CNN On Gays Living Under ISIS Rule

In a report on the ISIS executions of allegedly gay men, CNN today interviewed a gay couple who fled Syria just before ISIS took control. CNN reports that gays still living in ISIS-controlled regions are living in terror.

Headline Of The Day

Details. As always, it's important to keep in mind that these terrorists routinely accuse people of being gay in order to "justify" their murders.

LGBT Groups Urge Caution In Reporting "Alleged Executions For Sodomy" By ISIS

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) and MADRE, the global women’s rights group, have issued a joint statement about recent reports that ISIS has executed men on charges of homosexuality.

IGLHRC and MADRE caution concerned members of the media, representatives of foreign governments and people of conscience generally in the strongest possible terms against assuming that the men identified as ‘gay’ and against assuming the men engaged in homosexual acts. Other than the photos themselves, very little is known about these executions. IGLHRC has tried to independently verify the events that occurred with little success to date. Without credible evidence, it is crucial to exercise extreme caution in how the event is reported and how the men are described.

At this time, to publicly call Iraqi men “gay” can only do harm. If the men did not identify as gay, the allegation is inaccurate and obscures the Islamic State’s motivation for publicly labeling them as such. If the men indeed identified as gay, extreme caution should be exercised and consultation held with those they loved. If the men identified as gay, widespread publicity potentially exposes their families, loved ones and intimate partners to harm. Honor killings are pervasive in Iraq, so the safety of those most affected must be a paramount concern.

Furthermore, to assume that the executions were for sodomy solely on the basis of information from the Islamic State is dangerous. Without evidentiary basis or independent confirmation, this sweeping allegation could be applied to anyone the Islamic State seeks to discredit—including human rights activists and anyone opposed to the Islamic State. Accusing opponents of homosexuality is a tried and true tool used to discredit political adversaries throughout the world.

Accuracy is absolutely needed to moderate the level of fear of LGBTI Iraqis living in areas controlled by the Islamic State. During the anti-emo killings in 2012, rumors circulated alleging that upwards of a thousand people had been killed for perceived gender and sexual non-conformity, while the documented number was nearer ten. In response, IGLHRC interviewed LGBTI Iraqis and found that some fled the country, were shunned, isolated themselves at home too afraid to venture into the streets, and experienced high levels of suicidal ideation. The stakes today are high enough; allies in the media, foreign governments, and among concerned friends globally must understand accurately what occurred and avoid risky inflations of the threat level.

In recent posts about these reports I have described the victims as "allegedly gay" and of having been "accused of being gay." I've also excerpted press accounts which note that Islamists sometimes accuse their political enemies of being homosexuals in order to "justify" their executions. Hit the top link for more about this issue.

SYRIA: ISIS Claims To Have Executed Two Gay Men By Stoning Them To Death

Via MSNBC:

The Islamic State group stoned two men to death in Syria Tuesday after claiming they were gay, a monitor said, in the jihadist organisation's first executions for alleged homosexuality. "The IS today stoned to death a man that it said was gay," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that the victim was around 20 years old. He was killed in Mayadeen in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, near the border with Iraq. The Britain-based Observatory said IS claimed it found videos on his mobile phone showing him "practising indecent acts with males". In a separate incident on Tuesday, an 18-year-old was also stoned to death in Deir Ezzor city after the group said he was gay, the Observatory said. Activists on social media said that the dead men were opponents of IS and that the group had used the allegation as a pretext to kill them.

(Tipped by JMG reader Chris)

Britain To Join ISIS Airstrikes

Via the New York Times:

The British Parliament voted overwhelmingly on Friday to approve airstrikes in Iraq against the militants of the Islamic State. The vote brought a country weary of international engagements belatedly into the American-led campaign against Sunni extremists. Prime Minister David Cameron called Parliament back from recess to consider the motion, which authorizes the government to conduct air operations over Iraq. It does not authorize the deployment of ground troops, nor does it authorize action in Syria. The decision was seen as significant, after British lawmakers voted last year not to join proposed strikes against Syria over its use of chemical weapons. The vote last year dented Britain’s reputation as America’s closest ally in the fight against extremism, and the debate on Friday was seen as a test of Britain’s stomach for further military intervention after unpopular wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Obama Addresses United Nations General Assembly, Says Airstrikes Must Continue

