ISIS/ISIL conflict in Syria/Iraq (No OpEd, No Politics)

Miragedriver said:

At first I thought this was a joke, but it is true!

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has opened a five-star hotel boasting excellent TripAdvisor reviews for its commanders in Mosul.

According to

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, the jihadist group has reopened the Ninawa Hotel in

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second-largest city.

In

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published prior to Isil's seizure of vast swathes of Iraq including Mosul last year, the hotel received four reviews, all marking it as "Excellent".

One user described it as "very suitable for a family meet" with a "nice wedding room", while another praised the "affordable room rate" and facilities including a swimming pool, tennis court and gym

Images published online appeared to show jihadists destroying and painting over the hotel's friezes, which would be consider heretical under Isil's strict brand of fundamentalist Islam.

Isil opens five star hotel in Mosul

Isil had previously forced the closure of all hotels in lands it captured in

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and Iraq.
The hotel

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, but it will also cater for weddings.


Back to bottling my Grenache

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If I was in charge of the anti-ISIS coalition I'd screw with them and bomb it on opening day.

Bernard said:

If I was in charge of the anti-ISIS coalition I'd screw with them and bomb it on opening day.

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Wouldn’t that be ironic! It took me ten minutes to stop laughing! I guess that is what you would call poetic justice.

I wonder if they serve Molotov Cocktails at the bar?


Back to bottling my Grenache

Bernard said:

If I was in charge of the anti-ISIS coalition I'd screw with them and bomb it on opening day.

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That's why they are welcoming weddings there.

The IS manager probably have weddings and receptions booked every day to ensure coalition aircraft cannot bomb it without killing a whole lot of civilians in the process.

Miragedriver said:

Wouldn’t that be ironic! It took me ten minutes to stop laughing! I guess that is what you would call poetic justice.

I wonder if they serve Molotov Cocktails at the bar?


Back to bottling my Grenache

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Don't forget cherry bomb, hangman's blood, sake bomb, B52, irish car bomb, skittle bomb, nuclear ice tea, jaegerbomb, flaming sambuca.

Bernard said:

If I was in charge of the anti-ISIS coalition I'd screw with them and bomb it on opening day.

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ISIS commanders are living in luxury meanwhile the peons and pawns are blowing themselves up for nothing. Well...there is always a candidate for the "Darwin award".

Equation said:

ISIS commanders are living in luxury meanwhile the peons and pawns are blowing themselves up for nothing.

Well...there is always a candidate for the "Darwin award".

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In reference to that...I heard the following joke a few years ago:

Recent Terror Training Session Transcript said:

Local Terrorist Training Leader: "Yes Sahid...do you have a question?"

Terror Recruit, Sahid: "Sir...err, could one of our dear leaders...even you perhaps...show us precisely how we are to become martyrs for Allah and receive our 72 virgins by setting a personal example against the infidels for us to follow?"

Local Terrorist Training Leader: "Sahid...as Allah wills, some of us must make the sacrifice and put off receiving our virgins while we direct the conflict here on this mortal earth."

Terror Recruit, Sahid: "But, sir, I know many of us...including I, myself, would make that same sacrifice for a time...so that we could see your blessed example."

Local Terrorist Training Leader: "Sahid...yes, I see. In order to preapre you, I will have Abduhl take you and instruct you on how you can make such a sacrifice."

(Then whispered to Abduhl) "Abduhl, take him behind the building and send him on to Allah now."

Local Terrorist Training Leader: "Next question?"

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Equation said:

ISIS commanders are living in luxury meanwhile the peons and pawns are blowing themselves up for nothing. Well...there is always a candidate for the "Darwin award".

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Actually, you are wrong . This is a Western perspective, with soldiers being pawns and generals chess players . Question on motivation for fighting arise , especially in modern times when patriotism and willingness to sacrifice for greater good have been devalued true constant misuse . West usually solve this problem with money (i.e. almost all Western armies are professional now) , but money could only take you so far .

For Islamists in ISIS, Al Nusra ,. Al Qaeda etc ... motivation is completely different . These people have already kissed their lives goodby when they joined . Reasonable, none of them could expect long life, and in my opinion they understand that because they are not stupid as Western propaganda portrays them . Also, unlike Western counterparts, their leadership is sharing mortal danger with common troopers . Bin Laden have been killed, al-Baghdadi wounded , with countless other leaders becoming "martyrs" .

Realistically , there are no Jihadi leaders sitting in luxury hotels or palaces while their troops blow themselves up . There could be paymasters in Gulf monarchies or Turkey supporting them with money, weapons and other logistics, but they are not ideological leaders or commanders . Problem of ISIS is much deeper and harder to solve then it appears .

While I am normally one of the first to insist on understanding your enemy, in the case of IS, I simply have to draw the line.

There is no way to truly understand their motivations and actions without jumping over the abyss into madness along with them.

There are true evil in this world, and IS is a real life embodiment of it.

There can never be an accord with them, either we kill them all, or they will kill us all. It's as simple as that, they themselves have stated as much.

The only understanding we need of IS is how they act and operate to better combat them.

plawolf said:

While I am normally one of the first to insist on understanding your enemy, in the case of IS, I simply have to draw the line.

There is no way to truly understand their motivations and actions without jumping over the abyss into madness along with them.

There are true evil in this world, and IS is a real life embodiment of it.

There can never be an accord with them, either we kill them all, or they will kill us all. It's as simple as that, they themselves have stated as much.

The only understanding we need of IS is how they act and operate to better combat them.

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ISIS needs to be dealt with like the Waffen SS, IJN, Khmer Rouge, Boko Haram, and unfortunately a dozen others.

The biggest different between these groups is that ISIS truly spans racial and cultural boundaries and very effective in using modern technologies for recruitment.
Also over 90% of Muslims in this world are Sunnis so their pool of potential recruits is virtually limitless. Only way to combat ISIS is to kill as many as you can in the present while educating and rehabilitating the masses to cull recruitment. As difficult as the former is, the latter is much harder cause it all boils down to the macro levels of family unit and social environment and local government support.