Al-Kaseasbeh's capture sparked debate about whether the nation should be participating in the airstrikes against Islamic State and if an exchange of prisoners was warranted. Jordan repeatedly sought proof that the pilot was still alive, and at times expressed frustration at the lack of communication. But news the pilot had likely been dead all along sparked rage in a nation that reveres its military.

In the video, viewed by Fox News, Al-Kaseasbeh, showing signs of having been beaten and clad in an orange jumpsuit, speaks under clear duress. A narrator speaking in Arabic blasts Arab nations, including Jordan, for taking part in U.S.-led airstrikes against ISIS. The final five minutes of the video show the caged pilot, his clothing apparently doused in gasoline as the fuel is lit. His screams are audible as he collapses to his knees. After being killed, the burned man and the cage are buried by a bulldozer. The video ends with ISIS offering "100 golden Dinars" for any Muslims in Jordan who kills other Jordanian pilots, whose names, pictures and hometowns are shown.

Sources told Fox News it demonstrated the highest production values of any tape to date, suggesting it took considerable time to shoot and produce.

President Obama condemned the murder of the pilot before meeting privately with the king, saying the atrocity would "redouble the vigilance and determination on the part of our global coalition to make sure they are degraded and ultimately defeated."

"It's just one more indication of the viciousness and barbarity of this organization," Obama said. "And I think it will redouble the vigilance and determination on the part of the global coalition to make sure that they are degraded and ultimately defeated.”

"Lieutenant Al-Kaseasbeh's dedication, courage and service to his country and family represent universal human values that stand in opposition to the cowardice and depravity of ISIL, which has been so broadly rejected around the globe," Obama said, using another acronym for the terror group.

Jordan faces increasing threats from the militants. Jordan borders areas of the group's self-declared caliphate in Syria and Iraq, while there are have been signs of greater support for the group's militant ideas among Jordan's young and poor.

After word spread that the pilot had been killed, dozens of people chanting slogans against the Islamic State group marched toward the royal palace to express their anger. Waving a Jordanian flag, they chanted, "Damn you, Daesh!" -- using the Arabic acronym of the group -- and "We will avenge, we will avenge our son's blood."

"There is no religion [that] accepts such act," Amman resident Hassan Abu Ali said. "Islam is a religion of tolerance. (ISIS) have nothing to do with Islam. This is [a] criminal act."

Jordanian Army spokesman Mamdouh al-Ameri said the country would strike back hard. "Our punishment and revenge will be as huge as the loss of the Jordanians," he said.

Protesters marched in the pilot's home village of Ai and set a local government office on fire. Witnesses said the atmosphere was tense and that riot police patrolled the streets.

The pilot's father, Safi Yousef al-Kaseasbeh, was attending a tribal meeting in Amman when news of the video surfaced, and he was seen being led from the session. Other men were seen outside, overcome with emotion.

The Islamic State group has released a series of gruesome videos showing the beheading of captives, including two American journalists, an American aid worker and two British aid workers. Tuesday's was the first to show a captive being burned alive.

David L. Phillips, a former State Department adviser on the Middle East, said he believes the pilot's killing could backfire, antagonizing Sunnis against the extremists, including Sunni tribes in Iraq.

"They need to have a welcome from Sunni Arabs in Anbar Province [in Iraq] to maintain their operations," said Phillips, director of the Program on Peace-building and Human Rights at Columbia University.

He said the extremist group's recent military setbacks may have fueled the killings. "They need to compensate for that with increasingly gruesome killings of prisoners," he said.

The latest video was released three days after another video showed the purported beheading of a Japanese journalist, Kenji Goto, who was captured by the Islamic State group in October.

The militants had linked the fates of the pilot and the journalist. A second Japanese hostage was apparently killed earlier last month.

The U.N. Security Council, in a statement, condemned the "brutality of ISIL, which is responsible for thousands of crimes and abuses against people from all faiths, ethnicities and nationalities, and without regard to any basic value of humanity."

Fox News' Catherine Herridge, Nadiah Sarsour and the Associated Press contributed to this report.