Via USA Today:

U.S.-led airstrikes in Syria and Iraq are necessary to stop the terrorist threats of the Islamic State and others, President Obama told world leaders Wednesday. "The only language understood by killers like this is the language of force," Obama told the United Nations General Assembly in his annual address. The president also called on the world's nations and While there is a "pervasive unease" over a variety of global problems — from the spread of Ebola in West Africa to Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine — Obama told the U.N. delegates they are making progress in addressing them. "As we look to the future, one issue risks a cycle of conflict that could derail such progress," Obama said. "And that is the cancer of violent extremism that has ravaged so many parts of the Muslim world."

Another Beheading By ISIS

French tourist seized in Algeria is seen beheaded in a video circulated by a group aligned with ISIS, SITE says. http://t.co/A5CqfqFtNg
— New York Times World (@nytimesworld) September 24, 2014

US Navy Launches Airstrikes On Syria

Via USA Today:

The U.S. military, along with Arab allies, launched the first airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria late Monday, as the war ordered by President Obama against the militant organization took on an urgent new phase. A statement early Tuesday from the Department of Defense said 14 airstrikes were carried out against ISIL targets. "The strikes destroyed or damaged multiple ISIL targets in the vicinity of Ar Raqqah, Dayr az Zawr, Al Hasakah, and Abu Kamal and included ISIL fighters, training compounds, headquarters and command and control facilities, storage facilities, a finance center, supply trucks and armed vehicles," the Defense Department said

ISRAEL: Gay Club Promoter Denounced For Evoking ISIS Beheadings In Party Ads

Via NBC News:

An Israeli gay party promoter has published posters featuring a stark parody of ISIS beheading videos. Drek, which puts together events in famously gay-friendly Tel Aviv, apologized for the use of the homoerotic humor drawing on the gruesome murders of James Foley, Steven Sotloff and David Haines, but also defended the posters. "Our way to express our contempt and criticism to things that take place in the reality in the past four years is through humor and satire," the event organizers said in a Facebook post. "We think our enemies victory will be when we live in fear and let them control our thoughts. We feel that humor takes the sting out of threatening and offensive issues. If our publications of our last party hurt the feeling of somebody, we apologize." Nevertheless, most commenting on the organization's Facebook page were supportive. "In my eyes the invitation is genius and smart. Satire is mostly a bit extreme and that is fine," Karam Dadu wrote.

More from Israel's Ynet News:

Though a number of people shrugged off the posters as poor taste, most were enraged: "Disgusting! Getting a laugh off of the murder of innocent victims," wrote one commentator; "very baaaaaaaaaaad," wrote another, while a third lamented it "poor satire". Posting the images online to Drek's Facebook page, the organizers wrote "as the new Islamic State gains traction in the Middle East, we at Drek have decided to give in to Sharia law and cheer the stubborn Daesh," using the Arab acronym for the group, and invoking a veiled play on words – "stubborn" in Hebrew can be written as "hard necked", a reference to the group's infamous executions. Amiri Kalman, one of the Drek's founders, said in response: "We are trying to react to current events. We have been doing it for a number of years. But we reject violence in any form and that includes the (execution) videos intended to scare the world."

The flag in the second image above is reportedly meant to represent the black flag of ISIS. 

Senate Approves Arming Syrian Rebels

Via the Associated Press:

In the heat of an election campaign, Congress cleared the way for the U.S. military to train and equip Syrian rebels for a war against Islamic State militants Thursday night, reluctant ratification of a new strategy that President Barack Obama outlined scarcely a week ago. The 78-22 Senate vote sent Obama legislation that also provides funding for the government after the end of the budget year on Sept. 30, eliminating any threat of a shutdown. The House approved the bill on Wednesday. In an appearance at the White House soon after the vote, Obama said he was pleased that a majority of both Republicans and Democrats had supported the legislation. "I believe we're strongest as a nation when the president and Congress work together," he said. Noting the killing of two Americans by the Islamic State group, he said that "as Americans we do not give in to fear" and would not be put off by such brutal tactics. In the Senate, 44 Democrats, 33 Republicans and one independent voted for the bill, while nine Democrats, 12 Republicans and one independent opposed it. The issue created new fault lines for this fall's elections for control of the Senate as well as the 2016 race for the White House.

How long until those weapons are used against us?

Catholic League Calls For War

The Catholic League published the above message in today's New York Times.

Sen. Lindsey Graham: Obama Need To Act Before ISIS Kills Every American At Home

"The first thing I want to tell American people, from my point of view, it is our fight, it is not just their fight. I will not let this president suggest to the American people we can outsource or security and this is not about our safety. There is no way in hell you can form an army on the ground to go into Syria, to destroy ISIL, without a substantial American component. To destroy ISIL, you have to kill or capture their leaders, take the territory they hold back, cut off the financing, and destroy the capability to regenerate. This is a war we’re fighting, not a counter-terrorism operation. This is not Somalia, this is not Yemen. This is a turning point in the war on terror. Our strategy will fail yet again. This president needs to rise to the occasion before we all get killed back here at home." - Sen. Lindsey Graham, speaking today on Fox News Sunday.

McCain Battles With Former White House Spokesman Jay Carney Over ISIS Plan

Mediaite sets the stage:

Jay Carney, on his very first night working for CNN, ended up sparring with Senator John McCain over President Obama‘s ISIS speech, in which McCain repeatedly took shots at Carney for not telling the truth, saying at least once that “facts are stubborn things.” The second McCain appeared on CNN, he immediately got combative with Carney. McCain said that Obama unilaterally decided, against advisement from his national security team, not to train Syrian rebels. In addition, he said not leaving a residual force in Iraq was a huge mistake on Obama’s part. Carney disputed McCain’s claims, but the senator said, “Again, Mr. Carney, you are saying facts that are patently false.” They kept talking over each other and arguing, with McCain continuing to insist that Carney has his facts wrong.

Obama: It's Time To Get ISIS

Via CNN:

It's time to go after ISIS in Iraq and Syria, President Barack Obama said Wednesday night in a nationally televised address intended to sell stepped-up military efforts to a war-weary public. Obama said the United States would expand its airstrikes against the Sunni jihadists in Iraq to target them across the border in Syria. "I have made it clear that we will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are," he said. "That means I will not hesitate to take action against ISIL in Syria, as well as Iraq. This is a core principle of my presidency: if you threaten America, you will find no safe haven." The declaration answered calls from a growing number of U.S. politicians for such a step, with increasing public support.

Obama also announced another 475 American military advisers would go to Iraq, pushing the total figure to about 1,700. At the same time, he made clear the strategy differed from all-out war again in Iraq less than three years after he withdrew combat forces from the country. "It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil," Obama said. His address from the White House also sought to convince allies and the nation of a firm U.S. commitment to lead an international coalition to fight the jihadists who rampaged across northern Iraq from Syria this year. They are known as ISIS, ISIL and Islamic State.

Britain Goes On "Severe" Terror Alert

The United Kingdom today raised its terror alert to "severe" in response to ISIS activity in Iraq and Syria.

"What we're facing in Iraq now with ISIL is a deeper and greater threat to our security than we have known before," U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said in a news conference from 10 Downing Street, referring to the Islamic State by its former name, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. "With ISIL, we are facing a terrorist organization not being hosted in a country but actually seeking to establish and violently expand its own terrorist state," he added. There is no specific threat or information suggesting that an attack is imminent, Home Secretary Theresa May said, however, the "severe" threat level indicates a terrorist attack is "highly likely." Severe is the second-highest of five possible threat levels. The U.S. threat level remains elevated.

According to UK intelligence, about 500 Brits have traveled to the Middle East to join ISIS militants.

Sen. John McCain Defends Gays And Pussy Riot In Pravda Op-Ed Column

"I believe you should live according to the dictates of your conscience, not your government. I believe you deserve the opportunity to improve your lives in an economy that is built to last and benefits the many, not just the powerful few. You should be governed by a rule of law that is clear, consistently and impartially enforced and just. I make that claim because I believe the Russian people, no less than Americans, are endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

"A Russian citizen could not publish a testament like the one I just offered. President Putin and his associates do not believe in these values. They don't respect your dignity or accept your authority over them. They punish dissent and imprison opponents. They rig your elections. They control your media. They harass, threaten, and banish organizations that defend your right to self-governance. To perpetuate their power they foster rampant corruption in your courts and your economy and terrorize and even assassinate journalists who try to expose their corruption.

"They write laws to codify bigotry against people whose sexual orientation they condemn. They throw the members of a punk rock band in jail for the crime of being provocative and vulgar and for having the audacity to protest President Putin's rule. [snip] President Putin claims his purpose is to restore Russia to greatness at home and among the nations of the world. But by what measure has he restored your greatness?" - Sen John McCain, responding to Vladimir Putin's op-ed in the New York Times.

RELATED: According to Politico, McCain wrote for the wrong Pravda.

The Arizona Republican published his anti-Putin piece on Pravda.ru on Thursday, an English and Russian news website that was founded in 1999. But McCain said he was hoping to publish in the Communist newspaper Pravda, meaning “truth” in Russian, which was founded in 1912. That publication, after being banned when the Soviet Union collapsed, was rekindled and is still circulated by today’s Russian Communist Party. Pravda.ru and the paper are unrelated media outlets, except for the name.

The "wrong" Pravda defends themselves:

We did not want to disclose in advance our agreements with McCain's spokesperson about the publication of his column. In light of recent events, I want to remind everyone that the Soviet Pravda has two successors now: Pravda.Ru and Pravda of the Communist Party. We proved at court that we were the same successor to newspaper Pravda, established in 1912, as the current, low-circulation press body of the Communist Party.

Obama: This Isn't The Cold War, I Welcome Putin's Involvement In Syria

On today's Good Morning America.

Kerry Announces Agreement On Syria

NPR has this morning's development:

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Saturday they have reached an agreement on a framework for Syria to destroy all of its chemical weapons, and raised the specter of a potential U.N. Security Council resolution that could authorize sanctions — even military action — if President Bashar Assad's government fails to comply. The diplomats announced on the third day of intense negotiations in Geneva that some elements of the deal include a timetable and how Syria must comply. Notably, Kerry said they had agreed on grounds under which they might request a Security Council "Chapter 7" resolution — authorizing both military and non-military sanctions.

Vladimir Putin Writes For New York Times

Russian President Vladimir Putin has penned an op-ed for the New York Times.  His title is A Plea For Caution From Russia.  He begins:

Recent events surrounding Syria have prompted me to speak directly to the American people and their political leaders. It is important to do so at a time of insufficient communication between our societies. Relations between us have passed through different stages. We stood against each other during the cold war. But we were also allies once, and defeated the Nazis together. The universal international organization — the United Nations — was then established to prevent such devastation from ever happening again.

The United Nations’ founders understood that decisions affecting war and peace should happen only by consensus, and with America’s consent the veto by Security Council permanent members was enshrined in the United Nations Charter. The profound wisdom of this has underpinned the stability of international relations for decades.

Putin gets to his main point six paragraphs later:

No one doubts that poison gas was used in Syria. But there is every reason to believe it was used not by the Syrian Army, but by opposition forces, to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons, who would be siding with the fundamentalists. Reports that militants are preparing another attack — this time against Israel — cannot be ignored.

It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States. Is it in America’s long-term interest? I doubt it. Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan “you’re either with us or against us.”

But force has proved ineffective and pointless. Afghanistan is reeling, and no one can say what will happen after international forces withdraw. Libya is divided into tribes and clans. In Iraq the civil war continues, with dozens killed each day. In the United States, many draw an analogy between Iraq and Syria, and ask why their government would want to repeat recent mistakes.

He concludes:

If we can avoid force against Syria, this will improve the atmosphere in international affairs and strengthen mutual trust. It will be our shared success and open the door to cooperation on other critical issues.

My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust. I appreciate this. I carefully studied his address to the nation on Tuesday. And I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional.” It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.

Read the full essay. Obviously the international media will have a LOT to say about both Putin's argument and that he used the New York Times to present it.

Obama Addresses Nation On Syria